Is our airport security safe???what happeneds if another tragety occurs like Sept.11,2000 in New York city but this time in your own hometown! and this time its all because of the lack of work our security system is cutting off? ESSAY >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> It has been really hard these days to trust anyone in the world completely because you cannot help but feel that your neighbor or someone you know might be planning something bad and the result will be devastating. If that is the case, we need security right? Yes. Our safety is a very important issue that has increased dramatically since the terrible incident on September 11th, which makes security in our airports increase yet at the same time they have also decreased. Are airport screeners being trained sufficient for their job? I know our security has increased yet I cannot help but wonder if airport screeners are being trained sufficient for their job? How are they not so sufficient and what can we do to improve our system of protection nation wide? Based on the article from the Los Angeles Time newspaper, in the Nation section on February 14,2005, an airport screener at the Newark Liberty International Airport failed to detect a butcher knife in a woman's' purse which basically caused the screener to lose its position and be retrained.
FAA airport diagram
AirTrain Newark at Newark Liberty International Ai...
English: Taken from Continental Flight 99 on a Boe...Now, the woman was cleared and was waiting for her flight when she noticed that the butcher knife she placed about a week ago in her purse, was in side and was not noticed by the screener. Her sister, the woman who was with her at the time this took place said that she had put it in her purse "just in case" something happened in her date. The woman we found innocent and were not charged.
After this incident, don't you wonder if the airport screeners are being trained with enough to notice weapons? Never the less, the butcher knife that passed the detectors. www.nbc4.tv/employment2344242/detail.html wrote an article for people who are looking for a job as a screener in July 18, 2003. The requirements that they asked for is that they are " U.S citizen or national, have a high school diploma, GED or equivalent or one year of screening service, proficient in English and pass a background check, complete 44 hours of classroom instructions and 60 hours on-the-job-training. Wages start at $11.30 and increases on experience and airport locations". This is a good experience for people who are interested in this job because it is not much of a hassle especially if the requirements are easy to comply with. But only one problem is our safety really relying on those with "more experience (44 hours class time and 60 hours on the job)" or will this open a door to those who might attempt an attack? I believe that these requirements are not suitable for the fact that our safety is up to one who can't perform a "basic" search. I think that the qualifications to be an airport screener are lacking more information on the procedures. Another example of the lack of sufficiency on screeners was in an article published in March 26, 2003 by CNN.com states that "at 32. U.S airports failed to detect most knifes and simulated explosives-and one of every three guns- that the federal investigators tried to smuggle past security checkpoints in tests after the September 11th attack. It makes you wonder whether or not screeners are purposely letting weapons by.
What can we do to improve our security? I think we can change the way our security checks us by enforcing more hours of training and hands on experiences because four days of training isn't enough and I am not the only one who can say so, many of the families who lost a love one in September 11th 2000 can feel the same way. There is much to improve in society today that can increase safety around the world but not if our own airports are letting thing such as weapon's slip by right under their nose.