SANFORD, Fla. \u2014\u00a0It\u2019s another week for TSA employees without pay due to a funding lapse at the Department of Homeland Security. Travelers have seen long lines at airports across the country as TSA officers call out in large numbers, but not all airports are dealing with the same concern.<\/p>\n
What You Need To Know<\/p>\n
We\u2019ve seen long lines at airports across the country as TSA officers call out in large numbers, but not all airports are dealing with the same concern
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20 airports across the country, including Orlando Sanford International Airport, have private contractors that provide security screening instead of federal workers
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Right now, with the partial shutdown, the big difference is that all the private security screeners at the airports are getting paid, which means they aren\u2019t facing staffing issues<\/p>\n
20 airports across the country, including Orlando Sanford International Airport, have private contractors that provide security screening instead of federal workers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Right now, with the partial shutdown, the big difference is all the private security screeners at the airports are getting paid, which means they aren\u2019t facing staffing issues.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt probably didn\u2019t take us more than 5 to 10 minutes, just walk right through,\u201d said Jack Dermer. He and his wife, Jan, are from Melbourne and fly out of Sanford often.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is not crowded. You get in, get to your plane, get on. It\u2019s efficient,\u201d said Jan Dermer. The couple has never noticed that it\u2019s not TSA workers behind the machines.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is nice because everybody else is working without pay right now,\u201d Jan said.<\/p>\n
For more than a decade, VMD\/Xcelerate has provided private security screening services.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese screeners go to the exact same training that federal screeners do. Sometimes it might even be in the same class as federal screeners, so there is really zero difference in training,\u201d said George Speake, the Deputy CEO at Sanford Airport Authority.<\/p>\n
Speake said there is no financial difference in switching to private security.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe morale is better, they don\u2019t get affected by shutdowns like what we are experiencing right now, and we have some say so into kind of how things are operating here,\u201d Speake said.<\/p>\n
The list of airports allowed by TSA to operate privately are mostly small-to-medium-sized airports.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt may or may not be cost-effective otherwise,\u201d said Dave Benson, a former federal agent and threat assessment professional.<\/p>\n