Letting airline passengers keep sharp items on planes…

This was always acceptable until that awful day on 9/11, when simple box cutters in the wrong hands facilitated the carnage. Were the box cutters responsible or the faulty attitude and policies of the FAA and the airlines? The FAA’s old “plan” was to have the flight crews and passengers always give the hijackers everything they wanted. Personally, I never thought that idea made any sense at all.

The responsibility for the administration for security on airplanes has still NEVER been turned over to law enforcement professionals. Instead that duty is that of civilian patronage hacks in the FAA and the new TSA.

Two of the four hijacked planes on 9/11 had unarmed, off duty trained police officers on board. They stood by helpless and perished with everyone else. Had these officers their side arms, 9/11 would have been just another day on those two planes. Of course that stupid policy not to interfere with hijackers or their demands should have been replaced by the judgment, training and experience of the cops themselves and the flight crew.

There is a cheap easy fix that’s been long overlooked that needs to get placed on the table of anti-terrorism ideas. It’s long past the time to allow all of the certified, trained and armed police officers in our country to fly standby for free, if they agree to fly with their side arms. The cost would be minimal and the flying public would be a lot safer.

Until the mid 1970s cops could carry their service guns with little regulation and no problems ever surfaced because of the old policy.

The control of security of our airlines must be turned over to a law enforcement agency like the U.S. Marshal’s Service. The new Federal Air Marshals should be reporting to professional law enforcement officials instead of patronage hacks.

also read http://crimefilenews.blogspot.com/2005/12/airline-security-in-america.html

My friends at Second City Cop are talking too. http://secondcitycop.blogspot.com