Sept. 30, 2002 – Anyone flying out of Cyril E. King Airport on Tuesday — and from now on — can look for "sharper and crisper" federal security screening agents, Transportation Security Administration spokesman David Steigman said.
"You will notice greater attention to detail, greater courtesy and greater knowledge of their duties," he said.
Tuesday is the first day on the job for the federal security screeners at the St. Thomas airport. Steigman said those for St. Croix's Henry E. Rohlsen Airport will begin work later in October. He did not have a specific date.
The federal screeners have completed 44 hours of classroom training and 60 hours of on-the-job training, he said, including the use of X-ray, hand-wand and walk-through metal detection systems.
Steigman said the Transportation Security Administration has hired 50 screeners for Cyril E. King Airport. Previously, the airport had 31 screeners and three supervisors working for Worldwide Flight Services.
Rohlsen Airport has 14 screeners and three supervisors working for Worldwide Flight Services.
Steigman said he does not know how many of the just-hired federal security screeners previously worked in that capacity as private employees at the airports.
The federal screener jobs pay $23,600 to $35,400 depending on experience. Additionally, workers get what the federal government calls locality pay and federal government benefits.
Cyril E. King is among 21 airports across the country that will begin using federal security screeners on Tuesday. Steigman said this makes 142 out of 429 airports now using federal security screeners. The deadline to have security screening operations at all the nation's airports, under TSA control, is Nov. 19.
The Port Authority's executive director, Gordon Finch, said in a release issued Monday that VIPA's law enforcement officers will continue to provide airport security while the TSA screens baggage.
"We are very pleased to have trained, federal passenger screeners at our security checkpoints," Finch said. "This will assist us in our continuing efforts to enhance our security at the airport. It will also help us curtail illegal activity and future threats of terrorism."
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