LOS ANGELES, CA – With the 15th anniversary of 9/11 upon us this weekend, the American Alliance of Airport Police Officers (AAAPO) would like to take a moment and remember all who were lost that fateful day. We promise to continue to advance proposals that will fortify security at our nation’s airports and to ensure the safety of the traveling public, all airport employees, as well as our own officers.
What happened on 9/11 was a senseless and terrible act, and we must remain focused on the task at hand which is to do everything within our power to make sure that something like this never, ever is able to happen again.
The AAAPO was formed to advocate for reasonable, common-sense approaches to secure our airports in order to ensure that the lives lost on 9/11 would not be in vain. Unfortunately, airports continue to be a high profile and sought-after target for those looking to inflict harm and every day, airport police officers go to work focused on making sure this does not happen. Our rank-and-file officers see firsthand, day in and day out, the security gaps that bad guys are trying to exploit and we have been vocal in trying to close these loopholes to protect the traveling public and our officers.
Our sole motivation in continuing to highlight and advocate for changes to our airport security apparatus is to prevent another 9/11, as we are concerned something like this could very easily happen again and recent airport-related events make it look like blueprints are being laid for such an incident. The recent “false alarm” incidents at LAX and JFK, the airport attacks in Brussels and Istanbul, the EgyptAir bombing, last fall’s Metrojet bombing and the two Paris-bound Air France flights that were diverted due to bomb threats, all serve as stark reminders that there are those out there who seek to cause injury and disrupt our way of life. We will not let this happen on our watch.
“My fellow officers honor those who lost their lives in the 9/11 attacks, and offer our continued thoughts and prayers to the loved ones they left behind who are still grieving every single day,” said Marshall McClain, President of the Los Angeles Airport Peace Officers Association, and co-founder of the AAAPO. “We solemnly commit to ensuring that we will continue our best efforts to protect our airports and its occupants by pushing for practical security solutions so that a tragedy like 9/11 never happens again.”
“We lost 37 brave officers on 9/11 and not a day goes by that we do no remember those individuals and their families,” said Paul Nunziato, President of the Port Authority Police Benevolent Association, and co-founder of the AAAPO. “It is now up to us to do anything and everything we can to keep those we serve, and ourselves, safe. We will not stop fighting to protect all of us.”