REDISCOVERING THE GUARD'S VAN?

Miscreants going shopping in railway cars and containers has been a thing as long as there have been freight trains, and the beer cars might have disappeared because you might as well tack a "Loot Me" sign on the door.

Now the shoppers are riding along.

The thieves stealthily board eastbound freight trains, hiding out until they reach lonely stretches of the Mojave Desert or high plains far from towns. They slash an air brake hose, causing the mile-long line of railcars to screech to an emergency stop.

Then, they go shopping.

That’s the modus operandi described by investigators in a string of at least 10 heists targeting BNSF trains in California and Arizona since last March. All but one resulted in the theft of Nike sneakers, their combined value approaching $2 million, according to investigators.

New sneaker releases may have touched off at least some of the recent incidents. In Perrin, Ariz., thieves allegedly cut an air brake hose on a BNSF freight train on Jan. 13 and unloaded 1,985 pairs of unreleased Nikes worth more than $440,000, according to a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Phoenix. Many were Nigel Sylvester x Air Jordan 4s, which won’t be available to the public until March 14 and are expected to retail at $225 per pair, the complaint states.

Nike place trackers in the shoes, which leads to arrests.

Because tracking devices were placed in some of the shoes, eleven thieves were caught. As one might imagine, there’s an illegal immigration angle. Ten were Mexican illegals and the eleventh was a Mexican in the Biden asylum process. Apparently, he feared oppression in Mexico, like the kind you get when the police catch you in the act of committing crimes.

Sometimes, the people riding or following the trains are acting on information from accomplices in warehouses and shipping companies.  There's a lot of commerce involved.

Cargo theft cost U.S. Class I railroads more than $100 million in 2024, the Association of American Railroads says, calling for more federal efforts to address the thefts and more effective prosecution of those arrested.

The AAR says in a recently released fact sheet that organized criminal groups are increasingly targeting freight moves, with estimates that more than 65,000 such thefts occurred in 2024. That would represent an approximately 40% increase. Railroads also say suspects are increasingly armed, increasing the risk of violence when attempting an arrest.

No more than one in 10 theft attempts result in an arrest, the industry says, and many of those arrested are repeat offenders; one railroad has reported arresting the same individual 17 times. The organization is calling for moves including increased penalties for those who commit cargo theft, “efficient and effective prosecution” when a theft occurs, and funding for federal prosecutors dedicated to cargo theft.

William "Legal Insurrection" Jacobson hopes for fewer soft-on-crime prosecutors.  "Hopefully, more serious minded leaders and Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Transportation will improve the numbers over the next year."

I don't know, maybe having a few more eyes on the cargo might help.  There's even a prototype for that.