Protecting the Rights of First Responders Since 1982
The airspace in and around LAX is ground zero for drone-related incidents. While the growing number of sightings between drones and airplanes have, for now, only been close encounters, it is just a matter of time before something more serious, and potentially tragic, takes place. With the FAA’s announcement this week that there are more registered drones than there are registered airplanes, we must act now.
Last year, we addressed pay and pension inequality issues in the context of LAXPD’s “separate but equal” status compared to the LAPD, and how lesser benefits negatively affect recruitment and retention efforts and ultimately hamper officers’ ability to provide the highest level of airport security. We also pointed out how the pay disparity plays out in the form of gender inequality, with highly qualified, higher-ranking female airport officers being paid less than the LAPD officers whom they train.
On November 1, 2013, a shooter terrorized the travelers and employees of LAX with a semiautomatic, .223-caliber Smith & Wesson M&P-15 rifle which he used to shoot and kill TSA agent Gerardo Hernandez. Fortunately, the quick and decisive actions of the LAXPD officers took down the shooter and helped save countless lives.
The Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) Police Department is the local law enforcement agency that patrols and secures LAX, Ontario and Van Nuys airports, and serves as the first line of defense in preventing terrorist attacks, hijackings and other public safety emergencies at our airports. The LAXPD protects travelers, airport employees and our surrounding communities.
On January 18, former San Diego City Councilman Carl DeMaio and former San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed announced their decision not to go forward this year with either of their statewide ballot initiatives attacking public employee pensions. This sounds like great news for labor unions — and indeed, the fact that these poorly written, extreme and destructive measures failed to inspire donors to cough up the $3 million needed to gather qualifying signatures, let alone the $25 million that would then be required to wage a campaign, is a promising sign.
As we have unfortunately seen in previous incidents at LAX and the recent spate of violent events both close to home and abroad, encountering an active-shooter scenario, while unlikely, is still not out of the realm of possibility for any of us during our daily activities. Because active shooters seek to take as many lives as they can in as short a period as possible — before law enforcement arrives — it’s important to know what to do in case the worst happens.
The Los Angeles Airport Peace Officers’ Association, which represents the sworn police officers and firefighters of the Los Angeles Airport Police Department assigned to protect and serve Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), LA/Ontario International Airport (ONT) and Van Nuys Airport (VNY), released the following statement regarding California Governor Jerry Brown’s signing of the California Fair Pay Act.
Remember last year’s initiative aimed at restructuring California’s public employee pensions, put forth by former San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed? After suing Attorney General Kamala Harris over the title and summary description of the measure — and losing — plus facing the high unlikelihood of gathering 800,000 signatures in time to make the November 2015 ballot, Reed withdrew the measure.
The start of the busy summer travel season was accompanied by a string of highly publicized security lapses and leadership shakeups at the Transportation Security Administration, foregrounding concerns about the agency’s effectiveness that LAAPOA and other airport police groups have been voicing for years. As the scrutiny intensifies, many aviation security experts have concluded that the TSA is failing in its central purpose, and the billions of dollars spent on it since 9/11 have done little or nothing to make air travel safer.