Airport Travelers Can Expect Random Vehicle Searches

By The Seattle Times

Jul. 3–Port of Seattle police are inspecting vehicles dropping off and picking up passengers at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport after a car-bomb attack Saturday at the airport in Glasgow, Scotland, and after two car bombs failed to explode Friday in Central London.

The increased security is also partly prompted by the Fourth of July holiday this week, officials said.

Airport spokeswoman Rachel Garson said the inspections were requested by the Transportation Security Administration.

“TSA asked us to visually inspect vehicles as they enter the drive,” she said. The inspections began Sunday.

The inspections will likely continue through the rest of the week, as an increased number of holiday travelers pass through the airport, Garson said.

Port of Seattle Capt. Ken Irwin said oversized vehicles are being pulled over at the airport on a random basis, and TSA officials are looking inside the vehicles. He said the inspections take about 10 seconds, and drivers aren’t being asked to leave their vehicles.

The inspections aren’t causing significant delays, and haven’t created a traffic backup at the airport, Garson said.

Jennifer Marty-Peppin, a TSA spokeswoman, said additional K-9 teams have also been deployed at the airport.

“As for TSA, we are doing the same things we always do, just more of it. The traveling public will see our resources up front in a visible way,” she said, adding that air marshals, inspectors and uniformed security officers are moving from out in front of the checkpoint to public areas.

“It is important to emphasize that there in no specific, credible threat to the U.S.,” she said.

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