Models for Law Enforcement at Airports (2020)

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45 Supplementing Law Enforcement Personnel Emergencies in airports necessitate a high degree of coordination with supplemental agencies to provide a safe and rapid security response (Los Angeles World Airports, 2014). In emergencies, airport operators have access to ancillary services, some more conventional than others. Emergency Response Emergency response resources fall into two categories: support services and tactical services. Support services personnel enable the response in a supportive way but are not tactically involved in the response; in contrast, tactical services personnel are used in direct response roles, particularly in providing law enforcement capabilities (Los Angeles World Airports, 2014). The following sections offer a brief overview of examples of law enforcement personnel supplementation at airports, aggregating them under the categories of support services and tactical services. Support Services Support services satisfy requirements for comfort, health items, food, and water, mostly to satisfy passenger assistance efforts (Los Angeles World Airports, 2014), such as helping persons with disabilities and supplying blankets, bus transportation, family reunification services, language translators, medical needs services, phones, pillows, and shelter (Broward County Aviation Department, 2017). While the first provider of support services listed in this section, amateur radio operators, may not seem to fit this definition, their position as providers of support or technical services versus tactical services is somewhat gray. Amateur Radio Operators The Roanoke Regional Airport identifies amateur radio operators as a support agency in the case of an emergency or incident to provide auxiliary communications between people at the disaster site and other sites such as staging areas, temporary morgues, or the Red Cross Center (City of Roanoke, 2007). While an organization of amateur radio operators may sound minimally helpful in the face of an airport emergency, existing radio and cellular systems do become satu- rated during emergencies, and that has hindered communications between command elements and first responders during airport emergencies (Broward County Aviation Department, 2017). In the Fort Lauderdale–Hollywood International Airport after action review following the 2017 active-shooter incident, recommendations include exploring and committing to alternative methods of communication in the emergency plan (Broward County Aviation Department, 2017). Amateur radio operators may be an option for expanding potentially saturated communication channels at other airports. C H A P T E R 1 0

46 Models for Law Enforcement at Airports Passenger Assistance and Mass Care Passenger assistance, also called mass care, is a group of actions taken to protect disaster victims from the effects of the disaster or emergency, including minor comfort items, special- ized assistance, lodging, and biological necessities such as water and toilets (Los Angeles World Airports, 2014). Organizations that typically provide this type of mass care include the American Red Cross, Salvation Army, ministers’ groups, and community services. These mass care agencies supply canteen services, clergy, social support, registration of emergency workers, lodging for families and emergency workers, mental health services, and any other services under duties assigned by the coordinator (City of Roanoke, 2007). Tactical Services Some national agencies provide tactical services during incidents or emergencies. Details are provided in the following subsections. FBI The FBI retains investigative jurisdiction over emergencies involving airline sabotage, attempted or actual aircraft hijacking, attempted sabotage, and bomb threats (City of Roanoke, 2007). Mutual Aid Agreements with Other Law Enforcement Agencies Many airports arrange mutual aid agreements with other agencies to assist in the case of an emergency or an incident. Such agencies may include city police, county sheriff’s offices, state police, and city fire departments. National Agencies Several national agencies with anti-terrorism and national security missions place a heavy focus on airports. These national agencies, such as the FBI and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), work closely with other layers of airport law enforcement in day-to-day operations and training. In addition, these national agencies may be responsible for actually staffing airports with stationed officers (McGray, 2013). Other national agencies supplement law enforcement personnel at airports, providing complementary and ancillary services as needed and enlisting the assistance of law enforcement at airports when required. Transportation Security Administration TSA Explosives Detection K-9 Teams TSA provides an explosives detection K-9 team program that, as of 2010, had deployed over 600 teams to large and medium-sized airports with commercial passenger operations (Elias, 2010). The handlers are not TSA employees but rather are local or state law enforcement employees who receive training from TSA (Elias, 2010). TSA continues to offer reimbursable agreements for the K-9 teams, in part covering program costs such as care for the dogs, salaries for handlers, and other expenses (Elias, 2010). TSA does require that the law enforcement agen- cies use a minimum of three K-9 teams and employ the teams a minimum of 80% of the time of airport operations (Elias, 2010). TSA Reimbursable Agreements TSA also has reimbursable agreements for law enforcement support to assist airport operators in meeting the mandate for law enforcement support at passenger checkpoints (Elias, 2010).

Supplementing Law Enforcement Personnel 47 Through these agreements, TSA partially reimburses agencies for supplemental law enforce- ment hours (Elias, 2010). Private Security Private security is defined as services involving crime prevention and the protection of persons, property, and facilities that are not performed by sworn public LEOs (Strom, et al., 2010). Private security is most often delivered by nongovernmental and private sector entities (ASIS International, 2009). To clarify, private security companies usually perform supple- mental security duties such as checking doors, providing traffic control, and conducting high-visibility patrols. While this is the commonly accepted definition of private security in airport law enforcement operations, in some counterexamples, private security companies meet the definition of law enforcement per 49 CFR 1542.215 and 217 and receive an exemption from the TSA requirement that a government agency provide law enforcement services. For example, Hawaii’s state-owned and state-operated airports use a private police force with arrest authority to satisfy the CFR requirements (Grube, 2016; State of Hawaii Department of Transportation, 2017). Note that no airport in Hawaii responded to this survey. Professional Societies Airport LEOs from across the many different models are united by professional societies such as the Airport Law Enforcement Agencies Network and national agencies such as the National Explosives Detection K-9 Program. These groups supplement the training and continuing education opportunities available to airport law enforcement around the country and the world.