More LA baggage screeners fired for having criminal records LOS ANGELES (AP) =97 A dozen screeners at Los Angeles International Airport= =20 were found to have criminal records and a few had convictions relating to=20 unlawfully possessing explosives or weapons, it was reported Thursday. The= =20 workers had access to restricted areas such as runways and baggage sorting= =20 stations, some for as long as seven months, according to the Los Angeles=20 Times and The Washington Post. Other crimes included burglary, fraud, drug= =20 use and assault. Seven screeners have been fired and five put on=20 administrative leave, said Brian Turmail, a spokesman for the federal=20 Transportation and Security Administration. Earlier this year, 26 LAX=20 screeners were fired after they were found to have criminal records.=20 Another 59 of more than 2,000 screeners at the airport, which has the=20 nation's largest screener workforce, will face further background checks.=20 LAX began a new round of fingerprint checks last month after six employees= =20 reported on application forms for security badges that they had criminal=20 pasts. The airport later uncovered more screeners with questionable=20 backgrounds, which led to an investigation by the Department of Homeland=20 Security's Office of Inspector General. At a June 3 congressional hearing,= =20 TSA officials said that 1,200 screeners working at the nation's 429=20 commercial airports had been fired because they had criminal histories that= =20 would disqualify them from the work. The agency said it had yet to complete= =20 fingerprint checks on about 1 percent of its 53,600 screeners. *************************************************** The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site/TnTisland.com Roj (Roger James) escape email mailto:ejames@xxxxxxxxx Trinbago site: www.tntisland.com Carib Brass Ctn site www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ Steel Expressions www.mts.net/~ejames/se/ Mas Site: www.tntisland.com/tntrecords/mas2003/ Site of the Week: http://www.carib-link.net/naparima/naps.html TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************