CC_Flickr: NoHoDamon
The new chief overseeing security at Los Angeles International Airport promised to beef up security and strengthen ties with the Los Angeles Police Department, reports CBS News.
Patrick Gannon, a 34-year LAPD veteran who retired in the summer, was named chief of the Airport Police Division of Los Angeles World Airports on Wednesday.
"The General Manager wants the police more visible," Gannon told CBS News. "That was one of the marching orders that she gave me earlier this week when we sat down together."
Gannon will lead the fourth largest law enforcement agency in Los Angeles County with more than 1,100 law enforcement, security, and staff personnel. Airport police officers and civilian security officers are assigned a wide range of law enforcement and security functions including police patrols, explosives detection, traffic enforcement, criminal investigations, dignitary protection, regulatory enforcement, access control, counter-terrorism, infrastructure protection, and tactical response.
He will also oversee security at L.A./Ontario International and Van Nuys general aviation airport, as well as at LAWA's aviation-related property in Palmdale.
Gannon retired as deputy chief and commanding officer of LAPD's Operations, South Bureau. This bureau served 800,000 residents in South Los Angeles with 1,700 sworn employees and 150 civilian employees. Gannon was responsible for overseeing law enforcement services delivered by four community police stations, a traffic division, and a homicide division.
