CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Police officers at Yeager Airport will soon work around the clock in an effort to keep the area more secure.
“This will give us the ability to change and have everybody here around the clock,” said Yeager Director Terry Sayre.
Currently, officers work from about 4 a.m. when the first plane takes off to about 12 a.m. when the last plane lands.
Sayre said the change is a result of several incidents at the airport.
“Unfortunately, we’ve had some persons come here recently. I guess they were homeless individuals come up here to the airport, so we’ve had our issues,” Sayre said.
Last month, a man entered a secured area and broke into a United Airlines plane then rummaged through it. Daylen Brightwell, 21, of Charleston, was charged with grand larceny. Police said Brightwell was high on drugs.
The change will include the hiring of one additional officer. Yeager police work 10 hours shifts. The overnight hours will soon require those officers to work 12 hour shifts. Two officers will be on duty all the time.
There are about a dozen officers on Yeager’s police force.
Sayre said the change will occur in about two weeks.