I just finished watching some pretty scary footage of airport security at Phoenix International from July 2007. ABC15 News did an expose of security issues at SkyHarbor . The information they reported was quite scary. They found the City of Phoenix used a private security firm (more intel on that as I get it) who provided security during non-flying hours. Does anybody remember the days before TSA? TSA can be scary but at least they're an improvement from where we were at before. The City of Phoenix had certainly forgotten this.
The results were disastrous almost. The news crew found bags were not searched adequately or not at all. Employee badges were checked by a guard who may or not have been following standard security procedures. Many times entire suitcases and huge newspaper dollies made their way in. At one point the news crew found a guard sleeping who readily admitted sleeping on the job for periods at a time. You don't have to be genius to figure out that some got fired (as they should have been).
Any time a news crew (no offense) can expose the flaws within your security you've got problems. Phoenix has made some improvements, but I would bet their weakest link is their people. Watch the video here. It speaks volumes.
