Port Authority Police Department of the United States

Port Authority Police Department of the United States

 Port Authority Police Department was formed in June 1928. It was pioneered by a group of about 40 men who were tasked with manning the Goethals Bridge and the famous Outer bridge crossing. The number of port police officers kept increasing as the port authority facilities also kept growing. This was necessitated by the opening of Holland Tunnel in the year 1927. The Holland tunnel included three major transport hubs which included; three metropolitan airports, marine terminals launched in 1940’s and the Port Authority bus terminal. The Port Authority Police Department had been instrumental in the fight against trans-border crimes, but there have been some reservations as to the department’s effectiveness, due to vices like corruption that has riddled the police department in the recent past.

Some of the facilities manned by the Port Authority Police Department are Newark Liberty International Airport, LaGuardia International Airport, and John F Kennedy International Airport. They can carry about 110 million air travelers, 206 million tonnes of cargo transportation and approximately 1.3 million air movements (Kang 748). Some of the duties and functions of the port police department include screening of passengers, addressing and attending to all aircrafts incidents and giving assistance to the travelers where necessary. The police officers manning these facilities are also in-charge of protection and escort of visiting dignitaries on a daily basis.

The Port Authority marine facilities in Newark Elizabeth and Brooklyn piers facilitates the handling of millions metrics of cargo per year. Security wise, the ports are managed by Port Authority Police Department. Other duties that are carried out by the port police includes traffic control of the sea vessels as well as the prevention and investigation of cargo theft.

Another unit of Port Authority Police Department that plays a very critical role in the Criminal Investigations Bureau is the bureau is made up of detectives and supervisors. Officers in this department have specialized skills necessary to deal with and investigate crimes taking place in the transportation facilities. The investigation bureau is also in charge of prevention and prosecution of a person engaged in criminal activities such as the; ticket fraud, and drugs smuggling. The police officers are located in all the major ports of the U.S such as Port Newark Marine Terminal, the Jersey Port, Howland Hook and Brooklyn piers. The Port Authority Police Department headquarter is housed in the Jersey City. The headquarters is the nerve center for coordinating all the departments’ activities. The Headquarter is mandated with carrying out, coordinating and overseeing all police operation in the port facilities. The Port Authority Police Department is divided into small units or facilities headed by the facility commander to ease in the coordination of its different programs.

The Port Police Department is also in charge of managing the PABT bus terminus which is one of the world busiest bus terminals in the world. Officers assigned to the bus terminus serves the public in various ways such as locating lost children, missing persons, personal effects as well as maintaining the general security of the facility. Where need be the police counseling department officers located in this facility are assigned the duty of offering to counsel, facilitating lost person reunion with other family members and placement of lost persons with the appropriate social services agencies. At major U.S  crossings such as the Bayonne, Goethals, Holland, Lincoln Tunnels, Outerbridge Crossing as well as the George Washington bridges, the police officers stationed here plays the critical roles of patrol, general traffic control, inspecting hazardous cargo, truck weighing and prosecuting persons found violating traffic laws.

In the recent past, however, the department has come under seething attack from the public due to; patronage by the authority commissioners, excessive overtime salary allowances, strong union rules, in the ability to respond to emergencies as well as the department’s laxity in the recruitment of officers from minority groups. The public outcry and allegations have been vindicated by the occurrence of events that has brought into question the credibility of the Port Authority Police Department. One of the most outstanding incidences was the inability of the department to respond to the bombing of the Americas trading center of 2011 and resignation in disgrace of a former port authority chairman David Samson in 2014. David Samson pleaded guilty to bribery charges leveled against him in the course of duty as the chairman; he convicted of conspiracy about Bridgegate lane-closure scandal of the 2013 (Vonnahme1310).

In addition to the above incidences, the most memorable of these all was the stampede that occurred at Kennedy Airport in 2016 caused by a false report of a terror attack in terminal 1 and 8 of the airport. The terminals stayed closed for several hours despite the alleged high training and several drills that the officers are exposed to on firefighting. During this melee, anomalies were discovered that highlighted how unprepared the department was regarding securing the safety of the travelers. It was found for example that, there was no addressable signage and that the police officers lacked access to either public address system or cell phone alert system to alert and tell clients where to go and lacked proper rescue and evacuation procedures.

Since 1928 when the port authority police department was formed. The agency has done all that is humanly possible to ensure that transport facilities and crossing in America are safe for all the persons accessing or using them. The rapid growth of the department over the years is a clear indication that the services given by the department are important in securing America. However, the underlying challenges that have recently dogged the department need to be addressed to make the services delivered by the unit better and beyond reproach

Works cited

Kang, Yun-Ho. "The Governance And Agent Problems Of Public Agency: Focused On The Port Authority     Of New York And New Jersey." Journal of Korean Navigation and Port Research 2009.

Vonnahme, Beth Miller. "Surviving Scandal: An Exploration Of The Immediate And Lasting Effects Of     Scandal On Candidate Evaluation." Social Science Quarterly 2014.