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    TSA Union Wants Armed TSA Officers At Airport Checkpoints

    March 24, 2015
    Local police departments often staff armed officers at airports, but they're not at every airport and budget constraints limit their presence.

    Source USA Today

    Local police departments often staff armed officers at airports, but they're not at every airport and budget constraints limit their presence.
    Local police departments often staff armed officers at airports, but they're not at every airport and budget constraints limit their presence.

    The union chief for the Transportation Security Administration on Monday renewed his proposal to create a unit of trained officers to be stationed at every checkpoint, after a machete attack at the New Orleans airport.

    But TSA officials and Congress have been reluctant to arm TSA officers, who rely on local police to carry weapons and arrest suspects.

    J. David Cox, president of the American Federation of Government Employees, had urged the placement of an armed officer at every TSA checkpoint after the shooting death of TSA Officer Gerardo Hernandez in Los Angeles in November 2013.

    More details here.

    Josh Smith