A new government report has found a surge in employee misconduct at the US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) with a 26 percent rise in reported incidents over the past three years.\n<\/p>\n
TSA agents were cited in more than 9,600 cases of misconduct from 2010 to 2013, 1,900 of which were classified as security threats, according to a report by the Government Accountability Office released on Tuesday.\n<\/p>\n
The report detailed cases of stealing from luggage, sleeping on the job, leaving work without permission, and allowing friends and relatives to bypass security screening procedures, among other incidents.\n<\/p>\n
About 10 percent of complaints against TSA employees involved inappropriate comments or abusive behavior, the report said.\n<\/p>\n
The GAO report highlights 56 cases in which TSA agents at airports across the US were caught stealing significant amounts of money and valuables from passengers\u00e2\u201e\u00a2 baggage.\n<\/p>\n
In one incident in 2011, an agent at Orlando (Fla.) International Airport stole over 80 laptops and other electronic devices worth a total of $80,000.\n<\/p>\n
Two former TSA employees also admitted to stealing $40,000 from a passenger\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s luggage at New York\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s John F. Kennedy International Airport.\n<\/p>\n
The report also cites one case of a TSA agent who tried to carry a relative\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s bag past security without screening. The bag was later found to have contained “numerous prohibited items.”\n<\/p>\n
Lawmakers criticized the TSA on Wednesday over the increased cases of misconduct.\n<\/p>\n
“It’s disgraceful,” said Rep. John Mica, Republican from Florida who called for the GAO report, at a congressional hearing. “People don’t show up for work, there’s a great cost to the taxpayers and great disruption.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\u00c5\u201cThere\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s not even a way to properly report some of the offenses, so this may be just the tip of the iceberg of some of the offenses,\u201d the lawmaker commented.<\/p>\n
The report also finds that punishments meted out for TSA agents are often not consistent with the seriousness of their misconduct.\n<\/p>\n
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