TSA Baggage Screeners Exposed
 

CBS News Article

""But when a crime of opportunity presents itself, individual loses his or her moral compass and makes a bad decision," said Mark Hatfield, with the TSA.

Passenger Bolanos believes screeners have more important work to do than fishing through his luggage. "

Crime of opportunity! Do you hear that, Admiral Stone?? Take away the opportunity before the next crime is a bomb being introduced into someone's checked luggage instead of valuables being removed!!! :mad:

1. Too many bags are being opened

2. The owners are not present

3. There is no oversight when a bag is opened

1 + 2 + 3 = kaboom!

No such thing as "too many bags being opened" when it comes to security. However, I do agree with the other points. Again, as I've posted repeatedly, like it or not, many people simply don't stick around to watch their bags get screened at the checked baggage pods. They drop off their bags and leave the area without any second thoughts. Your third point can be resolved with CCTV coverage specifically aimed at the baggage pods and by keeping baggage pods out in the public area. The reason for the CCTV coverage is not only to protect passengers' property from theft, but also to have a video recording should there be an incident such as the exploding flashlight at LAX.

Too many bags being opened is a problem because every time a bag is touched, someone could introduce a bomb into it. Why do you think they have these announcements in the terminal to never let your baggage out of your control? And yet here we are allowing ever more people access to the bags that are out of our direct control.

If the bad guys aren't afraid to die, then they aren't afraid to get caught either. One bad guy gets a job as a baggage screener, brings twelve devices to work one day and explodes twelve airplanes. What difference is it going to make then if you have a video recording of him doing it?

Yes, there is. No bag should be opened unless there is clear, probable cause to do so, such as an x-ray indicating the presense of something unclear/dangerous or an indication of unknown/chemicals.

Not only does opening bags increase the probability of a crime of opportunity, as GradGirl states, but it also is extremely un-American.

I do stay and watch my bags whenever possible. Try doing this at EWR terminal C. They have big partitions that are designed to prevent you from watching. If you try to watch through a crack in the partition or over the top they tell you to leave and that you are not allowed to watch. Last time this happened (last week) I started to get into an argument with them but my family (not wanting to miss our flight) directed me up the escalator. The TSA folks always actively encourage people to leave the area after bags are dropped off.

Let me clarify. You cannot observe the CTX images. However, you have every right to observe your bags being opened and physically searched by a screener. I recommend you write the FSD of that airport. Sounds to me like they're not following written TSA policy.

OK. Fair enough. We are truly in agreement. When I said no such thing as "too many searches," I meant based on sound security principles. Of course, I agree with you that bags shouldn't be opened just for the heck of it to see what "goodies" are packed inside.

The screens of the CTX machine were in no way visible, yet they always move people away from anywhere near the screening area. Can you tell me what portion of the TSA rules allow me to see my bag being searched? I'd like to cite that in my letter.

That raises the question of "who are these people that now represent the TSA at our airports?" They seem to have law enforcement authority and assert powers of search and detention that should only be entrusted to trained and trusted LEOs.
Who are these people? What kind of training have they had? What kind of background screening have they gone thru to get these jobs? Who did these screens, if any have been done? Have they ever had any formal education? Have they ever been able to hold jobs before this one?
Is all of this the same as is required of an FBI agent? or the guy who takes out the trash at the Pentagon? or the cook at the White House? Is there anybody who knows and moreover, are there many of us who care?

Here you go. I was a guy that needed a job but the job market sucked, then 9/11 happened. I wanted to do something to help, anything and a friend told me about a private airport security firm hiring.

I signed up and got the job on the spot. I went through a week of in class training and then got sent out to the checkpoint. I was given a shadow for the first two weeks until I met the requirements and then I got set loose on the unsuspecting passengers. X-ray interpation was easy for me and I caught onto it really quick.

The procedures and such in my view were always straight forward and easy to use on the checkpoint. For a long while I had the mind set that the pointy object search was a good thing. About a year of this led to me hating my private employer, as far as management because of abuses they did to their staff.

The TSA finally rolled out at my airport and I worked a week doing baggage searches and Sky chef screening. Finally my date for TSA testing came and I passed it with clear colors. The next week I was in training for TSA and again passed without a problem, scoring high marks on the x-ray testing in the process. Did a perfect 100% 3 times on the program they had us train on, just stopped using it after that.

I worked with TSA and my mindset on the whole thing changed. I didn't feel like I was doing anything to help anymore. I felt some of the procedures were either, look-busy or CYA. I felt that those kinds of policies had no place in security.

One day I'm reading a newspaper on lunch and happen to see a article about the new shoe kick. I notice something about flyertalk and say what the heck. Pretty soon I decide to come on here and read what people post. I actually read a lot of the stuff and have to say that I agree with a lot of whats being posted in regards to current policies. But I also see a lot of misunderstanding as far as what screeners are doing. So I join up.

Pretty soon I start looking for employment else where. And this past week I left the employment of TSA for bigger and better things.

Congratulations!!! ^ ^ ^

Until the management at the TSA is dismissed or receives some kind of restorative blow to its collective head, I hope more people leave this outfit. Until the TSA management stops using passenger harassment as a substitute for security, I will continue to press for its demise.

While valid questions about TSA, I don't think you (or I) would be particularly impressed with the background "credentials" required of most rookie LEOs. Not saying that LEOs are bad people, but my guess is that the bad-apple rates may be similar between organizations, and it's not like an average LEO goes through years of training before being put on duty.