CRIME Thousands of Stolen Packages Cover Downtown LA Train Tracks

Millwright

Knuckle Dragger
_______________
Several twits, pics and vids at link.


Staggering footage shows thousands of reportedly stolen and discarded packages lining a stretch of the Union Pacific train tracks in downtown Los Angeles.


The vision, captured by CBSLA, shows one person scurrying along the tracks holding a “container used to hold smaller packages,” the outlet reports. Video captured by CBSLA photojournalist John Schreiber also documents a Union Pacific officer chasing after two people who reportedly looked to be sifting through the sea of cardboard.


“As you can see, trains frequently slow or stop in this area as they get worked into the @UnionPacific Intermodal facility near Downtown LA,” Schreiber tweeted. “The thieves use this opportunity to break open containers and take what’s inside. I’d say every 4th or 5th rail car had opened containers.”


“Sources told CBSLA that the locks Union Pacific uses are easy to cut, and officials with the Los Angeles Police Department said they don’t respond to reports of a train robbery unless Union Pacific asks them for help, which they said is rare,” the outlet reports.
Among items discarded and left behind were at-home coronavirus test kits.
Sources told the outlet that the section of tracks was cleaned about a month ago, meaning the current mess is merely from the past thirty days or so. Sources added that the tracks were cleaned up three months ago as well.
Union Pacific provided CBSLA with a statement on the matter:
“Union Pacific is very concerned about the increased cargo thefts in California, and we have taken several steps to address this criminal activity. These rail crimes pose a serious safety threat to the public, our employees and local law enforcement officers.
“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.”
CBSLA checked the tracking status of one discarded package, which stated “in transit” and was scheduled to be delivered that day.
The report is especially frustrating given delivery times are already significantly hampered by supply chain issues under the Biden Administration.

View: https://twitter.com/i/status/1481770722271760384


 

Caplock50

I am the Winter Warrior
Good Lord, what a dump . . . such waste. Total anarchy . . . it's like the wild west.

HB

I can vouch for the fact that the West was never as 'wild' as the movies show it to have been. Most of that 'wildness' was 'shows' put on by the locals to 'traumatize' the eastern 'sugarfoots' taking a break from their long train rides. I had a grand uncle who was dragged, fighting and kicking and screaming, from his jail cell...and hanged from a tree next to the train station...about 12 different times. The male 'tinderfeet' would 'mess their pants', while the women would faint away. Now, I'm not saying those 'acts' never, ever happened...just that they really were about as scarce as 'hens teeth'.
 

West

Senior
Good Lord, what a dump . . . such waste. Total anarchy . . . it's like the wild west.

HB

Muse...

The wild West was brutal in its own way. I would argue in a more respected way, though way more hardships in other ways.

But back then, even when there was no or little law, the locals often had to take things into their own hands with extreme prejudice.

It's way worse now, tons and tons of law enforcement, and they do squat by mandate. And the locals would be fined, arrested, jailed or worse if they took the law into their own hands.

It's FUBAR.
 

annieosage

Inactive
Oh yeah. I monitor several LA tweets and FB pages since DD is living there now. I think it was last weekend there were 2 or 3 tweets about train robberies. What the heck?
 

Scrapman

Veteran Member
Weres the railroad dicks. My father guarded the central terminal in buffalo during the war . Was issued a shotgun. Being the farm boy he was one night he shot at a rat . And realized the weapons weren't loaded. He went to the higher-ups with other guards raised hell . After that everyone was issued ammo.
 

Dobbin

Faithful Steed
I am honestly shocked
..I know thieves get a free pass, but shouldn't there be a massive study on environmental impact being announced, or at least fines for that littering?? Those things still matter, don't they? :shr: :rolleyes:
Selectively applied...

Dobbin
 

Macgyver

Has No Life - Lives on TB
If they only welded a vertical post on the cars the containers would not be able to be opened.
 

Dux

Veteran Member
I am honestly shocked
..I know thieves get a free pass, but shouldn't there be a massive study on environmental impact being announced, or at least fines for that littering?? Those things still matter, don't they? :shr: :rolleyes:

They matter if the problems are created by regular people, not criminals. And if it did matter, punishments and fines would be on the carriers. Not that I disagree; perhaps carriers need to harden their targets.
 

Melodi

Disaster Cat
This is extremely disturbing on several levels, do they even know who is doing this on such a massive scale?

That is somewhat important because it does make a difference in terms of stopping it if it is professional gangs (or people employed by professional gangs) or simply masses of individuals mobbing trains. After all, they have realized they can get away with it.

I don't think things have reached the desperation levels of some parts of the third world where people do stuff like this in order just to get food and fuel. For one thing, it looks like they are targeting the "cool" usable or saleable articles, which suggests there may be a market for them.

Desperate people can be somewhat controlled or modified by bringing in food rations and other necessities but that won't stop professional gangs and/or those they hire for a moment. A sudden appearance of a lot of armed security, on the other hand, might suggest they go take their looting elsewhere.
 
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