"Editorial: Airport screening security"

Saturday, October 16, 2004

Editorial
Airport screening security
The Westchester County (NY) Journal News
 
 
Giving airports the option of returning to private security companies for
passenger and baggage screening next month to replace federal screeners
makes no sense. Why revert to a system that performed poorly and could do so
again? 

Even before the Sept. 11, 2001, private airport security was notorious for
defective security policy, sloppy performance and low hiring standards. One
firm was fined $1 million in 2000 for inadequate background checks on its
hires. 

After the Transportation Security Administration took responsibility for
airport security, thousands of private screeners were simply transferred to
the federal payroll until they could be replaced by federally trained
screeners. Fingerprint checks at one airport found more than 200 security
personnel with felony arrests or convictions who had access to supposedly
secure areas. Security tests at 32 airports just before the TSA took over in
February 2002 showed that private screeners failed to detect 70 percent of
knives, 60 percent of fake explosives and 30 percent of guns. 

Perhaps private security firms have much improved. Perhaps not. Why chance a
return, especially now that security checks are more demanding, with
additional measures such as explosives detection, fingerprint and iris
scanning, and watch-list matching in effect or planned? Having the TSA
oversee private companies, as proposed, would only further complicate
operations. 

The flaws in the federal system should be fixed so screening functions as
intended, with competence, and confidence derived from a sense of security.


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