"Des Moines, Iowa police retain control of airport security duty"

Saturday, August 9, 2003

D.M. police retain control of airport security duty
A plan that would have called for help from area officers has been nixed.
By TOM SUK
The Des Moines (IA) Register


A plan to make surrounding communities share responsibility for airport
security has been shelved because Des Moines police want to retain control
of the assignment.

Mayor Preston Daniels floated the proposal after police claimed the added
duty strained patrol numbers. The city has supplied stepped-up airport
security since the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. The federal government
and the airport pick up the tab for 21 officers, three supervisors and a
police cadet.

"It was a serious proposal," Daniels said. "It failed for a variety of
reasons, but No. 1 was a sense of control. It was a sort of 'We don't need
help from outside agencies' sort of thing."

Police Chief William McCarthy said the issue is safety, not arrogance.
Officers from other agencies are competent, he said, "but the reality is,
the best security force is a unified command."

"We wanted a cohesive, self-contained force to provide the best security for
the airport and the public," he said. "We want a force that trains together,
works together and knows intimately the airport and people that work there."

Des Moines officers "know every hallway and every door" at the airport and
"can spot things that are unusual that most people would not readily
notice," the chief added.

His predecessor, William Moulder, blamed airport duty, in part, for a
variety of cutbacks and manpower shortages over the past two years. Daniels,
an outspoken advocate of cooperation among metro-area governments,
acknowledged that his plan faced several challenges.

"Everybody is fighting budgets and short staffs. Most other law enforcement
agencies would have had trouble freeing someone up," he said.

David Hamlin, the police chief in Urbandale, said that if his department
were to pitch in at the airport "it would almost have to be on an overtime
basis. We're stretched pretty good as it is."

McCarthy said there were other problems with Daniels' idea.

"Other agencies committed to help, but we ran into union problems. Who would
work what hours? Who would be backup?" he said. "If somebody didn't show up,
do we have to pull one of our officers off the street to cover that shift?"

Polk County Sheriff Dennis Anderson said the proposal nonetheless was given
serious consideration, "but after analyzing everything, we decided the best
way we could help was to fill in with territory patrols in the northeast
part of the city."

"We didn't have months or a year to iron out those issues," he said.

McCarthy said it is impossible to weigh other cutbacks against the
importance of airport security.

"We have disbanded our community relations department and cut our animal
control officers in half," he said. "We have cut back a lot of things, but
airport security certainly cannot be one of them. Sept. 11 taught us a
terrible lesson."


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