Airport Police Hopeful New Director Will Make Public Safety a Top Priority
Officers say newer vehicles, equipment and equal pay for equal work are a top priority
LOS ANGELES, CA – The union that represents Airport Police Officers said today that they are hopeful that the new Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA) executive director Deborah Ale Flint will support their campaign for equal work for equal pay and make public safety a top priority at the airport.
Los Angeles Airport Peace Officers’ Association (LAAPOA) 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) said that they are looking forward to meeting with Flint as she takes the helm at LAWA.
“Airport Police Officers are very excited about having new leadership at LAWA,” said Marshall McClain president of LAAPOA. “We’ve been watching the billions being spent on mostly cosmetic upgrades at the airport with no thought to the upgrades needed to public safety. Airport Police Officers are riding around in vehicles that are 7 years old with over 125,000 miles on them. The industry standard is to replace these vehicles within 3 to 5 years or 75,000 to 100,000 miles—whichever comes first. Our fleet is still utilizing vehicles over 10 years old and some of our vehicles have over 200,000 miles on them.”
Airport Police Officers point to an incident last year involving a Los Angeles Airport Police K-9 officer assigned to the Ontario Airport who was involved in a multi-vehicle traffic collision on the north bound 15 Freeway. The accident left the 18-year Department veteran severely injured. At the time of the collision the officer’s assigned vehicle was nine years old with 214,000 miles on it. The rubber around the steering column and the airbag caused severe lacerations to the officer’s face and scalp requiring over 100 stitches and the need for plastic surgery.
McClain continued, “Old vehicles are an officer safety hazard and one that sees LAWA spending more on maintenance than they would by just replacing the vehicle. Our lives are worth more than quick fixes in an effort to shift money into other areas at the airport.”
To add insult to injury, millions of dollars are being spent to make LAPD officers assigned to the airport more comfortable with a new substation. This is completely unnecessary, especially when LAPD’s Pacific Division is less than three miles away.
In addition to shoddy vehicles and equipment, Airport Police officers are launching an aggressive campaign around equal work for equal pay.
"The men and women of the LAXPD deserve equal pay for equal work," says McClain. "This means a compensation and retirement plan on the same level currently enjoyed by the LAPD and Los Angeles Port Police. Anything less is sending a message of ‘separate but equal’ to the rank-and-file men and women of the Airport Police.”
Airport Police are not paid through any City or State tax dollars and are funded entirely by proprietary airport landing fees and other airport related revenues.
LAXPD personnel have the same authorities under the law as the LAPD and other municipal police departments in the state — but they don't have the comparable pay and benefits.
“The men and women who are the first line of defense in any terror-related situation at L.A.’s three airports deserve to be adequately and fairly compensated,” said Vice-President Julius Levy. “Anything less says that our lives aren’t as valuable as other cop’s lives.”
LAAPOA is hopeful Ms. Flint will be supportive of the need to make sure Airport Officer’s safety is a top priority and that there is parity in the City of Los Angeles in public safety and champion their quest for equal pay.
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