Comments on: No security at Sky Harbor

By: Pasquale

Pasquale — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 06:48:47 +0000

So if the airport pay’s a private security firm then what is the name and was Sky Harbor airport security responsible for the murder of Carol Gotbaum or was it the police?

By: Marcel

Marcel — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 13:48:39 +0000

Hi Kip. It`s great to read a comment by someone from TSA. This shows me that you really care about the problems. By, Marcel – who flys three times next week.

By: miche

miche — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 00:51:30 +0000

But Sky Harbor doesn't need the dog and pony show anymore. They have the backscatter machine.

By: Kip Hawley

Kip Hawley — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 00:01:12 +0000

I have aspirations of getting to “not as much of an idiot” status so, in fact, we did check every airport in the system for similar issues.

Our standard for the “sterile” passenger concourse area during off hours is one of three categories: 1)closed and locked down; 2)physical screening of concourse employees; 3)swept prior to opening of passenger screening.

Full disclosure: there are people at airports who have access based on job need and background check who do not need to be physically screened. — Kip

By: Fixer

Fixer — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 18:53:36 +0000

The security of the airport facility itself is actually the responsibility of airport management, usually through the airport police department. TSA only provides oversight. Most airports don’t operate 24 hours a day, and many hire private security to staff access points during the times that TSA personnel aren’t present.

In this case, the airport failed to monitor the private security folks, who failed to do their jobs. The Phoenix TSA Federal Security Director failed to have his Regulatory group check up on everyone else. And, above all, Hawley ruins a good thing (FSD investigated) by doing something stupid (making the screeners shift to a 24-hour operation) in a effort to appear as though he’s doing something.

It’s a Sky Harbor everybody-screw-the-pooch dance party!

By: Javarod

Javarod — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 03:57:48 +0000

Laughs, “Let me tell you a few experiences with Sky Harbor Airport. Back when I worked for a vending company, I was the back up driver for the airport route, and had to be security checked before entering the airport. What’d the check consist of? Open the back door so they could look in, but they didn’t look in the dozen and a half or so cases of chips on board, nor in the giant (5ft tall) cooler at the front of the truck. Think that was bad? Now I’m a cab driver, and when they heightened security because of the London and Scotland terror incidents, they searched random vehicles… except cabs, limos, sedan cars, shuttle vans and buses. Gee, it’d be so hard in deregulated Phoenix to slap a fake cab together and drive in with a bomb, wouldn’t it?”

Shakes his head, “Security has never been good at this airport, or rather in the last two years that I’ve worked in and around it.”

By: D Moore

D Moore — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 03:22:09 +0000

I failed to say that the above incident was at Sky Harbor last Thursday

By: D Moore

D Moore — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 03:20:24 +0000

After special screening due to a last minute schedule change due to weather problems in Texas, we went to our gate and a TSA woman employees approached us and made us go back for rescreening that included pat down searches becuase THEY had failed to properly screen us.

Rescreening would not recover any item that was smuggled in so the rescreening seems to be too late to rectify whatever the infraction was (They would not say what it was).

By: Richard Braakman

Richard Braakman — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 23:56:22 +0000

I’ll grant him the “not as much of an idiot” gold star if he thinks to check if any other airports have the same problem. I suspect he’s just in PR management mode, and wants to be seen to be doing something.