Government Study Finds TSA Misconduct Up 26% In 3 Years 196
rullywowr writes "CNN reports that a recent government study found TSA misconduct has risen sharply in three years. Most have heard of the problems such as stealing, but the report also notes that some employees are sleeping on the job, taking bribes, and letting friends/family through the checkpoints without screening."
Re:Misguided punishments? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Que surprise? (Score:4, Informative)
Hey now, calling them "rent-a-cops" is a unfair... to security guards.
I prefer to refer to airport screeners as "TSA-holes".
Re:All fine and good. (Score:5, Informative)
Unless, of course, the agent bribes his supervisor to look the other way (and/or block the camera(s)) while he steals the cash:
https://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/tsa-agent-michael-arato-admits-stealing-passengers-security-checks-bribes-article-1.136272 [nydailynews.com]
Not bad (Score:5, Informative)
Misconduct cases involving TSA employees -- everything from being late to skipping crucial security protocols -- rose from 2,691 a year in 2010 to 3,408 in 2012.
I would bet that any company as large as the TSA would be happy to have only 3,408 misconduct cases. There are about 55,600 TSA employees.
About a third of the cases involved being late or not reporting for work, the largest single category of offenses.
That would be about 1100 shift late or missed. Considering that there are 55,000 employees * 5 shifts per week * 48 working weeks/year = 1.32M shifts per year that would mean that the late/absentee rate was 0.008%. Any company would love that late/absentee rate. Most companies have rates upwards of 10%.
About a quarter involved screening and security failures -- including sleeping on the job -- or neglect of duty offenses that resulted in losses or careless inspections.
So about 852 incidents are security related. That would be 1 incident for every 64 employees. Considering that most offenders will repeat and some of the incidents are mistakes rather than willful that is less that 1% of employees being an issue.
TSA employees are humans not robots ans they screw up some times; give them a break.
The numbers rose from 2,691 a year in 2010 to 3,408 in 2012. That is an increase of 717 incidents. That is about 2 more incidents per day. Not bad for a company that has 55,000 employees covering hundreds of locations. That's the problem with small numbers; even small increases seem big.
Re:All fine and good. (Score:4, Informative)
It is not illegal to carry that much cash. It is illegal to cross the border without declaring it, but that is all.
They can attempt to confiscate it, but they can do the same to your bank account.
Re:All fine and good. (Score:4, Informative)
Travelers in the USA with that kind of gear will often check a starting pistol or flare gun, as those have to be properly locked.
Obviously international travel makes this harder. You should consult your lawyer, doctor, priest, rabbi, mullah and several small children before you attempt this. I am not a lawyer nor have I ever pretended to be one to sleep with women.
Tracked down the report (Score:5, Informative)
Available here [gao.gov].
A quick scan indicates it does not say exactly what news reports are claiming it does. The title gives a hint: "TSA Could Strengthen Monitoring of Allegations of Employee Misconduct".
The media (including /.) has seized on one fact out of the report, that the number of misconduct investigations has increased about 27% (not 26% as reported), and erroneously concluded that the rate of misconduct at the agency has increased by 26% (e.g. the title of this /. piece). This conclusion is not necessarily *wrong*, mind you, but the data in the report simply doesn't give us any basis for drawing it. For one thing, one of the main criticisms of the report is that the TSA is not tracking the *outcome* of investigations. For all we know the increase is the result of a higher rate of investigation, or even the increase in the agency's head count.
The whole point of the report is that the TSA has been so slapdash at tracking investigations of employee misconduct it doesn't know the degree which employees are violating policies or even the law. Consequently nobody really knows whether the rate of misconduct has gone up or down. That's damning enough to be going on with.