CNN Investigation into Airport PD
KEILAR: It's a busy travel weekend with a lot of people heading home after the holidays. And O'Hare is one of the nation's busiest airports, along with another Chicago airport, Chicago midway. They are the focus of a new CNN investigation. We wanted to know why some of the officers assigned to protect both airports are not allowed to carry weapons. They work alongside armed police officers. But there is one major difference. If there's an attack at any of these terminals, these aviation police officers say they are trained and told to run away. And now these officers are speaking out. Here's CNN senior investigative correspondent Drew Griffin.</s>DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: Take a look around the passenger terminals at Chicago's O'Hare and midway airports and you will see what appear to be police officers. But take a closer look. Not one of them is carrying a gun. In the event of an active shooter or terrorist strike here, you might be surprised to hear how they have been told to react. Not fight back, not try to neutralize the threat but instead to run. You guys are police officers. But you don't have guns. You're unarmed. Do you feel safe when you're working?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, sir. Not safe at all.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely not.</s>GRIFFIN: Do you feel almost as if you're a sitting target?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely.</s>GRIFFIN: It's not for lack of training or licensing or experience, aviation police officers are all sworn officers in the state of Illinois. They get the same training as Chicago police and many are military veterans or have second jobs in suburban jobs. These two officers speaking in silhouette for fear of being fired. Say all they want is to carry a gun like any other law enforcement officer. Just two years ago at Los Angeles International Airport, a man with an assault rifle killed a TSA officer, wounded several others, before being shot and wounded by an armed police officer. If the same event took place in Chicago's two airports, the nearly 300 unarmed aviation police would be defenseless to stop it. So in the event of a let's say to terrorist attack, let's say it's a shooter, what are you supposed to do?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Run.</s>GRIFFIN: Run?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hide.</s>GRIFFIN: Hide?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And seek shelter.</s>GRIFFIN: This internal Chicago aviation document obtained from aviation department sources outlines the policy. If evacuation is not possible, hide. You must also ensure that unarmed security personnel do not attempt to become part of the response. Here's the training video. Officers say they were instructed to do watch.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If evacuation is not possible, you should find a place to hide where the active shooter is less likely to find you. Block entry to your hiding place and lock the doors.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're nothing but casualties, if you tell to run and hide and how can the public look at us if they see police officers run and hide? That goes against the very oath that we were sworn to, that we took.</s>GRIFFIN: It's the Chicago police who carry guns at both airports since they are the primary law enforcement agency. If there's a major incident or an arrest, aviation police tell us they must wait for Chicago police to show up. A unique arrangement among major U.S. airports.</s>MATT BRANDON, UNION OFFICER: It doesn't make any sense.</s>GRIFFIN: Matt Brandon is an official with the union that represents aviation police officers. So basically they're just -- I mean no disrespect to those officers but as their role they are glorified security officers.</s>BRANDON: That's exactly right. And my question to the city is you send these men and women to the Chicago police academy to be trained as police officers to be able to respond as police officers, to be able to act as police officers.</s>GRIFFIN: The Chicago Police Department has 231 armed officers assigned to O'Hare and midway and the city says that's enough. So too does the Chicago Aviation Department about its unarmed force. And the staffing level of armed police is for the most part, similar to other major U.S. airports. If you compare the top three busiest in the U.S., Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson has 178 armed police, Los Angeles, 572, while O'Hare has budgeted 175. The numbers do not include additional security such as private security personnel. In an e-mail, the CNN, the Aviation Department says the multilevel security has proven effective in stopping and preventing crime and that violent crime incidents are extremely low. But there's been no explanation why the nearly 300 aviation police officers here are unarmed. The department is declining to discuss security measures. CNN has surveyed large U.S. airports and found Chicago's use of unarmed. Aviation police officers is unique. And according to Miami security expert Wayne Black, "Absurd."</s>WAYNE BLACK, MIAMI SECURITY EXPERT: You've got sworn law enforcement officers at the U.S. airport that are trained to hide if there's an attack. It's crazy. Airports are targets of terror activity. What are they going to do if somebody runs in with a gun and there is no law enforcement officer there?</s>GRIFFIN: In October, a man caught with these knives attempted to gets on the airfield and actually told the officers he knew they were not even armed. The gun issue has been part of an ongoing dispute between the officers and their chief, Richard Edgeworth. Chicago's aviation police recently took a no confidence vote against Edgeworth, calling him incompetent and someone who exerts control through intimidation and fear. Despite the vote, Edgeworth boss says he has the full confidence and trust of the aviation department. Edgeworth has repeatedly refuse to even answer a numerous phone call from CNN. And when we approached him to ask our questions, he did what his officers are supposed to do if anyone approaches them, armed. Excuse me. Hi Chief Edgeworth. I'm Griffin with</s>CNN. RICHARD EDGEWORTH: Oh how are you?</s>GRIFFIN: Good to see you. We wanted to ask you why your officers aren't armed? Why there's the only aviation police officers in the United States apparently are not armed? Wouldn't the public be better protected if they were armed and were able to engage the threat instead of sir instead of having to run and hide?</s>KEILAR: Now just ahead.</s>MATTHEW CHANCE, SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Can I be -- we have to tell you says that it smells of citrus fruits and pine needles. A mixture of hard and soft just like President Putin himself. So I suppose I should give it a try.</s>KEILAR: What do you buy the person who has everything? How about a cologne that captures the essence of Russia's president? We'll explain next.