Bomb-sniffing canines join McCarran security

Jace Radke

Friday, Oct. 4, 2002 | 9:27 a.m.

Beginning Monday, travelers at McCarran International Airport will be greeted by two new security teams utilizing bomb-sniffing dogs.

Dasty, a German shepherd, and Chaak, a Belgian Malinois, will patrol McCarran after completing a 10-week training program with their handlers at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio.

"They will work to detect explosives, and they will also act as a deterrent," airport spokeswoman Hilarie Grey said. "People passing through will see them, and they won't know if they are bomb dogs or drug dogs."

A third K-9 unit is expected to join those two at the airport by the end of the year, and all three will report to the Clark County Aviation's Department of Security.

County commissioners approved the dogs and handlers at a cost of about $200,000 a year.

While the K-9 patrols gear up, federal employees are continuing to take over screening positions at the airport, said Jim Blair, McCarran's federal security director.

On Sept. 17 Wackenhut security officers were replaced by federal personnel at the airport's D gate screening area. Since then federal screeners have taken over duties in terminal 2 and at the C gates, Blair said.

The A and B gates could make the changeover as early as next week, completing the federalization process. Each federal screener undergoes 44 hours of classroom training and 60 hours of on-the-job training at McCarran, Blair said.

"We have more than 600 federal screeners working at McCarran right now, and about 60 percent of those have already finished the classroom and on-the-job training," Blair said.

A total of 750 people will be needed to man all the checkpoints at McCarran, and all 750 have been hired, Blair said.

The Aviation and Transportation Security Act of 2001 mandates that all of the nation's 429 airports have federal screeners in place by Nov. 19. Federal screeners have been deployed in 142 airports so far, and more than 36,000 screeners have been hired, a spokesman with the Transportation Security Administration said.

The next security deadline airports face is a Dec. 31 mandate to begin screening all baggage for explosives.

Officials at major airports across the nation, including Clark County Aviation Director Randy Walker, have come out against the deadline, saying that it does not allow enough time to install the number of explosives detection devices needed to ensure that all bags are checked and wait times remain manageable.

An amendment to extend the deadline by a year has passed in the House. The Senate is still debating the issue.