URBAN LOOTING
Images show sea of stolen packages and debris after thieves raid LA trains
USA TODAY
Fri, January 14, 2022
Dozens of packages were stolen out of cargo containers in downtown Los Angeles, leaving the train track cluttered with shredded boxed, UPS packages and debris.
In a video taken from CBSLA freelancer John Schreiber, the train tracks are covered under a sea of trash, epi pens, COVID-19 tests and more. The scene was not a one-time event, thieves have been raiding cargo containers in the area for months.
While CBSLA cameras were on the scene, one person was spotted running off with a container used to hold small packages, and a Union Pacific railroad police officer was spotted pursuing two other people who were apparently going through packages.
A similar scene occurred in November, when NBC4's cameras caught thousands of boxes discarded along the tracks lined with homeless encampments northeast of downtown in the Lincoln Park area.
Passing trains carried containers with doors wide open and packages tumbling out, NBC4 reported. Video showed two men, one holding what looked like bolt cutters, walking along the tracks, the station said.
Union Pacific said in a statement to CBSLA that the company is concerned about the theft and taking measures to prevent it.
“We have increased the number of Union Pacific special agents on patrol, and we have utilized and explored additional technologies to help us combat this criminal activity. We also will continue to work with our local law enforcement partners and elected leaders,” the railroad said.
Contributed: Associated Press
Follow Gabriela Miranda on Twitter: @itsgabbymiranda
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Thieves steal from cargo trains in LA leaving tracks cluttered
USA TODAY
Fri, January 14, 2022
Dozens of packages were stolen out of cargo containers in downtown Los Angeles, leaving the train track cluttered with shredded boxed, UPS packages and debris.
In a video taken from CBSLA freelancer John Schreiber, the train tracks are covered under a sea of trash, epi pens, COVID-19 tests and more. The scene was not a one-time event, thieves have been raiding cargo containers in the area for months.
While CBSLA cameras were on the scene, one person was spotted running off with a container used to hold small packages, and a Union Pacific railroad police officer was spotted pursuing two other people who were apparently going through packages.
A similar scene occurred in November, when NBC4's cameras caught thousands of boxes discarded along the tracks lined with homeless encampments northeast of downtown in the Lincoln Park area.
Passing trains carried containers with doors wide open and packages tumbling out, NBC4 reported. Video showed two men, one holding what looked like bolt cutters, walking along the tracks, the station said.
Union Pacific said in a statement to CBSLA that the company is concerned about the theft and taking measures to prevent it.
“We have increased the number of Union Pacific special agents on patrol, and we have utilized and explored additional technologies to help us combat this criminal activity. We also will continue to work with our local law enforcement partners and elected leaders,” the railroad said.
Contributed: Associated Press
Follow Gabriela Miranda on Twitter: @itsgabbymiranda
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Thieves steal from cargo trains in LA leaving tracks cluttered
Boxes stolen from freight trains in the center of Los Angeles, January 14 2022, and then ditched by thieves who face few obstacles and light sentences if caught (AFP/Patrick T. FALLON)
A train carrying shipping containers passes through a section of Union Pacific train tracks littered with thousands of opened boxes and packages stolen from cargo shipping containers on January 14, 2022
Fri, January 14, 2022
Dozens of freight cars are broken into every day on Los Angeles's railways by thieves who take advantage of the trains' stops to loot packages bought online, leaving thousands of gutted boxes and products that will never reach their destinations.
According to the tags found Friday by an AFP team on a track near the city center -- which was easily accessible from nearby streets -- many major US mail order and courier companies such as Amazon, Target, UPS and FedEx are being hit by the thefts, which have exploded in recent months.
The thieves wait until the long freight trains are immobilized on the tracks, and then climb onto the freight containers, whose locks they easily break with the help of bolt cutters.
They then help themselves to parcels, ditching any products that are difficult to move or re-sell, or are too cheap, such as Covid-19 test kits, furniture or medications.
Rail operator Union Pacific has seen a 160 percent rise in the thefts in Los Angeles county since December 2020.
"In October 2021 alone, the increase was 356 percent compared to October 2020," UP said in a letter to the local authorities, seen by AFP.
The explosion in looting has been accompanied by an upsurge in "assaults and armed robberies of UP employees performing their duties moving trains," the letter said.
The phenomenon spiked recently with the peak of activity linked to Christmas shopping.
According to figures reported by UP, more than 90 containers were vandalized every day on average in Los Angeles County in the last quarter of 2021.
To combat the trend, Union Pacific says it has strengthened surveillance measures -- including drones and other detection systems -- and recruited more security staff for its tracks and convoys.
Police and security agents have arrested more than 100 people in the last three months of 2021 for "trespassing and vandalizing" Union Pacific trains.
"While criminals are being caught and arrested, charges are reduced to a misdemeanor or petty offense, and the person is back on the streets in less than 24 hours after paying a nominal fine," said a spokesman for the rail operator.
"In fact, criminals boast to our officers that there is no consequence," he said.
Union Pacific wrote to the Los Angeles County attorney's office at the end of December asking them to reconsider a leniency policy introduced at the end of 2020 for such offenses.
The operator estimates that damages from such thefts in 2021 amounted to some $5 million, adding that the amount in claims and losses "does not include respective losses to our impacted customers" or the impact on Union Pacific's operations and the entire Los Angeles County supply chain.
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