"Canada Tightens Airport Checks After Badges, Uniforms Vanish"

Monday, December 5, 2004

Canada Tightens Airport Checks After Gear Vanishes
By David Ljunggren 


OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada tightened airport security on Monday after it
emerged that screening staff had lost more than 1,100 pieces of clothing and
identification this year, but officials insisted the losses posed no threat.


Transport Minister Jean Lapierre, asked whether the missing items could fall
into the wrong hands, said extra checks would be run on the identification
badges carried by baggage scanners. 

"Now they are being double-checked, when they enter the premises and also
during their work shift ... I've asked that we increase the controls," he
told reporters. 

Lapierre insisted airport security had not been compromised but the news is
an embarrassment for Ottawa, which some U.S. commentators still view as
being too lax on security after the Sept. 11 airliner attacks. 

Lapierre demanded the federal air transport security authority look into the
affair over the weekend after CBC television revealed last Friday how much
had been lost. 

The investigation showed that in the first nine months of the year, security
staff had reported lost or stolen a total of 1,127 items. These included
name tags, badges, shirts, belts, sweaters, clip-on ties, shoulder boards,
trousers and shoes. 

Lapierre said many scanners had lost their badges because the Velcro backing
was too cheap and did not work properly. 

Pressed as to how the scanners had managed to lose so many items, he
answered: "We're talking about -- I don't know -- maybe a dog going (off)
with a shoe or something like that." 

Officials denied media allegations that some of the objects had been put up
for sale on Internet auctioneer e-Bay. 

Earlier in the day, Lapierre said officials at the Canadian Air Transport
Security Authority (CATSA) had assured him the missing items could not be
used to gain illegal access to secure areas. 

"I am satisfied that all necessary actions on this issue are being taken to
maintain an appropriate level of security at Canadian airports," he said in
a statement.

But opposition legislators in Parliament were not convinced and angrily
accused the Liberal government of incompetence. 

"How could such a serious breach happen under the watch of CATSA? ... What
does the minister have to say to air travelers from Canada and throughout
the world who are legitimately concerned about the security of aircraft in
our country?" asked Dave Batters of the Conservatives. 

CATSA said it had issued about 75,000 uniform items to its 4,000 screeners
in the first nine months of 2004. Of the missing items, some 226 carried the
authority's logo. 

"Although these items bear the CATSA logo, they are not to be considered
objects of accreditation allowing access to restricted areas of airports. A
valid restricted area pass is required of all screening officers accessing
the restricted area," it said in the report.


 Do you have an opinion about this story?
Share it with other readers in our CAA Discussion Forums

http://www.californiaaviation.org/dcfp/dcboard.php


*****************************************