As if on cue from my last blog entry, TSA has ordered Richmond airport in Virginia to issue an airport ID badge to a convicted felon, so he can work as a screener for the TSA!!!
In the words of our President, ‘let me be clear.’ Title 49 CFR Part 1542.209 specifies the list of disqualifying crimes — i.e. crimes that if you committed and were convicted for within the past ten years you are not allowed to be issued an airport access badge. However, this list of crimes does not take into consideration some crimes that we probably don’t want our security personnel being convicted of, such as misdemeanor theft or burglary, or accepting cash for the illegal transport of items on commercial aircraft, such as drugs and weapons.
However, airport operators, under an approved Airport Security Program (approved by TSA Federal Security Director’s BTW), do have the discretion to deny an individual a badge for other purposes, such as criminal history, or if they believe the individual will be a threat to aviation security.
Seems in the Richmond case, the criminal act occurred when the individual was 17, but the conviction came when he was 18. Okay. so there’s some leeway in the classification as to whether this hits the disqualifying crimes, but frankly, it doesn’t matter. First, why is the TSA trumping the airport’s right to deny the issuance of a badge and second, and a bigger question, why is TSA hiring convicted criminals?!
Some other issues here: Since he was convicted at 18, he was convicted and served time as an adult, but he apparently decided not to did not disclose the crime on his badge application because he committed the act when he was 17. However, he apparently was still in the FBI database and the airport discovered the conviction as part of the fingerprint-based criminal history record check. By not putting down the conviction on the badge application, and then having the airport act upon that information, this guy may also be dabbling with the definition of Fraud, under Title 49 CFR Part 1540.103. Maybe this guy was told by someone not to put down that conviction, so there’s more background work to be done here, but I’m curious how many other transportation security regulations this guy is going to try to violate as the TSA hires him to screen baggage and passengers.
And they wonder why their credibility remains an issue.
The guy should have told the TSA when he was applying about the offense. If it was a situation that wouldn’t have disqualified him from being hired, then he had no reason be worried about it. Since the individual left the information out of the application, it makes me question this individual’s integrity right away. The TSA has the right to issue or not to issue, but I believe more specific information would be needed to make a better argument. For example, what exactly the offense was, how long ago was it, has the individual had other lesser offenses since the one in question.
When I applied for an airport badge at LAX they told me to write down any problems I had with the law, including traffic tickets or accidents,so I know the TSA is very clear on what you need to disclose to them. This individual should not be working in the aviation industry, in my opinion he comitted two crimes, one when he was 17 and the other when lied in his application.
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Wouldn’t you rather have ex-felons working than out robbing people? Stop job discrimination against felons!
If anything i think that is good news! Its sad that we almost make this person sound less then human for doing something stupid when he was a teenager (which we all had. Almost all of us, drank underage, snuck out at curfews, skiped school at some point, crawled through girls windows at night, dated a 16 or 17 year when we were 18, drove with no license or a host of other things)people who have been convicted of a felony years ago and have a proven tract record of being productive members of society should not be discriminated against. Its like we set up people who have made mistakes and go to jail/get convicted of a crime to just end up right back in jail since they have very little hope of landing any job of note. If they are not given a chance they will turn back to that life out of frustration. If that is what this country is going to keep on doing to everyone that has made stupid mistakes, lets just lock up everyone for life (spending even more tax dollars)for a number of stupid things and never let them out since noone will hire them in the first place.
Brett – I think the irony here is that the TSA would likely not allow an airport or airline operator to hire an individual with the same background.
I agree with Brett about how if someone has a conviction in the past they are discriminated against…people do change some people made errors but shouldn’t they be given an opportunity to live a constructive life. Put yourself in someone whose trying to change for the better shoes who is told …”because you did this X amount of years ago you can’t work to support yourself or family.” that method of thinking is out of date. If a person can do the job and will do the job what’s the problem. No one is perfect.