Posted on 03/24/2007 5:36:13 PM PDT by Kaslin
Stole Items From Passenger Luggage On the heels of a TSA crackdown on airline and airport employee screenings -- after Delta Air Lines baggage handlers were caught smuggling guns and drugs through Orlando International Airport -- now comes word the agency should perhaps be screening some of its employees, too.
Several TSA screeners at Los Angeles International Airport are suspected of stealing items from passengers during screenings. The Los Angeles City Attorney's Office will be filing misdemeanor theft charges, The Associated Press reports.
Nick Velasquez, a spokesman for City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo's office, said alleged victims include hotel heiress Paris Hilton, singer Keyshia Cole and several non-celebrity passengers. Some of the stolen items include cartons of cigarettes, watches and jewelry.
The alleged incidents occurred almost two years ago, according to a report by KTLA Channel 5 News in Los Angeles. The items were taken from checked baggage as well as carry-on luggage.
Carol Carter, an LAX air traveler, told reporters such theft isn't something she really worries about when she travels.
"No, they're supposed to be the best of the best -- they're federal government employees," she said. "But it doesn't surprise me."
Fellow traveler Rhonda Allen says she follows a simple rule for avoiding situations like this.
"I don't check anything I can't afford to lose," she said.
A total of 10 airport employees and one transient are to be charged. Of this group, eight were airport screeners who have since been terminated from their positions, according to the Los Angeles Times.
A TSA spokesman told KTLA such occurrences are "extremely rare." LAX has had more than 5,000 screeners employed over the last five years, and only 12 have been fired for theft.
The TSA has been trying to crack down on theft by airport employees, Velasquez said, adding the agency "played a key role" in this investigation.
TSA = Thousands Standing Around
*chortle*
And soon to be unionized.
LOL!! Words fail me...
A TSA spokesman told KTLA such occurrences are "extremely rare." LAX has had more than 5,000 screeners employed over the last five years, and only 12 have been fired for theft.
TSA = They Steal Anything
Pilfering of checked baggage has been going on for many years.
It is common place and well documented.
If you report something "missing" from a checked bag,
the airlines reply is much like it is the travelers fault
for having placed anything of value in the checked bag.
Oh, and if you lock your checked bag, the TSA will cut the lock off.
If you travel with anything of value, put it in your carry-on bag.
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"...A TSA spokesman told KTLA such occurrences are "extremely rare."... The TSA has been trying to crack down on theft by airport employees..."
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If it is so "rare", then why are they trying to "crack down" on it?
The TSA also assumed contracts from private screening companies worth at least $1.6 billion and requested $2.1 billion for screener salaries next year.
Rogers was a leader in the effort by House Republicans to limit the size of the TSA. Congress imposed a 45,000-person cap, but the agency got around it by giving people five-year, "temporary full-time" contracts.
Starting salaries range between $23,600 and $35,400, and benefits include health care, life insurance, paid vacation and sick leave. The screeners receive 44 hours of classroom training, 60 hours of on-the-job training and a promise of advancement if they do well.
Ed Karabinus, 56, was a security manager at Shepard Air Force Base in Texas last winter when he traveled through Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport and encountered inefficient screeners who didn't speak English.
He decided to become a screener himself. He took the test, and in March he was one of 61 people hired as supervisors.
Eight months later, he has been promoted to federal security director, a new category of federal law enforcement officer, overseeing both Wichita Falls Municipal Airport in Texas and nearby Lawton Municipal Airport in Oklahoma.
Federal security directors earn between $108,400 and $150,000 a year.
Karabinus, who now drives a used Mercedes, motivates his screeners by saying, "Look where I went, guys, in eight months."
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/09/04/attack/main520797.shtml
Great - I'm flying Delta to LAX in about 10 hrs.
When the elections of 2008 are finished...and the winner arrives in DC...one of the top 25 things they will likely change...will be the end of the TSA...and contractor cops at each airport. The Feds haven't saved a dime and security really hasn't improved.
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