KPRC-2 gives us this AP story about Bush Intercontinental Airport’s volunteer cavalry:
Under a year-old program that’s grown beyond expectations, the airport has more than 600 “Airport Rangers” who comprise a volunteer cavalry that looks for anything unusual on the airport’s vast property.
“It is kind-of like low tech security, but it solves a problem when you are dealing with an 11,000-acre facility,” Houston Airport System Director Richard Vacar said. “The horses can go where others can’t go.”
For decades, riders illegally took their horses to the wooded airport property, considered one of the few places in an urban area where they could ride in a natural environment for long distances.
[snip]
After the 2001 terrorist attacks, things changed. Butler-Dial and others were told they no longer could ride at the airport.
Vacar said at first he was concerned about liability issues, but he later realized the security benefit riders could offer and found a way to make it work. Now, riders get to enjoy the property as volunteer rangers.
Rangers are required to sign a liability waiver, pass a background check and must carry a cell phone with them when they ride. They must check in when they arrive on airport property and report the direction they plan to ride. Before leaving, they must check out with security. If they see anything suspicious during a ride, they’re required to report it.
“We just want them to be the eyes and ears,” said Vacar, who also rides horses. “We don’t rely on it 100 percent, but it is just another layer.”
[snip]
When riding near the airport’s runways, Bauer said she often sees airplane passengers looking out at her. She makes sure to wave.
“It’s a great welcome to Texas,” she said.
That’s pretty neat.
