MIA volunteers get behavior-detection training

Miami International Airport partners with Miami-Dade Police Department for training

MIAMI – Airport volunteers got behavior-detection training Wednesday to help keep Miami International Airport safe.

"We're the first contact -- the people when they walk through those doors -- we're there," said Judi Caudle.

Caudle has been helping out for three years and said the training will make a big difference.

"It's absolutely a necessity because you think you know, you think you can spot problems, but there is little things we need to know, to be on the look out," she said.

"What to visualize, what to suspect -- anything you see that seems irregular and that is taught here without going into great detail," said Miami-Dade Police Major Arturo Loynaz.

Airport leaders said the timing wasn't not a coincidence. They planned it on the anniversary of Sept. 11, 2011, an attack where training like this could make a big difference.

"To be here on this anniversary, it is a little bit emotional. We as volunteers want to do all we can to help our security," said Caudle.

Miami International Airport launched behavior detection training in 2007, working with the Miami-Dade Police Department to make Miami International Airport the first U.S. airport to adopt this methodology. Security Director Lauren Stover took it a step further and mandated this training for all airport workers seeking an ID badge.

"Technology comes and goes, but the ability to detect anomalies in human behavior will never become obsolete," said Stover.

To date, more than 50,000 employees have received this training.