By Brock N. Meeks

Forgetfulness isn't a crime, but these days it could get you fined and your name placed on a government security database.

The fines are being handed out at airports across the country to travelers caught trying to pass through security with banned items in their carry-on baggage. Fines can range as high as $10,000 and a criminal referral, according to the penalty guidelines established by the Transportation Security Administration.

Last year the TSA collected $1 million in fines from just over seven million banned items it collected. The money goes into the U.S. Treasury's general fund. The average fine was $208 with just under 150 cases seeing fines of $1,000 or more, according to TSA figures. Of those seven million items collected, 81,600 were firearms, explosives, knives with blades over three inches and box-cutters that were "artfully concealed," according to Amy Von Walter, a TSA spokesperson.

And simple forgetfulness isn't going to be enough to get you off the hook anymore. Just ask Jon Zetterlund from the Minneapolis area, who was fined $250 when airport security found a Swiss Army knife in his shaving kit. In haste, Zetterlund had removed the shaving kit from an overweight piece of checked luggage and stuffed it into his carry-on when TSA passenger screeners nabbed him.

"I told them I screwed up, said I was sorry," Zetterlund told the St. Paul Pioneer Press. He proffered no objection to having the knife confiscated. Yet several weeks later, he told the paper, a letter arrived demanding he pay the fine. Zetterlund was so taken aback, he thought the letter was some kind of elaborate scam; he eventually paid up after confirming the fine was for real.

'Aggravating circumstances'

"We typically don't fine people for being forgetful," Von Walter said. The TSA guidelines provide a broad outline for the types of fines that can be imposed and under what circumstances they can be modified, Von Walter said. "However, the guidance doesn't require civil penalty in every incidence where a prohibited item is discovered," she said.

And in fact, typically, with the more common items, such as small Swiss Army knives or sewing scissors, TSA won't hand out a fine, "but we do have to look at cases where there are aggravating circumstances and typically that will influence the fee amount," Von Walter said. (CONTINUE...)