New plan inked to beef up airport security

[Bulldog]

By NADIA MOHARIB

CALGARY -- RCMP and Transport Canada have penned a deal to beef up efforts to thwart the movement of organized criminals at the nation's airports.

The two agencies signed the agreement last week to bolster information-sharing and see expanded background checks for workers with access to secure areas at major airports.

In Alberta it's already being seen as a promising move, said solicitor general spokesman Andy Weiler.

"We applaud any move that would tighten security in Canada's airports and make it more difficult for organized crime to try to use these transportation hubs as a way to conduct their illegal business," he said yesterday.

Liberal Senator Colin Kenny sounded the alarm on criminals enjoying slack security at airports last year, citing an RCMP report claiming 54 organized crime groups operate in Alberta - three of them, including the Hells Angels, at the Calgary International Airport, bypassing security to move weapons and drugs. Kenny, president of the Senate committee on national security and defence, said no agency was stepping up to address the issue.

INADEQUATE SCREENING

His concerns were backed by sources working at the Calgary airport who said officials are not doing adequate screening of workers to prevent criminals from doing business at the facility.

 The new agreement was inked about a month after Auditor General Sheila Fraser said poor cooperation between Transport Canada and RCMP has allowed nefarious types, some linked to the organized crime, to work in secure areas of airports.

WALK ON TARMAC

Those security concerns were bolstered by Transport Minister John Baird and Kenny recently walking unchallenged onto the tarmac at Toronto's Pearson International Airport.

The RCMP ended an information-sharing deal with Transport Canada in December 2007 but the new one will allow the federal transport department doing security clearance on workers to access more information from an expanded range of intelligence sources.

Efforts to do more extensive checks can only increase the potential to keep organized criminals out of airports, said southern Alberta RCMP spokesman Patrick Webb.

"Every check we can make may be important in identifying anyone who shouldn't have access," he said. "A program like this certainly helps us to identify criminals and minimize their access to sensitive areas."

http://www.edmontonsun.com/News/Alberta/2009/04/12/9088881-sun.html