Birmingham Airport to replace police with traffic wardens
15.01.10
Birmingham Airport is to replace frontline Police Community Support Officers with council traffic wardens, the Birmingham Mail reports. PCSOs, who have powers to cordon off and stop and search authorised areas under the Terrorism Act 2000, will no longer patrol the area around the passenger terminals. The 12 PCSOs will be replaced with civil enforcement officers – traffic wardens.
The removal of police presence has raised questions over security in relation to terrorism and public order. Air security is also a hot topic after failed bomb attacks on planes, including one on Christmas Day on a flight over America. Khalid Mahmood, MP for Perry Barr, said any cutback of front-line officers poses a risk to security.
However, a Birmingham Airport spokesman said the move was an operational issue and not about cost-cutting, but was a result of changes to airport infrastructure. A spokesman said: ‘Following changes to road traffic regulations, traffic routing and the protective infrastructure at Birmingham International Airport, responsibility for the enforcement of parking regulations around the airport’s road network will be moved from the police to the local authority.’
Add to: del.icio.us | Digg it | Newsvine | NowPublic | Reddit
To book a birmingham airport hotel or birmingham airport car park at the lowest price, click on these links to two great Birmingham airport car parking and Birmingham airport hotel price comparison pages.
