Our monthly Aviation Security Column
by Bob Collins

JANUARY 2003

AVIATION CRIME PREVENTION INSTITUTE

FINAL STATS for 2002.

AIRCRAFT STOLEN... 13 valued at $270,000.

California lead the nation in stolen aircraft with 7 followed by New Jersey with 2, Georgia 1, Texas 1, Nevada 1 and North Carolina 1.

Stolen models: 5 Cessna 172's , 2 Cessna 150's, one each of Cessna 177, 182 and 210. Three high value planes topped the list. One Bell 206, a Commander 680 and a Velocity Elite.


BURGLARIES... 75 totaling 170 pieces valued at $425,000.

The most burglaries occurred in California and Florida, both with 22 each. Georgia had 10, North Carolina 4, South Carolina 3 and Washington State 2.

In total the eastern USA had 43 of the burglaries and the West coast trailed with 27, leaving the central portion of the USA with the remaining 5, (3 in Texas, 1 each in Arizona and Arkansas).


TOTALS SINCE 1990

AIRCRAFT/VALUE BURGLARIES/TOTAL PCS VALUE
2002: 13 $270,000 75.....170    $425,000
2001: 15 $852,000 81.....201 502,500
2000: 11 $155,000 90.....205 512,500
1999: 20 $1,807,000 113.....273 1.072M
1998: 21 $1,614,000 114.....459 2.074M
1997: 4  $2,894,000 117.....397 5.800M
1996: 24 $6,812,000 119.....498 7.245M
1995: 36 $3,513,000 132.....419 9.730M
1994: 35 $6,977,000 126.....444 12.53M
1993: 36 $729,000 167.....511 2.27M
1992: 41 $2,393,000 174.....525 3.23M
1991: 56 $4,925,000 196.....542 4.35M
1990: 41 $4,290,000 217.....661 1.652M

TO REPORT SUSPECT SMUGGLING ACTIVITY OR SUSPECT STOLEN AIRCRAFT MOVEMENT CONTACT: U.S. CUSTOMS SERVICE AMICC OPS TOLL FREE: 1-866-AIR-BUST

REPORT SUSPICIOUS ACTIVITY AROUND GA AIRPORTS: Anyone involved with GA at airports can make reports of observed suspicious activity. The phone number 866-GA-SECUR or 866-427-3287.

INTEL BRIEF

DEA - Links between Drugs and Terrorism -Drug trafficking, organized crime and terrorist activities frequently flourish in environments where there is political, economic and social instability or rogue regimes. This allows the bad guys to engage in activities which are transnational in nature. There are numerous similarities between drug traffickers and terrorists. Both groups: Engage in multiple criminal activities; Need weapons, high-tech communications equipment and other logistical support; Often operate in cell structures; Ignore international borders; and engage in violence  to carry out their goals. - According to DEA stats, 25 million Americans used illegal drugs in the late '70's, that figure has dropped to 14 million in 2001. The choice to "say no" to using illegal drugs is a sure way to keep profits from drug trafficking from falling into the hands of Narco-Terrorists.

ILLEGAL DRUGS HATCH DEADLY TRAPS FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT - Next time someone tries to convince you marijuana is nonviolent and should be legalized, consider what some police officers have run into in Latin America trying to eliminate cultivated marijuana fields. Marijuana growers have booby trapped their fields in some very violent and deadly ways: Machete blades attached to twisted bicycle tire inner tubes, which when released spin about and hack at everything they come in contact with; shallow pits in the ground, covered with leaves, in which six-inch straightened fishing hoods and sharpened bamboo spikes are imbedded in concrete and dipped in animal waste for an instant lethal infection; Homemade shotguns positioned at waist height with pellets soaked in fertilizer to ensure a slow poisoning and painful death over several weeks. Food for thought?

 Bob Collins
President
Aviation Crime Prevention Institute.

For specific questions, email: acpiusa@aol.com