AIRPORT CRIME FOILED IN REGION SMUGGLERS ALSO RUN INTO ANTI-TERROR SECURITY.

Byline: Helen Gao Staff Writer

Beefed-up security and a high-profile police presence imposed after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks are cutting into drug trafficking and other crimes at Los Angeles International and Burbank airports, officials say.

While statistics aren't yet available, Burbank officials report seeing a spike in arrests, then a drastic fall-off, as they intensified inspections at security checkpoints and enhanced their baggage-screening systems. Officials at LAX said the drop-off in crime was immediate.

``I think a lot of the criminals are staying away from the airport. They know the forces are out there,'' said Sgt. Bill Taylor of the Burbank Police Department, which has stationed a contingent of officers at the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport.

``We are checking a lot more baggage a lot more thoroughly,'' said Burbank Airport Police Chief Tony LoVerme.

``The first week we were doing it - right after Sept. 11 - we ended up with a large seizure of methamphetamines in a suitcase,'' he said, saying piece of luggage contained three pounds of the drug.

Burbank police also apprehended a man accused of illegally possessing a variety of drugs and a passenger accused of failing to declare a handgun before boarding a plane.

But lately, LoVerme said, it is becoming very unusual to discover contraband, even of types not formerly rare.

``The regular stuff we used to find, switch blades, fireworks and brass knuckles - that has gone way, way down, simply because the word is out there we are doing all these searches,'' he said.

Frank Herbert, a supervisor at L.A. Impact, a narcotics-detection unit based at Burbank Airport, said that drug traffickers thwarted by increased security measures for air travelers have resorted to other modes.

``We have seen a dramatic rise in other areas of public transportation, specifically in freight shipments,'' he said.

Officials conceded that much of the reduction can be attributed to the huge drop-off in air travel since the day terrorists turned four passenger planes into guided missiles that hit the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

At LAX, landings and departures have dropped from 2,100 per day to about 1,700. At Burbank Airport, the number is estimated at 130 per day, compared with 160 previously.

``Generally speaking, (airport) crime is down, significantly down. ... One can reasonably conclude that is due to the fact that there are not many people out there (at LAX),'' said Lawrence Webster, acting supervising deputy city attorney for Los Angeles.

Richard Doyle, assistant head deputy district attorney of the branch office handling cases from LAX said both the airport police and an airport- based narcotics unit are bringing in fewer cases.

Doyle noted, however, that some will try to beat the system, no matter what safeguards are in place.

``We still had one case the other day where the woman went through the metal detector. It went off. She had something wrapped around her mid section.

``When (airport police) took her to a private area,'' he said, ``eight kilos of (cocaine) was found strapped to her body with metallic tape.''

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Burbank Police officers Barry Smith and Pete Allen keep watch at Burbank Airport, where tighter security and reductions in air travel have reduced all types of crime since Sept. 11.

Hans Gutknecht/Staff Photographer