State pursues new airport security deal with deputy sheriffs

State transportation leaders say they want deputy sheriffs to keep working at Daniel K. Inouye International Airport — but that they’ll need to reach a new deal with public safety officials in the next six months to accomplish that.

In a press conference Tuesday, state Department of Transportation Director Ford Fuchigami said his agency has an outdated agreement with the Department of Public Safety for those deputies to handle some law enforcement duties at the airport.

“I think anybody knows, when you write a contract in 2002, 15 years ago, that will not meet the needs of 2017,” Fuchigami said while flanked by DPS Director Nolan Espinda, who did not say much during the joint conference at the airport.

“It needs to be modified. It needs to be changed,” Fuchigami added.

The press conference followed the written notice that Fuchigami gave Espinda one week earlier, stating he would end the agreement in 180 days.

On Tuesday, Fuchigami said that the DOT wants to retain the 57 deputy sheriffs and two civilians assigned to the airport if officials can hash out a new deal prior to that deadline.

However, the agency wants to see those deputies’ job scopes and tasks change, he said. Fuchigami declined to specify what sticking points are hindering progress with DPS on a new deal, or how the existing one is out of date, citing airport security concerns.

His comments come as some, including state Sen. Will Espero (D, Ewa Beach-­Iroquois Point), have questioned whether DOT aims to end the deputy sheriffs’ airport presence as payback for a lawsuit filed by the sheriffs’ union to block the state’s new contract with a private airport security firm.

That firm, Securitas, has played an expanding role at the airport, with nearly 300 total officers conducting law enforcement, security patrols and traffic controls each day, according to DOT. Last year, Securitas inked a three-year contract with DOT valued at $35 million a year, agency officials said.

The deputy sheriffs there assist with arrests and transporting suspects out of the airport, according to the DOT.

Fuchigami said he’s not trying to push out the deputy sheriffs.

“There’s been a lot of stories that I fired the sheriffs, which I did not. I terminated an agreement,” he said Tuesday.

“We’re on the same team,” Fuchigami added. “I cannot accomplish my goals at the airport without (Espinda) and his team being a part of that.”

However, he also declined to specify Tuesday what would happen if the two agencies fail to reach new terms before the 180-day deadline.

Star-Advertiser reporter Michael Tsai contributed to this report.