WASHINGTON, April 2 The U.S. Transportation Security Administration is being challenged by airport groups who claims the agency is overstepping its authority.
Tim Kimsey, president of the Airport Law Enforcement Agencies Network, a group of airport police departments, told USA Today the group opposes a TSA proposal that would bar airport police from closing checkpoints in emergencies and give that authority only to TSA employees.
The network, along with the American Association of Airport Executives and the Airports Council International, also said the agency was "going beyond their regulatory authority" with another proposal to require airports to prevent their stores from selling items barred from airplanes, such as large bottles of water. Yet another proposal would require airports to give the TSA written details about where and when their police patrol each day, the report said.
"That really flies in the face of basic law enforcement ... bad guys can figure out routines," Kimsey said.
Copyright 2007 by UPI
