Merger of LAPD, LAX Police Opposed

Setting the stage for a possible showdown between city agencies, the Airport Commission voted unanimously Tuesday to oppose merging the police department that patrols Los Angeles International Airport with the Los Angeles Police Department.

Several city leaders resurrected an on-again, off-again discussion about combining the two departments after the fatal Fourth of July shooting at LAX that left three dead, including the Egyptian gunman, and several wounded.

Police Commission President Rick Caruso said a merger of the two agencies would lead to a more efficient use of limited city resources. City Councilman Jack Weiss asked the airport agency and the LAPD to report to the council on the matter in two months.

But airport commissioners, who are appointed by Mayor James K. Hahn, emphasized Tuesday that events such as the Independence Day shooting illustrate the necessity of a separate airport police force.

“As an individual and a commissioner, I have full confidence in the airport police,” said Commissioner Leland Wong.

“The events of July 4 demonstrate that the airport police are more than prepared, and that they need to be under our control.”

The commissioners unanimously passed a resolution that allows the airport agency to retain control of an autonomous police force as provided by the City Charter. The resolution states that there are “too many risks involved” with merging the airport police and the LAPD, and that “any potential benefits are exaggerated or speculative.”

Merging the airport police and the LAPD would require a charter amendment and voter approval.

Weiss, who said he thinks it’s important to review the two-agency approach to policing LAX in part because of new security concerns stemming from the Sept. 11 attacks, was critical of the vote.

“Where I come from, analysis precedes conclusions and not vice versa,” he said. “The fact that they’ve circled the bureaucratic wagons this early in the process makes it all the more important that we get to the bottom of this issue.”

The airport police force employs 240 sworn officers and 200 unarmed security officers at LAX. The LAPD has 74 officers stationed there. In addition, Hahn has asked the airport agency to pay 60 off-duty LAPD officers overtime to patrol airport grounds until January.

City officials tried unsuccessfully several times in the last decade to merge the two departments.

The airport police department was established in 1946. It was given full authority to patrol the airport in 1968 because the LAPD didn’t have the resources to watch the airfield and its perimeter and to write traffic citations, airport officials said.