$3.4 Million In Fencing, Security Upgrades Planned For San Jose Airport

Mineta San Jose International Airport has been awarded $3.4 million in federal funding to raise the height of its perimeter fence and install other security upgrades following a series of security breaches. The grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation and Federal Aviation Administration was announced Monday by U.S. Reps. Zoe Lofgren, D-San Jose, Mike Honda, D-San Jose, Anna Eshoo, D-Palo Alto, and Eric Swalwell, D-Dublin.

The funding will allow the airport to raise about 8,600 feet of fencing at the north and south ends of the airfield from 6 feet to 10 feet high and top it with 1 foot of razor wire, according to airport spokeswoman Rosemary Barnes.

The new fence, which is expected to be completed by May 2016, will also use a smaller mesh that is harder to climb. Barnes noted that while the current fence meets all federal safety standards, “We recognized due to some previous incidents that we needed to raise the fencelines.”

The airport has experienced a series of security breaches starting with a high-profile stowaway case in April 2014 involving a Santa Clara boy who made it all the way to Hawaii in the wheel well of a plane. The boy, who survived the trip, said he had intended to try to rejoin his mother in Somalia.

In August 2014, serial stowaway Marilyn Hartman was able to board a plane and fly from San Jose to Los Angeles without a boarding pass.

On November 23, 2014, a man trespassed on to airport grounds and then allegedly stole a city maintenance truck from a parking lot there.

• See those three stories:
• Man Breaches Security, Steals Maintenance Truck At San Jose Airport
• Oh, Marilyn! Our ‘Serial Stowaway’ Is At It Again - This Time In The Midwest
• Father of Teen Airline Stowaway ‘Excited’ To Reunite In Hawaii, Return Him Home

Suspects were also arrested in trespassing incidents in January and in March of this year, according to police. Barnes said the airport raised the fence in another area at the airport’s southwest corner this spring near the new Avaya Stadium.

Aesthetic improvements including landscaping were also added to that area, which is heavily trafficked, she said. The airport is also working with the non-profit National Safe Skies Alliance to determine what other security improvements would work best.

Options being considered include infrared, motion detection and enhanced surveillance cameras, Barnes said.

Following the completion of the current project, the airport will seek funding for additional work on other sections of fencing and the introduction of other security technology, Barnes said.

“Our airport is the gateway of choice for travelers, airlines and businesses in Silicon Valley,” Lofgren said in a statement Monday. “I’m pleased that these important federal funds will be dedicated to keeping passengers, employees and airplanes safe.”

--Bay City News

--Image courtesy of San Jose International Airport (SJC) on Facebook.