Security Guard Pay and Training Aired

Security guards for decades have been complaining that they are under paid and over worked and they had a chance to air their concerns Wednesday afternoon. Pittsburgh City Council carved a few minutes out of its afternoon to hold a public hearing on improving wages and training standards for security guards in the city. The hearing was scheduled after a petition was circulated requesting the time before council. The Service Employees International Union local 32 BJ organized the effort. Local 32 BJ Organizer Sam Williamson says it is a growing safety concern. “Privatized security companies pay people so little that turnover really rivals what it is in the fast food industry,” says Williamson, “the workers expected to be the first line of defense in case of an emergency don’t have the training necessary to be able to protect the public.”

Sam Williamson is a guard at a downtown building. He says there needs to be standardized training for security guards. “On the job training is not enough to really allow us to be the most effective first responders, if we had standardized training we could do more to make the right calls,” says Kelly. Pittsburgh Fire fighter Darrin Kelly agrees, he says the best asset a fire fighter responding to a call in a high-rise building can have is a well-trained security guard that meets them at the door. “It allows us to prepare for the situation at hand,” says Kelly, “a building that does not have well trained security personnel allows us to walk into a hornets nest.”

No legislation has been introduced in council to deal with training or wages of security guards. Williams says he hopes the hearing will “make the public take note of the situation and bring it out of the shadows.” Council President Darlene Harris says she plans to form a special commission to look into the issue. County Council President Rich Fitzgerald says he will work on legislation at the county level and hopes to work closely with the city council. In the Meantime, Williams says he will work to unionize more security guards in the hopes that it will increase pay, benefits and training for all guards.

Allegation of Perjury During Intelligence Gathering Hearing

A Republican Senator says witnesses may have lied under oath during fall hearings on the state Office of Homeland Security’s controversial intelligence gathering contracts.
The Senate Veterans Affairs and Emergency Preparedness Committee held two hearings looking into the information the Institute of Terrorism Research and Response gathered on political groups across the state.
Republican Chairwoman Lisa Baker says the hearings have raised some concerns, and she’s asking the Attorney General’s office to take a look at them.

"The possibility that untrue testimony may have been given under oath. The possibility that records may have been improperly destroyed. Those are things that I think shouldn’t be casually waived off, just because of the waning days of an administration."

However, Baker isn’t saying who may have lied or destroyed evidence.
Witnesses included Rendell’s Chief of Staff, Steve Crawford, Homeland Security Director James Powers, Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency Director Robert French, and ITRR executive Mike Perelman.
The Rendell Adminstration isn’t commenting on Baker’s letter to Attorney General Tom Corbett.
A spokesman says the Attorney General is “reviewing” the issue.

Rep. Murphy Requests TSA Security Revisions

After hearing concerns from constituents and uncomfortable workers, Congressman Tim Murphy (PA-18-R) has requested that Homeland Security review the Transportation Security Administration’s security methods and consider alternative methods of security checks for this holiday season.

Murphy joined with Rep. Bob Filner (D) of California to form a bipartisan committee that is interested in the privacy and comfort of their constituents while still ensuring safety while traveling.

“We want to make sure that TSA has the techniques necessary to protect passenger safety and security but also we want to protect passenger privacy as well,” Murphy says.

Murphy’s committee is concerned with the latest security program of the TSA that requires flight passengers to enter a full body scanner or subject themselves to an intrusive pat down which has become the subject of public controversy.

Another of Murphy’s concerns is how TSA went through with their enhanced security measures without seeking input from Congress, which Murphy believes represents the best interests of the American people.

“In the Pittsburgh Airport there are a large number of TSA employees who are raising concerns to us that they feel there are some other ways they can do this,” Murphy says. “They’re not comfortable with the screening methods being used right now.

The committee hopes for Homeland Security to revise TSA’s measures in the next few weeks.

“To ask for some careful review for this in the coming days before the Christmas holidays would be critically important,” Murphy says.

CMU FBI Fight Internet Dangers

Carnegie Mellon University and the Federal Bureau of Investigation have launched a joint effort aimed at helping students better understand the dangers that lurk on the Internet. The effort brings together the FBI’s Safe Online Surfing Program (SOS) and CMU’s Alice software package. The SOS program was launched 5 years ago to deliver Internet safety information to third- through eighth-grade students. Since then it has been used in 41 states and has reached more than 70,000 children. Along with getting out the information the program builds competition among local schools. The FBI partnership with Carnegie Mellon will allow the students to create 45 second animated public service announcements on Safe Online Surfing practices using CMU’s Alice application. The late Randy Pausch created Alice while he was part of the university’s School of Computer Science. It teaches the basics of programming in a fun way where students often do not even realize hey are learning. Middle and high school students will create the videos and FBI agents will judge them later this school year to select a winner in two age groups. Teachers must sign up on line to take part in the program. Assistant section Chief of the FBI’s Cyber Division, Nick Savage, says the goal is to reach more than 25,000 students with the competition this year. He says he then hopes to take the wining videos out to other schools. Savage says students learn best when they are teaching and he believes there is a great need to educate young people about hazards associated with Internet. Both the FBI and CMU hope this will be a multi-year collaboration. Savage says the FBI conducts the SOS program and other programs in an effort to be more proactive in an effort to prevent crimes before hey happen.

Powers Quits After Security Alert Bulletins Controversy

The head of Pennsylvania’s Office of Homeland Security office has stepped down, days after he defended the department’s controversial intelligence reports before a state Senate hearing.
Governor Ed Rendell had dismissed the intelligence documents as useless, after the bulletins listing information about political rallies and protests became public.
When Director James Powers appeared before the Senate Veterans Affairs and Homeland Security Committee, he said the reports had provided a valuable service for local governments and law enforcement agencies.
Rendell rejected calls that he fire Powers but he did accept his resignation....

"Jim is a good man who made a very significant mistake in judgment. And he has decided that the operation of his department is too important for his own personal desire to stay in the way of it."

Powers' last day on the job will be October 8th.
The public outcry was fast and furious, after news broke Powers’ office had been distributing information about protests to private companies and local law enforcement.
Rendell has canceled a state contract with the private security firm who gathered the data.
The targeted groups, including drilling opponents, gay rights activists and G20 protesters say their rights were violated.

Hearing On Security Bulletins

The head of Pennsylvania’s Homeland Security Office defended controversial security bulletins during a State Senate hearing Monday.
The documents, which Governor Ed Rendell called “worthless,” provided information about political protests and upcoming religious holidays, along with other data.
Pennsylvania Homeland Security Director James Powers apologized to groups who felt like the primers infringed on their freedom, but he defended the intelligence, saying the information was useful to ground-level officials.

"For me and for you, does it matter what’s happening in Cecil Township? Well, it matters to the chief of police, who does not have analysts, who does not have researchers, and is responsible to the elected leaders there for public safety."

The state paid more than 100-thousand dollars to a private security firm for the information, but Rendell decided not to renew its contract after the bulletins were made public.
During the hearing, officials from the State Police told lawmakers they repeatedly questioned the value of the reports.
Powers said he heard their complaints, but disagreed. "On a couple of occasions they were concerned that some of the information looked like it was of useless value. But I knew from the stakeholders themselves - the people we wrote this document for, the people at the lowest level of government – that it was useful to them."


Powers says no tax dollars were spent on the bulletins, which were funded by federal grant money. Several senators were hostile to Powers during the hearing.
One Democrat, Senator Jim Ferlo of Allegheny County, told Powers he should be fired.

PA Company Wants Terror-Alerts Off of Web

The co-director of the company that was contracted by the state and provided the Pennsylvania Homeland Security Office with security alerts has sent a memo warning that posting the unredacted bulletins on the Internet has increased threats to potential targets in Pennsylvania amd to students studying abroad. The memo, which was obtained by the Associated Press, comes from Michael Perelman of the Institute of Terrorism Research and Response. It urges State Homeland Security Director James Powers to remove the information from the Internet until any material that would be useful to those intending harm is removed. Perelman confirmed the contents of the memo but told A.P. he did not authorize its distribution. The bulletins posted Friday night drew protests after revelations that some of the alerts concerned opponents of gas drilling, and others spotlighted events such as an anti-BP candlelight vigil and a gay and lesbian festival.