Why we MUST fight the re-privatization of Airport security

Look I am no lover of TSA, but this is important, because they are still an improvement and WITH A LOT of retraining and changing of procedures they are actually valuable and provide an important service.

So, I posted this in a thread, but step with me into the way back machine, BEFORE 9.11 in the good old days of PRIVATE (minimum wage) security.

back in the day we took a patient from one of our cancer clinics to Lindberg Field in San Diego.

Well this is WELL BEFORE 9.11... so I go through the Magnetometer, and of course it beeps... I am wearing steel toe boots. (Yes they are standard for that kind of work)

So I am forced to leave my boots behind, but take into the sterile area of the airport, and INTO the craft my six inch blade rescue knife, and my trauma shears. No, quite honesty I did not even think about it. They are also part of my equipment, but that should have never happened. Oh did I mention my two way radio? Again, I should have not been allowed into the sterile area with that. Now why shouldn't this have happened?

Knife: Remember they used box cutters... need I mention what you could do with that blade?
Trauma Shears: Yes, they are potentially weapons.
2 way radio: Could be used as a trigger for an explosive.

Yet I was walking around the sterile area with all these items on me, but my save my toes gear staid behind.

It has also gotten better in less obvious ways... they check about 20% of all cargo. No, far from gold standard, but it is better than zero. Yes, it was zero, and as usual, after the Yemen thing they have partially closed the preferred shipper system. Trust me, bidnessess would rather not do any of this crap.

The problems you are seeing come from really bad leadership and management. I will give you another example from my experience working in the public albeit, albeit in another country and it goes into this as well. One of our issues was drug dealers trying to buy people, and I must say most of my guys never even considered that. Yet, the cops showed evidence that one of my guys might turn, well we had no tolerance for even the MIGHT turn since we were in a position of trust. So yes, I fired him, with cause... and no I wasn't taking a livelihood since he was one of my volunteers not full time staff. For the record, TSA has zero tolerance for that crap, but people need to press charges. (I know it is a hassle)

But a lot of the obvious customer service problems, leave the security aspect to the side. is imho poor management and leadership from the top and quite frankly bureaucratic malaise.

Now to the entry into the secured area of the airport and a contrast with a foreign airport... we had a medical call at the Tijuana airport, again before 9.11... I kept my shoes, never mind they made the magnetometer go off... yes they wanded them, but I kept my shoes! But they kept my radio, my knife, carried my trauma shears, and they carried the REST of my equipment... we were, after all, in the sterile area of the airport. Yes, we also had two people from the security team, well armed mind you, hovering over us while we cared for patient and packaged patient for transport. They staid with us until we reached the checkpoint and left the STERILE area of the airport and into the general outer perimeter, I got my crap returned and we left to the hospital.

In fact, if you remember back in the day you could meet a relative at the gate... in the United States... that was not practiced anywhere else I am familiar with.

And yes, the problems can be solved, They have the PR from hell, and they need to change a lot of procedures, and training. Even perhaps, change upper and middle management or retrain quite a bit of it and change procedures to proactive from reactive. But they are better than the private security we used to have. Also since they get good pay and beanies, they are harder to buy... see my kid who almost was turned by the drug dealers. Oh and the good pay and beanies also reduced turn over.

Is there place for improvement? Absolutely... no doubt in my mind... but they are still much better than what we used to have. So remember that...

Oh and one thing that needs to go like yesterday are both the machines and the gropes. They don't do shit. The shoes... ok I can sort of see that one... the x-rays for your stuff, sure. Making sure your equipment works, absolutely. But the backscatter machines and gropes... every other airport that actually takes security seriously, has rejected them. The EU sees them as a violation of human rights, and again... ineffective as hell.

Just some food for thought as to where I think the republicans want to go back to.

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I know that.

There is room for quite a bit of improvement, and I suspect that example of me as a young EMT oh back in the day was not that out of order.

Part of my training was actually security.

I'm almost exasperated by the reactionary crap on some of the other threads.


Big K&R. :kick:

we really do not know any middle ground.

what you said.

Anyway, if the policies don't change, nothing will be any pleasanter with Blackwater Xe doing it.

It is a good blade... these days it would not even be shipped in checked luggage.

I want it all disbanded. But if we don't get that, I want government employees feeling my nuts, not some civilian special forces wannabe

and that is the point... but going back to the way it was... would be silly.

They need a lot of internal reform and they need to quite frankly, look at somebody else's procedures, and we are not good at admiring we got something wrong.

IT is a cultural imperative actually.

The only way anybody should touch your junk is a prostate exam, sorry... and if somebody has a warrant.

Couldn't agree more!

:kick:

We all want no genital pat downs or dangerous scans. That sentiment gets summed up in the slogan "Fuck the TSA" and what do we get? Okay, sure, we'll privatize. As if people's problem with the TSA is whether or not they get their paycheck from the US government or a private contractor.

The perfect opportunity to demonize public employees, unions and the government (and a perfect set-up to demand immediate privatization of TSA operations). All of which serves to advance conservative goals of busting unions, cutting government, and privatizing government functions. They must be counting their blessings and thanking the idiots who dreamed up the new procedures.

It goes that far back. This is why TSA should be independent from the monster that is DHS... they have a bad case of institutional malaise.

You were in the army... you know how hard it was for procedures to change... once they are in place... and that is part of the problem. They develop their own forward momentum and breaking it is almost impossible.

and scrap the security theater for real security. We just hate admitting somebody else might have it right.