Police in the dark about MSP security tests

A test of security at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport that police thought was real was actually one of two that happened minutes apart at neighboring checkpoints and fell victim to miscommunication between federal authorities and unsuspecting officers, according to newly released reports.

Airport spokesman Patrick Hogan said Thursday that the federal Transportation Security Administration had told airport police that there would be tests on May 12. However, when the tests at Terminal 1 began, no one from the TSA told airport police that these were the tests mentioned earlier, Hogan said.

Hogan said that on-the-spot follow-up communication is needed to prevent police from assuming an actual security threat is merely the anticipated test.

Because of that miscommunication, officers took various actions. One put his gun to the back of the tester.

Hogan said that the communication gaps between the two agencies have since been corrected.

According to the reports:

In the first test, at about 2:20 p.m. on May 12, a device in a shaving kit was made to look like a bomb. It was a cylinder with wires connected to a wrist watch. The device was brought to Checkpoint 1 by a man wearing casual business attire and with a calm demeanor.

At about 2:40 p.m. at Checkpoint 2, two men were subjected to additional screening.

A checkpoint supervisor indicated to an officer that a white man wearing tan military-style garb had a suspicious device.

The officer pointed his gun at the man's back and ordered him to his knees. Another officer handcuffed him.

It wasn't until several minutes later, the police report added, that TSA employees approached the scene and revealed that this was a test.

The two police reports listed different officers responding to the two tests.

TSA spokesman Greg Soule countered Monday that the agency selects testers based on the demographics of the flying public but declined to provide any substantiation of that contention or reveal any specifics about this specific tester.

On Thursday, the TSA's security director for Minnesota, Thomas P. Connors, said that this particular tester was a U.S. citizen of South American ancestry.