Lessons for TT airports

THE breach at the Florida Melbourne International Airport by TT national Nishal Sankat last Thursday has re-ignited concerns by security officers at the Piarco International Airport, which had four breaches between last year and last month.

Security officers, speaking with Sunday Newsday last week on the condition of anonymity, said the breach triggered a five-hour shut down of the Florida airport, while several breaches have all but one gone unnoticed locally. The one notable breach took place on May 20 when David “Baby Bandit” Ector was arrested after he was spotted running near the terminal building. He claimed he was being chased by gunmen. He was murdered months later.

On August 7, Tariq Scott was arrested after breaching the security fence near the Air Guard base at Piarco. Scott was charged and taken to court. Sources said he was sent for mental health evaluation and could not say what happened after. On August 25, another breach took place near barrier nine, this time the suspect was handed over to police and security officers at the airport were unsure what happened to him after. On March 18, last year, a security officer tore ligaments in both knees chasing a man who breached the perimeter fence near where an American Airlines aircraft was parked. The man escaped.

“They could just be testing the system we don’t know. Maybe they are attracted to the light. All I know is that there are no real systems in place to deal with the breaches and prevent it. And in those cases the tower didn’t pick them up. But nothing really happened so is just all’s well that ends well,” a security officer said.

The security officers said they hope the incident with Sankat opens the eyes of the Airports Authority of TT (AATT) to improve security locally. Sunday Newsday obtained a copy of the Airports Security Assessment Report 2012 which gave 58 recommendations including hiring more security officers or contracting a security firm to augment the current staff.

The airports security will focus on the sensitive areas of the airports and the private security will look at the other areas. The report was the last security audit done at both Piarco and ANR Robinson international airports. At Piarco it was recommended that the manpower strength move from 44 at the time to 77 and from 26 to 46 at ANR Robinson International Airport.

Part of the report stated: “In order to address the manpower needs at the international screening checkpoints other areas are being compromised and not manned. It is highly recommended that an immediate recruitment drive be implemented to adequately address the manpower shortages within the AATT security division.”

The following year, the AATT embarked on a recruitment drive and trained 31 officers. The Estate Police Association at the time had recommended that 160 officers be added to the staff. Following the 2015 general election, all recruiting stopped.

Sources told Sunday Newsday that they could not divulge the entire report without breaching some very sensitive national security but said some of the other recommendations were to have a double perimeter fence erected, an overhaul of the CCTV camera system to eradicate all blind spots, improved lighting around the airports and the increased manpower.

In response, the AATT said it has combined the use of modern technologies with the efficient allocation of resources and manpower to maintain the highest levels of security at both airports.

“Please be advised that the authority is not aware of recommendations provided by a manpower audit team in 2012. Our systems and manpower requirements are benchmarked against other regional and international airports. It is noteworthy that the number of airport security staff at Piarco and ANR Robinson International Airports is higher than the international average number of security staff for airports of similar size and of similar passenger throughput,” AATT communications manager Zola Joseph said in response to questions by Sunday Newsday.

AATT recently suspended six security officers all from the Estate Police Association (EPA) airport branch for leaking “sensitive information” to the media during a press conference on August 28 and on September 2. The six include: vice president Kenneth Joseph, Kamichan Maharaj, Leslie Young, Joshua Wallace, Gary Hayes and Zezellin Thomas. Although they are executive members of the union’s branch they have all been banned from entering the airport’s compound even to transact union business. A tribunal is expected to be set up to hear the cases of the six.