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TSA acknowledges financial stress of shutdown is forcing officers to stay home

washingtonpost.com

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Re: TSA acknowledges financial stress of shutdown is forcing officers to stay home

#21
post #7

She said her fellow officers are “out there working, they’re putting their lives on the line. We took that oath when we got hired here, and we’re not even getting what we deserve.” All budgeting problems aside, how do TSA officers put their lives on the line?

You don't think screening for bombs has any potential to be dangerous?

The TSA has never found a bomb.

Re: TSA acknowledges financial stress of shutdown is forcing officers to stay home

#22
While i don't envy their position - i think describing it as working without pay as a little disingenuous - while they have yet to be paid for the work they are performing, does anyone really believe that they are not going to be paid for their work down the road?

Re: TSA acknowledges financial stress of shutdown is forcing officers to stay home

#23
post #9

She said her fellow officers are “out there working, they’re putting their lives on the line. We took that oath when we got hired here, and we’re not even getting what we deserve.” All budgeting problems aside, how do TSA officers put their lives on the line?

Unlike most other forms of law enforcement, TSA agents lives are most at risk when off-duty and someone learns they are an agent in a social setting. As a result, the government shutdown is putting TSA lives in jeopardy.

Honestly can't tell if you're being facetious haha. It's not that I think the risk of them being attacked for being a TSA officer is high, but the risk they face at their jobs seems so low.

Re: TSA acknowledges financial stress of shutdown is forcing officers to stay home

#25
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't think screening for bombs has any potential to be dangerous?

https://www.tsa.gov/blog/2018/01/29/tsa-year-review-record-a...

> A realistic replica suicide vest and claymore mine were discovered in a traveler’s checked bag at the El Paso International Airport (ELP). The traveler was an explosives ordnance disposal contractor and the items were used as training aids.

I can't believe he'd be dumb enough to try to bring this on an airplane. It'd make way more sense to ship them to w/e destination.

Re: TSA acknowledges financial stress of shutdown is forcing officers to stay home

#26
post #22

While i don't envy their position - i think describing it as working without pay as a little disingenuous - while they have yet to be paid for the work they are performing, does anyone really believe that they are not going to be paid for their work down the road?

Yes, they will receive back pay, but a lot of people live paycheck to paycheck.

Re: TSA acknowledges financial stress of shutdown is forcing officers to stay home

#27

She said her fellow officers are “out there working, they’re putting their lives on the line. We took that oath when we got hired here, and we’re not even getting what we deserve.” All budgeting problems aside, how do TSA officers put their lives on the line?

TSA takes people's guns away on a daily basis. Eventually a passenger may not want to cooperate. I dislike airport security as much as anyone else (and because I opt out of the body scanners I've had plenty of undesirable intimate experiences with TSA agents), but their Instagram page is really enlightening. Sadly the guy who ran it passed away last year, but it's interesting to see the volume of contraband that peop…

An old project manager of mine flew with a gun once. It was entirely legal, because owning guns is legal, and flying is legal. It just had to be checked out and put away safely.

Re: TSA acknowledges financial stress of shutdown is forcing officers to stay home

#28
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm genuinely curious, myself. In the US, how many deaths in the line of duty are there (per thousand) for police officers, firefighters, and TSA agents, to juxtapose?

Policing is 14th most dangerous job in USA per this list: https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/careers/2018/01/09/work... Firefighters and Security guards are not in top 25.

It's a bit surprising not to see the military on this list. According to [0] the US military has 82 deaths per 100,000 per year, around 55 of which are from "accidents" and "combat" which could reasonably be considered work-related deaths. That would put it in third or fourth place on the most dangerous list.

[0]https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.fool.com/amp/investing/gene...

Re: TSA acknowledges financial stress of shutdown is forcing officers to stay home

#30
post #8

She said her fellow officers are “out there working, they’re putting their lives on the line. We took that oath when we got hired here, and we’re not even getting what we deserve.” All budgeting problems aside, how do TSA officers put their lives on the line?

I'm genuinely curious, myself. In the US, how many deaths in the line of duty are there (per thousand) for police officers, firefighters, and TSA agents, to juxtapose?

Only one TSA officer has ever been killed on-duty, and they have a total of 57,000 employees as of 2016 [1]. Not all of them are inspection agents (maybe 1/3? I'll use 20,000), but they've been an agency since 9/11 (I'll use 17 years). That makes 1 death per 340,000 agent-years. Admittedly I don't know how their total employee number has changed over time, and my 1/3 estimate could be wildly off.

Meanwhile the statistic for police in the US in 2013 was 11.1/100,000 [2], about 37 times as dangerous, or 18.3/100,000 for firefighters [3], or about 62 times as dangerous.

That's not the whole picture though, because it doesn't take into account hours worked, or injury (probably also higher for firefighters and police).

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transportation_Security_Admini... [2] https://fee.org/articles/by-the-numbers-how-dangerous-is-it-... [3] https://www.firehouse.com/safety-health/news/10535644/firefi...

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