"Vote Pushes LAX Police Merger a Step Closer"

Tuesday, January 11, 2005

Vote Pushes Police Merger a Step Closer
A council committee backs a measure to change the City Charter so that LAX
officers could join forces with the LAPD.
By Jennifer Oldham and Richard Winton
The Los Angeles (CA) Times


The drive to merge Los Angeles International Airport police with the LAPD
moved ahead Monday when a City Council committee unanimously supported a
ballot measure to ask voters to remove a City Charter provision requiring an
independent airport police force. 

After hearing from law enforcement representatives and city officials in
favor of a charter amendment, the Public Safety Committee voted 4 to 0 to
place such a measure on the May ballot. The full council must vote on the
issue by Jan. 26. 

The ballot measure would remove a clause in the City Charter approved by
voters in 1999 that protects the airport police from oversight and
management by the Los Angeles Police Department or other city officials.
Upon approval, the council would be able to combine the police departments. 

Momentum has built for a merger after a number of well-publicized incidents
last year involving airport police, including a high-speed SUV crash in
Inglewood that critically injured a pedestrian and a televised report that
showed airport police officers loafing on the job. Fifteen officers are
under investigation and two have been recommended for termination. 

City leaders have discussed combining the departments on several occasions
in the last decade, but the idea has not been popular politically until now.
The discussion was resurrected after a July 4, 2002, shooting at the El Al
Airlines ticket counter in LAX that left three dead. But that effort failed
after Mayor James K. Hahn and the Airport Commission opposed it. 

"The El Al shooting took place 2 1/2 years ago. This is the first time we've
taken formal action to make improvements at the airport to prevent such an
attack or better respond to one in the future," said Councilman Jack Weiss,
a Public Safety Committee member who has led the merger push. 

Police Chief William J. Bratton, Police Commission President David S.
Cunningham and Hahn's chief of staff testified Monday in favor of a charter
change.

"This isn't rocket science," said Bratton, who appeared before the committee
for only the second time in two years. "We're doing what will provide the
best public safety for residents."

Representatives of the city's legislative analyst's office and the
administrative office said a combined force would save money and be more
efficient. 

The Los Angeles Airport Peace Officers Assn., however, opposes a merger. In
a statement, the union said that removing the charter provision is "a first
step to the dangerous dismantling of one of the most effective airport
security coalitions in the country." 

"It is because of the dedication and specialized aviation training of the
Los Angeles Airport Police that LAX is considered by many in the aviation
world to be one of the world's safest airports," the statement said.


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