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Sky marshal hires deplete federal police forces

http://www.msnbc.com/news/756077.asp?pne=msn&cp1=1

WASHINGTON, May 24 — The aggressive recruiting to fill the ranks of federal sky marshals is draining veteran officers from federal police forces charged with protecting everything from sensitive government facilities and landmarks to our nation’s borders. The officers are bolting other agencies in favor of the sky marshal program in such large numbers that the situation is nearing a crisis, some members of Congress said.

DEPLETING THE RANKS of already understaffed federal protection agencies couldn’t come at worse time. In the last three days the FBI and the Pentagon have warned the public about the likelihood that the U.S. will see more terrorist attacks, including walk-in suicide bombings and attacks on national landmarks like the Statue of Liberty.
“The raid on our ranks began almost immediately,” after the push to bolster the atrophied air marshal corps was announced last September, said an Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agent who asked not to be named, pending the acceptance of his own application to become an air marshal.
The ATF officer isn’t alone. “I have had several Capitol Police officers approach me with their concerns over the loss of officers” to the newly formed Transportation Security Agency (TSA), said Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., who is the ranking member of a committee overseeing the administration of the Capitol Hill federal area. “The Capitol Police are facing a potential 127 percent increase in their attrition rate this year over last,” Hoyer said.
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“Of those leaving the force, 35 officers have left or are scheduled to leave for the TSA, which is almost six times more than have left for any other agency in the last few years,” Hoyer said. “This is potentially a crisis of capital proportions. The Capitol Police force cannot be a sieve and remain an effective protective force for tourists who come to visit the U.S. Capitol and the thousands of people who work here.”
The Park Police, in charge of policing the sprawling Mall in Washington, D.C. and our nation’s parks and monuments, have seen 44 of their ranks sucked into the air marshal program, Hoyer said.
The move to bolster the number of federal air marshals came swiftly in the aftermath of the 9-11 terrorist attacks. The federal air marshals, as they are officially known, are specially trained armed police officers that fly undercover on commercial airlines. Before Sept. 11, they were essentially a forgotten police force run by the Federal Aviation Administration.
A pistol-wielding Federal Aviation Administration sky marshal runs between seats during a simulated hijacking aboard a retired L-1011 aircraft at a FAA training facility in Pomona, N.J. last year. The FAA has received more federal funds to increase its programs due to the Sept. 11 attacks.
But in the hyper-vigilant security environment that surrounded the days and weeks of September and October, the mandate went out to immediately raise the status of air marshals. But that order meant both immediate and long-term staffing needs.
Filling these highly specialized positions meant the TSA was going to have to recruit from the ranks of other federal and state police forces.

BORDERS GO BEGGING
But the depleted ranks of the Park Police, the Capitol Police and the uniformed Secret Service pale in comparison to the raid on the front line agents of the Border Patrol.



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From October 1st to April 20th the Border Patrol has lost 390 agents to the air marshal program, according to Nicole Chulick, a spokeswoman for the Immigration and Naturalization Service. The INS lost an additional 54 immigration inspectors and 36 detention enforcement officers to the sky marshals, Chulick said.
“I wouldn’t say it’s a crisis, but we are concerned,” Chulick said. “We’re looking at retention and pay issues to see if there’s anything we can do… we’re looking at what we can do to compete,” she said.
INS Commissioner James Ziglar told Congress last year that his agency faces “immense challenges” in trying to keep qualified agents from bolting to other law enforcement agencies.
“The quality of work; the quality of life,” are the major reasons Border Patrol agents are keen on trading in their dusty front seats of government issue four-wheeled trucks for airline food and a seat on the aisle 35,000 feet above sea level, said Keith Weeks, a spokesman for San Diego, Calif., Local 1613 of the National Border Patrol Council, the union that represents the agents.
Border Patrol agents can make $10,000 to $15,000 more per year by becoming an air marshal. Federal air marshals make between $35,000 and $83,000; border patrol agents start around $27,000.




President Bush signed the Aviation and Transportation Security Act into law on Nov. 19. Many of its provisions will take months or years to implement. In the meantime, here's a look at how U.S. airports have reacted to increased threats of terrorism and how the security of foreign airports compares. Click on a number above to find out more.
Vehicles: Vehicles parked outside airports are closely monitored. Unattended vehicles may be towed.
Lessons from abroad: Unattended or illegally parked vehicles are also towed in Europe and Asia. Vehicle monitoring extends to entry roads at several foreign airports. Those at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion International Airport, the most secure in the world, include checkpoints with armed guards and inspectors who scrutinize documents for every car. It's common for police to search the undersides and trunks of cars arriving at Narita International Airport in Tokyo.
Outside: After being prohibited by the FAA in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks, curbside and off-site baggage check-in are again available in several cities.
Lessons from abroad: Curbside check-in is unheard of at most foreign airports. The area outside Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv is patrolled by armed undercover security officers who can stop and question passengers, then alert their colleagues inside the airport to any suspicious individuals. Police at Tokyo's Narita International Airport check the identification of every person entering the airport.
Ticket counter: Every passenger must have a government-issued photo ID. Passengers with tickets and photo ID but no luggage to check may bypass the ticket counter. Experts recommend that all passengers be interviewed in depth by law enforcement officials. The Aviation and Transportation Security Act required that screenings be in place for all checked baggage by Jan. 18. However, many airports are choosing to match bags with passengers in lieu of screening bags for explosives, an act which will not dissuade a suicide bomber. By 2003, passenger matching will no longer be allowed as an option for screening checked bags.
Lessons from abroad: Government-trained security personnel interview all passengers at Ben Gurion International Airport for up to 20 minutes before they even get to the ticket counter. Every passenger at Narita International Airport can also expect to be questioned before checking in. Security officers at many European airports interview randomly selected passengers before allowing them to proceed to ticketing. Like many foreign airports, London’s Heathrow International Airport (the largest in Europe) and the Hong Kong International Airport (Asia's largest) inspect all checked baggage. Additionally, airports in Europe and the Middle East employ baggage matching, which requires that every bag checked in be claimed by a specific passenger before boarding. No bags are loaded onto the plane until each passenger is on board.
Carry-on baggage: Metal detectors are set on the highest levels. Passengers are limited to one carry-on bag and one personal item. All bags may be subject to individual hand searches after screening. Electronic items, such as laptop computers and cell phone may be subjected to additional screening.
Lessons from abroad: The same restrictions apply in foreign airports.
Security checkpoints: Only ticketed passengers are allowed to enter the gate. Passengers may be asked to show their boarding passes and identification. Handheld metal detectors can be used after passage through the walk-through metal detectors.
Lessons from abroad: In addition to checking boarding passes and identification, airport personnel at Ben Gurion apply a security sticker to each passenger’s boarding pass. The sticker prevents the passenger from re-entering the check-in area and is required during the boarding process. In several European and Asian countries, passengers can expect to be patted down if they set off the metal detector.
Waiting areas: FAA agents are roaming airports with bomb-sniffing dogs. National Guard troops are patrolling concourses, checking bags and watching for weapons. The Transportation Security Agency has asked that the Guard remain at airports through May 31, giving the agency time to hire federal screeners and security directors.
Lessons from abroad: Waiting areas of European and Asian airports are patrolled by armed guards. In addition to surveillance, Ben Gurion furnishes waiting areas with an eye toward passenger safety. Throughout the airport there are impact-resistant trash bins that are designed to explode upward.
On-board: Armed federal air marshals currently fly on select flights, including all flights in or out of Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. The number of marshals has increased since Sept. 11, giving top priority to nonstop, long-distance flights. Airlines have been fortifying cockpit doors with steel, replacing temporary metal bars installed after the attacks. The cockpit must now be locked during flight. Transponders, the devices that enable ground controllers to track a plane's flight path, will no longer be made inoperable from the cockpit. A debate continues on whether to issue pilots stun guns or other weapons.
Lessons from abroad: European nations are considering adding armed guards to their flights. Israel's leading airline, El Al, already does. El Al planes also have two sets of cockpit doors on its planes. The outer doors are made of steel, and both sets remain secured during the flight. After Sept. 11, Hong Kong's Civil Aviation Department ordered certain airlines to keep their cockpit doors locked and to ban passenger visits to flight decks.
Ramp passes: There is no standard way of tracking lost ramp passes or ground crew identification. Security experts recommend a better system to track lost IDs.
Lessons from abroad: Lost passes and identification are a universal problem. Many countries, including the United States, are investigating "smart cards" — identification cards that incorporate biometric imprints — as a solution.
Dangerous goods: Items such as manicure sets, aerosol cans and corkscrews are now considered possible weapons. These items should be packed in checked-in luggage.
Lessons from abroad: Similar restrictions have been in place worldwide since the Sept. 11 attacks.
Employee screening: The newly created Transportation Security Agency now oversees aviation security rather than the airline industry and Federal Aviation Administration. By November, the TSA is scheduled to have its 30,000-strong workforce fully in place at more than 420 airports across the nation. The screeners will have to be U.S. citizens, fluent in English, with a background check and 100 hours of training under their belts. Some current airport screeners, if hired by the new federal agency, could see their wages triple.
Lessons from abroad: Employees at most foreign airports are required to be citizens of the country they work in. The Israeli government trains all baggage screeners at Ben Gurion International Airport. Japan requires 150 hours of classroom training for its baggage screeners. France requires 60 hours.

Source: The Associated Press, MSNBC research
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“You can’t expect someone to sit on a fence for 10 hours a day for 20 years,” Weeks said. “The job satisfaction isn’t there, the pay isn’t there. You can’t provide a standard of living for your family,” said Weeks, who has had his own application for federal air marshal in since October.
The San Diego sector alone lost 27 agents to the air marshal program in March. It costs the INS an average of $100,000 to train and equip a new recruit, Weeks said.
“Instead of trying to doing something to retain agents [the INS is] spending money to retrain agents,” said Weeks. But the money is only part of it, the remaining agents have to work harder and longer and will have less overall experience. “That’s just not good for moral,” Weeks said.
The INS is aggressively recruiting for the Border Patrol, Chulick said. There are currently some 2,000 openings.

GHOSTS ON WATCH
The TSA declines to say how many air marshals will eventually be policing the roughly 30,000 commercial flights per day as that information is classified.
Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta said that the TSA would need to fill some 30,000 security positions that includes airport screeners, airport security and the beefed up air marshal corps.
The TSA has no shortage of candidates: The agency closed its application process on May 14th after receiving some 250,000 applications. A spokesman for the FAA, which initially helped with the air marshal recruiting process, said the agency didn’t compile any figures that would determine how many officers from other agencies were applying or being accepted into the program.
And while the TSA ramps up and trains its sky marshals, agencies from the Park Police to Coast Guard are assigning agents for temporary air marshal duty.
Regardless of the number of new air marshals, federal law enforcement agencies are feeling the pinch of increased stress, flagging moral and understaffing. All that makes for a foreboding calculus of crisis, says Brian Vila, a Los Angeles cop before coming an associate professor of criminal justice at the University of Wyoming.
The understaffed Capitol Hill police are pulling more overtime than ever and doing it while under a more stressful situations.
“There are basic biological limits to how long you can have officers work consistent with performance and health and safety demands,” said Vila, who literally wrote the book on the subject, called Tired Cops: The Importance of Managing Police Fatigue. “It’s not possible for any prolonged period of time to keep people working extraordinary amounts of overtime,” Vila said.
For example, the Capitol Hill police were pulling 16 hour shifts well into October because of Sept. 11. Though those hours have calmed down, the department is still understaffed. “We’re still being made to pull overtime we don’t want,” said one Capitol Hill officer that requested anonymity. “And don’t even think about refusing to the work,” the officer said, shaking his head.
Over the long term putting in too many hours degrades performance, Vila said. Too little sleep “is like drinking alcohol,” he said. An officer can’t keep up long hours and “do that safely or in a way that gives you the kind of performance you need on a job that occasionally requires exquisite quality decision-making,” Vila said.
And forget about just tossing money at the problem by recruiting a new crop of officers. A large force that suffers a 30 percent attrition rate “could take five years” to get back up to full speed, Vila said.

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