The Idiocy of Federal Airport Security

Well with the new ridiculous policy of requiring passengers to leave their
checked-luggage without lock I would prefer not to fly through the US, even
more with my sister's experience. After all, they always treat you in a
denigrating way at the US airports and believe me I have travelled all over
the world.

There are bad people in the world, we know that. So who stops any
ill-intentioned baggage handler (or someone in the chain) from prying into
your luggage and steal your stuff or even worse, plant some drugs or
something incriminating you don't even know about? and then the blame will
most likely fall on the poor passenger and well, being a foreigner most
likely you will end up in jail as well. Yes, a nightmare scenario. I do not
feel confident of leaving my checked luggage unlocked and possibly end up
(like many innocent people do).

Additionally because of this my sister and her husband had to leave their
checked luggage open and a lot of new things where stolen from their
luggage. Needless to say the airline did not make itself responsible for
this. And they still want people to trust on the good will of others (when
they don't trust you) and leave your luggage totally open and prone to
tampering? no thanks ;-)

"Dr. Zarkov" wrote in message
...
http://www.usatoday.com/travel/news/...rs-theft_x.htm
Four NYC airport screeners charged with theft
8/12/2004 9:38 AM
NEW YORK (AP) - Four federal security screeners were charged with
stealing watches, jewelry and other property from baggage at two New
York City airports, authorities said Wednesday.
One screener was accused of stealing $40 in cash, watches and rings from
luggage sent by undercover detectives last week through screening at the
American Airlines terminal at John F. Kennedy International Airport.

A search of the man's apartment later revealed watches, pens, cigarette
lighters and other merchandise that had also been planted by undercover
agents to go through screening, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown
said.

The other defendants are accused of stealing from bags at La Guardia
airport's Continental Airlines terminal in May. Those thefts were
recorded by surveillance cameras or observed by Port Authority
detectives, Brown said in a statement.

Passenger complaints prompted the investigations at both airports, he
said.

All four screeners worked for the Transportation Security
Administration, the agency created after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist
attacks. TSA employees are authorized to open bags to search for
explosives and banned items.

The four suspects await arraignment in Queens Criminal Court.

Copyright 2004 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material
may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/news/...ener-theft.htm
07/11/2003 - Updated 10:59 AM ET

Airport security screener charged with stealing cash from bag
Have airport screeners damaged your luggage?

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Federal prosecutors charged a government security
screener Thursday with stealing cash from a person's belongings at
Philadelphia International Airport.

The criminal complaint said Transportation Security Administration
screener Calvin Sanders, 42, of Philadelphia, took $273 from a passenger
who passed through a terminal checkpoint on April 6.

Sanders worked an X-ray machine at the checkpoint and stole the money
while inspecting the person's things, the complaint said.

Attempts to reach Sanders were unsuccessful. He has an unlisted phone
number and it wasn't immediately clear whether he has an attorney.

Airport workers have been under increased scrutiny since the Sept. 11
attacks. At Philadelphia International, more than two dozen were
arrested last year on charges that they lied on applications for
security clearance.

A baggage handler was charged with stealing two guns from the luggage of
law enforcement officers. He pleaded guilty and was scheduled to be
sentenced in the case this week, but did not show up in court,
authorities said.

news/2003/07/10http://news4colorado.com/investigates/local_story_194194943.html
Airport Security Checkpoint Theft

Jul 12, 2004 5:39 pm US/Mountain
DENVER (News 4) Transportation Security Administration security workers
at airports across the country are charged with stealing from the
passengers they are supposed to protect, and now a News 4 investigation
has found a series of theft complaints against TSA screeners at Denver
International Airport.

News 4 investigator Brian Maass looked at theft complaints passengers
filed with police at DIA.

For a recent 16 month period, there was an average of almost one
complaint a month from a passenger believing they had been ripped off by
a TSA screener.

Bogdan Skwarek is one of the nearly 4 million passengers who go through
DIA's security lines every month. Three months ago, when Skwarek passed
through DIA security, he discovered he was missing $400.

"The only explanation was something happened at the security
checkpoint," Skwarek said. "When this individual was searching through
my belongings and we were getting a pat down search at the other side, I
didn't even look in that direction. That was the last thing to go
through my mind -- that I'd be missing money. From that point, it's just
the last thing on my mind."

The suspect in the theft was not a pickpocket or a street criminal. The
suspect is Lemuel Williams, a TSA screener.

Skwarek is not alone. During the last 16 months, News 4 found a dozen
passengers filed police reports suggesting they were ripped off at TSA
checkpoints. That everything from cash to jewelery to cellphones and
credit cards disappeared after passing through DIA's security checkpoints.

Two months ago, TSA screener Steven McCumber was convicted of stealing
$700 from Marivel Sotelo's wallet.

"I opened this part of my wallet and noticed the money was gone," Sotelo
said.

Those are just the complaints to police at DIA. The numbers may be higher.

But when News 4 asked the TSA for theft complaints , the agency said it
would take at least 4 months to give us the information.

TSA spokesman Mike Fierberg said he believes most passengers believe TSA
workers are honest.

"Those who do not meet that level of professionalism and responsibility
are dealt with swiftly and harshly," Fierberg said. "We take it very
seriously."

In New York, law enforcement fields a dozen complaints every month from
passengers who believe TSA workers picked their pockets.

In Philadelphia, a TSA screener was charged with stealing a passengers
cash.

In Baton Rouge, nine TSA workers arrested for allegedly stealing from
luggage.

In Fort Lauderdale, four TSA screeners were charged for the same thing.

Back in Denver, with the summer travel season in high gear, passenger
Skwarek suspects many others may not realize they were scammed by the
people who were supposed to protect them.

"I'm sure there are plenty of people who are missing their money but
can't prove it because they are more likely at their destination when
they realized it happened."

TSA officials say they encourage passengers to file complaints if they
think belongings were lost or stolen when they passed through airport
security.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp...nguage=printer
TSA Under Pressure To Stop Baggage Theft
For Agency, a New Airport Security Problem

By Sara Kehaulani Goo
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, June 29, 2003; Page A01

When John Latta flew to Reagan National Airport from Miami last month,
he discovered that a $1,000 pair of binoculars was missing from his
checked luggage.

"What can I do?" he asked an airline agent who took a report. Her
answer, Latta said, was: "Nothing. Zero."

Latta's complaint is one of more than 6,700 that travelers have lodged
in the six months since the federal government began advising passengers
to leave their checked luggage unlocked for inspection. Most of the
complaints concerned damaged or stolen items, but the figure also
includes some claims of lost luggage, according to the Transportation
Security Administration, which compiles the numbers.

The airlines do not provide data on stolen and damaged items in their
reporting of complaints, most of which concern lost baggage. So
comparisons with previous years are difficult.

The spotlight on luggage thefts intensified after two baggage screeners
were arrested in Miami this week. The TSA employees were charged with
stealing things from checked baggage. A federal security screener in New
York was arrested in March on charges of stealing thousands of dollars
in cash from passengers while inspecting their belongings at an airport
checkpoint. The rap star Lil' Kim reported June 20 that $250,000 worth
of jewelry was stolen from her Louis Vuitton bag at New York's John F.
Kennedy International Airport. Her lawyer said the jewelry was found
Friday in a locker room for airline employees at JFK, the Associated
Press reported.

"There is just no guarantee that your luggage is secure anymore," said
Paul S. Hudson, executive director of the nonprofit Aviation Consumer
Action Project.

The TSA said the complaints it received in the past six months came from
only a tiny fraction of the passengers who traveled during that time.
"It's highly unlikely that your bag will suffer any damage or any loss
from the TSA side of the ledger, as it makes its way through the
system," TSA spokesman Robert Johnson said. "We have a zero-tolerance
policy when it comes to malfeasance of anyone working for TSA. It's
important for people to have confidence in the system as we build a
robust system for responding to claims and we'll be better at responding
to these claims."

Travelers and members of Congress have expressed concern about people
working in airport security who have criminal records. Hiring thousands
of federal security workers after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks
was intended to inspire the confidence of travelers. But this month the
TSA admitted that it has yet to complete background checks on 22,000 of
its screeners. The agency has fired 85 felons who had been hired.

The TSA declined on privacy grounds to say whether background checks had
been made on the two Miami screeners arrested this week. The agency said
budget problems have delayed installation of video cameras in airports
to keep an eye on security workers.

"This security system is not finished," Johnson said. "A lot of work
still needs to be done."

At some airports, passengers are present when security personnel scan
their luggage as it passes through screening machines. At other
airports, airline personnel send the bags on a conveyor belt for
inspection beyond the sight of passengers. At smaller airports, bags are
often opened and swiped with a cotton swab treated to detect explosives.

Many of the nation's largest airports, including Dulles International
and Baltimore-Washington International, plan to move luggage-screening
machines from airport lobbies to baggage-handling areas, out of view of
passengers.

The TSA's recommendation that passengers not lock their luggage came at
the beginning of the year, when the agency was required by Congress to
screen all luggage for explosives.

The TSA said it would use plastic zip ties to reseal inspected luggage
and would put notices inside bags, with toll-free TSA telephone numbers,
so passengers would know when a screening had occurred.

But passengers say implementation of those measures is spotty. Doug
Stagnaro was traveling from National Airport last month with $2,000 in
scuba equipment inside his luggage. He said he made a point of asking
the airline agent to reseal his bag with zip ties after screening. But,
Stagnaro said, the agent didn't seem to know what he was talking about
and referred him to a TSA agent, who found the ties after rummaging
around for a few minutes.

"You're at the liberty of the TSA," Stagnaro said.

Even before the federal government took over, airports were a thieves'
playground. An FBI sting in 1994 at National Airport resulted in the
arrest of eight baggage handlers who were caught on videotape stealing
cameras and other valuables from luggage while it was being sorted onto
planes. Similar theft rings have been found at airports in Los Angeles,
New York and Miami.

"It was always very, very difficult" to catch thieves at airports, said
Douglas R. Laird, an aviation security consultant and former official at
Northwest Airlines. When a bag disappears behind the plastic curtain at
the ticket counter, it enters a maze of conveyor belts and passes
through many hands, Laird said.

"Many times theft occurs in the belly of the airplane with the baggage
handler inside the plane, and it's impossible to see what they're
doing," Laird said. "The same is true with TSA."

Until the TSA began screening luggage, the airlines bore sole
responsibility for baggage. The airlines reported 1.8 million incidents
of "mishandled" bags last year, or 3.8 mishandled bags per 1,000
passengers. Those numbers mostly involved lost or delayed luggage.

The TSA said that of 6,700 complaints it received through June 22 --
most about stolen items or damaged luggage -- it has settled 485 and
paid passengers a total of $38,785.83. Travelers withdrew 47 claims, and
145 claims were denied on the grounds that no negligence was found.

Most of the complaints remain unresolved while the agency and the
airlines negotiate who is liable for compensating passengers. The two
sides are also working out how to determine false claims.

"It's a different world for us," said James C. May, chief executive of
the Air Transport Association, the airline trade group. "We're trying to
figure out how to appropriate out this liability. I'm not sure we've
gotten to that point yet, other than to agree we've got to find a way on
a case-by-case basis whether it's an airline problem or a TSA problem."

May said he thought the airlines eventually will take the lead in
collecting passenger complaints about stolen and damaged items. But the
TSA, which has been collecting complaints through its toll-free number
and Web site, said it is working on a proposal for determining liability
based on the time a bag spends under TSA control compared with the time
it is with an airline.

Airlines will pay a passenger as much as $2,500 per claim. The TSA,
which pays beyond that limit, may benefit from a bill before Congress
under which the agency's liability would also be capped at $2,500 per
claim. The bill has been passed by a House committee.

"We're trying to get our arms around it right now," said Johnson, the
TSA spokesman. "I suspect over the next several weeks, pending the
outcome of that [negotiation], we hope we'll see an accelerated ability
to start resolving the claims."

In the meantime, travelers are advised not to pack valuables when they
fly, particularly in their checked luggage.

"The most critical thing is to ensure that terrorist hijackers and bombs
don't get on airplanes. It's more important that we're going through
this screening process and may have a few problems with it than not to
go through it at all," said David S. Stempler, president of the Air
Travelers Association, which represents mostly business travelers.

But Stempler said TSA officials could have started tackling this issue
sooner, because they knew it was coming. "It's a problem that can be
managed, but the biggest difficulty is TSA failing to stand up and
create a program or a system to deal with this."

"### Tired Of Spam ###" wrote:
Well with the new ridiculous policy of requiring passengers to
leave their checked-luggage without lock I would prefer not to
fly through the US, even more with my sister's experience.
... my sister and her husband had to leave their checked luggage
open and a lot of new things where stolen from their luggage.
Needless to say the airline did not make itself responsible for
this. And they still want people to trust on the good will of
others (when they don't trust you) and leave your luggage totally
open and prone to tampering? no thanks ;-)

Wherever I go, here or abroad, I assume that anything in my
bags or the bags themselves can disappear. Consequently, I
try to keep any item of value (like cash), on my person. =R=

In message "Rog'"
wrote:

"### Tired Of Spam ###" wrote:
Well with the new ridiculous policy of requiring passengers to
leave their checked-luggage without lock I would prefer not to
fly through the US, even more with my sister's experience.
... my sister and her husband had to leave their checked luggage
open and a lot of new things where stolen from their luggage.
Needless to say the airline did not make itself responsible for
this. And they still want people to trust on the good will of
others (when they don't trust you) and leave your luggage totally
open and prone to tampering? no thanks ;-)

Wherever I go, here or abroad, I assume that anything in my
bags or the bags themselves can disappear. Consequently, I
try to keep any item of value (like cash), on my person. =R=


Agreed. At the same time, I leave copies of my (electronic) tickets,
health insurance, travelers cheques, and everything else I'll need in my
luggage as well (on the off-change that I get mugged or otherwise lose
everything on my person, but still have my luggage)

However, everything in my luggage is disposable or easily replaceable.

--
If you cannot convince them, confuse them.

On Sun, 14 Aug 2005 01:17:51 +0200 in rec.travel.air, "### Tired
Of Spam ###" wrote:

Additionally because of this my sister and her husband had to leave their
checked luggage open and a lot of new things where stolen from their
luggage.

rule 1 is to never put anything valuable in checked baggage.
rule 2 is that if you have too many valuables to take in your
carryon ship them some other way.

Deuteros wrote:
Pretend you work for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).
You're a high muckety-muck at Houston Hobby Airport, and you've learned that
a flight with 136 passengers and 5 crew will make an emergency landing
there. It seems some passengers discovered a note in their seat pocket
claiming a bomb was on board.

After seeing the reaction to every threat note found aboard an airline,
cruise ship, or in a high school bathroom, I'm fairly confident that if
I ever find a note in the seat pocket that says a bomb is on board, I'm
going to calmly fold it back up, put it back in the seat pocket, & go
back to reading my book.

I still don't understand why I'm supposed to just accept baggage theft
because it's "highly unlikely" that I'll be a victim, but I'm supposed
to notify the nearest authority so they can hit the panic button over a
bomb note that some bored toddler wrote because there's NO chance that
the actual bomb is unlikely, oh no, those happen all the time, there's
even a note!

Of course, when you place it back into the seat pocket it will now have your
fingerprints on it.


"Darryl" wrote in message
ups.com...

Deuteros wrote:
Pretend you work for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).
You're a high muckety-muck at Houston Hobby Airport, and you've learned
that
a flight with 136 passengers and 5 crew will make an emergency landing
there. It seems some passengers discovered a note in their seat pocket
claiming a bomb was on board.

After seeing the reaction to every threat note found aboard an airline,
cruise ship, or in a high school bathroom, I'm fairly confident that if
I ever find a note in the seat pocket that says a bomb is on board, I'm
going to calmly fold it back up, put it back in the seat pocket, & go
back to reading my book.

I still don't understand why I'm supposed to just accept baggage theft
because it's "highly unlikely" that I'll be a victim, but I'm supposed
to notify the nearest authority so they can hit the panic button over a
bomb note that some bored toddler wrote because there's NO chance that
the actual bomb is unlikely, oh no, those happen all the time, there's
even a note!