EdSantos1227 says ...

I would like to thank all of you that have taken the time to respond to this post.  It brings me and my fellow TSA Handlers a great lift of encouragment to know that there are some LEO's out there who can simply acknowledge us as handlers and recognize that we too bring something to the table.  Our missions, regardless of the uniform we wear, or who signs our check, is the same.  So, on behalf of TSA Proprietary Canine Teams I would like to say, THANK YOU.  And be safe.

Im currently in the final stage for TSA K9. Just wanting a little info. Is this not a gun carring position? If not how come? Anyone???

Ed, the TSA has a terrible reputation and I am a retired LEO that has a great deal of scorn for the TSA, and for good reason. I DO know that there are TSA folks out there that are good people doing a hard job and these are people that would make good cops. The problem is that by far most of the TSA people are, well, disgusting. Now if I saw a TSA K9 handler I would look at him or her with a different eye as I know that this would take intensive and dedicated training to accomplish. Still, I seriously recommend that you seek a real LEO position. I see the TSA as to be disbanded sometime in the near future and given to private airport security with an increase of Airport Police who will have the same qualifications and training as all LEOs and who will be LEOs and not glorified  Federal Security Guards.

Ed, The truth of the matter is that you are not a Law Enforcement Officer.  You from what I am guessing you are a TSA screener who has been given a canine to screen cargo.  If the government hasn't seen fit to make you a LEO in the first 11 years of the TSA, there not going to.  The men and women who actually carry guns do more than screen cargo.  Police who handle canines work in a police capacity first and then in a canine handler secondly.  Theses LEO teams have a much higher rate of success in evaluations, and are generally thought of in a better light.