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BPD detective and frequent flyer admits he lied to TSA to bring gun onboard and get friend around Logan security
By adamg on Fri, 09/22/2017 - 5:49pm
Bruce Smith, 53, currently a Boston Police sergeant and detective in Jamaica Plain's District E-13, pleaded guilty today to repeatedly making false statements that let him carry his gun on personal plane trips and get a friend around security screenings at Logan Airport, the US Attorney's office reports.
As part of his plea deal, Smith, a Randolph resident, agreed to resign from the police and pay a $7,500 fine. He now faces a sentence of up to a year of probation, which, if the judge is feeling particularly ill disposed toward him, could include home confinement.
Smith was arrested in June on formal charges of making false statements to the Transportation Security Administration and the Department of Homeland Security and unlawfully entering a secure airport area with intent to evade security requirements for 28 flights out of Logan on which he claimed to be on official business, which let him bring a gun onboard. He was not on official business for the flights. For two of the flights, Smith also used his alleged official status to get a friend around security:
Smith falsely claimed that his friend was a “dignitary” under Smith’s official police escort. When questioned by TSA security personnel as to what type of dignitary his friend was, Smith falsely replied, “I am not at liberty to divulge that information.” In fact, Smith’s friend, who has a criminal record, is not a dignitary, but a mobile HIV clinic operator.
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Comments
What is a mobile HIV operator
What is a mobile HIV operator?
My guess
My guess is he has a van that provides HIV testing.
Could also just be a guy in a
Could also just be a guy in a van with HIV. I'm not at liberty to divulge that information either way.
The need for guns
I wonder why he wanted so much to have a gun on him that he jeopardized his career and his freedom to do that? The desire some people have to carry guns everywhere boggles my mind.
It's a cop thing
They think of it as protection. They can all tell stories about when they or some cop they know was off-duty and unarmed when they met some guy they'd sent to jail. I knew a DC cop who claimed department regulations required her to be armed even when traveling. That was a long time ago, so it may be one of those things that 9/11 changed.
Off duty carry requirements
I know DC cops are required to conceal carry when they are in the district even if they are off duty (many live in VA or MD) but that is more out of caution because they could run into someone that they had an incident with who would be hostile to them. The travel thing? I never heard that.
but...why? That's the question nobody is answering
The question is: what was the friend doing that they needed to bypass security, and needed armed protection?
Sure smells like this guy was moving drugs - BPD had one cocaine scandal, maybe this is more of the same?
Leroy
He lied to get his buddy Leroy past TSA uninspected. What was Leroy carrying?
In every security system since the dawn of man,
humans are always the weakest link.
Any security expert will tell you that most of the measures we've taken since 9/11 -- aside from reinforcing cockpit doors, and increasing the number of plain-clothes air marshals on flights - are pure theater, a way for politicians to look like they're doing something but don't meaningfully make us any safer. Here we are, taking off our shoes, submitting to intrusive body scans and junk pat-downs, checking any baggage that contains more than a few ounces of liquid, enduring the resultant long lines.
It's an obscenely expensive farce, as this incident vividly underscores.
And, it's not like you have
to do all those things outside the US. Planes aren't being hijacked all over Europe.
Are you sure you'd hear about
Are you sure you'd hear about it (in the States) if they were?
And in the security systems
And in the security systems prior to the dawn of man, I'd have to say the Allorsaurus was the weakest link.
Also, people are the weakest link in the security system, but also the reason we need security systems, and that is how we maintain the beautiful natural balance.
Therapods
always get the bad rap. We're the hardest-working goddam suaruses around. Excuse me if we're not too security-conscious. You want me to leave my teeth at home? You try getting through Stegosaurus plates without them. You try bringing down a fucking Diplodocus with these stupid little hands I've got. So we tear and maim a little. And devour. We can't help it, man, we're specialized.
- The Allosaurus that ate your sister
There is more to the story but being the inept
Boston US Attorney's office this is the best they could do. You don't need to be a deep thinker to understand that getting a person through security without screening multiple times on multiple flights was more than an effort to get a gun onto an aircraft.
What's bugging me...
...about this is that the TSA was "foiled" TWENTY EIGHT TIMES, when they clearly knew the man was carrying a gun. Do you think he had to undergo backroom screening any one of those? I actually do believe in concealed carry, but the man playing this type of entitlement game and every member of security who allowed him through are both dangerous and subversive. IMO, everyone involved should be given the boot.
Awww, poor guy
He was askeered of flyin and needed his security fetish totem with him at all times!