(USA): Theft from Baggage: TSA responds
Wednesday, 7 May 2008
We asked the TSA to respond to the many questions that readers posted to our recent item, "Has the TSA stolen from you?"
How many complaints a year are there of lost or stolen items from checked bags?
...When an item goes missing from a checked bag, it is often impossible to determine where the loss occurred given that checked bags pass through so many hands. Remember, TSA has possession of the bag only long enough to screen it for explosives. Bags are delivered to TSA by the air carriers or their contractors and we return all bags to the airlines after screening. TSA never even touches the bag at the connecting or at the destination airport.
We estimate that for every TSA employee that touches a bag, six to ten airline or airport employees and contractors touch the same bag out of the view of passengers.
Several of the readers of our blog say that there's one large difference between TSA workers and airline workers. They say it is easier for a TSA worker to act alone when committing a theft of a passenger’s goods because TSA workers often do inspections alone. Are the working conditions for TSA workers more conducive to individual acts of theft than the working conditions for airport workers?
Because TSA screens every bag for explosives electronically, only a very small percentage of checked bags are actually opened by TSA security officers. Bags are only opened to resolve an alarm and searches are conducted often in public areas by well-supervised security officers who work in teams. At the end of every bag search, a notice is placed in the bag indicating that TSA needed to open the bag.