Opinion: False shooting report at LAX raises concerns about safety plans
Operations were returning to normal at Los Angeles International Airport on Monday morning, after false reports of an active shooter on Sunday sent passengers stampeding from terminals and, in some cases, onto the tarmac.
To the editor: I hope the lesson learned from the LAX evacuation this week is that our security systems are still not good enough.
Even if the Sunday event was a false alarm, it demonstrated there are holes in our airport security.
What is the plan for protecting passengers? There appears to be a classic gap in the responsibilities shared by TSA and the various police agencies.
(“Chaos at LAX amid false reports of shooting,” Aug. 30)
Having traveled a bit in my 65 years, I know that Americans are uncomfortable seeing military soldiers patrolling an airport lobby. There is something about American culture that just doesn’t want to admit that violence can be brought home to where we live and play. We want the soldiers when we are threatened, but we don’t want them on public display.
Yet do the police have a good plan for protecting passengers once an event has started?
Bradford MacLane, Benicia, Calif.
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To the editor: One can only imagine how the bad guys must now view one of the world’s busiest airports, following this display of uncoordinated ineptitude.
It appears the various so-called security operations were not prepared to and/or unable to communicate with each other.
I’m going to think three times about flying out of or into LAX until I read that those allegedly in charge— from top to the bottom —have been fired and replaced by professionals.
Hal Rothberg, Calabasas
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