TSA = They'll Steal Anything?

[Rob Williams]

From our front-page news:

Theft is a huge issue... anywhere. Regardless of where you work, there's sure to be a bad seed employee or a customer who's going to swipe something at some point in time. It's inevitable. But, there are a few places where something like that wouldn't even come to mind. Some place where theft would be highly unlikely, and seemingly impossible. Some place, like the TSA.

If only that sentiment was true. The TSA are comprised of those friendly citizens inside our airports and borders that take it upon themselves to rummage through our stuff, making sure we aren't bringing in any illegal porn. So what's the chances that one of these TSA employees could see something they liked, and get away with taking it? Not that unlikely, it seems.

Gizmodo links us to a story of a Newark TSA agent who, get this, stole over $200,000 worth of people's equipment, from laptops to iPods to cameras. He wasn't shy about what he took, either. He even managed to leave the building with a $50,000 camera that belonged to an HBO employee. What's worse is that the only way this guy was caught was by CNN noticing one of their cameras on eBay, which led to the arrest. What I want to know is... how is this even remotely possible? If he was able to leave with a camera valued at $50K, there's little doubt that theft on a smaller scale happens through all TSA stations... not just Newark's.

When the USPS and local police tracked him down and raided his place, they found they found 66 cameras, 31 laptops, jewelry, camera lenses, GPS devices and more. So yeah, how does a TSA screener systematically walk out of the airport with more gadgets than Best Buy—hell, with some gear you can't even buy there—without a single agent ever noticing?

Source: Gizmodo
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[Kougar]

Hm, so the TSA guy must have worked behind the scenes scanning bags, not at the actual security checkpoint?

If he was scanning checked bags then that would mean once the person finds the item missing, they would have at best two airports worth of baggage checkers to blame for potentially stealing the device... and getting it back or getting anyone done about the theft at that point would be hard.

But since this guy wasn't a baggage handler or anything to do with it, he could steal anything he wanted and even if people began to complain enough to get noticed the people running the show would be looking in the wrong place for the thefts.

This is just scary, it sounds like anyone would be getting away with mass theft. The only reason this person got caught was because he decided to sell a known stolen $50,000 camera on ebay... how stupid could you ask to be. There are probably dozens more pilfering TSA crooks smart enough to not grab anything remotely as distinctive or unique, not to mention those baggage handlers that do the same.

 

[Rob Williams]

That's a good point... someone would have to be out back. Even still though, I can't see that really being a one-man operation. Someone is BOUND to catch you at some point. It's not as though your car is that close. Scary indeed though. I don't usually keep important things in my checked baggage unless I have to. I've never noticed anything missing from my own luggage though, and I've kept laptops and gadgets in there before.

Won't be anymore though, heh.