DENVER (CBS4) – There’s a major change coming to the security lines at Denver International Airport and it’s all in an effort to move things along a lot faster.
The change is a Transportation Security Administration program, but DIA officials say they are very supportive of it. It won’t apply to all passengers — only those using the “A” bridge security check point and it will run at different times.
The change was tested Friday morning and travelers seemed to be on board. They involved TSA-trained dogs.
“If it makes it safer, I’m okay with it,” one traveler said.
TSA confirms it is using canines to pre-screen passengers and if they pass they may be able to go through an expedited security line.
“I’d be willing to do something like that if it made me get through faster,” another traveler said.
One man tweeted, “Through airport security without taking my shoes off, removing anything from my bag or being scanned!”
A woman tweeted, “Straight through security in two minutes with shoes on and laptops/liquids in bag. Testing new security procedures at Denver. Nice job.”
The TSA’s website says its canine teams are “a mobile form of explosive detection” and are “extremely accurate.”
“What are we looking for? We’re looking for things that go boom. The dog takes care of that very, very effectively, and the rest of this is finding pointy objects,” aviation expert Mike Boyd said. “Well the only reason we take off our shoes and do all that over stuff is because the other machinery really doesn’t know how to look at it. So this makes a lot of sense for everybody.”
The goal is keeping safety the priority while speeding up security.
Besides Denver, right now the canine project is only being tested at airports in Indianapolis, Honolulu and Tampa.
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