As if we need any more reason, here is yet another consequence of government monopoly in airline security. Robert Wenzel linked to a CBS News report that found in excess of 200 thefts per day occur in JFK’s airport baggage handling areas.
From the report:
…thefts at the airport have increased at a staggering and alarming rate. There are now more [than] 200 a day — and that’s every day. Baggage handlers, jetway workers and even security people are all in on the ongoing scam to steal you blind.
‘The belly of the airplane has become like a flea market for airport employees. They go in there and go through all the luggage unencumbered, unchecked,’ JFK security lawyer Kenneth Mollins said.
If airlines themselves were responsible for security it’s unlikely such a problem would exist, or at least be so rampant. Most luggage comes with a built-in locking mechanism, or is designed to be secured with a padlock, combination lock, etc. Unfortunately, travelers in the U.S. don’t have the freedom to use such devices because of the TSA’s fiat that flyers must be “totally naked before them, in every sense of the word,” as Lew Rockwell has said.
March 28th, 2012 at 3:15 pm
What is sad is when I mentioned to someone their response,
“Well who puts anything of value in their checked luggage?”
It’s truly sad, that people have become so trained and numb to invasions of their property/privacy like this that they don’t even care anymore.
March 28th, 2012 at 3:25 pm
That’s an excellent point; one I hadn’t considered. I even thought the same thing when I first read the story but didn’t make the connection.
Because we no longer have a right to be secure in our persons and effects we’re conditioned a) not to place anything valuable in our checked baggage and b) to wonder why someone else would. Instead, individuals should demanding a return to privacy and security in their property rights.
March 28th, 2012 at 3:47 pm
Well, I refuse to fly anymore due to the TSA, so the thought initially was just as I posted, disgust at the violations of my privacy.