Stepped-up security at LAX after two plane incidents in Detroit

As a second incident unfolded at Detroit’s airport, aviation authorities in Los Angeles stepped up airline screening procedures today but said the extra precautions were not delaying flights.

Officials at Los Angeles International Airport would not disclose the nature of the additional security by the federal Transportation Security Administration, but said the public probably would not notice the measures.

"We are aware the TSA has beefed up protocols and procedures," said Nancy Castles, a spokeswoman for Los Angeles World Airports. "There isn’t observable difference in them to the public, but they are observable to us."

Castles said that any delays in flights stemmed from snowstorms in the Midwest. "Our advice is call ahead to your airline and check on the flight," she said.

Los Angeles Airport Police have enhanced their deployments and are maintaining high-visibility patrols and checkpoints as part of normal holiday operations, the agency said in a statement.

The city’s threat level remained unchanged, said Los Angeles police spokeswoman Norma Eisenman. LAPD counter-terrorism leaders are meeting to assess the intelligence gathered about the two incidents in Detroit.

In the aftermath of the first incident there, on Christmas Day, federal authorities have instituted tighter security measures for international passengers, including additional searches and limiting movements during the last hour of flights.

The stepped-up security came after Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, was arrested and charged with attempting to ignite an incendiary device aboard a Northwest Airlines flight from Amsterdam as it approached the Detroit airport Friday.

Law enforcement sources said LAX operates two body scanners at two terminals that would have detected the mixture found on Abdulmutallab. They said a combined federal and local bomb detection dog operation also could have alerted authorities.

"If he been next to one of the dogs, they would have detected it," said one top law enforcement official in Los Angeles. "We have one dog who can even detect that kind of thing from a distance away."

-- Richard Winton

Comments

[MJS]

I accidentally took a pocketknife through LAX twice before being caught, including a random hand inspection. Ironically, it was at DTW where the screener found it - she admitted that LAX is the worst at missing items in carry-ons.

[viewer]

All this technology and the dogs do a better job sniffing out trouble. More dogs, then!

[Carol]

This "second incident" was that a guy really was sick on the plane and needed to use the restroom. If the TSA can somehow cure motion sickness and other tummy upsets, along with the occasional intestinal distress, they will be heroes indeed!

[Bigdad59]

So lets get more dogs.