Watch CBS News

LAX Official, Garcetti Hope To Test Perimeter Detection System Within Next Year

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — Airport officials responded to a new report that was highly critical of LAX's security fence after the Associated Press found that people were hopping the fence.

The national study conducted by AP showed more than 260 perimeter breaches of security at major airports across the country nearly 10 percent of which were at LAX.

"I don't want to be three on anybody's list," said Patrick Gannon, the chief of Airport Police at LAX, of the study which found that the airport had the third most breaches over the past decade with 24.

Gannon said one-third of those incidents were caused by one man with a mental illness, who kept on jumping the fence.

"8 of those 24 were one individual with a mental illness who continuously kept trying to climb over the fence, a fixated attempt to get to Australia, for example," he said. "None of those 24 were terrorist-related. None of those 24 was an attempt to do harm to the airport."

Mayor Eric Garcetti told KNX 1070 Newsradio that a lot of work has been done on the fences to cut down on perimeter breaches.

"The perimeter fence has been upgraded over the last two years. It exceeds TSA standards and we're implementing a trial of perimeter intrusion detection system over the next year," Garcetti said.

Gannon says the key is to get the right intrusion detection system to minimize false alarms.

"We've done the IT surveys in order to put the system in place in those areas in which we think are most susceptible on a test basis," Gannon said.

In the meantime, some of the fences in areas where the public has easy access are monitored by cameras and viewed by airport police officers in a video recording room. Patrol officers in addition check the perimeter fences during rounds.

While Gannon says he's determined to tighten up the perimeter, it's not his first security concern.

"Where I see our biggest threat to this airport is in our central terminal area," he said. "In and around each one of the terminals that's there. That's where the most people are and our understanding of terrorist activities, they rarely ever go someplace where there's very few people and to make a small bang."

Gannon says only a handful of major airports currently have high-tech perimeter detection systems installed. Despite this, he and Garcetti hope to have a system being tested at LAX within the next year.

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.