TSA wants armed police at airport checkpoints

Associated Press

LOS ANGELES

The Transportation Security Administration recommended Wednesday that armed law-enforcement officers be posted at airport security checkpoints and ticket counters during peak hours after a review of last year’s fatal shooting at Los Angeles International Airport.

The 25-page report to Congress obtained by The Associated Press makes 14 recommendations that do not carry a price tag and are somewhat dependent on local authorities who provide airport security.

While airport security has been beefed up since 9/11, the shooting exposed communication problems and gaps in police patrols that left an LAX terminal without an armed officer for nearly 31/2 minutes as a gunman targeted TSA officers with a rifle Nov. 1.

The AP has reported that the two armed airport police officers assigned to Terminal 3 were on break that morning and hadn’t notified dispatchers as required. Months earlier, LAX had changed staffing plans to have officers roam terminals instead of staffing checkpoints such as the one the gunman approached.

TSA conducted the review of nearly 450 airports nationwide after Officer Gerardo Hernandez was killed in the agency’s first line-of-duty death. Two officers and a passenger were wounded. Paul Ciancia, 24, a Pennsville, N.J., native, has pleaded not guilty to 11 federal charges, including murder of a federal officer.