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Almost Half Of All TSA Employees Have Been Cited For Misconduct (mercurynews.com)
Slashdot reader schwit1 writes: Almost half of all TSA employees have been cited for misconduct, and the citations have increased by almost 30 percent since 2013... It also appears that the TSA has been reducing the sanctions it has been giving out for this bad behavior.
Throughout the U.S., the airport security group "has instead sought to treat the misconduct with 'more counseling and letters that explain why certain behaviors were not acceptable'," according to a report from the House Homeland Security Commission, titled "Misconduct at TSA Threatens the Security of the Flying Public". It found 1,206 instances of "neglect of duty", and also cited the case of an Oakland TSA officer who for two years helped smugglers slip more than 220 pounds of marijuana through airport security checkpoints, according to the San Jose Mercury News.
The newspaper adds that "The misconduct ranges from salacious (federal air marshals spending government money on hotel rooms for romps with prostitutes) to downright dangerous (an officer in Orlando taking bribes to smuggle Brazilian nationals through a checkpoint without questioning)." Their conclusion? "The TSA's job is to make airline passengers feel safer and, not incidentally, actually make us safer. It's failing on both."
Throughout the U.S., the airport security group "has instead sought to treat the misconduct with 'more counseling and letters that explain why certain behaviors were not acceptable'," according to a report from the House Homeland Security Commission, titled "Misconduct at TSA Threatens the Security of the Flying Public". It found 1,206 instances of "neglect of duty", and also cited the case of an Oakland TSA officer who for two years helped smugglers slip more than 220 pounds of marijuana through airport security checkpoints, according to the San Jose Mercury News.
The newspaper adds that "The misconduct ranges from salacious (federal air marshals spending government money on hotel rooms for romps with prostitutes) to downright dangerous (an officer in Orlando taking bribes to smuggle Brazilian nationals through a checkpoint without questioning)." Their conclusion? "The TSA's job is to make airline passengers feel safer and, not incidentally, actually make us safer. It's failing on both."
After receiving several complaints, police detectives decided to follow a TSA agent in Seattle, and caught him filming up a woman's skirt while he followed her on an escalator.
https://www.washingtonpost.com...
TSA was created by Bush as a knee jerk reaction to 9-11. I'm surprised Obama hasn't gotten rid of it.
However, government never seems to get smaller nor can it realize a mistake. It only perpetuates (in this case) an unnecessary bureaucracy.
Let's go back to metal detectors and private security. My tube of toothpaste isn't the problem.
TSA is.
Sort of. Every time there's a "report" from a House committee, it usually means one party has a press release they want to put out supporting a specific narrative. In this case, they've collected a bunch of statistics and anecdotes to create the impression "TSA bad!"
Which is fine. The TSA has always needed a lot of reform. I just wonder if this fits into some kind of election-year grandstanding about how America isn't safe, as a way to help win elections in November. Or maybe to support yet-another round of TSA budget cutting...
And the TSA are merely players on the great stage of Security Theater.
Harrison's Postulate - "For every action there is an equal and opposite criticism"
FTA; Neglect of duty is described as "inattention to duty resulting in a loss of property or life; careless inspection; negligent performance of duties; failure to exercise due diligence in performance of duties; failure to follow procedures."
When you have a lot of strict procedures, and you have tight monitoring, you get a lot of violations.
I traded in a 3 year old car last year with 124,000 miles on the odometer. I very, very rarely fly any more due to the TSA nonsense. I load my junk in the trunk, climb into the driver's seat, and drive 2,500 miles to and 2,500 miles back from an event in Arizona, and then I have events to go to in St. Louis, Indianapolis, La Crosse, Madison, Pittsburgh, and Southern New Jersey. If I do an event in California, I MIGHT fly. I also MIGHT ship my bags by other means, too. Enough of the nonsense of violating the 4th Amendment by having GOVERNMENT agents blanket searching people just because they want to travel on an airplane. The GOVERNMENT can't legally do that, but they ignore the Constitution and do it anyway. Lots of the Constitution is being ignored, more every day, and I for one am not going to cooperate. They can stick it.
Just a couple days ago, a TSA agent up here in the Pacific Northwest was arrested for taking up-skirt photos of women at Sea-Tac airport. Apparently he's been doing it for a while, too.
#DeleteChrome
The other half just hasn't been caught yet.
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
It's like the Stanford Prison Experiment, only with a lot more experimental groups.
This and the whole situation you have with shootings of blacks should be no surprise. You give one group of people power over another group with insufficient checks and balances, they misbehave and turn into giant douches.
Hence why they are failing on both. Rtf summary.
"The TSA's job is to make airline passengers feel safer and, not XXXXXXXXX actually make us safer..."
There, FTFY.
I'd argue that that one line is incorrect. TSA's job isn't to make airline passengers feel safer. It's to make them feel like they should feel unsafe except for the fact that the TSA is there.
That is: Their job is to make you think that you need them to do their job, and that without them you would be killed.
'Sensible' is a curse word.
that hired them, this isn't surprising
Turnover at TSA is so high that there are very few Bush administration hires left.
The TSA should be replaced with a much much smaller group of enforcement inspectors and all they do is set security guidelines and test airport security. The actual security staff should be hired by the airports themselves, and all TSA does is test that they are meeting standards. (the standards that TSA themselves fail 95% of the time).
Real security is incompatible with mass air transit. Or indeed, free movement of people. The cost of real security is way higher than 10x the cost of the TSA.
Public support for nationalizing airport security in 2001 was based on the claim that private airport 'rent-a-cops' were inherently underpaid, under-trained, and effectively responsible to no one. Nationalizing airport security was based on the notion that making those people Federal Officers at higher salaries would attract higher quality workers, subject them to rigorous and closely supervised training programs, and make their leadership directly answerable to national security leadership.
Turns out that the government hasn't made them "officers," in the sense of secret service or FBI, doesn't actually pay them any better, and is really struggling to train them faster than they quit. They do seem to have better documentation of their failures, so I guess that's a win of sorts. The "small government" party, who controlled the presidency, senate, and house at the time, forgot that they don't believe in nationalizing private industries, and now they have a fine demonstration of why.
"The TSA's job is to make airline passengers feel safer ...."
Yea, right. I'm going to feel safer with these obvious deviants and criminals groping me, taking dirty pictures of my family, and stealing what they can from my luggage? I simply refuse to fly any more.
I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
Actually Texas tried to make it illegal for the TSA to molest you with HB1937. The feds responded in their usual manner and said they would enact a "no fly zone" over the entire state if it passed.
Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
I don't care who started it or who hired them.
I just want to know why, with the many problems over so many years, it hasn't been completely dismantled. One would think that with so many politicians keen on privatization this would have been done rather quickly and long ago.
On the Oregon Cost born and raised, On the beach is where I spent most of my days
I don't care who started it or who hired them.
I just want to know why, with the many problems over so many years, it hasn't been completely dismantled. One would think that with so many politicians keen on privatization this would have been done rather quickly and long ago.
This is simply what happens when Gov't thinks the people are just cannon fodder.
0) The 80s are ages ago.
I was born in '82, you insensitive clod!
-=This sig has nothing to do with my comment. Move along now=-
So when looking objectively at the TSA, it was found that, despite all the expenses, security theater does not improve security. And that it isn't good theater, either.
Why am I not surprised?
You obviously don't understand how a bureaucracy functions. It's function is to grow. Whenever tests are done that find inadequacies the answer is more TSA agents. Bureaucracies never die. They must be killed piecemeal. Completely destroyed and salt sewn in the barren remnants. Often they are just reborn with a new name.
Remember. Politics is 2 words joined together. Poli = many and tics = blood sucking parasites.
Look at them. Just spend a minute or two just watching one of those clowns. I think it's amazing most of them are able to walk upright.
TSA is corrupt from the top of the organization on down.
To put things into perspective TSA costs something like 7-8 billion/yr. The entire fucking FBI's budget is like 8-9 billion/yr.
So, to put this in perspective, let's think about the cost to hire a TSA worker to replace one you fire, vs. the cost to keep a bad one and "counsel" them, and print letters to send/give them to help them straighten up their act and flight right...so to speak.
I'm guessing it's "easier" to just "counsel" the employee, opposed to firing them and going about hiring someone else.
Any HR folks who can check my fuzzy math on this?
Bottom Line: The TSA may have a "values" issue, because in a "normal" security job, misconduct would likely get you fired on the first offense.
Awk! Pieces of eight. Pieces of eight. Pieces of seven... ERROR: General Protection Fault. [Paroty Error.]
Obviosuly TSA lacks some counterpowers. It seems justice and press were not enough, so what can be done?
Tell me again why you think government can solve all of our society's problems? I ask because I need a good chuckle today.
"and also cited the case of an Oakland TSA officer who for two years helped smugglers slip more than 220 pounds of marijuana through airport security checkpoints, "
I see no problem with this, other than that they had to smuggle it. The DEA and FDA have already admitted that not only is cannabis harmless and nonaddictive, but has many health benefits and that the government has lied for decades. The guy who assisted the smugglers should be commended for doing what is right, not cited for wrongdoing.
The Christian Right is Neither (Christian nor right). See: Matthew 23, Matthew 25, Ezekiel 16:48-50
WTF? TSA is a section of the DHA and does its own hiring. They don't outsource to any bidder, lowest or otherwise.
Procedures aren't strict, monitoring isn't tight.
Taking bribes? That should be go straight to jail, do not pass go, do not collect $200 material.
Since the Bush admin and the Republican't party conspired to make the TSA "Civil Service Free" i.e. with no incentive to improve the product or protect the workers rights, why is anyone surprised at wholesale failure to perform?
Capitalists love capitalism, except for the "paying for work" part
Clearly, the person needs better training. With it, they would be able to accept the bribe, let the people/drugs through, and would not be detected doing so.
Win win.
Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!