Bomb-Sniffing Dogs May Speed Up Long TSA Lines
SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) -- A new idea is being floated to speed up the long lines at TSA checkpoints as the summer travel season heats up – dogs.
New York Senator Charles Schumer is urging the TSA to use bomb sniffing dogs at security lines, which may be longer because of policies instituted by the airlines.
"Most of the airlines started charging money for luggage being checked, so a lot of people are carrying more luggage with them onto the plane, instead of checking it, because they don't want to pay the checking fees. So what you've got now is, backpacks and larger carryon," Kevin Mellott, President of Erase Enterprises, and global security expert told KCBS.
"The ideas with the K-9's is that K-9's smell explosive material – they're pretty good at detecting the various types of products that make up explosives. So, the idea is, if you have the K-9's working the lines, they can check people out," Mellott said.
Mellott said the dogs could prevent TSA employees from having to dig through every bag going through checkpoints.
But, there are concerns over items that may be missed by the dogs.
"You know, there is a whole lot of other items, other than explosives, and I'm not aware of the dogs ability to detect some of the other contraband … it's kind of treating the symptom instead of the illness," Mellott said.
