RE: CAA: Mutual Help List, Mutual Help List, Enforcement of unattended baggage rule

[Barclay Dick <bdick@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I would recommend that you make a big production of preparing to haul the
bags off to a remote location to check for a bomb.  When the bag's owner
comes running up to prevent that from happening, make him/her open the
unattended bag for inspection.  They probably won't leave an unattended bag
a second time.

Also, you should ask your local media to get the word out that any
unattended bags are subject to confiscation and search for contraband.

Barclay Dick
Tucson Airport Authority

-----Original Message-----
From: John Lawson [mailto:jlawson@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Thursday, November 15, 2001 6:15 PM
To: help@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: CAA: Mutual Help List, Enforcement of unattended baggage rule



What are other airports doing when people leave unattended baggage in or
in front of the terminal?

A couple of knuckleheads here have given my operations officers and
sheriff's deputy grief about it.  It's especially difficult for the ops
officers, who don't have LE authority.  These people pull up in front of
the terminal, realize they have too much "stuff" to haul into the
terminal in one trip, and decided to unload their vehicle and shuttle
the bags inside.  When they are told "you cannot leave your bags
unattended," these folks shrug their shoulders and do it anyway....they
take some bags in, leaving the rest on the sidewalk to bring in on
another pass.  This wasn't a real problem until recently...I'm wondering
what other airports do.  I've considered confiscating the bags, but that
involves taking them into the terminal, which is exactly what the person
wants.  HXD is a small airport, so we don't have sky caps.  We're
acquiring a few carts (which - cynically - will probably be stolen), but
I think I really need to put some enforcement "teeth" in place to
address the uncooperative folks.  What do other airports do?  We have a
procedure for bags that are inadvertently left in the terminal -
probably the same one that most of you do - but this is a bit different.

I guess people are getting back to "normal."  One lady who pulled up in
front of the terminal to unload her car arrogantly addressed my
sheriff's deputy by saying "this suitcase is too heavy for me, you WILL
take it out."  How she mistook a badged, armed, uniformed deputy for a
skycap, I have no idea...*sigh*.

Semper Fi
John Lawson, Airports Director
Beaufort County Airports SC
   Find past Mutual Help topics in the CAA Help Forum
http://www.californiaaviation.org/cgi-bin/dcforum/dcboard.cgi?conf=DCConfID6

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