As politicians scramble to point the blame as to how the latest terrorist slipped through the security measures that were implemented to protect Americans and foreigners abroad, I would like to bring to their attention a more common sense solution to tightening up those cracks and bring forth what is in my opinion a better, more sensible way to assist in the security of air travelers and the general public.
The fact of the matter is that there is no airtight way to stop someone who is trained and cunning enough from infiltrating any security measure taken. There are many who can outsmart the system from the outside as well as from within. What politicians need to do is think out of the box and be proactive in taking security measures by cutting through the red tape and considering sensible alternatives to tighten security.
When you look at the most recent terrorist attempt and the attempt by terrorists to crash Flight 98 into the White House on Sept. 11, 2001, both of those incidents were thwarted by the passengers onboard those two flights. The federal, state and local governments need to unite and use their law enforcement resources and implement training while expanding jurisdictional powers in regard to public transportation.
This can be accomplished by giving all trained police officers advanced training in hand-to-hand combat and particularly in submission tactics, along with aircraft firearm discharge training. This would enable trained police officers to be an added security measure onboard any aircraft, boat or train. Off-duty federal officers are allowed to carry weapons onboard commercial aircraft, but off-duty state and local police are not.
Other then onboard aircraft weapons discharge regulations, I don’t believe that the federal training is that much different than the police training. The federal law H.R. 218 which authorizes all active and retired police officers to carry firearms nationally has more gray areas than a battleship. This is due to conflicting federal, state and local laws which need to be resolved. The states and local governments are plagued with bureaucracy and are more concerned with liability than public safety.
As a retired New York City police sergeant, I was most impressed with the New York Police Department’s (NYPD) decision to instill a retiree mobilization plan into their department. Volunteer retirees are trained by the NYPD so they can respond when called upon. This was a no-brainer after the powers to be had seen what an asset the retirees were during 9/11.
The difference between the retirees and the active officers is that the retirees have a heck of a lot more experience and can be used in an effective capacity during a crisis. You do not just throw away an old diamond knowing that its value will never diminish, when you can simply change its setting, making it just as desirable as the day you bought it. Allowing active and retired police officers to be trained and armed on federal flights and other forms of transportation that are under federal jurisdiction would increase the public’s safety drastically.
Just add up how many active police officers there are and you can probably double the amount of retirees. This all adds up to an undercover army of trained law enforcement personnel that are capable of responding in a crisis and saving human lives. I may be mistaken, but I believe that most police officers nationwide are already trained in hand-to-hand combat and submission training would be a plus.
The onboard aircraft firearm discharge training would be of minimal expense to any department, could probably be conducted during a normal precinct training session and be subsidized by the federal government. Training retirees is just as easy and they are all volunteers. Where can you get that level of trained law enforcement personnel for free? Ask yourself this question: “Would I be safer with a trained and armed police officer sitting next to me on a plane, train or boat whether he or she was on-duty, off-duty or retired?”
It is a simple matter of using a viable resource which is already trained, armed and readily available. If the politicians can sit down and implement a little common sense, the training, jurisdictional and liability issues can be resolved and all Americans would be that much safer.
Steven Cataneo
Retired NYPD Sergeant
Manalapan