"Airport Police Remain Dallas/Fort Worth Airport's Top Squad in Security"

Sunday, August 3, 2003

Airport Police Remain Dallas/Fort Worth Airport's Top Squad in Security
The Fort Worth (TX) Star-Telegram


D/FW AIRPORT, Texas--Uniformed Dallas/Fort Worth Airport police officers
rove the narrow, curved terminal concourses, the parking garages, the vast
grassy areas out by the runways.

"We're not so predictable," said Alvy Dodson, D/FW public safety vice
president. "We're not always in stationary, highly visible positions."

Responsibility for the security of 99.9 percent of D/FW's property falls to
airport police -- an industry truth that has often been overlooked since the
Transportation Security Administration was created two months after the 9-11
terrorist attacks. And although a different mix of technology, federal
screeners and knowledge pervades airport security, experts say the job is
done best by airport police.

"The airports have 30-plus years of experience dealing with aviation
security," said Ian Redhead, vice president for airport facilities and
services for Airports Council International-North America.

"They're in a better position to continue doing that than a newly formed
organization."

That organization is the fledgling TSA, created by Congress in November 2001
to replace airline-contracted screening companies. The TSA was conceived as
an agency with a decided law-enforcement edge to it.

"TSA came in with a lot of new people who were security types -- police,
Secret Service -- and they came up with the conclusion that TSA should
expand the perimeter to beyond the checkpoint, to the area in front of the
terminals and to the ticket counters," Nevada-based airport expert Douglas
Laird said. "All that brought up a question: Who's in charge?"

Much of the new security measures at D/FW did not involve the TSA.

The airport is surrounded by 35 miles of barbed wire, put in place before
the TSA got off the ground. Hidden cameras have been at checkpoints since
before 9-11, but were not always monitored before the terrorist attacks. And
D/FW is one of a handful of airports with bioterrorism sensors and a
weapons-of-mass-destruction decontamination unit.

A mobile command post can drive emergency management teams right up to a
disaster area. Terminal D, which is under construction, is shielded by thick
steel reinforcements on its critical pillars and within the terminal face.
And that's the high-profile stuff -- other security measures will remain
secret.

In general, D/FW has a reputation for being progressive, Laird said.

Despite the extra measures, the airport does not have an intrusive,
militarized look. An elusive, more covert police coverage is preferable,
Dodson said.

The 400-plus D/FW Department of Public Safety officers handle airport
security with the exception of the passenger and baggage screening
checkpoints. Federal regulations have long separated screening from what is
called perimeter security.

The TSA handles screening. A TSA regulatory group also makes security
inspections at checkpoints and in other security-sensitive areas, agency
spokeswoman Suzanne Luber said. If the color-coded national terror alert
rises to Level Orange, a private company comes in to conduct vehicle
inspections and random searches at the airport entries, D/FW spokesman Ken
Capps said.

TSA officials said there are no examples anywhere in the nation of TSA's
security personnel overstepping the checkpoints.

"To this point, that's the role they've played," said Monique Bond,
spokeswoman for the Chicago Aviation Department, which runs O'Hare
International Airport.

At Los Angeles International Airport, airport police play the primary
security role, backed up by Los Angeles Police Department officers at a
small substation nearby.

At Denver International Airport, a contracted company called First Watch
handles road, perimeter and parking surveillance, airport spokesman Chuck
Cannon said.

Inside the terminals, security is handled by a combination of First Watch
and Denver police.

TSA Administrator James Loy said in May that the agency can handle security
standards and action plans, as well as identify security gaps. But as the
TSA's 55,600-screener work force is reduced by 6,000 this summer, the
hands-on job of protecting airports would probably be performed by others,
Loy said.

"What goes around comes around and comes around again," Dodson said.

Modern airport security began around 1973, when a rash of hijackings
resulted in the screening of passengers and hand-carried items.

Larger airports eventually developed their own police forces to replace
local officers. Airlines hired screening companies.

Then came 9-11, when terrorists exploited the policies of the Federal
Aviation Administration to get low-grade weapons on board planes. Before
9-11, box cutters were not banned on airplanes. In the resulting debate on
Capitol Hill, the FAA and screening companies were booted from the airport
security scene and the TSA was created.

"The original goal of [the TSA's first head] John Magaw was that TSA would
be an enforcement agency and needed to function more as police officers,"
Laird said.

"I don't think it went over well with the airport police," he said.

But the impetus behind TSA's claim over all aspects of airport security
evaporated July 4, 2002, after a gunman killed three people at the El Al
ticket counter at Los Angeles International. As the nation slipped into a
post-9-11 panic, a TSA spokesman called the LAX shootings a matter for local
police and other federal agencies to handle.

Another example of TSA's limited scope was evident in a March 19 incident at
D/FW.

During the same week when Congress discussed the threat to jetliners posed
by shoulder-fired missiles, airport police found a man's body in a pickup at
the airport, about a mile from the nearest runway, apparently a suicide. A
shotgun was also found.

The truck had been in the field for at least two hours before it was
reported by the engineer of a passing train, according to airport police
reports.

The TSA was never involved.

The man had driven onto airport property unnoticed, according to airport
police reports.

D/FW needs better fencing, closer monitoring of construction vehicles and
more scrutiny of who is on its grounds, several national airlines and
construction unions contend. Another area of concern is the number of
monitoring devices, fences and identification checkpoints.

Airport officials say that the perimeters are secure and that the TSA is
consulted in a spirit of cooperation. Keeping everyone on the same side is
crucial, Dodson said, especially with security-related costs for D/FW
already spiraling and flagship carrier American Airlines struggling
financially.

"I don't think anybody likes to be told what to do," Dodson said.

"What we'd rather have is a collaborative partner. That comes from a healthy
working relationship between the parties involved."

Airport officials say the past two years have made clear that much of what
affects D/FW is not under the airport's control and that security can be a
big, expensive question mark.

But the authority to initiate security plans -- and to require further
expensive security measures -- still rests ultimately with the TSA.

"The biggest challenge for us is if TSA mandates additional requirements and
does not ensure the funding accompanies the requirements," said Redhead, of
the Airports Council International-North America. "This becomes a burden on
the airlines and other tenants to come up with that money."

SECURITY SINCE SEPT. 11, 2001:

Oct. 5, 2001: The National Guard begins patrol of Dallas/Fort Worth Airport
checkpoints.

Nov. 22, 2001: The Transportation Security Administration is created.

May 9, 2002: The National Guard's mission is complete. Checkpoints return to
civilian appearance. Off-duty Tarrant County and Fort Worth law officers
replace National Guard troops, and the TSA contracts with D/FW to provide
reimbursements.

Nov. 22, 2002: The TSA completes the federal takeover of screening duties
from airlines.

May 1, 2003: Administrator James Loy announces that the TSA will no longer
reimburse airports for extra law officers at the checkpoints.

D/FW announces that it will return to the pre-9-11 "flexible response"
strategy at the end of May.

Source: Star-Telegram reports


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