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Exclusive tour of the TSA at San Diego International Airport

Mimi just graduated from training school in San Antonio, Texas, where she learned to use her nose to find explosives. And now, she’s on the job in San Diego.

SAN DIEGO — Traveling during the holidays can be stressful enough, but the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) at San Diego International Airport wants passengers to know about all they’re doing to keep us safe. They gave CBS 8’s Brian White an exclusive, behind-the-scenes tour of a security checkpoint, where he met one of their newest additions to the security team, a Passenger Screening Canine.

“Good girl, mama, good girl!” said canine handler, Daniel, as he rewarded his furry workmate with loving pets. Mimi is a 2-year-old German Shorthaired Pointer and if there is danger lurking, she is sure to sniff it out.

“Very powerful,” said Daniel. “She’s hit stuff 100 yards away from source.”

Mimi just graduated from training school in San Antonio, Texas, where she learned to use her nose to find explosives. And now, she’s on the job in San Diego.

“Basically walk her around, let her sniff passengers, their bags,” said Daniel. “We’ll search gates, terminals. She’s trained to search under seats, ticket counters.”

TSA then took CBS 8 to the first stop at a security checkpoint in Terminal 2 where ID’s are checked for verification.

“We need to make sure travelers are who they say they are, so the officer will take the photo ID and insert it into the CAT unit,” said Lorie Dankers, spokesperson for TSA.

Security officers ran a fake ID, used for training purposes, through the machine.

“What’s happening is this is a fraudulent ID and the Credential Authentication Technology (CAT) unit detected that,” said Dankers.

Next, TSA showed CBS 8 the Computed Tomography (CT) scanner where carry-on bags were being inspected.

“Those generate a 3D X-ray image of the contents of a carry-on bag,” said Dankers. “Number one, the officer can get a better view of the bag, but more importantly, when your items are screened through a CT scanner, you leave everything in your bag, including your electronics and your travel-size liquids.”

If you have medically necessary liquids that exceed allowable travel sizes, TSA is able to inspect them with a Liquid Bottle Scanner.

“What it does is it looks at the density of the liquid to ensure that it is safe to fly, that it can be in the cabin of the aircraft,” said Dankers.

And if it’s needed, TSA can swab someone’s hands or their electronics for any trace of explosives using a specialized detection unit.

“At TSA, we have to be right 100% of the time,” said Dankers. “The traveler only needs to be right once so as a result, we have all of these processes in place to ensure we don’t allow anything beyond the security checkpoint that shouldn’t be on the aircraft.”

Over Thanksgiving weekend, the busiest travel day saw 40,000 passengers, which was comparable to pre-pandemic numbers. As people continue to travel this holiday season, Kathleen Connon, Federal Security Director for San Diego International Airport, wants people to remember a few tips to keep the lines moving easily and efficiently.

“Make sure you have everything in your bags. Don’t have them in your pockets. Don’t have bracelets that are metal, and you have to take them off. That just delays getting through, so put everything in your bag that you can,” said Connon. “Our equipment is designed to look at those bags and if you are going through and you’ve got them contained, they’re going to go through quickly.”

And finally, Connon shared this advice for anyone heading to the airport.

“Remember to get here early,” said Connon. “That makes your life easier, you’ll be less stressed.”

Watch Related: Holiday Travel | What food you can and cannot bring on a plane (Dec 17, 2021)

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