Frequent theft of railroad cargo, empty boxes littered in Los Angeles

[Jan 16, AFP] Dozens of trains are being robbed every day in Los Angeles in a series of rail freight thefts. Packages being delivered have been stolen before they reach their destinations, and empty boxes are scattered around the site. An AFP reporting team visited the site near the city center on the 14th and found it easily accessible from the street. According to the scattered tags, packages from major US mail order and transportation companies such as Amazon and FedEx were damaged. The thieves waited for a long freight train to stop, got on top of the container, and used bolt cutters to easily break the lock. Then they scavenge the cargo and throw away the coronavirus test kits, things that are difficult to transport or sell, and things that are too cheap. At Union Pacific, a major U.S. freight railroad company, theft damage in Los Angeles County has increased by 160% since December 2020. Last October, it was up 356% year-on-year. Between September and December last year, more than 90 containers were destroyed on average per day in the county. With the explosive increase in thefts, there has also been a sharp increase in assaults and armed robberies against Union Pacific personnel on board. As a countermeasure, Union Pacific has strengthened crime prevention measures using drones and detection systems, and increased the number of security guards. Between September and December last year, police and railroad guards detained more than 100 people for "trespassing and destroying" a Union Pacific train. However, a Union Pacific spokeswoman said, "Even if criminals are detained and arrested, they are treated as minor offenses, pay a small fine and return to the city within 24 hours." He boasts that it doesn't hurt or itch," he said. At the end of December last year, Union Pacific sent a letter to Los Angeles County prosecutors asking for a review of the lenient policy introduced at the end of 2020 regarding such crimes. Union Pacific estimates the total damage to be about $5 million last year, but it depends on how much each customer suffered, the impact on the company's overall business, and its supply chain throughout Los Angeles County. It does not include the impact on The video was filmed on the 14th. (c)AFPBB News