"Salt Lake City Airport Baggage Screener Makes Flying Safer"

Thursday, September 11, 2003

Salt Lake City Airport Baggage Screener Makes Flying Safer
The Salt Lake (UT) Tribune


Rachelle Evans wears a necktie to work every day, but she doesn't know how
to tie it. 

The federally issued tie is a clip-on. That way, if it catches in a
baggage-screening machine, it won't pull Evans into the machine with it. 

Safety, after all, is integral to Evans' job. The 35-year-old mother of two
works at Terminal 1 of Salt Lake City International Airport, where she
examines checked bags for explosives before they are loaded onto planes. 

Salt Lake City was the first of 429 airports in the country to screen all
checked baggage -- first through a contracted private company and then,
since last September, under the federal Transportation Security
Administration. 

Late, harried passengers don't much like waiting while Evans swabs their
bags with her little wand, then runs the paper swabs through an Explosive
Trace Detection (ETD) machine. But in the wake of Sept. 11, 2001, most seem
grateful.

"I've had numerous people say, 'We're glad you're here," " Evans says. "And
then you get your ornery people. They're hurried. And traveling can be
stressful, we understand that." 

All passengers checking bags must hand them over to screeners like Evans.
Sometimes innocuous substances such as fertilizer or skin lotion will
trigger an ETD alarm. Bags that fail the ETD test are run through an X-ray
machine. Bags that fail both tests are opened and checked. 

"If people don't want their bags looked at, they won't fly," says Evans,
whose manner is cheerful but firm. "It's that simple." 

Between checked luggage and carry-on bags, airport security officials
discover about 350 banned items daily -- mostly scissors, tools,
pocketknives, fireworks and camping stoves with propane tanks. 

Evans gives passengers a choice: They can return the prohibited item to
their car; they can buy a self-addressed, stamped envelope from the gift
shop (Evans will mail an item back to its owner); or they can abandon the
item to be confiscated by Uncle Sam. 

As long as passengers declare them, unloaded firearms may be checked,
however.

Once bags pass her scrutiny, Evans carries them to the airline ticket
counter. Wrestling 50-pound Samsonites across the floor is a daily
upper-body workout. 

"You develop muscles in this job," she says with a laugh. "You wouldn't want
to arm-wrestle me." 

For this, Evans underwent a comprehensive background check and several weeks
of training. She spends almost 10 hours a day on her feet and earns about
$25,000 a year. But she enjoys bantering with passengers from around the
world. And in these unsettling times for travelers, she feels her job is
important. 

"I feel better about flying nowadays than I ever have," says Evans, who,
like all airport screeners, senses the shadow of Sept. 11 over her work. 

"We all think about it every day."


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