Attention: TDR Forum Junkies 
things "out of the ordinary!" That makes a lot of sense - However read this column from Sunday's Portland Oregonian - amazing...
More From The Oregonian -
Margie Boulé
But how safe are we, really? Until two weeks ago Portlander Matt Triplett felt well-protected at U. S. airports. But the evening of Oct. 8 a man left a bag at Matt's feet in a crowded waiting area at the airport and took off. Matt's attempt to alert authorities was an exercise in frustration. "Their lackadaisical, uncoordinated response was incredible," he says.
Steve Johnson, PDX spokesman, says airport personnel followed protocol, quickly determining the bag posed no threat. Nevertheless, he says, a meeting soon will be held at the airport and changes will be made.
Did Matt overreact that night? Or are authorities not taking security seriously enough?
Matt Triplett was at PDX on Oct. 8 to pick up his fiancee, Traci Smolen. She'd been on a business trip with her boss, Amy Pearl. Amy's husband, Kurt Alameda, sat with Matt in the waiting area outside the North security checkpoint.
Matt left to use the men's room. As he washed his hands, he noticed a man "doing something with one of the electric outlets. . . . I shrugged it off. "
Minutes later a man walked up to Matt and Kurt, said "Could you watch my bag while I go to the bathroom?" and left quickly, leaving a duffel bag at their feet. "He walked away before either of us could say anything," Kurt says.
Matt realized it was the man he'd seen in the restroom. Only now he was walking away from the restroom, toward the shopping area. Matt saw him disappear in the distance.
"I'm not an alarmist," Matt says. He admits he first thought, "It's probably nothing. . . . But these days, after 9/11, we need to be cautious. "
So Matt walked over to the uniformed man checking photo identifications and boarding passes. "I told him what happened. He was completely disinterested. He said, 'Use the white courtesy phone and call airport police. ' I thought those guys were the police. "
But they're not. According to Steve Johnson, the folks who check identification at the airport are employees of the Huntleigh USA Corp. , which has a contract with a consortium of PDX airlines.
Even so, shouldn't any employee at the airport be concerned about an abandoned bag? "We encourage airport employees to report unattended bags immediately to airport police," Steve says. He says the Port of Portland and Huntleigh USA have an agreement to use the white courtesy phone in case of a security problem. "However in this situation, since the ticket (checker) is required to stay at that post . . . he could not walk over to the phone. "
You can understand why someone who controls admission to a secure area can't leave his post. But shouldn't that person have a means to communicate with others? "It made me wonder," Matt says. "How bad would it have to be for that guy to do something? What if someone sat a bag with ticking sounds in front of him? Would he just stand there?"
Matt went to the white phone and was told by a police dispatcher to stay by the bag until an officer arrived. Soon Traci arrived with her boss, Amy. Traci, Amy, Kurt and Matt stood with the bag for about 10 minutes, Amy says.
When an officer arrived, Matt explained the situation for the third time. "He asked if I had looked in the bag, and I said no, thinking that would be insane. "
Nevertheless, that's what the officer did next. "I'm looking at all the adults and kids, thinking this is crazy," Matt says. "If it is a bomb it's going to go off. "
"He didn't even lift it first to see if it was heavy," Amy says.
"I was surprised he didn't take it somewhere and X-ray it or something," Traci says. "I was trying to move away. It didn't seem like he was following a protocol. "
But he was following protocol, Steve says. "Police consider factors that indicate if a bag contains an explosive device. They check for things like wires, or an odor of explosives. " There are other checks, too, Steve says, but he doesn't want to disclose them.
Whatever precautions the officer took, none of the witnesses saw them. "He did no swabbing, he had no equipment with him," Matt says. "Not only that, what if it had contained biological agents? You open the bag, you feel inside, at that point you're contaminated and so is everyone around. I thought, 'Is this guy trained to do this?' "
Steve said the man "is a police officer who is in training as a bomb technician. "
After briefly looking inside the bag, the officer lightheartedly scolded Matt and Kurt for agreeing to watch a stranger's bag and told the four they could go. "He didn't want names or contact information," Matt says.
No police report was filed.
Still, when Matt saw the strange man again in the parking garage, he figured he should let someone know. "He was acting extremely distracted," Matt says.
Matt used his cell phone to call 9-1-1. He explained the situation and asked if his call could be patched to airport police. "She said she couldn't do that. I was furious. That's a basic level of coordination they need to have. "
In fact, 9-1-1 dispatchers are able to patch calls to airport police. Last week 9-1-1 supervisor Madelyn Taylor listened to a recording of Matt's call and said the dispatcher had made a mistake.
To make matters worse, the 9-1-1 dispatcher then told Matt to call airport police directly, and "unfortunately she gave him the wrong number," Madelyn says. The incident has been reported to the dispatcher's supervisor. "It could have been a big deal," Madelyn says. "We want to make sure it doesn't happen again. "
Matt finally reached airport police and reported the man's location. "Again, they didn't want my name or contact information. " Matt and Traci left.
Two weeks have not dimmed Matt's frustration.
Steve says folks at the airport agree the situation could have been handled better. A meeting will be held this week to discuss it. "It's clear we need to take another look. . . . I think we'll be making changes within days. " Improvements are made constantly at the airport, Steve says. "We learn something new about security every day . . . We appreciate this being pointed out to us. "
"Isn't it the worst-case scenario, when you're convinced there's potential danger, and nobody believes you?" Matt asks. "What more could you do, other than jumping up and down and yelling?"
For a guy his fiancee and friends call "understated," that's a strong statement. "But that's what stinks about being in a state of high alert," Matt says. "If this had been a terrorist situation, there could have been a lot of dead people. " Margie Boule: 503-221-8450; -- email address removed --
More From The Oregonian -
Margie Boulé
But how safe are we, really? Until two weeks ago Portlander Matt Triplett felt well-protected at U. S. airports. But the evening of Oct. 8 a man left a bag at Matt's feet in a crowded waiting area at the airport and took off. Matt's attempt to alert authorities was an exercise in frustration. "Their lackadaisical, uncoordinated response was incredible," he says.
Steve Johnson, PDX spokesman, says airport personnel followed protocol, quickly determining the bag posed no threat. Nevertheless, he says, a meeting soon will be held at the airport and changes will be made.
Did Matt overreact that night? Or are authorities not taking security seriously enough?
Matt Triplett was at PDX on Oct. 8 to pick up his fiancee, Traci Smolen. She'd been on a business trip with her boss, Amy Pearl. Amy's husband, Kurt Alameda, sat with Matt in the waiting area outside the North security checkpoint.
Matt left to use the men's room. As he washed his hands, he noticed a man "doing something with one of the electric outlets. . . . I shrugged it off. "
Minutes later a man walked up to Matt and Kurt, said "Could you watch my bag while I go to the bathroom?" and left quickly, leaving a duffel bag at their feet. "He walked away before either of us could say anything," Kurt says.
Matt realized it was the man he'd seen in the restroom. Only now he was walking away from the restroom, toward the shopping area. Matt saw him disappear in the distance.
"I'm not an alarmist," Matt says. He admits he first thought, "It's probably nothing. . . . But these days, after 9/11, we need to be cautious. "
So Matt walked over to the uniformed man checking photo identifications and boarding passes. "I told him what happened. He was completely disinterested. He said, 'Use the white courtesy phone and call airport police. ' I thought those guys were the police. "
But they're not. According to Steve Johnson, the folks who check identification at the airport are employees of the Huntleigh USA Corp. , which has a contract with a consortium of PDX airlines.
Even so, shouldn't any employee at the airport be concerned about an abandoned bag? "We encourage airport employees to report unattended bags immediately to airport police," Steve says. He says the Port of Portland and Huntleigh USA have an agreement to use the white courtesy phone in case of a security problem. "However in this situation, since the ticket (checker) is required to stay at that post . . . he could not walk over to the phone. "
You can understand why someone who controls admission to a secure area can't leave his post. But shouldn't that person have a means to communicate with others? "It made me wonder," Matt says. "How bad would it have to be for that guy to do something? What if someone sat a bag with ticking sounds in front of him? Would he just stand there?"
Matt went to the white phone and was told by a police dispatcher to stay by the bag until an officer arrived. Soon Traci arrived with her boss, Amy. Traci, Amy, Kurt and Matt stood with the bag for about 10 minutes, Amy says.
When an officer arrived, Matt explained the situation for the third time. "He asked if I had looked in the bag, and I said no, thinking that would be insane. "
Nevertheless, that's what the officer did next. "I'm looking at all the adults and kids, thinking this is crazy," Matt says. "If it is a bomb it's going to go off. "
"He didn't even lift it first to see if it was heavy," Amy says.
"I was surprised he didn't take it somewhere and X-ray it or something," Traci says. "I was trying to move away. It didn't seem like he was following a protocol. "
But he was following protocol, Steve says. "Police consider factors that indicate if a bag contains an explosive device. They check for things like wires, or an odor of explosives. " There are other checks, too, Steve says, but he doesn't want to disclose them.
Whatever precautions the officer took, none of the witnesses saw them. "He did no swabbing, he had no equipment with him," Matt says. "Not only that, what if it had contained biological agents? You open the bag, you feel inside, at that point you're contaminated and so is everyone around. I thought, 'Is this guy trained to do this?' "
Steve said the man "is a police officer who is in training as a bomb technician. "
After briefly looking inside the bag, the officer lightheartedly scolded Matt and Kurt for agreeing to watch a stranger's bag and told the four they could go. "He didn't want names or contact information," Matt says.
No police report was filed.
Still, when Matt saw the strange man again in the parking garage, he figured he should let someone know. "He was acting extremely distracted," Matt says.
Matt used his cell phone to call 9-1-1. He explained the situation and asked if his call could be patched to airport police. "She said she couldn't do that. I was furious. That's a basic level of coordination they need to have. "
In fact, 9-1-1 dispatchers are able to patch calls to airport police. Last week 9-1-1 supervisor Madelyn Taylor listened to a recording of Matt's call and said the dispatcher had made a mistake.
To make matters worse, the 9-1-1 dispatcher then told Matt to call airport police directly, and "unfortunately she gave him the wrong number," Madelyn says. The incident has been reported to the dispatcher's supervisor. "It could have been a big deal," Madelyn says. "We want to make sure it doesn't happen again. "
Matt finally reached airport police and reported the man's location. "Again, they didn't want my name or contact information. " Matt and Traci left.
Two weeks have not dimmed Matt's frustration.
Steve says folks at the airport agree the situation could have been handled better. A meeting will be held this week to discuss it. "It's clear we need to take another look. . . . I think we'll be making changes within days. " Improvements are made constantly at the airport, Steve says. "We learn something new about security every day . . . We appreciate this being pointed out to us. "
"Isn't it the worst-case scenario, when you're convinced there's potential danger, and nobody believes you?" Matt asks. "What more could you do, other than jumping up and down and yelling?"
For a guy his fiancee and friends call "understated," that's a strong statement. "But that's what stinks about being in a state of high alert," Matt says. "If this had been a terrorist situation, there could have been a lot of dead people. " Margie Boule: 503-221-8450; -- email address removed --
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