City Police Return To Law Enforcement Support At Santa Maria Public Airport
SANTA MARIA, Calif. (KEYT) - The Santa Maria Public Airport has law enforcement support from the city’s police department once again.
This comes after a decade of support from Guadalupe’s police.
Since 2017, the Guadlaupe Police Department has been contracted for law enforcement and security at the Santa Maria Public Airport.
“If there was an emergency at the airport, we would have had to call a Guadalupe officer here,” says Mike Flores, Finance And Administration Manager at the Santa Maria Airport.
The city council approved the return of the contract to Santa Maria Police at last week’s meeting.
“We're happy to be back,” says Santa Maria Police Sgt. Shane Armstrong. “That contract formally started on August 6th.”
The Santa Maria Airport runs general aviation flights daily with two commercial flights every week.
“The Santa Maria Police Department's primary responsibility will be providing law enforcement services, which are required during the TSA operations for commercial passenger flights that are leaving out of the Santa Maria airport,” says Sgt. Armstrong.
Santa Maria officers have already taken their new positions for those flights at the TSA PreCheck, as well as surrounding patrols.
“A lot of the officers that we have, have been with the force for a very long time, so much so that they've actually worked at the airport prior to our contract with Guadalupe,” says Flores.
Officials at the airport and police department agree it makes more sense, as the terminal is mere blocks from the Betteravia police station.
“It benefits both the district and the city, because we're kind of offsetting some of the personnel costs that the city is bearing from their PD being here,” says Flores.
Airport directors say it’s been a very smooth transition, and travelers will notice little difference, if any, other than the badges the TSA agents are wearing.
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