The New Great Train Robbery

 

cnn.com

I had not expected to write about this topic again having just written about it thirteen days ago.  I was motivated by an article in the Wall Street Journal about a major train heist in Los Angeles:  Train Robberies Are a Problem in Los Angeles, and a Blame Game Has Ensued - WSJ.

The photos are unbelievable.  It looks like a tornado hit the train.  Clearly thousands of packages were open, and those with valued content were stolen leaving nothing but dunnage at the scene of the crime.  The article reported that “Union Pacific has seen a 160% jump in criminal rail theft in Los Angeles since December 2020.”  Since the start of the pandemic, they have incurred $5 million in losses. 

It seems there has always been railroad thefts but until recently, it was mostly opportunistic where a few might break into a rail car or inter-modal container and steal what they could carry off.  The photos in the article show a level of theft that is well beyond opportunistic.  This was a well-planned, well executed, operation that had to have a relatively large team working the heist with getaway trucks to haul their plunder.  I wonder what they do with the goods.  Do they sell them on e-bay, to smaller non-chain boutiques, sell them local marketplaces like Facebook?  They may sell them to shady exporters who ship them to countries where products are more easily sold to bona fide retailers with no questions asked?  The thieves might be part of such an export ring. 

I was so shocked and amazed by the photos, I posted one on Facebook.  One trashed Governor Gavin Newsom for only apologizing “but not for the theft, but instead for the thieves.” Another friend said, “Mind blowing,” which was my first reaction.  An old Colgate colleague commented:

 

Talk about sliding backwards…. I thought train robberies pretty well ended late 1800’s. But goes to show what happens when you ignore crime because you are afraid you will upset your voters.

 

This was my second thought.  Train robberies?  Really?  They were the stuff of old Western movies.  The classic 1903 silent film, The Great Train Robbery, is considered the first American action film.  Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid were train robbers.  I too thought they ended in the 1800’s.  But here we are today with a modernized version.

How do we mitigate these kinds of spectacular crimes?   I would include the flash mob smash-and-grab robberies of high-end luxury good boutiques that seem equally well-planned and well executed.  Certainly, there will have to be some investment in systems and personnel by the retailers, train companies, and local authorities.  Union Pacific already has an internal security force of 200 men which sounds ample but not when that force covers the entire United States.  What would a luxury retailer with 500 stores scattered around the country have to invest to protect their stores from these blitzkrieg thefts.  I would imagine the investment would be considerable and maybe less than the retailers and train companies are actually losing making them reluctant to spend the money.

Thirteen days ago, I wrote, “Crime is likely to be an issue in the mid-term elections later this year.”  I am even more convinced of that now.