Policy Text
Contract and Regional Services Page 1 of 5 207/04 (R EV 01/15)
Airport Bureau
Hijack of Aircraft
The purpose of this Order is to establish procedures regarding the hijacking, or
attempted hijacki ng, of aircraft.
General
Hijacking situations will create a large amount of confusion an d chaos. The response
will be further influenced by the exact location of the aircraf t at the time of the hijacking.
Maintaining the security of the airport and passengers will be the primary objective of
the Sheriff’s Airport Bureau. This order will addr ess two scenarios:
I. Aircraft at the departure gate with aircraft doors open.
II. Aircraft pushed away from depar ture gate (or at gate) with aircraft doors
closed.
The Operational guide lines remain essentially the same for the above two scenarios
with the exception that the FB I will assume the role of Inciden t Commander when the
doors of the aircraft are closed regardless of where the aircra ft is located.
Specifically, FBI has jurisdict ion whenever the external doors of the Aircraft are closed
following boarding until doors o f the aircraft are opened allow ing passengers to leave
and enter the airport terminal.
Note: Per Homeland Security Directi ves, once on scene the FBI will l ead any ground
based tactical response in a hijacking situation.
I. Aircraft at the departure gate (aircraft doors open):
A. Responsibility of the first deputy on the scene.
1. Establish an outer perimeter around t he affected terminal.
2. Establish an inner perimeter around the affected departure g ate
and plane.
Contract and Regional Services Page 2 of 5 207/04 (R EV 01/15)
Airport Bureau 3. Immediately notify the on-dut y supervisor and request his/he r
response.
4. Request additional Sheriff’s resources from the Sheriff’s
Communication Center.
5. Obtain information on type o f aircraft and number of passeng ers
and crew onboard.
6. Assist with crowd and tr affic control as needed.
B. Responsibility of on-duty supervisor.
1. Initiate ICS protocols and set up Incident/Unified command.
2. Request the Airport Fire Chief respond to Incident/Unified
Command Post.
3. Notify Bureau Commander.
4. Notify Airport Security Manager and request response.
5. Assist Airport Operations in opening the Airport Department
Operations Center (DOC). If the DOC is in the affected danger
zone, a mobile Operation Center can be set-up by utilizing the
Airport Operations Emer gency Mobile Trailer.
6. Notify TSA and FB I and request their response to the DOC.
7. Initiate access contro l into the command post.
8. Determine the need for a tactical radio channel.
C. Responsibility of Bureau Commander.
1. Represent the Sheriff’s Depar tment as the Incident Commander in
the DOC.
2. Determine the need for the Sher iff’s Special Enforcement Det ail
(SED).
3. Determine the need for the Regional Office of Homeland Secur ity
and Joint Terrorism Task Force to be notified.
4. Determine the need for Critic al Incident Negotiations Team
(C.I.N.T.) and identify their role.
5. Determine other assets (mutual aid) that need to be requeste d.
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Airport Bureau
6. Notify Sheriff’s Executiv e Staff and keep them updated.
7. Establish operational periods for response and recovery effo rts.
8. Assist in debriefing of incident.
Note: When tactical control of the sit uation is given to the S.E.D, the
Incident Commander shall retain o verall authority for the opera tion, but
shall defer to the S.E.D. superviso r for developing and impleme nting
tactical plans. The tactical pl ans must meet with the Incident
Commander's concurrence.
D. Critical Incident Negotia tion Team (C.I.N.T.):
1. C.I.N.T. shall respond upon request of a supervisor, Inciden t
Commander or when directed by a C.I.N.T. Supervisor in
compliance with C.I.N.T. call-out procedures.
2. Whenever S.E.D. is called to a critical incident, either the
Communications Bureau or t he Incident Commander shall
immediately notify the C.I.N.T . Team Leader. The C.I.N.T. Team
Leader will evaluate the informati on provided concerning the cr itical
incident and decide on the appropr iateness of a C.I.N.T. respon se.
3. Evaluate the negotiation phas e of the operation and make
recommendations to the Incident Commander concerning the termination or continuation of negotiations.
II. Aircraft Pushed Away from depar ture gate (or at gate) with aircraft doors closed:
Note: The Operational guide lines remain essentially the same for thi s scenario
with the exception that the FB I will assume the role of Inciden t Commander when
the doors of the aircraft are clo sed regardless of where the ai rcraft is located.
Specifically, FBI has jurisdict ion whenever the external doors of the Aircraft are
closed following bo arding until doors of the aircraft are opene d allowing
passengers to leave and enter the airport terminal. A. As noted above, the Sheriff's Department will remain the pri mary law
enforcement agency in charge until the arrival of FBI. Once th e FBI
liaison is on scene, he/ she will take primary duties as Inciden t
Commander.
B. If SSD S.E.D. response is r equest