By Daniel Hartill,Staff Writer

MINOT – Dana Pittman knew he was in trouble when the airport screeners pulled him aside and said, “We need to see you.”

However, after 45 minutes of questions in a side room of Manchester Airport, Pittman figured he was finished with the Department of Homeland Security. Screeners took his razor blade, a tool he’d tucked into his wallet and forgotten about, and they sent him on his way.

Homeland Security wasn’t finished with him, though.

A month later, home in Minot, Pittman received an official “Notice of Violation” in the mail. He was assigned a case number and punished with a $150 fine, or $75 if he pays it within a month.

Like a traffic ticket, he’ll pay it and move on, he said. And he’s not alone.

According to Homeland Security’s Transportation Security Administration, thousands of people are being fined for airport offenses ranging from boarding planes with guns to carrying pointy-tipped scissors.

“It’s not a rare thing,” said Ann Davis, a spokeswoman for the agency’s New England office. Nationwide, in the first 11 months of 2004, more than 74,000 items were seized by airport screeners.

During that same period, fines were issued 9,800 times. Another 14,300 administrative warnings were sent to people, Davis said.

In the worst offenses, such as those involving guns and long-bladed knives, criminal charges also followed. Penalties were established by the Homeland Security Act, enacted in November of 2002.

“We’re a federal agency,” Davis said. “We have the right to levy fines and prosecute people when it’s appropriate.”

Warnings to that effect are posted at every airport checkpoint.

Pittman saw the signs as he prepared to board a plane to Arkansas four days before Christmas. And he heard the warnings from screeners.

“They told us, If you have anything you shouldn’t, now’s the time to get rid of it,'” Pittman said.

They were polite as Pittman, 38, his mother and his 14-year-old niece approached the metal detectors. His mother went first, setting off the machine with the pins in one of her knees.

Then, Pittman approached. When asked, he emptied his pockets into a bin that was sent through the machine. His wallet set off the bell.

Inside was a small razor blade in a metal sheath, like the ones car inspectors use to scrape off an old sticker.

Pittman had worked in the maintenance department of a local bakery. It was a common tool, but he’d forgotten all about it.

No stigma’

Screeners ushered Pittman into a side room. While New Hampshire State Police officers watched, they took his identification, asked him questions and directed him to fill out papers.

They wanted to know what kind of work he did and why he carried the blade. Then, they let him go.

“You can’t have the razor back,” they told Pittman, who was about to board his plane.

“I wanted to say, How stupid do I look?'” he said. He didn’t, though.

The screeners were always polite. And he was never scared. He compared the experience to being pulled over for speeding.

“They were really decent to me,” he said. He even caught his plane.

A month later, when the envelope from the Transportation Security Agency arrived, he was surprised, he said. But he plans to pay the fine, which is only $75 if he pays it within 30 days. He can appeal, but he doesn’t want to.

If he did, he might be marked as a troublemaker, he said.

According to Davis, the agency spokeswoman, “there’s no stigma with being fined or having paid a fine.”

In fact, Pittman received a lenient fine. The agency’s own guidelines call for a minimum fine of $250 for the offense.

However, like police officers, security officers can use discretion.

The reports are submitted to security leaders at every airport. Typically, that’s where the fines are decided upon, Davis said.

Pittman is not holding a grudge.

“Let’s face it,” he said. “With everything that’s going on right now, it’s about public safety. They were doing their job.”

He only wishes he had checked his pockets before he left for the airport, he said.