AP Exclusive: Phone system failed in LAX shooting
Source: AP-EXCITE
By TAMI ABDOLLAH
LOS ANGELES (AP) - A Los Angeles International Airport police dispatcher who received a call seconds after a gunman opened fire last year didn't know where to send officers because no one was on the line and the airport communications system didn't identify that the call was coming from a security checkpoint emergency phone, two officials told The Associated Press.
A screening supervisor in the sprawling airport's Terminal 3 picked up the phone but fled before responding to a dispatcher's questions because the gunman was approaching with a high-powered rifle and spraying bullets, according to two officials briefed on preliminary findings of a review of the emergency response to the Nov. 1 incident. They spoke only on condition of anonymity because the final report won't be released until next month.
One of the officials likened the situation to a 911 call but police not knowing what address to go to. Airport dispatchers knew something was wrong but didn't know where to send help because the system didn't identify locations of its emergency phones. After asking questions and receiving no answers, the dispatcher hung up. An airline contractor working in the terminal called dispatch directly from his cellphone, and officers were dispatched 90 seconds after the shooting.
Douglas Laird, a former security director for Northwest Airlines who owns an aviation security consulting business, said most emergency phone systems he's seen indicate the origin of a call.
FULL story at link.
Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20140227/DAC7E52G1.html
In this Nov. 1, 2013 file photo provided to the AP, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, police officers stand near a weapon at the Los Angeles International Airport after a gunman opened fire in the terminal, killing one person and wounding several others. Dispatchers at Los Angeles International Airport who received an emergency call seconds after the gunman opened fire in a passenger screening area last fall didn’t know where to send help because the airport’s communications system doesn’t identify locations of its emergency phones. (AP Photo, File)
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