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. Read More »

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. Read More »

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. Read More »

In the ongoing media coverage about the breakdown between police and the community, an important fact is repeatedly missed: The reality is that officers are not independent of society. They are – and have always been – not only participants but leaders in the areas where they live and serve. Read More »

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. Read More »

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. Read More »

Now that the ink has dried on the measure raising the minimum wage in the city of Los Angeles to $15 by 2020, it’s time for Mayor Eric Garcetti to guarantee equal pay for equal work for Airport Police officers. Read More »