[yatros from flatwater]

Now repeat after me...

He's from the government and he's here to help...himself

[Phantom Lord]

The article doesn't say he was fired so i suspect he was not.

[MineralMan]

The old pre-TSA baggage handlers stole stuff, too. Seems like there are people who are just too tempted by all those goodies in all those bags.

The video cameras are a good idea. They should have always been there.

[OldFriend]

If your bag wasn't broken into at JFK then you weren't flying in or out of JFK

[The Spirit Of Allegiance]

This guy was from the French gummit, looking for those lost explosives....

[Slings and Arrows]

[Redcloak]

In fairness to other TSA employees, We were traveling during the summer and had our luggage inspected several times. On one leg of the trip, we found nice, little notes in our bags from the TSA telling us that they'd been there. On another leg, I found a knife of mine had been moved from one bag to another; not taken, just moved.

Of course, this doesn't mean that I wouldn't rather see a private company handling security. The perp in this case, though arrested, wasn't fired. With a private company as the security services vendor, the employee would have been canned on the spot. In this case, the government employee may still return to the job.

[cubreporter]

DON'T put valuable or personal items in a bag you are checking. Carry them on your person. Why take a chance on having something stolen when you can just as easily carry it on? Our clothing and shoes go in our checked bags. If someone steals them we can always buy new when we get where we are going. If it means wearing one pair of slacks and one top the whole time we are there...so be it. However, I can still take photos with the camera I CARRIED ON.

[mvpel]

If you're going to put $1,600 worth of stuff in your checked luggage, you ought to take the airline's baggage insurance. Seems like common sense.

Here's Northwest's policy:

Excess Valuation Passengers may declare a higher value for checked luggage, by purchasing additional liability insurance at the time of check-in. Charges shown below are for one-way travel.
Domestic/Transborder: Per Passenger
Maximum Amount -- US Dollars $5,000.00/Canadian Dollars $6,750.00
Charges: US Dollars $1.00 for each additional hundred dollars of value Canadian Dollars $1.35 for each additional $135 of value
Example: If a customer wishes to purchase an additional $500 of liability insurance, and they are traveling domestically, the charge for this would be $5.00
International: Per Passenger
Maximum Amount -- US Dollars $2,500.00/Canadian Dollars $3,125.00
Charges: US Dollars $1.00 for each additional hundred dollars of value. Canadian Dollars $1.25 for each additional $125 of value.

They also explicitly say:

Customers should NOT pack medications, car keys, tickets, passports and other legal documentation, or valuable items such as jewelry or cameras in checked luggage. For a complete listing of items excluded from liability, please refer to the full text of the Northwest Airlines contract of carriage, which can be obtained online, at a Northwest airport counter or ticket office or by writing to: ...

And their contract of carriage excludes liability for:

1) MONEY 2) JEWELRY (INCLUDING WATCHES) 3) SILVERWARE 4) NEGOTIABLE PAPERS 5) CAMERA EQUIPMENT, FILM, PHOTOGRAPHS 6) PHOTOGRAPHIC EQUIPMENT 7) ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT 8) SECURITIES 9) BUSINESS DOCUMENTS 10) SAMPLES 11) COMPUTER EQUIPMENT AND RELATED COMPONENTS 12) PAINTINGS 13) ANTIQUES 14) MANUSCRIPTS 15) IRREPLACEABLE BOOKS OR PUBLICATIONS 16) KEYS 17) MEDICATION 18) IRREPLACEABLE ITEMS (ONE OF A KIND)

[Slings and Arrows]

Still, the TSA itself warns travelers to pack valuables, like jewelry and money in carry-on bags...

"...oh, and by the way, we can declare anything to be contraband, retroactively and without notice, so better put anything you don't want confiscated in your checked baggage."

Take /
Steal
Anything

[demlosers]

Hand carry everthing that's worth a damn.

[Petruchio]

And people wonder why I refuse to fly.

[neutrino]

My, my. And how big a step is it from petty thievery, to a bit of spying for the terrorists, to planting a bomb?

And yet we're supposed to endure the humiliations visited upon us by the TSA?

I, for one, have no intention of flying. The airline industry can file their chapter 7 bankruptcies; if I cannot drive to my destination, I simply will not go.

[Grampa Dave]

"So far, the TSA has settled some 19,000 claims totaling $2.5 million, including $152,000 worth of claims at LAX, $111,000 dollars at JFK, followed by Seattle, Las Vegas and Oakland."

Sounds like the blue gang controlled cities for Kerry are leading in TSA theft.

[FreedomCalls]

"To professionalize, you must federalize."

~ Senator Tom Daschle, (D-SD), 2001

[lonevoice]

TSA Administrator, Admiral David Stone, says, "In issues of theft, there's a zero-tolerance and we need to make sure that we route that out of our organization because it gets to the very core of who we are and that trust and confidence bond with the American people."

Stone thinks the TSA has a bond of trust and confidence with us? Good grief, what's he smoking?

[baltodog]

Go to USA Jobs and see how much your average TSA guy makes...

Around $9.00/hr.

$9.00/hr to protect us from terrorism. Yeah, right...

[Mr. Jeeves]

Might be smarter to FedEx your luggage to and from your destination.

[GOPJ]

Here's a solution: Screeners can take a picture of luggage contents when it goes into airline control, and one when it comes out. Any differences, and the airline pays + a $10,000 fine to the customer. I suspect after a few million, the airlines will clean up their act.

[A CA Guy]

They no longer allow your travel bags to have locks, so at any time employees can rifle through the bag if they want to.

[Doctor Stochastic]

Which is a bigger crime: rifling luggage or lugging rifles?