Full Notification

AAAPO Disputes Inaccurate Article


LOS ANGELES, CALIF. - The American Alliance of Airport Police Officers (AAAPO) emphatically disputes the inaccuracies and misconceptions reported in a recent Bloomberg article on airport security. The article and many of its sources, including a former TSA deputy administrator, misrepresent our officers and are wholly offensive, particularly to the police officers at LAX who defended airport workers and travelers on November 1, 2013 in the face of various TSA and airport administrative failures. (http://bloom.bg/298X9Cq)

The sole mission of AAAPO officers is to protect travelers, TSA agents and other airport employees. This is a function our men and women have performed admirably and continue to do during this heightened threat environment.

The role of TSA is to screen passengers and baggage to detect threats and prohibited items at security screening so they do not reach airplanes. However, internal TSA audits have shown that screeners working at airports across the country missed banned objects 67 out of 70 times, a shocking 96% failure rate. This is unacceptable and directly due to a lack of oversight by TSA management.

The Bloomberg article criticizes the response of airport police during the November 1, 2013 shooting at LAX. However, a close review of the facts reveals that TSA's own policies and procedures failed their employees and travelers.

That day, when TSA agents went to hit panic alarms at the screening checkpoints immediately after the shooter killed his first victim, airport police were later informed that the buttons did not work.

They also learned that TSA red-line phones at the screening area, which connect to airport police dispatch, did not have caller ID-dispatch could not determine from which terminal the calls originated when a TSA agent called and left the phone cord dangling before he could relay the terminal in which the shooter was.
The "confusion, poor communication and alarms that didn't function well" that are noted in the article were all due to TSA and airport managements own failed technology-NOT airport police-which jeopardized their employees and traveler safety.

Also, TSA allowed LAX, and all airports, to remove a post 9-11 Congressional mandate and funding for having a law enforcement officer stationed at the screening checkpoint which further contributed to the vulnerability of this area. All of these issues, of which we were aware,are things we brought to the highest level of TSA to discuss and advocate during a meeting with then Administrator John Pistole in September 2012, but many of them are still not implemented (see attached follow up letter to the Administrator). As noted in the 2012 letter, the single most important thing to help protect TSA agents and the traveling public is to have an armed law enforcement officer within 300 feet of the screening area. However, TSA's leadership ignored this recommendation and continues to refuse to support this policy which will better defend their own employees.

TSA oversees and has full responsibility for ensuring protocols are in place for working equipment at the screening area and that law enforcement officers are located close enough to the checkpoints to protect TSA agents and the public-they actually have a congressional mandate to make it happen (see attached 49 USC 44901(h)). But, they DON'T. Instead of making it happen and providing leadership, resources and support to fortify the checkpoint area, TSA has fought this legislation, endangering their own rank and file screeners.

Laying blame on airport police for the missteps during the November 1 shooting, when it was TSA's own failed policies and procedures that jeopardized the response, is an a effrontery to the police officers who, with all the impediments put in their way, took down the shooter in text book fashion.

Lives were saved on November 1, 2013 due to the fast thinking and swift actions of the officers of the Los Angeles Airport Police. Given the overwhelming evidence that shows TSA can barely perform its main mission of screening passengers and bags, it is unthinkable that there are those out there that believe the TSA should be armed. If the TSA cannot ensure working panic buttons at their own screening checkpoints, that their emergency red phones have caller ID and if their employees have a 96% failure rate at detecting prohibited items, it makes no sense for TSA to carry guns.

Having a second armed force within a contained airport environment is dangerous and will lead to chaos in emergency situations when tightly coordinated tactical responses are critical. Two police commands reporting to two different chiefs in a confined area will only create confusion in response operations.

"This is my airport and I will not take criticism of my officers' proactive and heroic efforts to protect TSA and everyone at the airport that day," said Marshall McClain, co-founder of the AAAPO and President of the Los Angeles Airport Peace Officers Association. "Our officers were located exactly in the areas they were assigned to be and despite the obstacles that were placed in front of them on November 1 by TSA-non-working panic buttons, red-line phones without caller ID and no longer having an officer stationed directly at the checkpoint-our response was exemplary and the shooter was taken down in textbook fashion. TSA management and their failed policies were our own worst enemy."

Paul Nunziato, co-founder of the AAAPO and President of the Port Authority Police Benevolent Association said, "Don't criticize our officers to cover up TSA and airport management failures. Airport police are out here every day doing our job to protect our airports. The weak link here is TSA management-purchasing non-working technology and not properly training their agents-they are the ones putting their own employees and traveler safety at risk. "

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The American Alliance of Airport Police Officers (AAAPO) is comprised of rank-and-file airport police officers (including many dual police/aircraft rescue firefighters) who stand as the first line of defense against terrorist attacks, hijackings and other criminal activity at our nation's airports. We seek to promote security and safety for the traveling public, visitors and airport employees by highlighting best practices and identifying areas for improvement and proposed solutions for our nation's airport security deployment. AAAPO focuses on regulatory issues that promote our efforts to provide the most advanced and cutting-edge service innovations and security processes in our nation and the world. Our organization represents thousands of sworn law enforcement officers across the United States beholden only to this mission. We are unencumbered by neither political nor managerial constraints that would prevent us from promoting sound public safety policy.

The founding members of the American Alliance of Airport Police Officers are comprised of numerous rank-and-file airport police officers from John F. Kennedy International Airport; LaGuardia Airport; Los Angeles International Airport; Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport; LA/Ontario International Airport; Newark Liberty International Airport; Van Nuys Airport; Stewart International Airport; and Teterboro Airport.