"Missing Canadian airport uniforms to be investigated"

Saturday, December 4, 2004

Missing airport uniforms to be investigated
The Canadian Press


Federal Transport Minister Jean Lapierre has ordered an investigation over
missing airport uniforms.

His officials also alerted airport screeners to double-check identification.

"Since 1 p.m. this afternoon, at the 89 airports across the country, we're
double-checking the identification cards, not only when (employees) enter
the premises, but also during the work shift," Lapierre told reporters
Saturday.

His comments were in reaction to a CBC news report that hundreds of uniforms
(or parts thereof) and badges worn by airport security personnel have gone
missing.

Not only that, it has happened even in the heightened, post-9/11 security
environment.

Lapierre said the head of the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority
(CATSA) will have the results of the investigation by Monday, adding they
will also be made public at that time.

However, the minister also sought to reassure Canadians.

"When (employees) enter an airport, it has nothing to do with the uniform,"
he said. "It has to do with the identity card." 

In May, CATSA announced the completion of phase one of its non-passenger
screening program.

That program was designed to check the identification of various types of
airport workers -- refuelers, flight crews, caterers, aircraft groomers,
maintenance personnel 
-- as they came and went from restricted areas within airports.

No information was available on the CATSA website as to whether any
suspicious persons were caught using the measure.

In August, CATSA also announced a trial program for an ID card that would
use biometric identifiers -- fingerprints or a photo of a person's iris --
that would be required for all those who work in a Canadian airport's
restricted areas.

It started at two airports and was to move forward from there.


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