Wow you guys are something else

Todays TBT
EMAILS TO THE EDITOR

This is what I want to see added to TIA

Re: Airy feel coming to TIA main terminal (Tampa Bay Talk, Jan. 28) The improvements to Tampa International Airport are a good move for future travelers. However, there is something lacking: a public, aircraft viewing area.

This is common at many airports. I was recently at Dallas-Forth Worth and spotted the name of TIA CEO Joe Lopano on a brick at Founders Plaza. This is a well thought out, public viewing spot overlooking a runway, taxiway and cargo ramp. There are tables, shade, control tower audio and a map showing the layout of all runways. All this is built on a slight berm so children and adults have a clear view.

At TIA the only place to see planes take off and land is from the top of parking garages. Unfortunately the airport police see this as potential criminal activity. An officer once told me: 'I will charge you with trespassing if you take a photo.' This is unacceptable for such a topnotch airport. Someday I hope we can all visit the Joe Lopano viewing area at TIA.

Eric S. Hillyer, South Pasadena

Somebody get this guys number. The chief would like to offer him a personal tour.

He is lucky he did not get the IHOP drop.

[Unregistered]

Funny. I am sitting at TPA right now and have been taking photos of aircraft for the last hour from the short term parking garage. No sign of TPA Airport Police. I am also a full time Law Enforcement Officer from a neighboring county. The whole trespassing threat is bogus. This is a public place and it is not illegal to take photos of aircraft. Nor is it trespassing under Florida Statutes. If TPA Airport Police arrest someone for trespassing after taking photos of aircraft, they are setting themselves up for a major lawsuit.

[Unregistered]

If any cop ever tells you he will charge you with anything if you take a photo, take the photo. The SCOTUS has ruled on this multiple times and you will get a bit wealthy from the civil rights suit. You have the right to take a photo of anything or anyone in public. If they want you to leave the parking garage, they have that right but to say the photo is a key element means they do not know the first ting about law. Of course they are airport police and not real ones. It sounds like airport police have been hanging out way too long with those idiot TSA agents.

[Unregistered]

If they are not real police then you can walk out of the "fake" jail they bring you to after they take your imaginary rights away. They went through the same academy every other officer in Florida did. Their focus is airport issues, a completely different animal than harassing a vagrant sitting in an intersection. During some incidents they have federal powers no city officer or county deputy would ever have.

Go do some homework on Private property that is publicly accessible and the police powers available to those private entities before you spout off wrong info. No one is questioning the taking of the photo, it's the dispelling suspicious behavior part that is a concern at an International Airport. With terrorism on the rise and the crimes already going on it's their duty to get involved with EVERYONE not there to fly.

Yes there are butt head cops in most departments, I'm not defending those...but they have a job to do just like you. They don't post ill intended comments about you or your job and call you an idiot.

[Unregistered]

Would any of you dunces at TIAPD actually know what to do if a real terrorist showed up?

[Unregistered]

Would any of you dunces at TIAPD actually know what to do if a real terrorist showed up?

I'd arrest him and send him to Gitmo. Then I'd sit back and watch Obama and the boys trade him (along with a few others) for some deserter or other anti-American...