Breaking News: San Francisco Airport Takes Security Badges From 29 Felons After Security Checks
The Associated Press
Dec 15, 2001
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Twenty-nine workers whose jobs allowed them access to airplanes and runways at San Francisco International Airport lost their security badges after record checks found that they were felons, airport officials said.
A new federal law requires 420 U.S. airports to compare the fingerprints of employees who work in secure areas with those stored in a national FBI database.
After SFO officials checked the fingerprints of 3,000 workers, they found that 29 of them had been convicted of felonies, said Mike McCarron, an airport spokesman.
Kidnappers, sex offenders and people convicted on gun charges were among the 29 felons. They lost their access to secure areas, McCarron said.
Airport officials said the results did not necessarily show that terrorists could have gained access.
"We've done 3,000 employees, have 13,000 more to do, and of the 3,000 only 29 came back with a felony record, so that worked out to less than 1 percent," McCarron said.
Prior to the new rules, prompted by the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, airport workers were required to have a 10-year background check, McCarron said.
However, the checks were left largely to the companies or government agencies that employed them, and generally did not include a check of the FBI database, McCarron said.
AP-ES-12-15-01 2131EST
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