TY - JOUR TI - Employee theft from passengers at U.S. airports DO - https://doi.org/doi:10.7282/T3W957WQ PY - 2013 AB - After 9/11 a number of security measures were implemented at U.S. airports, which included the creation of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), the mandate to scan all air passengers and their luggage, and the prohibition for passengers to lock their suitcases with any system other than TSA approved locks. Some of those measures have opened up opportunities for employees to steal from passengers’ luggage. This dissertation uses an environmental criminology perspective to examine why some U.S. airports experience more employee theft from passengers than others. Given the lack of previous research, it is necessary to analyze first the prevalence of this crime at U.S. airports, which airports experience more theft of this kind, and whether theft concentrates mostly in a few airports. Then, the features associated with an increased risk of employee theft at each airport are examined using bivariate and multivariate analyses. The unit of analysis is the airport. Theft rates calculated using data of claims from passengers against the TSA are used as dependent variables. Two subtypes of theft are studied: theft at the security checkpoint, and theft from checked-in luggage. Findings show that theft rates are very low. No pattern of concentration is found when analyzing large and medium airports. While theft at checkpoint is very homogeneous across airports, variation in the opportunities provided by different checked baggage inspection systems allows for some concentration of theft in smaller airports. Results suggest that passengers’ packing practices and airlines’ baggage handling systems can also facilitate opportunities for theft from checked luggage. Further research is needed to unpack these findings. This research proves that there are exceptions to “The Iron Law of Troublesome Places” (Wilcox and Eck, 2011): standardized strict antiterrorist measures have the beneficial side effect of reducing theft risk and ironing out large differences in theft risk among airports. From a practical perspective, this study shows that there are more opportunities for theft at smaller airports. Considering that individuals involved in employee theft are often involved in other crimes as well, smaller airports could constitute vulnerable points of entry into the aviation industry in this country. KW - Criminal Justice KW - Airline security personnel--United States KW - Employee theft--United States KW - Airports--Baggage handling--United States LA - eng ER -