This guy (the criminal) sounds like a real scumbag and I'm glad that they did catch him so he could serve his jail/prison time... and hopefully be locked up for a very long time.

It sounds like the police at the courthouse should have notified the police at the airports to be on the lookout for this person. Typically there are law enforcement officers who oversee the security checkpoints and watch everyone who goes through. In this case, the airport police at HNL should have been notified. In addition to notification, a picture of the criminal should have been immediately faxed (or emailed) to the airport (and photocopied & distributed to the LEOs) so the police at the airport could be on the lookout for the perp. (Sounds quite simple, eh? Fax, photocopy & distribute).

If anything, it sounds like a breakdown in the local police / law enforcement system. If a criminal escaped from a courthouse here in Louisville or from any of the local county jails (or the state Prison in Oldham County), I would certainly hope the police at SDF would be notified and receive a faxed/emailed mug shot of the criminal.

That being said, it's possible the police at the airport were notified but just didn't see or find this person.

1) Perhaps they were notified to be on the lookout but were given a poor description or didn't get a copy of his mug.

2) Perhaps a general notification went out and they ignored it.

3) Perhaps they just weren't notified at all.

Regardless, it appears to be a local law enforcement problem and not a problem with airport security in general or the TSA. Let's not give the TSA any additional responsibility as clrankin said quite well -- and lets get rid of these FBI watch lists / no fly lists while we are at it.

By the way, I just read yet another report of problems with the no fly list (anyone surprised?).

If your name is David Nelson, don't expect a routine trip through the airport; that name is on the evil-doer list, er no-fly list (or is creating a Soundex match) and "David Nelson"'s through-out this "free" country of ours are being detained and harassed at airports.

Frightening, isn't it? How many David Nelson's do you think fly each day? How many innocent David Nelson's are being detained and harassed each day? Hell, the mighty federal government might as well add Adams, Johnson, Jones, King, Lincoln, Richards, Roberts, Smith, Washington, and every other common last name to the no-fly list too while they're at it. Who knows, one of them might be an evil-doer too..

How about this: All TSA employees should be required to obtain a boarding pass to get to the checkpoint in order to report to work. Since our no-fly list works so well, this way if an evil-doer happens to be working for the TSA, they will be detained & harassed as well. Afterall, if passengers must be matched to this list, why not match TSA employees to this list? Fair is fair, right?

I wonder how many TSA employees would match the no-fly list the way it's currently being managed? Who wants to bet there will be quite a few hits? Oh, and if CAPPS II is ever deployed nationwide, I say the same CAPPS II standards and codes should be issued to TSA employees reporting to work as well. I wonder how many would come up as yellows or red?

Is anyone feeling safe yet??

Best,

SDF_Traveler

[edited for spell check in MS Word]
[edited to correct a name]
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"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." -- Ben Franklin

[This message has been edited by SDF_Traveler (edited 06-16-2003).]

[This message has been edited by SDF_Traveler (edited 06-16-2003).]