ID System for Port Workers Considered (Los Angeles California )

The Los Angeles Times ^ | October 25, 2001 | LOUIS SAHAGUN, TIMES STAFF WRITER

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Security: Facilities are called 'wide open.' But immigration, criminal record checks are a sensitive issue.

Los Angeles Mayor James K. Hahn's task force on waterfront security has opened talks on the most politically sensitive item on its anti-terrorist agenda: possible background checks of the 25,000 people who work each day at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.

The nation's busiest harbor complex remains "wide open" to possible security breaches, said Los Angeles Port Police Chief Noel Cunningham, who hopes to have an identification system in place and sanctioned by federal authorities within six months.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

This is a deadly situation and the politicians just don't get it!

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

"Right now," he said, "98% of all the cargo entering the nation's ports is not checked."

[Don W]

You still have a choice as a dokworker in this situation: allow your employer to brand you suspicious, or submit, you peon!