Comments & Curiosities -- Peter Buffa

The pooches are coming. Pass it on. John Wayne Airport is going to the

dogs, and not a moment too soon.

It’s true. Starting next month, some four-legged members of the Orange

County Sheriff’s K-9 unit and their two-legged handlers will be on the

job at JWA. Airport officials are buttoned up -- as well they should be

-- about exactly how the security dogs will be used. But it’s a safe bet

they will be using their highly sensitive sniffers to sniff out

explosives and other things that have no business being there.

With a Federal Aviation Administration grant and additional funding

from the Orange County Board of Supervisors, a top-notch dog kennel is

being built right at the airport for the pooch patrol. It’ll be a place

where they can eat, sleep, wash up and watch a little Scooby Doo.

Bomb squads and customs agents have been using sniffer dogs for years,

with great results. Whether they’re trained to find explosives, drugs or

kumquats, dogs have a remarkable sense of smell and an uncanny ability to

find the strangest things in the cleverest hiding places.

As a frequent flier, I think it’s a great idea. Airport security pups

do their work quickly, quietly and much more effectively than their

humanoid counterparts. When it comes to sensitivity, neither humans nor

machines can compete with a dog’s nose.

The $2 million baggage scanners being used at major airports can check

about 150 bags an hour, which is a fraction of the number a dog can scan

in the same time. Dogs produce far fewer false alarms and are much more

sensitive to contraband substances than high-tech scanners.

Dogs can even smell minuscule traces of explosives or black powder on

a traveler’s clothes, which would have stopped “Shoe-Bomber” Richard Reid

-- easily the goofiest looking terrorist in history -- in his tracks.

My favorite canine cop was a beagle that used to work the

international arrivals at Los Angeles International Airport. He wore a

little green vest that said “U.S. Customs” and was very serious about his

work, sniffing for contraband in baggage claim and the customs lines.

He’d scamper up and down and around everyone’s bags like a firefly,

sniffing and poking, poking and sniffing. Everyone was delighted to see

him, especially kids, but he never slowed down or lost his focus no

matter how much people fussed over him or tried to pet him. He was

terminally cute, but all business.

Airport security is also on my mind because we just got back from a

great trip to the Berkshire Mountains in Massachusetts. The Berkshires

were great, but the business of getting to and from was tedious, as it

always is these days when riding the big silver birds in the deep blue

sky.

In these post-Sept. 11 times, my wife has a curious tendency to be

yanked out of line for a secondary search wherever we go. It’s all done

randomly, of course , but it’s interesting that she is always randomly

selected, while I am never randomly selected. Thus begins a long series

of questions, unpacking, pat down searches, more questions, repacking,

et cetera, et cetera.

Having inspected her carry-on item by item, it took a security guard

at LAX about seven minutes to repack her bag, which he insisted on doing

himself, while a long line of people behind her patiently waited their

turn.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m all for tightening security as much as

possible, at all times, in all ways. But it would have taken Snoopy the

Wonder Snoop about four seconds to do the same search, person and bags.

Then a few key questions, thank you ma’am, and you’re on your way.

Maybe we should take a cue from the Land Down Under, which has taken

the lead in substituting low-tech pooches for high-tech scanners.

According to “The Age,” a Melbourne newspaper, “Seven teams of sniffer

dogs now work in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane airports, checking

baggage, passengers and freight for explosives and weapons. ‘They are

incredibly capable,’ said Martin Studdert, the director of the

Australian Protective Service. ‘They are trained to distinguish as many

as 19,000 different kinds of explosives.’ ”

Nineteen thousand sounds good enough to me, mate. The other major

advantage to the K-9 corps is that they are ready to go to work anywhere,

any time. Whether there’s something suspicious in a parking structure, a

restaurant or baggage claim, Rex and his pals can be on the case within

minutes, sniffing up a storm, which is a whole lot easier than dragging a

scanner up the escalator and into a ladies’ room to check out an

abandoned tote bag.

So as of next month, if you see a security dog at JWA, say hello,

smile, but don’t get in his way. He is a highly trained professional,

he’s got a job to do, and it’s nothing to sniff at. Or maybe it is.

Woof.

I gotta go.

* PETER BUFFA is a former Costa Mesa mayor. His column runs Sundays.

He may be reached via e-mail at [email protected].