Newsstand - DIA screener charged in theft from purse

Denver Post Article (http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~53~1940916,00.html)

"A federal security screener at Denver International Airport has been charged with stealing $700 from the purse of a passenger Monday night.

Steven McCumber, a 41-year- old Transportation Security Administration employee, was charged Thursday with felony theft, said Lynn Kimbrough, spokeswoman for the Denver District Attorney's office."

Ah, that's the dodge! Distract the travelers with the Shoe Carnival, loot their belongings. Clever!!

I think I've seen this guy working at DIA.

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"Give me Liberty or give me Death." - Patrick Henry

This is just the reason that when we fly over to Hawaii next month to get married that we are wearing our wedding bands and not putting them in even our carry ons.

My God, there is so much to worry about just getting through the airport. You have to worry about being groped by the TSA, you have to worry about your luggage being pilfered(sp), you have to worry about weather your luggage will come back to you in one piece and now you have to worry about whether or not they will steal your valuables right out from under your nose!

I have to put my wedding dress in my carry on and have the hotel steam it for me when I get there because I will have my purse and my carry on. I am sure they won't let me bring a garment bag on board too. I refuse to check it in because heaven only knows if I would even see it again by the time I arrive in Hawaii. I have enough to worry about without all the extras the TSA is now throwing at us.

Add DIA to the list of airports where the FSD shoud be replaced.Most of the time this theft from passengers goes undetected.The TSA is a sorry bunch and should be disbanded.

Isn't it ironic that this scumbag will be assumed innocent until proven guilty while he and his colleagues treat the flying public as guilty until proven innocent?

I'll bet he's on administrative leave WITH pay as well...

svenskaflicka,

There have been a lot of wedding couples come through my airport in the last two years. A lot of them carried garmet bags for their dress and I never saw them getting any hassle at the gate about it. Might want to ask and make sure it's ok.

Congradulations on your wedding!

I don't have much to say about this guy, as I don't work at DIA. It ticks me off of course to see it and I understand even more why I hear some of the remarks I do from time to time.

Thank you for your kind wishes. It is just getting harder and harder to fly now with no hassles. I would rather pay for the hotel to steam my dress than to get last minute hassles at the airport.

As always, a few bad apples spoiles the bunch. I know several TSA agents and these people are great. However, it is bad apples like this that ruin airport security regardless who operates it. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/thumbsdown.gif

How is this different from any other profession? Come on people, we are witnesses to something like this everyday. The crooked policeman, the crooked building inspector, the crooked border guard, the crooked banker, the crooked investor, the crooked bank teller, etc...etc... Please spare me from picking on a group of people just because few decided to take the easy way out. We are dealing with people from all walks of life. I had money stolen in hotels (maids or ?), attempted at a store(wrong change), and I have to admit, I've tried shoplifting as a teenager(learned really quick that it's not the profession I want to pursue). This is a simple story of one guy going bad, but please don't tell me that every agent is just waiting for that moment.

Uh, yes this is different from other professions.

We hire these screeners to protect us from terrorism and other threats. If they are so easily persuaded to break policies and law, then the potential for disaster in the air is way too high.

A crooked cop won't do as much damage as a potential crooked airport screener. All it takes is one crooked screener who allows someone to smuggle in guns, bombs, and we have a disaster in the making.

Also see this story (http://www.iht.com/articles/128477.html) about the shocking hiring practices of the TSA. Yes, there is a significant difference.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by andrzej:
How is this different from any other profession? Come on people, we are witnesses to something like this everyday. The crooked policeman, the crooked building inspector, the crooked border guard, the crooked banker, the crooked investor, the crooked bank teller, etc...etc... Please spare me from picking on a group of people just because few decided to take the easy way out. We are dealing with people from all walks of life. I had money stolen in hotels (maids or ?), attempted at a store(wrong change), and I have to admit, I've tried shoplifting as a teenager(learned really quick that it's not the profession I want to pursue). This is a simple story of one guy going bad, but please don't tell me that every agent is just waiting for that moment.</font>

I have always worried about corrupt airline and airport staff, now you have this.

If the confidence of the TSA is damaged, you have a disaster on your hands.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by InterflugIL62:
I have always worried about corrupt airline and airport staff, now you have this.

If the confidence of the TSA is damaged, you have a disaster on your hands. </font>

We already have a disaster on our hands. If the TSA went away, it might be less so. Though it is difficult to put a dollar figure on human life, we have surely spent the equivelant of many in lost productivity, damages to the economy, lost of personal freedoms. The list goes on.

All this because SOME people think they are safer, but they are not.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by UALOneKPlus:
Uh, yes this is different from other professions.

We hire these screeners to protect us from terrorism and other threats. If they are so easily persuaded to break policies and law, then the potential for disaster in the air is way too high.

A crooked cop won't do as much damage as a potential crooked airport screener. All it takes is one crooked screener who allows someone to smuggle in guns, bombs, and we have a disaster in the making.

Also see this story (http://www.iht.com/articles/128477.html) about the shocking hiring practices of the TSA. Yes, there is a significant difference.

</font>

So, the CEO that stole billions and put 10's and possibly 100's of thousands of people out of a job, many of these people loosing their homes, families as a direct consequence, is different?

So, a US Army soldier throws a grenade into a tent full of his buddies, because his beliefs are different. Is that different? or a high ranking army officer sells the countries secrets to an enemy.

So, the corrupt cops that let a drug cartel operate freely and effect 10's, maybe 100's of thousands of lives, is different?

Why don't you guys scream bloody hell every time one of the above happens. Let's get rid of the army, the cops the CEOs, etc...

I'm not a moralist, I'm not even too crazy about what's going on these days. But I will stand by my initial statement. We as a society, right or wrong, decided to have these people hired to "protect" us. Occasionally there will be a bad apple. That's part of life.



[This message has been edited by andrzej (edited Feb 10, 2004).]

Did you even read the referenced story?

Just nuts.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by andrzej:
So, the CEO that stole billions and put 10's and possibly 100's of thousands of people out of a job, many of these people loosing their homes, families as a direct consequence, is different?

So, a US Army soldier throws a grenade into a tent full of his buddies, because his beliefs are different. Is that different? or a high ranking army officer sells the countries secrets to an enemy.

So, the corrupt cops that let a drug cartel operate freely and effect 10's, maybe 100's of thousands of lives, is different?

Why don't you guys scream bloody hell every time one of the above happens. Let's get rid of the army, the cops the CEOs, etc...

I'm not a moralist, I'm not even too crazy about what's going on these days. But I will stand by my initial statement. We as a society, right or wrong, decided to have these people hired to "protect" us. Occasionally there will be a bad apple. That's part of life.

[This message has been edited by andrzej (edited Feb 10, 2004).]</font>

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by InterflugIL62:
I have always worried about corrupt airline and airport staff, now you have this.

If the confidence of the TSA is damaged, you have a disaster on your hands. </font>

The TSA has no reason to be confident. We have no reason to be confident in the TSA. I do not mean because stealing occurs ... I mean because it is a shell game.

Under which pea is the threat? "Ummm .. I choose airports 'n' planes 'n' stuff, 'cause, like, that's where it was last time!"

Duh!

If YOU were a terrorist would you try the same thing?
Would you have any shortage of other targets?

Would you be proud of all the terror that still lingers and is embodied - and reinforced - by the TSA?

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Teacher49:
The TSA has no reason to be confident. We have no reason to be confident in the TSA. I do not mean because stealing occurs ... I mean because it is a shell game.

Under which pea is the threat? "Ummm .. I choose airports 'n' planes 'n' stuff, 'cause, like, that's where it was last time!"

Duh!

If YOU were a terrorist would you try the same thing?
Would you have any shortage of other targets?

Would you be proud of all the terror that still lingers and is embodied - and reinforced - by the TSA?</font>

Agree. I am surprised that our shopping malls, business complexes, etc, aren't under attack.

The subway in Moscow was just bombed, so terrible. There are always lot's of threats, but we have to go on and live our lives.

I have visited Northern Ireland. I was on stress alert the full time there and was so relieved to get out of there.
Colombia, DRC/Congo, Sri Lanka.

We should count ourselves lucky.

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Tel Aviv Sheraton doorman,
Interflug customer service department, SXF.

Very well stated, Teacher49!

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by svenskaflicka:
...that we are wearing our wedding bands and not putting them in even our carry ons.

My God, there is so much to worry about just getting through the airport. You have to worry about being groped by the TSA, you have to worry about your luggage being pilfered(sp), you have to worry about weather your luggage will come back to you in one piece and now you have to worry about whether or not they will steal your valuables right out from under your nose!

I have enough to worry about without all the extras the TSA is now throwing at us.</font>

Not to metion accountability. The TSA pointing fingers at the airlines and airlines back at TSA. The $5 billion dollar joke and growing.....