A lot has changed since 1946. With over 70 years of service, the Los Angeles Airport Police has a proud and rich tradition. Your LAAPOA Board of Directors works hard to ensure that our honorable history of serving the aviation community is recognized and properly resourced into the future. We have lost some great friends and family members along the way, and we owe it to their memories to keep a promise that we, as an association, are better tomorrow than we were yesterday. We will always be faced with changes and challenges but, as law enforcement professionals, we embrace evolution and growth. Here we are, 33 years since the Olympic Games came to Los Angeles and recast our department, again looking forward to a number of major developments coming to our airports and city in the near and distant future, including the return of two NFL teams, a deal to host the 2028 Olympic Games, a multibillion dollar airport expansion and construction of a new police station, just to name a few.

We will never forget the fateful events of September 11, 2001, and other horrific terrorism- and airport-related attacks, nor the overall changes in the law enforcement profession in recent years. We stand ready to defend and protect our members — the first line of defense for millions of travelers from around the world, the aviation community, our airport colleagues and the citizens of our great city. The spotlight remains on homeland security and our skill set of providing expertise in aviation law enforcement and fire safety services. The face of aviation law enforcement has changed dramatically during our history and will keep doing so. We must not just conform to these changes, but instead, as one of the profession’s leaders in aviation security, continue to anticipate, shape and facilitate these changes.

Thank you for your service and ongoing support. Stay safe and God bless.

Marshall E. McClain