I'll never understand why people pack valuable and fragile items in checked bags - they're around 1000 times more likely to be broken than stolen, and we usually get blamed for that as well despite the fact that at a major airport, we never even see a picture of 83% of the bags, and only lay hand on around 10%. Computerized systems scan all the checked bags first to detect anything that might be an issue, and when a potential issue is found, THEN we're notified. All the other bags go straight to the baggage handlers, ramp crews, and airline personnel after clearing the computerized system. <br /><br />The EWR guy in the story, obviously, is an example of a person doing something terrible, and I'm quite glad he was caught and punished. However, the way the story is written, the author makes it sound like this is standard practice, and something condoned by TSA. He acts like it's some sort of "customer service" policy, when it's a criminal complaint against a rogue employee. Kinda makes me want to stab the dumb-ass author in the eye with a letter opener, but he'd probably blame that on TSA policy as well. Even when we have nothing to do with something that occurs at an airport, we get blamed. We had a major news agency broadcasting reports that TSA beat up a woman recently, accompanied by video footage of the alleged beating, in which the woman fought with two police officers (not TSA personnel... POLICE). We got blamed for the woman in Phoenix dying in police custody in a holding cell (no TSOs touched her, or even were nearby). When a person didn't like that she couldn't take her liquid on a plane, she got on the news and claimed TSA "tortured" her baby, when the video clearly showed her scream at officers, open the container, and dump the water it contained on the ground, all while her crying baby was on the other side of her from any TSA employee.<br /><br />We're a convenient whipping boy, because we're an "inconvenience" to people. We rank second only to the IRS as the most despised government agency. Thing is? You don't want to get on a plane that hasn't been screened. Trust me on this. In the last 90 day period, my airport alone caught 60 firearms. Not the legally carried, properly declared, unloaded ones in checked baggage. That's 60 firearms that were illegally carried, - loaded, accessible, or otherwise posing an active danger to the passengers on that plane. We catch well over that many knives every day that people are trying to carry on, many with blades 4 to 5 times the size of the ones that were used to seize planes on 9/11. Every single week, TSA catches items that have been specially concealed by passengers in an attempt to smuggle them past us on to planes. We catch countless items, ranging from crossbows to black powder cannons to filled propane tanks to explosive precursors, and you never hear about it on the news. Why? Two reasons:<br /><br />1) The more significant the find, the more likely it is involved in an active investigation. It could be anti-terror, it could be domestic drug-related, it could simply be an inquiry in to the specific person by their local law enforcement. Suffice to say, TSA does not talk about the majority of those events, as it would compromise ongoing investigations, and is likely illegal based on privacy laws. <br /><br />2) The news does not care. Happy stories about government agencies are rare indeed, and when there's a choice between talking about a thousand good things done by a thousand of our officers, or one bad thing done by one of our officers, they'll choose the bad. When we caught a guy with a bomb in his bag last April in Florida, it was in the news for part of an afternoon. This story though? It's been in the news a good week so far, and still going.<br /><br />If TSA published the countless things we find, and all the various threats, issues, and items were reported publicly, there are an awful lot of people that would never fly again. We don't want that, as we're not here to scare people. We're also not here to brag, we're just doing our job. All we ask is for a little respect. You see us once, but we see you 2,000,000 times a day, over 3,000,000,000 times in the last 6 years. When even one passenger stops to say "thank you for what you do," it's incredible, and can make our day.<br /><br />So, do we have problems? Yes, of course. We're made up of human beings, like any organization, and there are those amongst us who should not be. On the whole, however, you will find far fewer miscreants, far fewer crimes, and far few troubles in our ranks than you will amongst the people who surround you every day as you walk down the street, shop at the store, or who live in your apartment block if you reside in one. It's easy to look at the news and assume the worst, but remember that there are 45,000 TSOs nationwide, and the number of officers who've done things like this is fewer than 100. Considering that that's 0.002% in a country where more than 1.0% of the adult population is in prison, and a further 2.5-3.0% is on parole or probation, I'd say we're doing pretty well.<br /><br /><br />In response to various questions from this thread-<br /><br />-Yes, TSA is required to put a note in your checked bag if we've physically opened it up. We call it a "love note" at my airport. Remember, most bags are not opened, so not getting a note is common.<br /><br />-There are TSA approved locks, yes. They're called "Travel Sentry" locks, and we have keys that open them. Like any luggage lock, however, its primary purpose is to keep the bag from accidently coming open. While it will disuade the most casual of criminal opportunists, you're fooling yourself if you think any luggage lock, ours or not, will stop a person from opening your bag. Some luggage locks can be opened simply by pulling on them hard enough. Others take a paper clip or credit card (depending on style) to open. While I don't know the exact numbers, I know that on a bad day, my airport cuts a lock on roughly 1 out of every 10,000 or so checked bags. Generally, these are people who used something like a Master Lock to close their bag, and as we aren't issued the shivs that will open a Master Lock (available on eBay for about 5 bucks), we're left with few options. Usually we call the airline and request they contact the passenger to get the key or combo, and the airline usually tells us to cut the lock because they don't have the time to worry about it (they'll just blame us later anyway, so they're not losing money).<br /><br />-Never pack really valuable things in your checked bag. Jewelry is small and valuable, electronics are easily broken by the belt systems airports have built in. Despite the common insult that we are "a bunch of minimum wage rent-a-cops," TSOs are sworn federal compliance officers who've undergone FBI background checks, and can make between $30,000 and $50,000 a year without doing any overtime. I've been with TSA a little over 3 years, and my pay has increased some 60% in that time, simply from hard work and promotions. There is little incentive for the average TSO to risk their career for whatever your used electronic is worth - they make more than that every paycheck. On the other hand, the vast majority of the contract ramp personnel make minimum wage, have no background check beyond whatever the local PD finds, and have far more alone time with your bag than we ever do (and they see and handle every bag, unlike us). <br /><br />Sorry to go off on this, but it's just one more example of a single bad occurence, however heinous, being talked about as if it were some sort of TSA standard. Call this guy out, yes. Make some poorly constructed and insulting claim of this being the norm, hell no.
