Among post-9/11 security changes, air travel is most visible and inconvenient - MLive.com
GRAND RAPIDS — As the retired police chief at Gerald R. Ford International Airport, David Stricklen remembers the good old days.
Semi-retired women screened passengers, using x-ray machines and metal detectors. Airport traffic was lighter. Between flights, screeners got out their knitting needles.
As the airport expanded, security increased. No more long breaks between flights. No more knitting.
But changes in Stricklen's first two decades — he started with airport police in 1979 — pale in relation to security measures that followed the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. And not only at airports. Police on patrol carry gas masks and protective gear and have updated radio systems to communicate with other agencies.
The Transportation Security Administration has taken over airport security from the Federal Aviation Administration, using improved equipment while imposing restrictions on passengers intended to improve safety.
The changes at airports are probably the most visible, but 9/11 brought sweeping change to law enforcement, even to citizens who act as the eyes and ears of police. Now, people report suspicious behavior that probably would have been ignored, or rationalized, in another time.
"We get calls from people that something looks weird to them," Kent County Undersheriff Jon Hess said.
"I think we're much more vigilant as individual citizens."
Suspicious packages bring immediate response from police, firefighters and bomb squads — all extensively trained and brought to high awareness of terror threats.
Many changes are visible.
Better read the rules before you go to a major college football game, or you could be headed back to the car with a purse or diaper bag.
"The world as we knew it changed on 9/11," Ottawa County Undersheriff Greg Steigenga said. "The thought process that, 'It can't happen here,' is something we've gotten away from."
Law agencies cooperate like never before, as local police work hand-in-hand with federal agencies such as the FBI. Steigenga said training and equipment not available before the terror attacks has helped local rescuers prepare for any disaster, natural or manmade. Emergency planning has probably never been better.
"Proactivity has replaced the mindset of reactivity," Steigenga said.
Peter Munoz, the U.S. marshal for the state's Western District, said a lot of work actually began after the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.
The Gerald R. Ford Federal Building here has undergone significant upgrades to "harden" the structure, including barriers to prevent vehicles from getting close. Now, there is only one way in and one way out for the public.
The building also houses explosive detectors, and there are detailed plans to keep the court open, at another site, in event of a disaster.
"Unfortunately, there's been a whole litany of events that necessitated constant upgrades to the facility over the years," Munoz said.
Undersheriff Hess, whose agency is part of an FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force, said deputies also take classes on terrorism. Police would be suspicious if someone loitered around a water-filtration plant, or possessed blueprints of an important structure, such as a hospital.
"You'd be more alert," he said.
With security comes restrictions. It is a tough, but important, balancing act, said Munoz, the U.S. marshal and former state police director.
"We value our freedoms so much," he said.
Amateur photographer Ed Heil was hassled after he took photos of Kentwood's water tower, while airport passengers complain about rules, searches and longer waits.
Frequent flier Dave Anthony, 49, said longer waits at the airport on weekly out-of-state trips have cost him time he could otherwise spend with clients — he helps manufacturers put in business systems — and his family, wife Michelle and their children, Abbi, 15, and Alex, 11.
He used to leave his Rockford home 45 minutes before boarding time, park in the lot and walk right onto the plane. Now, he leaves at least a two-hour cushion. Every airport seems to have different rules — that often change.
"The big difference is, obviously, the time that you have to leave before you go to the airport," Anthony said. "You never know what you're going to run into."
It's particularly frustrating, he said, to wait behind infrequent fliers who forget to empty their pockets or try to bring banned items. He is hoping a "trusted flier" program expected to begin this fall will be expanded so such flyers can be pre-approved and get through lines quicker.
He has noted other changes: cockpits are locked, and airline crews are less tolerant of bad behavior.
"If somebody's acting out, they are not hesitant to call the pilot," Anthony said. "If it's bad, somebody doesn't sit down, they'll tell the pilot and they won't (take off). They're much more cautious."
It's also easier now for passengers to get annoyed with each other. We're simply getting packed in more tightly by airlines that are reining in costs more than they ever did before the terror attacks.
A decade ago, on an average flight, 72 percent of seats were occupied. Today, it's 82 percent. Airlines also have added rows, meaning less leg room.
"It is a dismal experience that you simply put up with because you have to get from point A to point B. It used to be the part of the trip you looked forward to," said Virgin America CEO David Cush.
For most of us, though, the romance of flight is long gone — lost to 9/11, and hard-set memories of jets crashing into buildings.
We remember what it was like before. Keeping all our clothes on at security. Getting hot meals for free — even if we complained about the taste.
Today, we feel beaten down even before reaching our seats. Shoes must be removed and all but the tiniest amounts of liquids surrendered at security checkpoints. Loved ones can no longer kiss passengers goodbye at the gate. And airlines, which have struggled since the day terrorists used airplanes as missiles, are adding fees, squeezing in passengers and cutting amenities to survive.
In interviews conducted during a week flying around the country — nine flights totaling 8,414 miles — many passengers expressed anger with air travel, which they said left them feeling like second-class citizens. Generally, the terrorism fears that prompted most of the changes were a distant afterthought.
"Anytime I walk into an airport, I feel like a victim," said Lexa Shafer, of Norman, Okla. "I'm sorry that we have to live this way because of bad guys."
Despite the aggravations, America's skies are busier than ever. Airlines carried 720 million passengers last year, up from 666 million in the year before the attacks.
There was little concern about terrorism even on a flight that was almost identical — same route, airline, plane type and departure time — to United Airlines Flight 93, which crashed in a Pennsylvania field on Sept. 11 after passengers fought the terrorists for control.
Instead, passengers were jockeying for position at the gate as if they were waiting for the doors to open on a day-after-Thanksgiving sale. They glanced at each other's tickets and mumbled complaints when somebody boarded before they were supposed to.
"Passengers have lost civility," said Karen McNeilly, of Gold Hill, Ore.
Stricklen, the former local airport police chief, said on that terrible morning in 2001, he realized it was a different world. The tower chief told Stricklen all planes had been ordered down across the country.
"You knew this was epic," he said.
In a matter of minutes, area police agencies sent officers, and a state police bomb squad responded. Police rushed to move vehicles away from the building as a 300-passenger airliner bound for Hong Kong landed.
Stricklen said he hoped people would back airport police and TSA officers. They take a hit every time a 9-year-old, or a 90-year-old, is pulled aside for a search. Such passengers could have a banned item planted on them by someone else, he said.
"Giving up liberties, as Americans, that really bothers people," Stricklen said. "To make it safer, (TSA officers) need to do this."
-- The Associated Press airlines writer Scott Mayerowitz contributed to this story.
04 Sep, 2011--
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