We recently alerted our readers to watch out for copper piping, wiring and even art pieces that were being stolen by thieves looking to cash in on the rising price of copper. It was only a matter of time before the same thing happened to the fuel tanks on our vehicles.
Neil Cavuto ran a story on Fox's "Cavuto World" today about thieves who are even going so far as to drill into tanks in an effort to steal a vehicle's fuel. Gasoline, Dielsel and even greasy cooking oil is being stolen. That's right - cooking oil.
I first heard that old cooking oil could be used to run a car on from my brother in Northern Ireland about four or five years ago. There was very little start-up costs involved and being the owner of a restaurant, he had a ready supply of used oil. He told me at that at that time, people were converting their vehicles to run on the oil and were going around gathering up used oil from restaurants. The owners of these establishments were thrilled since they used to pay to have the old oil removed previously.
Apparently this recycling of cooking oil has become so popular, that restaurants are now selling it - last I heard for about $1.50 a gallon. Thieves have discovered its worth and are now draining the oil tanks located at the rear of restaurants. The report went on to say that SUVs are especially being targeted as their size gives the thieves plenty of good cover. The fact that their tanks are larger and contain more fuel is an added advantage for them.
What can you do? For starters, if your fuel cap is not lockable, replace it with one that can be locked. If at all possible, keep your vehicle in a locked garage. If that is not an option, park it in a well lit area. Unfortunately, the higher the prices go at the pump, the more prevalent that fuel thefts will become.
Friday, May 30, 2008
Beware! $4 + a gallon is bringing out the thieves in our communities.
Hurricane season officially begins in 24 hours and many are doing nothing about it.
I was watching the weather channel yesterday to see what the weekend would be like and was surprised to learn that the price of oil is being blamed for people's lack of preparation leading up to hurricane season.
According to the broadcaster, 50% of people living in areas that are most likely to be hit by hurricanes have not conducted any disaster planning whatsoever. Of people surveyed, 30% admitted that they will wait until they hear warnings on the television before they do anything. The report said that this is the first time since Huricanes Katrina and Rita struck, that people were so poorly prepared.
One very interesting fact that 95% of people do not realize is that garages are the most vulnerable area of a dwelling to be hit by a Hurricane. The Hurricane will tear off the roof of the house right after gaining access to the property through the garage. We would urge all of our readers living in areas susceptible to hurricanes to make sure that their garages are well secured. Times may be tight and the cost of fuel is becoming more and more burdensome but there is no point losing your house when you just may have been able to prevent it.
If you didn't realize this fact about your garage, check it out today. Time may be running out.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Parents can't afford to let their guard down when it comes to their children's safety
I was very fortunate last night to have been able to attend a presentation in Richmond by the well known Criminal and Behavioral Profiler, Dr. Clinton Van Zandt.
Dr. Van Zandt adressed a dinner which was organized by the Private Investigators Association of Virgina. Attendees were kept spell bound by inside sories involving the Jon Bennet Ramsey murder, The Unibomber, The Beltway Snipers and more.
Last month I was also fortunate to have been able to hear Col. Dave Grossman speak eloquently and passionately about the tragic school shootings in which he has been called in to assist educators and parents understand. One thing is clear from listening to both men, parents need to be ever mindful of the fact that they are their children's protectors. They are the sheepdogs, ever on the lookout for marauding wolves.
If you are a parent, or an educator or a security professional, I strongly urge you to read up on the teachings of these learned men and jump at the opportunity to hear them live if at all possible. I personally guarantee you that you will not be disappointed.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Hollywood P.I. Found Guilty on 76 of 77 Charges.
Hollywood P.I., Anthony Pellicano was found guilty on 76 counts last Thursday. Pellicano was accused of having wiretapped the phones of such celebrities as Sylvester Stallone and running the names of other celebs through Law Enforcement databases.
People like Pellicano give hard working private investigators out there a bad name and he won't get any sympathy from us. New investigators who might have looked up to him due to the list of celebrity clients who hired him should see this as a valuable lesson. Honesty, loyalty, respect for the law and your clients - these are what is important. Being able to to say that such-and-such film star is a client and then go around breaking laws to get what you want, is a sure fire way to wind up in an orange jump-suit.
No doubt Mr. Pellicano will have plenty of time to contemplate this as he will soon have plenty of time on his hands. Unfortunately, there are clients out there who request investigators to break the law just so that they can get what they want. It would be interesting to have seen some of Pellicano's famous clients being charged as accomplices and swapping their Italian designer suits for the County's comfortable "day-glo" clothing and to join him on the baloney sandwich line on the inside.
Now that would be an interesting message to send out.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Copper Thieves are the New Gold Diggers
Be careful if your property contains a lot of visible copper. Thieves are cashing in on the rising price of copper.
In one case, two men tried to sell copper caps to a scrap metal dealer in Chicago. The dealer became suspicious and notified Police. The two men worked at a munitions factory and the copper they were trying to sell were casings from 1.5 million rounds of ammunition. One of them is now facing a prison sentence of 245 years for stealing from the military during wartime.
In Hot Springs, Arkansas, 2,000 customers, a Wal-Mart, a mall and a hospital lost power when thieves hit an electric sub-station on April 27. Last year, we took over security at a site for a client where theives were stripping copper from electrical lines. Similar incidents are taking place all over the country. Thieves are getting so desperate that they are willing to risk getting electrocuted in order to steal the valuable metal.
Burglaries have risen by 18% so far this year throughout the District of Columbia and Police detectives are attributing much of it to the theft of copper wiring and piping. During the past 2 weeks, thieves have hit construction sites in Germantown, Clarksburg and Potomac. It is getting so bad that outdoor sculptures are starting to disappear. In Brea, California, city officials have contacted owners of bronze sculptures and advised them to step up security.
In 2000, the average price of copper was $0.83 per pound. Eight years later, the rate has jumped to $3 - $4 per pound.
How America may be funding the Mafia in Japan.
Those of us who may have thought of Japan as a country of respectful, law-abiding peaceful citizens, would do well to think again.
In a Washington Post article titled: "The Mob is Big in Japan", the writer, Jake Adelstein paints a far different picture. Mr. Adelstein has spent the past 15 years covering the Mafia (Yakuza) as a crime reporter for Japan's largest newspaper, the Yomiuri Shimbun. He has been so relentless in his reporting, that his life and that of his family are now in danger.
Apparently, Mobs are legal entities there and they have "fan magazines" and comic books. The Japanese National Police Agency (NPA)estimates that the yakuza has nearly 80,000 members. Police say that in Tokyo alone, there are more than 800 yakuza "front companies" in industries such as: investment and auditing firms, construction companies and pastry shops. Disturbingly, it is reported that the mobsters have even opened their own bank in California.
In more recent times, the yakuza have moved into finance. Japan's Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission know of more than 50 listed companies with ties to the underworld. U.S. investors have invested billions of dollars in the Japanese stock market. How much of that is going towards funding the Japanese Mob? To add further insult to injury, the yakuza makes much of their ill-gotten profits from child pornography. Want to hear something revolting? Owning child porn in Japan is LEGAL.
Investigation firms such as ours constantly advise clients to do their due diligence. How would you like to enter into a business agreement with a Japanese company and later find out that they were a front company for drug runners and child porn peddlers? Remember, you can't always rely on a government to tell you who the bad guys are and they don't always wear black hats.
Know what you are getting into and if it is a deal worth pursuing, hire somebody to conduct a thorough investigation or send over a member of your staff to check them out fully and avoid having your reputation damaged down the road.
Latest linking of Senator Obama to a '70's terrorist may damage his reputation.
We all know how important it is to have a good reputation and the price we pay when it becomes damaged. The latest reports linking Senator Obama with the 70's radical, William Ayers, can not help him in his nomination bid.
William "Billy" Ayers was a member of the '70's domestic terrorist group: Weather Underground Organization (WUO). WUO were opposed to the Vietnam war and pledged to bomb the Capitol, The Pentagon and Police Stations after issuing a "declaration of a state of war" against the United States Government in 1970.
These days, Ayers is a professor at UIC. Apparently, Ayers and the Senator have served jointly on various Boards and have appeared on discussion panels together. Most likely Senator Obama failed to do the proper due diligence on his co-host and was unaware of his terrorist affiliations and involvement. Unfortunately for the Senator, many voters may not be so forgiving, especially when they realize that Ayers has recently made comments to the effect that he does not regret planting bombs and thinks he did not do enough. He even went so far as to state that he can not entirely dismiss the idea of planting a bomb today.
Last week during training of an Executive Protection class in Baltimore, I spoke about the need to keep an open mind when it comes to terrorism and to realize that terrorists come in all shapes, sizes and colors. I even discussed domestic terrorism and drew their attention to the Weather Underground. We should remember that terrorists will not always arrive looking as they do in television footage.
For instance, Timothy McVeigh could walk down any street in the U.S. prior to the bombing in Oklahoma and not one single person would ever have suspected him of being a home-grown terrorist. Everything (and everybody) is not always what it seems.
Training your way out of financial difficulty
My apologies to all of our readers for a lack of recent articles but we have been conducting an intensive Personal Protection training course in the Baltimore area and were concentrating on our new class of Executive Bodyguards.
Many of our students come from Police and Military backgrounds, with some still serving in those capacities. Last Friday, Police Magazine wrote an article about our training and how it was suited to those with a background in security. The editor asked me how attendees utilized the training once they graduated.
There are some who wish to train as Bodyguards as a career change, while others get into the profession as a way of advancing in the field of security and to be able to command a higher salary. That made me think about those who train to become Executive Protection agents so that they can work on a part-time basis. I recently read that many people who find themselves in financial difficulties during these trying times would be able to "stay afloat" if they could find a few hundred extra dollars every month. Of course, their regular jobs aren't going to give them a salary increase all of a sudden, so they must go out and do something to bring in that extra money.
Now there is another reason for people with the ability to further their education and training, not only to land a decent job, but to help them weather the storm during difficult periods like the present economic climate.
What better investment could one make than by investing in themselves?
Now that I'm back, I promise to pay attention to those security related items that might have escaped your attention. If you have anything you'd like to share, please feel free to drop me a line and tell me about it.
