TSA screener charged in kid porn case
#122
Join Date: Mar 2008
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One thing for sure, children should never be subjected to screening in a way that traumatizes them. If they are traumatized, TSA has abjectly failed in its mission to keep them safe.
Last edited by IslandBased; Apr 24, 2011 at 11:17 am
#126
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Originally Posted by PhoenixRev
There is nothing wrong with stating a blatant fact: he no longer works for us
The TSA said: "We can assure the public that he is no longer working at the airport."
"No Longer Working At the Airport" is an euphemism for "on leave". The TSO charged with distributing child pornography might be on administrative leave without pay, he might be on administrative leave with pay, or he might just be using accrued vacation leave.
If the TSA had terminated the charged TSO, or the charged TSO had resigned, then the TSA would have come out and said so.
#127
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I do not have the attitude you are quoting, and the vast majority of folks I have worked with do not display that attitude - those that do here, are quickly corrected by most of their peers before an STSO even has a chance to get involved. You can petition for different screening protocols for children, but if the search of children is vastly scaled back, it becomes an easy threat matrix for ne'er do wells. That is the sad reality we live with nowadays, there are many folks out there that would use a child to further their goals in a heart beat. The waistband of pants is one of the easiest ways to conceal threat items, I have found knives and even rounds for a weapon in the waist band of pants before, I may be leaping here, but that change about just because of items being found in the waist band (I could be wrong).
I would be more than satisfied if we returned to the WTMD and occasional swabbing for everyone.
Again, the evidence is dicey at best with regard to the WBI catching people like the pantie bomber and catching all firearms.
I have always been willing to screen entering (and even exiting) when I go to work - I had to do it when I worked at a nuke storage facility and it does not faze me in the least.
Since I tend to all but live at PHX T4 these days either flying out or waiting to meet my spouse landside, I can tell you that the biggest hole in security in the entire system happens around 7 PM on Fridays when an airport worker appears pushing a large pallet stacked with boxes with goods for the restaurants and shops airside at PHX T4. He sails right past the Einstein's Bagel shop and down the aisle where passengers are heading out of the sterile area.
He is never stopped. He is never questioned. He is never searched. He just nods and moves on.
You will never convince me that a 6-year-old little girl in New Orleans is a greater threat to aviation than an airport worker who gets paid to haul pallets of sealed boxes.
But the TSA has made that determination.
#128
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Xiray of bags, WTMD, and ETD/ETP.
Xiray of bags, WTMD, and ETD/ETP.
#129
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Fair enough. Which method of secondary screening should be used to resolve alarms on the primary methods you cite (after asking the child to divest and the system still alarms)?
#130
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Xiray of bags, WTMD, and ETD/ETP.
Xiray of bags, WTMD, and ETD/ETP.
#131
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Are the current methods effective? If an older child is wearing pull up diapers, do TSO test the contents? If not, then the current methods are not effective.
#132
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X-ray of bags, WTMD, and ETD/ETP.
X-ray of bags, WTMD, and ETD/ETP.
#133
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At my airport, we stress the importance of communicating well with passengers and reducing travel stress as much as possible. Our FSD is a firm believer in that policy, and he frequently visits the floor to see first-hand how things are going.
I can't account for why it's not the same at all airports.
I can't account for why it's not the same at all airports.
At some point in the near or distant future, a deranged terrorist is going to pack his rectum with enough explosive to bring down an aircraft in flight, and there is nothing that TSA will be able to do to stop it. Unless, of course, your agency intends to start requiring cavity searches as a prerequisite of getting on board an aircraft.
TSA is on a self-inflicted road to failure. Your agency has set an impossible goal for itself, and the result is evident for all to see - your agency is the most hated in the entire federal government, and it isn't going to get better, unless TSA undergoes a massive structural change and top level management housecleaning.
#134
Join Date: Mar 2008
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And, what does that have to do with not traumatizing children? Except, of course, if you really want to traumatize the parents as well. Might as well do the whole family, maybe they will decide flying just isn't worth the abuse.
Last edited by IslandBased; Apr 24, 2011 at 1:48 pm
#135
Join Date: Mar 2008
Posts: 3,004
I can. TSA management across the board is the worst in the entire federal government. You might be fortunate enough to have one of the rare examples of leadership at your airport, but that is the exception, not the rule.
There is no need for a child to be groped. The WTMD, the NOS, and a wanding should be enough.
At some point in the near or distant future, a deranged terrorist is going to pack his rectum with enough explosive to bring down an aircraft in flight, and there is nothing that TSA will be able to do to stop it. Unless, of course, your agency intends to start requiring cavity searches as a prerequisite of getting on board an aircraft.
TSA is on a self-inflicted road to failure. Your agency has set an impossible goal for itself, and the result is evident for all to see - your agency is the most hated in the entire federal government, and it isn't going to get better, unless TSA undergoes a massive structural change and top level management housecleaning.
There is no need for a child to be groped. The WTMD, the NOS, and a wanding should be enough.
At some point in the near or distant future, a deranged terrorist is going to pack his rectum with enough explosive to bring down an aircraft in flight, and there is nothing that TSA will be able to do to stop it. Unless, of course, your agency intends to start requiring cavity searches as a prerequisite of getting on board an aircraft.
TSA is on a self-inflicted road to failure. Your agency has set an impossible goal for itself, and the result is evident for all to see - your agency is the most hated in the entire federal government, and it isn't going to get better, unless TSA undergoes a massive structural change and top level management housecleaning.