Ari

It isn't just the judge's consideration, it is a different crime. In this case, the penalty for the lying crime is much greater than the penalty for just the theft.

Compare 4 months minimum for the theft with 21 months minimum for the lying (guideline range).

erictank

I'll say on or about the 12th of Never. It's just not a real PROBLEM - for them, at least.

FliesWay2Much

23??? Spokeshole Ann, you're a lying piece of fertilizer.

Now that I've gotten the previous post off my chest, there are good reasons not to fire a government employee after arrest, but before conviction. As trite as it seems, he's still on the hook to protect sacred SSI from public disclosure. Even if he's found not guilty but spills his SSI guts during the trial, the TSA could take administrative action against him as an employee. As a private citizen, he couldn't be fined for disclosing SSI. We've done this in the past for espionage trials. Also, I'm not sure the lying charges could stick as well if he was no longer a TSA employee. (Actually, the falsification alone is enough grounds to fire him.)

In terms of his being fired after he's been convicted, the TSA could always invoke the "Alvin Crabtree Rule" and put him right back out there.

doober

To reiterate from another thread:

Ari

She's talking the quantity of employees fired for theft, not cases of theft.

doober

I know that but if there are 57 cases of theft at one airport in two years, common sense says that there are many more than 23 arrests nationwide since 2007.

clrankin

Agreed. But in this case there is video evidence showing the crime, right? Perhaps firing is too severe. How about indefinite leave without pay until the matter is resolved one way or another?

TSO1973

In the article that has the guy's picture, it does say he is on unpaid suspension pending the outcome.

goalie

i'm in for 4 hockey pucks that it will be a 6-12 months suspended sentence due to "circumstances at home and needing to take care of his family" (or a reasonable facsimile thereof)

clrankin

Thanks. Missed that somehow... My personal opinion is that the lying piece of filth should still be summarily dismissed. He would if this type of thing came up with my employer.

The really disappointing thing here is that TSA seems to believe that this isn't a problem, dismissing it as "since 2007, 23 arrests... blah, blah, blah". TSA leadership needs to wake up and realize that they have a problem on their hands here. To maintain a real environment of security and trust, all employees must be beyond reproach and act accordingly. (Don't tell me that this can't happen, as all TSA folks are supposed to be security professionals.)

The theft problems are only a small part of the picture-- if TSA employees feel that it's OK to steal from passengers, who knows what other security lapses are being caused by their desire for personal gain? We have a very real, very serious hole that TSA should be concerned about plugging-- something that needs far more than a publicity release. I can only hope that TSA is doing something about this in the background, but my experience and better judgment leads me to, unfortunately, believe that it probably isn't.

Meanwhile passengers have their children kidnapped and interrogated by TSOs out of their guardian's presence, elderly people with life threatening medical conditions have applesauce taken because it could be a "dangerous" item, and the flying public in general is herded toward strip searches without being properly informed of the procedure they're about to endure... But we're all feeling safer now, aren't we? Well, actually no...

TSO1973

Well, unfortunately the relatively few times that this happens makes it seem like a bigger problem than it really is because it gets so much play in outlets such as here and the media. I will tell you this though, there is ALOT that goes on the background. In fact I know of someone who was fired for taking 62 cents from a bin that was left behind by a passenger. I also know of someone who was put on a 14 day unpaid suspension for a minor SOP violation. So for what it's worth, there are ramifications for doing the wrong thing.

LessO2

Please don't take this as "piling on," but I want to expand on your point.

Going back to the "actions have consequences" adage, the TSA does set itself up for additional scrutiny when it touts it's "highly professional officers" and does things like post these posters in lines touting these happy-go-lucky "testimonials" from TSAers. That's on top of the admitting they are trying to purchase respect through the blue uniforms.

I don't care who you are, when the sheet his the fan like this, in light of the high bar that the TSA puts its screeners, it's like when a politician (regardless of party affiliation) gets caught being hypocritical or flat-out lying, you're are asking for it in a big way.

And absolutely, this forum blows things out of proportion as well.


A few things about the 62 cents and the 14-day suspension.

Of course we're not going to hear about things like that. If the TSA gets angry when leaks about Red Team results, they sure as heck aren't going to tout the firing of a screener over 62 cents.

It genuinely makes me wonder if someone can be fired over 62 cents why a TSAer can keep his job after bringing a firearm through a checkpoint.


If those things happened at one airport (and I have no reason to believe they didn't), multiply those out by the number of airports the TSA is at, 450+, then multiply that by the number of checkpoints in each of those airports, and I would imagine that "sweep under the rug" number Ann Davis points out would add up fairly quickly.

Would that result in a majority of TSAers being found as criminals? Of course not (I firmly believe the majority of screeners are hard workers, trying to do the right thing). But the TSA has set the standard in being all about PR, and those are the guidelines which my point is all about.

clrankin

That's good to know.

TSA should really consider getting this type of information out to the public as well. It would serve a number of purposes, from showing that the agency is serious about these types of problems to providing some public examples of how infractions are treated (which would hopefully discourage such future actions by TSOs).

When I fly later this summer, I may try marking a dollar bill or two and leaving it behind in the tray just to see what happens myself... We'll see. I do think that TSA should conduct those types of "integrity tests" of its agents periodically, though.

Ari

Common sense says there should be.

jkhuggins

Sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. TSA crows every week about the .0002% of passengers who get caught carrying firearms into a checkpoint.