If You're Flying to Washington....
Something to be aware of if you fly with a weapon in your luggage:
- A worker at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport has been charged with stealing shotguns, revolvers and other weapons from the checked luggage of passengers who had connections through the busy Twin Cities airport.
David Vang, 23, of St. Paul faces 11 felony counts, including 10 counts of theft of a firearm. He will be making his first court appearance April 25 in Hennepin County.
Pat Hogan, spokesman for the Metropolitan Airports Commission, said Monday that Vang was employed by a Texas firm to maintain the belt on which checked baggage traveled. Hogan said authorities learned in September that weapons were being stolen, so they set up surveillance cameras.
A review of footage showed Vang removing items from checked luggage and taking them to an unsecured employee parking ramp where his wife was waiting in a vehicle, the criminal complaint said.
This pops up semi-regularly. It happened here a few years back. With the Police Memorial in DC coming up, there's sure to be an uptick in coppers flying. Hopefully, no associated uptick in the theft of weapons though.
Labels: info for the police
posted by SCC at 12:02 AM
19 Comments:
Just for this reason I don't fly anymore. If I have to go somewhere I drive. "But what about the time" I get asked. Don't care. Leave enough time and take the day or so to drive straight through. See the country and my gun stays right on my side. Fuckin' thiefs.
Wanna bet revruns and "community organizers" forced Minneapolis-St. Paul airport to "hire more people from the community"?
That is what you get
Airports need to do a better job of screening their employees. Too many of them are criminals and the consumers are on the losing end. Be safe all!
I only fly if it is an emergency. I do not care for commercial airlines. I had to fly to the FOP Convention in Long Beach, CA a few years back. Other than that I haven't flown commercial airlines in 15 years. Don't want to deal with thieves, impaired pilots, crappy aircraft maintainence etc. I go by Honda Accord. Washington DC is definitely driveable. 700 miles, make it in a day. Screw the airlines.
We need a new airline for citizens, flying today is like taking the CTA during rush hour. No thanks. I would pay double to have an airline with dependable employees and to not rub elbows with the unwashed masses.
Working O'Hare on third watch in terminal 3 there was always some drunk shitkicker getting thrown off of a Delta Flight. They mostly were going to one of their hubs in Memphis or Atlanta. Hillbillies would sit and get drunk waiting for a flight back home and the Captain would not let them board and then they got to meet the CPD.
A contract employee with access to "..an unsecured employee parking ramp..".
Good work TSA.
This has an easy answer. Just jump through the necessary hoops, and bring it onboard. As an airline pilot, I'd welcome EVERY single one of you on. THe more the merrier!
Did they charge his wife too? And why must off-duty cops take their guns on vacation? Can't they just leave the job at home and enjoy their trip?
I recently spoke with someone currently working in baggage handling for United Airlines at O'Hare. He stated he has seen employees going in baggage and stealing shoes, I-Pads, and he has heard about them stealing guns. Be very careful what you put in your bags, try to carry your valuables with you!
And of course, we have to leave bags unlocked.
Great system the TSA has.
years ago, the CPD at O'Hare suggested placing leaded ink tags inside of luggege instead of a day glow tag on the outside. This would prevent thefts of oportunity of firearms.
The aviation bosses blew off the suggestion. But then of course, they were busy hiring known gang members to rip off the general public
"A review of footage showed Vang removing items from checked luggage and taking them to an unsecured employee parking ramp where his wife was waiting in a vehicle . . . "
------
DAMN!
Video cameras!
Who would have thought?
I'm not sure how it is on domestic flights, but quite a few international carriers, at least when I worked at O'Hare, used what we called a "Val Can". If an LEO is travellin on official business, they may be able to use something like that.
Basically it's a regular metal container commonly used for transporting cargo, only it's equipped with more locks both inside and out to prevent thefts.
Usually the airline itself uses it for various purposes, I believe they were also used for diplomatic mail, but we saw some firearms come out of them on occasion, including once when the Indian Foreign Minister flew into Chicago and his bodyguard retrieved his hand cannon.
Seriously, the the guy was pretty short and the revolver he carried was almost as big as he was.
Did they charge his wife too? And why must off-duty cops take their guns on vacation? Can't they just leave the job at home and enjoy their trip?
4/10/2013 08:01:00 AM
not everyone is going to disneyworld.
this is typical
one of those hidden camera shows did a test on TSA they had people stealing laptops and ipads phones you name it that had a tracker in a laptop and followed to the guys houseafter 15 minutes of denying it gave it and said this is over with now isn't it? they said no you just lost your job and have charges
I use a bicycle cable lock on the box itself and secure it on the the metal bars on the suitcase's frame. Also, try to travel with a plain black suitcase....just a suggestion...
FYI, they have not tagged the outside of your luggage in years, a red tag is put inside by you, you hten lock it up, you take it to machine, they scan it and load it, only once did they ask for my key to check the weapon after being tagged.
Did they charge his wife too? And why must off-duty cops take their guns on vacation? Can't they just leave the job at home and enjoy their trip?
4/10/2013 08:01:00 AM
Guns aren't a "job". They're a Constitutional right
Put his genitals in a jar and send it on tour with him(chained up) to sign autographs and tell "his side of the story"?
Have plenty ofbarf bags and " No laughing beyond this point" signs available!
Anonymous said...
I recently spoke with someone currently working in baggage handling for United Airlines at O'Hare. He stated he has seen employees going in baggage and stealing shoes, I-Pads, and he has heard about them stealing guns. Be very careful what you put in your bags, try to carry your valuables with you!
4/10/2013 08:52:00 AM
The only items you should put in your checked bags are items that you can afford to lose. You don't pack your Nikon F1 with lenses in checked baggage. be smart.
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