Raise your hand if you're surprised...
Dec. 2nd, 2008 05:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pecuniumThe rules put in place to "stop" terrorism have been exploited by thieves.
LAX Tops the Nation in Stolen/Missing Baggage.
Since one is no longer allowed to lock one's bag (unless one is possessed of a TSA approved, which is to say a lock for which they have a master key) the scheme is simple; someone who can see the contents of the bag as it passes through x-ray, informs a confederate; in handling, what the bag looks like, and what the contents worth stealing are.
The possibility of this is why my computer, and camera bag, always go onto the plane as carry on baggage. From the story:
Police say two baggage handlers did more than just carry your luggage. They allegedly helped themselves to what was inside.
LAPD officers recovered 272 stolen items, plus more than $10,000 in cash!
It was the biggest passenger theft bust in LAX's history. Police recovered dozens and dozens of purses, cameras, computers, designer sunglasses and currency from more than a dozen countries around the world!
The loot was recovered at the homes of Roman Jaime and Carlos Garcia.
We were there exclusively, as the two were arrested right on the tarmac at LAX on October 30th. Undercover LAPD officers were led to the pair because many of the flights they worked had reports of thefts from baggage.
Apparently the claims of stolen propery at LAX, sinc 2001, when the TSA was created, come to more than 300 million dollars.
Don't you feel safer now?
LAX Tops the Nation in Stolen/Missing Baggage.
Since one is no longer allowed to lock one's bag (unless one is possessed of a TSA approved, which is to say a lock for which they have a master key) the scheme is simple; someone who can see the contents of the bag as it passes through x-ray, informs a confederate; in handling, what the bag looks like, and what the contents worth stealing are.
The possibility of this is why my computer, and camera bag, always go onto the plane as carry on baggage. From the story:
Police say two baggage handlers did more than just carry your luggage. They allegedly helped themselves to what was inside.
LAPD officers recovered 272 stolen items, plus more than $10,000 in cash!
It was the biggest passenger theft bust in LAX's history. Police recovered dozens and dozens of purses, cameras, computers, designer sunglasses and currency from more than a dozen countries around the world!
The loot was recovered at the homes of Roman Jaime and Carlos Garcia.
We were there exclusively, as the two were arrested right on the tarmac at LAX on October 30th. Undercover LAPD officers were led to the pair because many of the flights they worked had reports of thefts from baggage.
Apparently the claims of stolen propery at LAX, sinc 2001, when the TSA was created, come to more than 300 million dollars.
Don't you feel safer now?
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no subject
Date: 2008-12-03 05:44 am (UTC)The TSA no-lock order broke that paradigm, and the finger-pointing refusal of anyone to take responsibility for preventing the thefts (TSA, airlines, and airports all say it's Someone Else's Problem) has effectively given anyone with access to checked bags a license to steal.
What we need are laws concerning airline baggage that resemble USPS anti-theft regulations, and an investigative body similar to the Postal Inspection Service. Failing that, an Executive Order directing the airports to get a handle on this (since baggage handlers are normally airport, not airline, employees) would at least assign someone specific and checkable responsibility for doing something about the problem.