TSA theft stats
 

Good article. Thanks for posting.

The only offensive part of the article for me:

How arrogant.

So travelers are searched with fine tooth combs to make certain no pocketknives slip by (which even most screeners here seem to agree makes no real sense) yet screeners should not be searched to see if they have stolen things while going thru everyone ele's stuff.

Hatfield, you are a typical arrogant government idiot.

Screeners should only be treated like potential criminals when they are searched for pocketknives every time they traverse a checkpoint yet should never be presumed to be criminals when it comes to stealing our stuff. Thank you, Hatfield, and thank you, TSA. Thank you very much.

There is a difference
 

There are some areas in some airports where screeners are screened to get into their baggage assignments. There are some areas where they are not. IT depends on the airport layout.

:confused:

I'm not talking about screening on the way in, I'm talking (as was Hatfield) about screening on the way OUT. Like at the BPE where the government prints money.

I couldn't care less whether they are searched on the way in - what should occur is a complete search on the way out to see if they have any items on them. Rule could be very simple. Screeners have no personal items on them at any times. No jewelry, no nothing. Max of $10 or $20 for lunch (which they show on the way in). Anything in their possession at the end of their shift - fired.

Wow
 

That would be a hard one to accomplish.

Hard like trying to find weapons and bombs on innocent people?
;)

I don't know, IMO that's a bit of overkill. And airport isn't the BPE and ingress/egress of items can't be controlled that tightly due to the huge number of pax bags involved.

Treating screeners like criminals (going in or out of their workplace) isn't going to do any good. If a checkpoint screener wants to let a prohibited item in, all they have to do is "miss" the item on their accomplice when he goes through the checkpoint. If they want to steal from bags, all they have to do is move the item from one bag to another (owned by an accomplice) or set the item aside and take it during a quiet/non-observable time.

The only way to prevent these problems is 1) hire a professional/competent workforce, 2) keep it that way, and 3) humiliate, fire, criminally charge, and imprison for several years anyone caught stealing, accepting bribes, or abetting someone trying to slip through prohibited items,

I agree with you there. Any TSA screener should be immediately fired if caught red-handed. I know the government does this whole "administrative leave" thing while they investigate. What investigation is needed? He's holding the item that was stolen!!! I've seen some investigations take a couple months to complete and they were finally fired. 2 months!!! I hated knowing they were on the payroll all that time. What does that teach our screeners? When your ready to quit, just get caught stealing something. At least you will draw 2 months pay while you are on your new job! :mad:

Humiliating them at the airport doesn't seem to be a bad idea...

Why not? That is how pax are treated :).

Sarcasm aside, nobody should be treated like criminals at airports. Pax or screeners. If a screener is cuaght red handed, indict him. If there is PROBABLE SUSPICION to search a screener or his belongings, then do so. I think airport security should have the right to search those who screen bags, but not do it as a general rule.

Everybody should be given the benefit of the doubt. But if caught AND CONFIRMED to be up to no good then throw the book at them. This goes for screeners on the take or pax sneaking guns on board. But not bookmarks...

That's a pretty inflamatory post. I believe the vast majority of TSA staff are honest and diligent and, to arbitrarily search their belongings on the assumption that they could have acted criminally is absurd. Why not search all bank tellers as they leave work? Why not search all baggage handlers as they leave work? Why not check up on all internet chat-room posters that you employ on the basis they must be using the firm's time inappropriately?

You can't have it both ways - to argue that screeners should be searched without probable cause and yet passengers shouldn't is.....well....inconsistent. To argue that they both should is.....well....bizarre.

Passengers are already searched without probable cause (unless buying a one way ticket is reasonable probable cause).

Ask a bank teller what happens if there's money missing from the funds that he/she is responsible for. Even as little as a dollar. ;) They are expected to find it, even if it means staying late. And if it happens more than extremely rarely, guess what happens to the bank teller?

There's accountability (pun!) at the bank. There's no accountability at the TSA, unless perhaps, one is caught red-handed. Then maybe there is some accountability but not always.

I disagree. See: Goose and Gander. ;)

If searching the TSA staff strikes you as bizarre, well, so does searching 650 million airline pax, if you ask me. :)

We're government employees and have passed background checks, so nobody is allowed to assume we'd steal from the customers (so we can't be searched arbitrarily) strikes me as, well, bizzare.

The vast majority of pax are honest and diligent, yet the searches and rubdowns continue.

Have a good day. :)

I agree that screeners should not be allowed to bring backpacks and bags into their work areas such as checked baggage screening. Also they should not be carrying amounts of money or wear Jewelry. Not all airports have a break/locker room for screeners so this may not be practical everywhere.

Not having bags in the area is a logical CYA.

That's exactly why the TSA should do this -- CYA. Then, there would be an almost zero chance that a screener, or group of screeners, was doing the screening. Combined with this would be walking through the metal detector with your pockets empty and turned out. It the TSA is really concerned about screener theft (and, I'm not sure they really are), they would go through this. Any screener that didn't like it could resign. Any screener who could work around this lock-down and STILL manage to steal from luggage should be out there trying to find bin Laden.

Cute FWAAA... Too bad the rubdowns don't come after 4 hours of being squeezed into a coach seat. :D

:confused:
:rolleyes:
:p

Surely you want the screener or screeners doing the screening in Seattle by the sea shore.

So would all this mean I couldn't bring my lunch to work anymore then? I don't much relish the thought of buying food at airport prices everyday or spending my 30 minute lunch break waiting in line at the steak escape. Storage is minimal we really don't have anywhere to put our stuff. Sheesh, a extreme minority of TSA employees are caught stealing and suddenly we all are thieves. Yes I know a extreme minority of people are terrorists.
Funny how in one incident at my checkpoint one of my co-workers stopped a theft but that never got any recognition at all. He noticed another airport employee quickly look around then snatch something off the table and right afterwards a female PAX said her necklace was missing. The screener notified a LEO who happened to be nearby and he went down and caught her. When they rolled back the security tape it was obvious she was the thief and the PAX got her necklace back. But this situation and many other good events with the TSA never get any media coverage at all. All you hear is the bad.

You've summed it up nicely. Sorry, nothing personal.

It's a matter of how much the TSA cares about public image. If I were the good admiral, I would want a workforce beyond reproach. If that meant doing everything I could do to assure the public that screeners weren't stealing from passengers, I would take the extraordinary measures described above. However, I don't believe this is in the admiral's Top Ten. (I'm not sure what is...)

There's one reality about the press -- They aren't in business to report good news. To paraphrase what I once heard from a friend in the DoD public affairs world: He told me about a conversation he once had with an editor of a prominent newspaper who regularly printed bad news stories about the Pentagon. My friend called the editor to tell him that a major acquisition program had just been delivered way under cost and ahead of schedule and offered to send him the details for an article. The editor's reply: "If you want to publish good news in my newspaper, take out an ad."

Perhaps your FSD needs to reach out to the local newspapers and electronic media in your area and build a positive relationship?

I have to agree with you on this one. Unfortunately, the media will never say anything positive about TSA. The only place where I have seen positive stuff along with negative stuff ever printed together is in our newsletters. You can have a screener successfully resuscitate an elderly man who just had a heart attack and no one will ever know. But let the same screener pat down some guy's hip when it alarms and the passenger is uncomfortable about it, and every sarcastic newspaper editor in town will publish something about how we need retraining on materials used in manufacturing jeans so we'll stop patting down the hips when the metal rivets alarm. That's just the way it is. According to the media, no matter how good we perform or how many good services we provide, both in or out of the checkpoint, the public will only about how we destroy people's lives through screening.

There's no reason I can think of why your FSD couldn't send copies of your newsletters to your local media outlets. I'm assuming you assume these newsletters are taken home, so you don't publish any SSI or FOUO stuff in there. Or, he/she could extract articles of interest and publish a media relations newsletter?

When you get a minute, check out any of the military service's web sites, such as www.af.mil/news. There's all sorts of good news stories in it, and the site is in the public domain.

We had three screeners (EMTs & CPR certified) resuscitate a passenger (who went home a week later) and the press was notified. The reporters questions were about how that affected the screening process, did it create a line because the screeners weren't screening and cause people to miss their flights.

Good idea. Maybe you want to make your suggestion to the TSA Contact Center at 1-866-289-9673.

We do send our newsletters to the locals.

Exactly. According to the media, and the FF posters here, TSA can not do anything right.

Prejudicial emotionalism :rolleyes:

I am an FF poster, so let me tell you something the TSA does right, seriously. TSA screeners are much more courteous to passengers than the private screeners were. The private screeners were often surly, unresponsive, or simply not fluent in English. None of these is a problem with TSA screeners. TSA screeners seem to be fairly well trained in appropriate ways to say things to passengers. This was a major improvement in the changeover.

Double checking to make sure I am on the right web site. :D

Thanks Girl.

Just being proactive if I can use a common FF term. :) It was inevitable that someone would have said "you treat everyone like a terrorist even through they are a extreme minority"

Sending copies of our newsletters to papers won't do any good if they won't print it. As others have already said bad news it what sells so that is what they print. I suppose we could try and publish our own newspaper and set up the racks right next to USA today. I don't know how many people would buy it though.

It would seem as if the upcoming ABC news report on baggage theft would be a golden opportunity for the TSA to attempt to "set the record straight" or to at least tell its side of the story in front of a national TV audience.

I do appreciate the positive response. It is a rarity here. Compared to comments such as we were wrong for ever accepting the job, I do appreciate the acknowledgement that we're more courteous and speak better English.

Now all we need to improve is everything else...

The only way our paper would sell is to include a "Get Out of SSSS Free" card. :D

Not a bad idea IMHO.....:).

I'd go more for a "Keep your Profile shoes on Free" card. Everyone should have fun not just selectees. :D

Wow
 

This response blew me away also. Looking at the stats for our airport, I just don't see it being that high. I am wondering if a good portion of this is related to the removal of HAZMAT from the luggage. Travelers are still bringing gallon containers of Acetone, MEK, Naptha, Baccardi 151, kerosene, propane, camping stove fuel all mixed in with batteries and sharp objects that can puncture these containers. I think that more camera monitoring would take care of the theft issue to a certain extent. The TSA does not exclusively handle bags and the media is biased because the airlines have serious issues with employees who are fired but that doesn't make the news.