In an effort to make themselves appear fair, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has adopted some pretty absurd practices. One of the most ridiculous things that they do is waste valuable time and energy frisking people that do not need to be frisked. Although it was obnoxious in the past, it tended to only be moderately intrusive. Not anymore.

Starting this month, new standards and procedures will begin to be enforced. This change is part of an ongoing effort by the federal government to improve airport security. As part of the update, travelers with laptops must undergo a new, extremely intrusive pat-down if they accidentally forget to take it out of their bag.

One outraged mother felt compelled to speak out against the change after she witnessed the new procedure first-hand. Jennifer Williamson and her 13-year-old son Aaron were detained by TSA while going through the security checkpoint at the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. An agent notified her that because her son did not remove a laptop from his bag, he must be given a thorough, full body pat-down.

According to his mother, Aaron lives with Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD), which causes him to be overly sensitive to sound and touch. She was extremely worried that the process would be too overwhelming for her son. When she asked the agents to screen him another way, they refused.

Up until recently, the TSA had several screening variations. Now, all agents are instructed to perform only one, much more thorough, full body pat-down. This change is apparently designed to help reduce the “cognitive burden” employees previously experienced when they were required to remember a total of five variations.

Williamson objected to the potentially harmful pat-down, pointing out the fact that no alarms were set off when her son passed through the detector, but the agents insisted on doing so anyway. Sadly, she didn’t have a choice. The frightened mother was forced to stand by and watch as her son endured degrading treatment.

Filled with righteous indignation, she decided to film the event and post it to Facebook. As of today, her post has nearly 50,000 reactions and has been shared over 100,000 times.

The video is shown below.

The distraught mother wrote on Facebook that she and her son had “been through hell,” describing the situation as “horrifying.” “We were treated like dogs because I requested they attempt to screen him in other ways per TSA rules,” she recalled.

Several hours later, Aaron was still trying to cope with what happened. Confused, he kept telling his mom “‘I don’t know what I did. What did I do?”

She desperately tried to identify a reason for such treatment, but failed, making her “livid.” To her, the pat-down was inappropriate and excessive. “They went over his sensitive areas, a little more than necessary, especially given that he wasn’t wearing bulky clothing or anything like that,” she reasoned.

Fortunately, Williamson intends to keep fighting so others don’t have to suffer. She hopes that by her post going viral, “these power tripping [sic] TSA agents” are “reined in.”

It is completely inappropriate to traumatize children in this way. The TSA ought to be ashamed of themselves. Unsurprisingly, the mother is demanding an apology.

Unnecessary searches such as this are also a waste of valuable time and resources. Policies requiring such searches need to be reconsidered. The time and energy would be better spent doing things that actually make us safer. If safety is the goal, we must be reasonable and base our decisions on evidence and data.

According to CBS News, the changes are partly in response to an internal audit conducted by the Department of Homeland Security in 2015.

During the audit, groups of undercover government officials referred to as “Red Teams” attempted to get weapons past security. The results of the audit were shocking. Out of a total of 70 tests, only three successfully detected the fake weapons. This means that the failure rate was 95 percent!

One terrifying example involved an agent with a fake explosive taped to their back. Despite causing an alarm to trigger and being patted-down, airport agents still failed to detect the device.

However, back in 2015, Jeh Johnson, the Secretary of Homeland Security at the time, attempted to reassure the public in a statement released by the government after the findings were announced. In the statement, he claimed, “the numbers in these reports never look good out of context, but they are a critical element in the continual evolution of our aviation security.”

He also spoke about some of the new changes being implemented as a result of the audit. To start, he announced that the TSA had been instructed to revise its own standard operating procedures, brief every airport in the country about the results of the investigation, and have every employee complete additional training.

Johnson also stated that he intended to continue random, undercover audits, directed all airports to “re-test and “re-evaluate” all of their equipment, and appointed a team of senior leaders to “oversee and ensure timely implementation of these actions.”

He also made a couple of long-term requests. One called on airports to make sure their screening equipment is “operating at the highest possible standards” at all times. Another directed the senior leaders to “examine adopting new technologies to address the vulnerabilities identified by the Inspector General’s testing.”

According to a spokesman for the TSA, the new pat-down procedures are part of this new, “more rigorous” approach to screening. Officials expect it to be much more “comprehensive.” Apparently, the screening will include touching sensitive areas of the body with the back, and possibly front, of the hand.

However, there is no evidence suggesting that these new procedures will affect safety in any way. In fact, it turns out that many of the rules enforced at the airport aren’t actually based on science.

To help combat this new policy, the ACLU has offered their assistance. They put together a page where concerned citizens can get more information about the new policy and understand what their options are at the airport. They also set up a link for people to share their own stories.

Many have taken to Twitter to share their feelings about the incident:

#TSA That wasn't a pat down, that was an assault. This is why TSA has never, ever, not once caught a single terrorist. — JackUzzi © (@TheJackOBrien) March 28, 2017

https://t.co/bh4Yw5ptEr

This filthy creep looks like he just molested this child. Watching this made me feel sick & angry. #TSA #Auspol — Charmaine (@CharmaineTT) March 29, 2017

Not saying #TSA pat downs are too intrusive, but some people report an overpowering desire to smoke afterward. — Larry Lambert (@LarryLambert6) March 28, 2017

Improvements to our airport security are obviously necessary, but this kind of change goes too far. There’s no need for a routine security check to be traumatic for young children. Especially when the new changes aren’t based on science.