Newsstand - More dogs working air, rail security

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-02-18-security-dogs_x.htm

More bomb-sniffing dogs than ever are patrolling the nation's airports and rail stations, and more are likely on the way as the federal government tries to blanket the nation's transportation hubs with highly visible security.
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) plans to add 45 dogs next year, primarily to subway and rail systems and also to the few large airports that don't have them.
There are now 420 TSA-trained dogs patrolling 75 of the nation's largest airports and 13 major transit systems. On Sept. 11, 2001, there were 174 dogs in 39 airports, according to TSA.

interesting stats...thanks.

It's about time, don't you think? I feel safer...

:confused:

Think of the children! :eek: ... :eek: @:-) Children like dogs. :D

:confused:

Think of the children! :eek: ... :eek: @:-) Children like dogs. :D

Who cares???

Think of the puppies! :D

Dogs also can project a forceful image that reassures travelers. "For the public, they convey the message that security is happening," Tom Farmer, head of TSA's mass-transit division, told a recent rail-security conference. "They look good. They're imposing. They inspire fear about what the dogs can detect."



...at least this TSA gonk admitted it's all security theater. I wonder -- How long will he be around?

If only these dogs could replace the TSA humans at checkpoints, things would go so much faster, more efficiently, and with a smile (and tail wag).

If only these dogs could replace the TSA humans at checkpoints, things would go so much faster, more efficiently, and with a smile (and tail wag).

Best Damn TSA enhancement yet. ^

I have long thought that a simple dog trumps just about all the high-tech gadgetry and silly rules you could ever come up with. I'd put a trained Labrador up against all the puffers, backscatter x-rays, big brother computer databases and silly rules the government can devise and I bet the dog would win hands down in a bomb finding contest. And even figuring it will cost the government 20 times more to get the dog trained than it would cost anyone else to get a dog trained, I still bet the cost of a dog and a handlers salary is a fraction of the cost of anything else they could do that wouldn’t provide one tenth the security against real threats.