Shawn James-Leavey admits he was wrong.

He left his car — with hazard lights flashing — in a passenger loading zone at Kona International Airport on a recent Tuesday night to see his girlfriend off. When the Big Island resident returned to his vehicle roughly 10 minutes later, an armed security officer was writing a citation.

James-Leavey told the man he was leaving, jumped in the car and started it. But the armed man, who wasn’t in a police uniform but had a vest that said “airport police,” ordered James-Leavey to stop and reached inside the open window to grab the keys, according to the Big Island resident.

“I do not consent to you entering my vehicle,” James-Leavey said he told the armed man, pushing away his hand. “You are not a police officer. You are Securitas.”

The officer worked for Securitas Security Services USA, the private company that the state Department of Transportation pays $43 million annually for security at Hawaii airports.

“I didn’t treat him like a cop because he didn’t look like one,” said the schoolteacher, thankful that the situation didn’t escalate into a full-blown confrontation. “He looked like a security guard.”

James-Leavey is among individuals, legislators and union representatives who question the role that armed Securitas personnel play at the airports in the wake of the fatal shooting last month of a pet dog by one of those officers. The shooting occurred at Honolulu International Airport and is under investigation.

“The airport law enforcement situation needs some serious attention,” said state Sen. Will Espero, who has focused on law enforcement issues as a legislator.

The state is believed to be operating one of the few airport systems nationally that rely on armed personnel employed by a private contractor to function as law enforcement officers. Most commercial airports elsewhere use police or deputy sheriffs.

At the Honolulu airport, Hawaii’s largest, DOT historically has relied on police or deputy sheriffs to handle law enforcement duties. The agency since the 1970s also has hired private-sector security guards, including armed ones, for such jobs as monitoring checkpoints, patrolling perimeter fencing and performing traffic control.

But in recent years the armed Securitas officers at the Honolulu airport gradually have taken on tasks historically handled by the police or deputy sheriffs, according to law enforcement officers, and even have changed the appearance of their uniforms and vehicles to highlight that they are now called “airport police” instead of “airport security.”

More than 60 posts at 11 airports statewide are filled by armed Securitas employees, according to state documents. The largest number, 22, is at the Honolulu airport.

The blurring of lines between traditional security work and law enforcement functions prompted the Hawaii Government Employees Association, the deputy sheriffs’ union, to sue the state last year. The pending lawsuit alleges that the state is illegally privatizing jobs that historically have been held by public civil servants. The state disputes the allegations.

After the recent dog shooting, an HGEA board member for the unit that includes deputy sheriffs emailed state legislators, urging them to investigate and remove the Securitas armed personnel from the airports.

In his email, which a legislator provided to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, Ed Stankos, a sergeant with the deputy sheriffs’ unit at the Honolulu airport, told legislators that Securitas has been negligent in the training of its armed officers and has hired officers who have been terminated by other agencies. Stankos declined comment when contacted by the newspaper.

In his email, Stankos also noted that Securitas, despite being called airport police, must summon the deputy sheriffs to complete every case at Honolulu International Airport because Securitas reports are not recognized by any prosecutorial body.

“This is not only very confusing but a huge waste of state funds,” he wrote.

Securitas did not respond to a request for comment for this story.

The issue of Securitas’ hiring policy is being reviewed, according to DOT spokesman Tim Sakahara.

He said DOT has a policy of not using convicted felons as armed law enforcement officers. “There is the possibility that Securitas might hire an individual terminated for cause from another law enforcement agency if there are no felony convictions on his or her record,” Sakahara wrote in response to Star-Advertiser questions.

DOT is revisiting Securitas’ hiring policy for armed officers “to prevent the hiring of those who have been arrested and charged with a criminal act and terminated by a law enforcement agency,” he added.

Sakahara also provided the newspaper with the minimum qualifications for an armed Securitas officer, including two years of professional law enforcement experience, certifications in firearms training and passing criminal background checks.

Asked whether DOT is pleased with Securitas’ service, Sakahara provided the newspaper with numerous commendations and letters from airport users lauding the company and its employees for acts ranging from helping retrieve lost items to responding to medical emergencies. Most recently, he added, Securitas officers were credited with saving a passenger’s life at the Kona airport late last month.

Although Securitas security personnel are given arrest powers, they rarely make arrests, usually handing off cases to law enforcement agencies. Since 2004, the year the company was awarded the contract for Honolulu International Airport, its armed officers have made only three arrests for criminal offenses, according to DOT.

A primary role for the company is prevention of criminal activity, the department said. Securitas employs more than 1,100 people at the 11 airports statewide.

Sakahara said the functions of Securitas and the deputy sheriffs at Honolulu International Airport are different. Securitas personnel patrol the facilities and ensure regulations are followed, while the deputy sheriffs respond as needed and assist with investigating incidents and arresting and transporting suspects.

“The sheriffs department complements Securitas, not the other way around,” he wrote.

Tensions between the two groups have developed because of the overlapping responsibilities, Espero said.

Securitas guards often will be the first on the scene of an incident because of their greater presence at the airport and will take statements from witnesses. But if the deputy sheriffs subsequently are summoned, the witnesses often have to give the same statements to the deputies.

“You just hear that the two (groups) don’t cooperate with each other as well as they should be,” said Espero.

Unlike at Honolulu, no deputy sheriffs are stationed at the neighbor island airports. Securitas handles security at those facilities and receives assistance from county police as needed.

National aviation and airport security experts contacted by the Star-Advertiser said hiring private armed personnel to serve as law enforcement officers at airports was unusual. They could not cite an example of another major airport doing that.

Lori Beckman, chief executive of Aviation Security Consulting Inc. and a former security director at Denver International Airport, said relying on private personnel — typically unarmed — to help meet federal security requirements is common and helps reduce costs. “You don’t need a highly trained police officer to direct airport traffic,” she said.

Using armed security also gives the illusion that they are full-fledged police, which they aren’t, according to Sheldon Jacobson, a University of Illinois professor and aviation security expert.

“It’s not right or wrong,” he said. “It’s just different.”