Massachusetts is setting a precedent in airport security, with state-of-the-art screening equipment and increased state police involvement in response to heightened terror alerts in a time of war, Governor Mitt Romney said yesterday.
State troopers will now interview passengers and conduct random vehicle inspections as part of the nationwide ‘Operation Liberty Shield’ program, Romney acknowledged in an address to the state police roll call at the Logan Airport State Police Barracks.
‘We recognize that, following Sept. 11, airports can be places of great destruction,’ he said, ‘and as a result we have substantially beefed up our security program here. We continue to be very vigilant, to assure that any threats are addressed aggressively and immediately.’
Many added security measures could not be disclosed, according to Massachusetts Port Authority CEO Craig Coy, but six months of construction resulted in an added 85,000 square feet of bag rooms, 38 permanent explosive detection machines and facilities which now allow 100 percent of baggage to be screened electronically.
‘This is the first system in the nation of its type, the first time equipment of this type has been deployed, and the first time procedures like this have been deployed,’ Coy said. ‘We’re leading the way in many ways.’
But Coy said the 50 troopers present for roll call represent the core of safety for passengers and employees.
‘We could’ve shown you equipment, gadgets and screening machines, but we wanted to show you people,’ he told Romney, who later toured the renovated facilities.
Romney agreed, stressing the importance of the troopers’ work and placing it on the level of the armed forces currently at war.
‘I appreciate your time, your sacrifice, your willingness to wear the uniform proudly,’ he said. ‘It’s a uniform which is different than that which is worn by our armed forces, but it’s similar in that you’re protecting our homeland, and protecting our citizens in a place of great vulnerability.’
Romney said although there is no specific terrorist threat to the state, deployment of state troopers and public safety officials is kept secret and erratic ‘so there’s not a clear pattern for people to follow.’ He has not yet called on the National Guard because the state police have proven sufficient, he said.
‘When you see the National Guard pulled out, you’ve gone beyond the manpower capability of the team you had in place originally,’ he said. ‘We think we are within the capacity of the team we have in place.’
Faced with these added responsibilities, troopers also confront greater risks during a time of heightened terror alerts, Romney said.
‘Code Orange is not just an indication of a higher level of deployment, it’s also an indication of a higher level of risk,’ he said. ‘I long for a time when you don’t have to be concerned about your own safety in a site like this.’
State Trooper Ed Whelan said he appreciated Romney’s acknowledgement of the difficult task facing troopers on duty at the airport. Among their new tasks are to inspect any car parked at the curbs, as well as vehicles with tinted windows, Whelan said.
‘It gets intense,’ he said. ‘There’s no sitting down.’
This is an account occasionally used by the Daily Free Press editors to post archived posts from previous iterations of the site or otherwise for special circumstance publications. See authorship info on the byline at the top of the page.
