LAX REVAMPS SECURITY AFTER GUN INCIDENTS.

Byline: Patrick McGreevy Daily News Staff Writer

Alarmed by three serious breaches of security at Los Angeles International Airport in two months, city officials announced Friday that they are upgrading safeguards to keep guns out of airport terminals.

The security lapses have triggered an investigation by the Federal Aviation Administration into whether the airport is capable of keeping firearms and other weapons away from boarding gates and airplanes, said Jack Driscoll, executive director of the Airport Department, in briefing the City Council on Friday.

``Clearly when they complete their analysis, the FAA, the airlines may be required to do a series of things to add additional security precautions,'' Driscoll said, but he said steps announced Friday ``are moving in the right direction.''

Driscoll announced that he has redeployed airport police officers to stand at each airport magnetometer - the scanner, similar to an X-ray, that detects the presence of metal in luggage - so that immediate action can be taken if the device finds a gun in carry-on luggage.

In addition, each magnetometer will be retrofitted with a plastic shield to prevent people from grabbing bags off the conveyor belt before security workers have a chance to thoroughly screen them for weapons.

``I think we have secured the problems associated with what we've experienced on the last three occasions,'' Driscoll told the council, which demanded a briefing on recent incidents.

``I'm satisfied, at least to the extent of the analysis that we've got today, that it will provide for ensuring that security issues are dealt with,'' Driscoll said.

Councilwoman Ruth Galanter, whose district includes the airport, said she is deeply concerned by three incidents in which bags suspected of carrying guns were able to get through the security checkpoints set up at the entrance to boarding areas.

Galanter told airport officials she wants assurances that ``the airports we are running are safe and secure not only for the passengers but also for the people who are dropping them off and picking them up.''

The first incident occurred Aug. 6, when Terminal 1 had to be evacuated for two hours, delaying 35 flights, after a Long Beach woman brought a handgun into the boarding area in a bag.

The luggage was put through the magnetometer at the security checkpoint, where private security workers spotted the gun, but before employees could stop her, the woman grabbed the bag off the conveyor belt and disappeared into the crowd in the terminal.

The woman was later detained after she took the gun home and returned to the airport.

A city probe found that security workers did not have authority to detain the woman or her bag, and she was allowed to leave before police officers could be called to the checkpoint.

On Aug. 16, Terminal 1 was evacuated again after the magnetometer spotted a gunlike object in a suitcase, but it was taken off the conveyer belt and into the terminal before security workers could detain the owner.

Two hours later, a San Jose tourist was found by police to be carrying the bag, which contained a cigarette lighter shaped like a gun.

Most recently, on Sept. 7, an alert was triggered at Terminal 7 after workers at a security checkpoint spotted what looked like a gun in one of the handbags but failed to detain the person before the bag was taken into the terminal. The person was never found, Galanter said.

``In each of these incidents, what happened was an object was spotted in a bag (but) the person who saw the object in the bag did not have authority to stop either the person or the bag,'' Galanter said.

Driscoll said airport police officers, who unlike security workers do have authority to detain suspects, will be stationed at each security checkpoint during peak hours so there is no delay in summoning the police.

``We will have a presence there physically at the magnetometer,'' Driscoll said.

Another problem is that using the focus feature of the gun-detectors involves a three-second delay in the image, which can give people time to grab bags off the conveyer belt.

To address that, contract security workers are being trained to use a button that stops the conveyer belt during a closer inspection by the magnetometer.

In addition, Driscoll said plastic shields will be placed around the conveyer belts at security checkpoints so that people cannot grab suspicious bags before they are thoroughly scrutinized.

The new security steps, which have been mandated by the FAA, will not cost a significant amount of money, Driscoll said, also downplaying the possibility of longer waits by passengers trying to enter terminals.

``People are much more concerned about their safety than they are about their time,'' Driscoll said.

The FAA investigation is expected to be completed in late October, and could require additional steps to be taken by the airlines, which are responsible for the security checkpoints, Driscoll said.