Monday, October 1, 2012

Ex-TSA agent: We steal from travelers all the time


RT: Ex-TSA agent: We steal from travelers all the time

Posted on by Jean
Published: 01 October, 2012, 03:23

A Transportation Security Administration (TSA) security agent takes a traveler’s luggage for a second security check at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York.(Reuters / Andrew Burton)
A TSA agent convicted of stealing more than $800,000 worth of goods from travelers said this type of theft is “commonplace” among airport security. Almost 400 TSA officers have been fired for stealing from passengers since 2003.
Pythias Brown, a former Transportation Security Administration officer at Newark Liberty International Airport, spent four years stealing everything he could from luggage and security checkpoints, including clothing, laptops, cameras, Nintendo Wiis, video games and cash.
Speaking publicly for the first time after being released after three years in prison, Brown told ABC News that he used the X-ray scanners to locate the most valuable items to snatch.
“I could tell whether it was cameras or laptops or portable cameras or whatever kind of electronic was in the bag,” he said.
Brown often worked alone, screening luggage behind the ticket counters. He was frequently told the overhead surveillance cameras, installed to prevent theft, were not working.
“It was so easy,” he said. “I walked right out of the checkpoint with a Nintendo Wii in my hand. Nobody said a word.”
With more electronics than any one individual could need, Brown began to sell the stolen items on eBay. At the time of his arrest, he was selling 80 cameras, video games and computers online. Brown said the theft was comparable to an addiction.
“It was like being on drugs,” he said. “I was like, ‘What am I doing?’ but the next day I was right back at it.”
Brown was finally caught after selling a camera he stole from the luggage of a CNN producer. When he sold the camera on eBay, he forgot to remove the news networks’ logo stickers.
“I got complacent,” he said.

TSA’s culture of theft

But while Brown believes he might have been one of the worst thieves at the TSA, he imagines the agency’s culture makes it easy for others to do the same. Many officers don’t care about their work and complain about low pay and being treated badly, he claims, which prompts them to steal. To make it even easier to get away with, TSA managers also never search their employees’ bags.
The agency says it has a zero-tolerance policy for theft and terminates the contracts of all thieves within the TSA. In the past ten years, almost 400 TSA officers have been fired for stealing, 11 of which were fired this year.
ABC’s interview with Brown highlights the extent of the dilemma passengers face when traveling with valuables. Brown is just one of many officers caught in the act of stealing goods worth thousands.
In February, 2011, two TSA officers were arrested for stealing $40,000 in cash from a checked bag in New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport. Using an X-ray machine, the men found that the bag contained $170,000 and removed some of the money.
In the first two months of this year, a TSA baggage screener in Orlando was arrested for stealing valuables by hiding them in a laptop-sized hidden pocket in his jacket and selling the goods on Craigslist. And, a New Jersey-based agent stole $5,000 in cash from a passenger’s jacket as he was going through security
While in April, a Texas-based TSA officer stole eight iPads from checked bags, while another officer stole a $15,000 watch from a passenger at the Los Angeles International Airport in May.
“It was very commonplace, very,” Brown said, describing the frequency of theft within the TSA.
“TSA is probably the worst personnel manager that we have in the entire federal government,” said Rep. John Mica, chairman of the House Transportation Committee. “It is an outrage to the public and, actually, to our aviation security system.”
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3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well they had a good run but they will be looking for jobs in the very near future because we will not need TSA when everyone learns the truth about 911.

Anonymous said...

Anon 8:41pm. That is one future I seek. I'm perusing these sites trying to find some disclosure of that rejection. I don't fly because of it. I haven't figured out how to contract with the airline without contracting with the airport for (porno)graphic xray (show me your insides) or touchy feely sessions.
My body is private and confidential. I don't need them to know what surgery, incision, removal, addition, growth, attachment, etc that I have. What's going on with me is my privacy.

That is a future I seek. I'm glad you know.

Dan said...

Well apparently security cameras, like they have elsewhere in the passenger areas, are BANNED from the luggage loading and other airport employee areas, so it is a LOT EASIER to commit thievery!
So the Airlines support this and the Airports support this, so they are just as Liable for the employees crimes!
Someone should file a lawsuit, and not like ABC who just had their own cameras to catch the thief TSA worker!
And how many of them that were caught were actually criminally charged with thievery?
Probably none, but you and me just picking up something and walking away we would get maybe 5 years!