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Police Want to Be Able to Carry Guns on Planes
Josey1
Member Posts: 9,598 ✭✭
Police Want to Be Able to Carry Guns on PlanesSeptember 28, 2001 5:57 pm EST By Dan WhitcombLOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The union representing Los Angeles police officers wants U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft to authorize off-duty cops across the country to carry their guns on commercial jets, saying that they could spring into action to stop a hijacking."When a group of people decides they want to take down four airplanes and there is nobody on board to stop them, we need to start thinking about offense," Peter Repovich, director of the Los Angeles Police Protective League, said.The police union's request comes after the Sept. 11 suicide hijacking attacks on New York and the Pentagon that left nearly 6,500 people dead or missing and the announcement by President Bush of plans to employ new airline security measures to coax Americans back into the skies.Those measures include posting armed federal marshals on commercial flights, building stronger cockpit doors and having National Guard troops stationed at airport inspection stations.The Los Angeles Police Protective League, which represents more than 8,000 rank-and-file officers, made the request to Ashcroft in a two-page letter signed by union president Mitzi Grasso and sent to the attorney general on Thursday.Repovich said Ashcroft had not yet responded to the letter and a U.S. Department of Justice spokeswoman could not immediately be reached for comment. A spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration declined to comment on the letter.'HUGE INSTANT SECURITY FORCE'"Since there is currently a need for sky marshals, the LAPPL believes that it is necessary for public safety and reassurance that qualified and adequately trained peace officers immediately be given the option of carrying their firearms while traveling," Grasso said in the letter."If the public knows that additional protection is available to them through trained and credentialed officers, they will feel much safer traveling via airplane," she said.Grasso said in her letter that under current federal law, peace officers can carry their weapons on planes only "in the course and scope of their duties" and with special permission from their department.Repovich said concerns over security of the guns on planes could be minimized by providing the officers with special ammunition that would not damage planes and that fingerprint scanners could be installed in airport terminals verify the identity of the off-duty officer."This is a huge instant security force that we're not taking advantage of," he said. "When you get to the point where the military has the authority to shoot down a plane if its taken over by hijackers, I think it's critical that the people on board also have the ability to (take some action)." http://news1.iwon.com/article/id/170583|politics|09-28-2001::18:07|reuters.html
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