LAX SECURITY; EMBASSY BOMBINGS PROVIDE TRAGIC LESSON OF NEED TO ADDRESS PUBLIC SAFETY ISSUES.

Byline: Ruth Galanter 

MAINTAINING security at our airports may represent the single most important challenge facing us today.

Nearly one year ago, a man with a small arsenal of weapons entered Los Angeles International Airport, only to be released because airport police lacked the legal authority to make an arrest since the individual's weapons were not loaded. Changes that I recommended to broaden the definition of a ``loaded weapon'' and provide the police with the authority they need to block any individual caught carrying a concealed weapon from entering the airport have since become state law.

We have made progress, but recent events suggest that we must do more.

The bombings of U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, provide a tragic lesson of the need to address public safety issues in an increasingly global society. Here at home, we've witnessed a breakdown in security at our premiere gateway to the rest of the world, LAX. On Aug. 7, the airport was virtually shut down for three hours after a woman carrying a gun made it past security and into the airport terminal, where she roamed free before exiting the airport, only to return and turn herself in after hearing news reports of an evacuation she was completely unaware she had caused.

Just 10 days later, hundreds of people were again evacuated from Terminal 1 at LAX after an airport screener spotted what looked like a gun (it was actually a cigarette lighter shaped like a gun) but stopped the wrong person, allowing the individual carrying the ``weapon'' to penetrate the terminal.

In both instances, neither individual intended any harm, provoking an appreciative but troubling response - we got lucky. And luck should not play a role in securing the fourth-busiest airport in the world.

Much to my dismay and the dismay of many of my colleagues on the Los Angeles City Council, the public agencies responsible for security at LAX - the Los Angeles Department of Airports, the Airport Police and the Federal Aviation Administration - seem more interested in pointing fingers at each other and in giving the greatest credence to the fact that no harm was done than they are in acknowledging that these security breaches are symptoms of a larger, systemic problem.

It is a problem that demonstrates a need for better coordination between these agencies and the private interests involved in airport security, the airlines. As the owners and operators of the terminals, the airlines also employ the agents responsible for screening every passenger and bag that enters LAX. If the lower-than-livable wage these employees are paid is any indication of the level of training, authority and investment they receive, there's much room for improvement.

These breaches in security at LAX have been extremely costly to the city of Los Angeles with respect to LAX's reputation as a safe airport; to passengers who were forced to endure delays, cancellations and the trauma associated with threats to one's safety; to the airlines; and to future business from those who would hesitate to use an airport that cannot guarantee the safety of its travelers.

We have to do better.

Especially given that the Los Angeles Department of Airports has launched a campaign to expand LAX in order to double the number of people moving through the airport on an annual basis.

On a day-to-day basis, securing an airport is an extremely complex, and perhaps thankless, job. We must invest the necessary time, energy and money it takes to do the job right. We can't afford not to.