"Dallas/Fort Worth Airport to Hire Police, Guards"

Wednesday, June 9, 2004

Dallas/Fort Worth Airport to Hire Police, Guards
The Fort Worth (TX) Star-Telegram


Almost a year to the day after Dallas/Fort Worth Airport announced
layoffs amid an industrywide financial crisis, the airport is hiring
again.

Summer air travel is booming, and a new terminal opens in a year.

With 413 overworked law enforcement officers, D/FW wants to fill 13
police vacancies by October, possibly by hiring officers from nearby
cities. The D/FW Department of Public Safety plans to follow up by
adding 19 police officers, a fire inspector and 43 security guards for
the opening of Terminal D in June 2005. Hiring will be conducted as
quickly as possible, officials said.

"We've got a terminal that's over 2 million square feet -- twice as big
as any existing terminal -- with a Hyatt hotel and an 8,100-vehicle
parking garage, so there's going to be a lot of activity," said Alvy
Dodson, D/FW vice president of public safety.

Terminal D's size prompted Dodson to seek a fire inspector to handle
terminal fire code and safety issues. The civilian security guards will
monitor the entry gates to the airport's secure areas, including where
the jetliners park.

D/FW is one of two U.S. airports that require employees to go through
security screenings similar to those that passengers undergo, Dodson
said. The guards will screen employees in terminals A, C and D.

D/FW spokesman David Magana said the current growth is "a good problem
to have."

It's a far cry from the last few years, when D/FW officials tightened
the airport's financial belt as the industry reeled from a poor economy;
the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001; the threat of airline
bankruptcies; disease in the Far East; and war. On June 10 last year,
the airport laid off 62 employees, including some police officers.

Overtime for the shorthanded airport police escalated as the airport
complied with security mandates -- and terror alerts -- dictated by the
Homeland Security Department, Congress, and the Transportation Security
Administration.

Business is also expected to increase. About 16.6 million passengers are
expected to travel through D/FW from June through August, a 12 percent
increase from last year. It will even be busier than in summer 2001,
airport officials said.

For the first time in its 30 years, the airport Department of Public
Safety abandoned cross-training in August. Dodson said he believes that
not having the cross-training requirement will make recruiting top
police officers easier.

Cross-training involves training police officers in firefighting and
vice versa.

Post-9-11 airport security was becoming so specialized that officers
could no longer afford the time to be cross-trained and perform
different duties, Jim Crites, D/FW executive vice president of
operations, said in August.

Ads for the positions should appear in the major local newspapers soon,
Magana said.


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