 |
||||||||
 |
||||||||
|
||||||||
Back
|
Federal screeners go to work at airports
By LISA GREENE, Times Staff Writer One of Don Miller's neighbors was among the skeptics about his new job as a security screener at St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport. "What happens in three weeks, when you get bored?" the neighbor asked. Part way through his first day of screening Tuesday, Miller said that's not going to happen. "I won't get bored," Miller vowed. "It's that important. It's not something you can get lax on because that's what the enemy's counting on." Miller is one of 90 new screeners at the airport, where the federal Transportation Security Administration took over security operations Tuesday. The move is part of a national shift to heightened security after Sept. 11. St. Petersburg-Clearwater was one of 22 airports, from Dallas to Pittsburgh, where the agency deployed screeners Tuesday. Thirty-seven others, including Tampa International Airport, already have them. Until Tuesday, St. Petersburg-Clearwater had 38 screeners provided by a private contract. They were paid about $10 to $12 an hour and received no benefits. All 38 have been hired by the TSA. They'll make more money -- $26,500 for a screener, up to $50,000 for a supervisor -- and get benefits. They also are getting more training. The new recruits have been through 44 hours of classroom training, said Frank Capello, the new federal security director for the St. Petersburg-Clearwater and Sarasota-Bradenton airports. They'll get 60 more hours of on-the-job training, Capello said. While the new group is learning, a 21-member "mobile screening force" of experienced agency staffers has descended on the airport. "You'll see the difference," Capello said. "It's evident by looking at it." Indeed, the screeners, close to a dozen, sometimes outnumbered the passengers at the airport's checkpoint Tuesday. The drill was familiar: Put bags on the X-ray machine. Put keys and small objects in a basket. Step through the magnetometer. But the new screeners didn't just ask people to remove their shoes. In some cases, they placed the shoes on a tray and ran them through the X-ray, as well. The scrutiny suited passengers just fine. "As long as they do their job, I feel a lot safer," said Port Richey resident Robert Marks. Marks and his wife, Lorraine Marks, said the last time they flew -- shortly after Sept. 11 -- they didn't see this level of security. "It wasn't like this yet," Lorraine Marks said. "They have a lot more people." St. Petersburg resident Rose Reeseman also welcomed the change. "I think it's about time they do that," she said. Passengers at St. Petersburg-Clearwater still face an extra step of security. The facial recognition scanner, which checks each passenger's face against a computer data base of photos of terrorists, will keep operating. The airport is one of only a handful in the nation using that technology. Capello said the security agency rotates the screeners' jobs and has programmed its scanners with tests for the screeners to keep them alert. By Tuesday afternoon, Miller had confiscated his first illicit item: a money-clip knife. It probably wasn't intended to be a weapon. But you never know, Miller said. "I told my family: You have no idea how important this can be," he said.
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111 
|
Headlines From the Times local news desks |
