Some break-ins - even of FBI vehicles - were organized and well-planned. That concerns authorities
Sometime on March 5, an assault rifle, ammunition, and two Dallas police raid jackets were stolen from a Dallas police officer’s parked pickup.
According to The Dallas Morning News of March 6th, “the [officer's] pickup was parked near Dillard’s” at North Park Center “while the officer observed training for police recruits, police said.”
“Someone removed the pickup’s door handle and pried open the door to get inside," the News reported.
Dallas police were quoted saying the officer followed procedure by locking his pickup and concealing his weapon from sight.
On Feb. 12, a semiautomatic handgun was stolen from a purse inside another Dallas police officer’s car while in a church parking lot.
These seemingly random break-ins of police officers' vehicles are part of a worrisome new nationwide trend, according to law enforcement authorities. A trend that was highlighted by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in its threat assessment for Super Bowl XLII, which was played at the University of Phoenix Stadium Feb. 3.
As HSToday.us first reported, the threat assessment expressed serious concern about the growing thefts of official law enforcement credentials, uniforms, weapons, and other equipment that could be used to “infiltrate” “high-profile” events to carry out attacks.
Prepared Jan. 14 by DHS’s Office of Intelligence and Analysis in conjunction with the FBI and Intelligence Community, the assessment described thefts of official equipment that “raised concern.”
"The list of stolen equipment includes access cards; ammunition; body armor; firearms; Kevlar helmets; marked and unmarked emergency services, fire, and police vehicles; official badges and credentials; radios; raid shirts and jackets; rifles; uniforms; and weapons," the assessment stated, adding, "numerous thefts of government and law enforcement property that could be used to facilitate unauthorized entry have been reported."
In Arizona alone "since October 2004 the Arizona Counterterrorism Information Center has received more than 300 reports of thefts from fire, first responder, military, and police personnel," the assessment stated.
Disturbingly, the risk assessment noted that “such thefts … are common in large metropolitan areas,” and that they “increase the risk that unauthorized individuals may use insignia, official equipment, and uniforms to gain access to sensitive areas,” especially during high profile events.
Indeed. There have been numerous thefts of guns, credentials, and other law enforcement equipment from both marked and unmarked federal, state, and local police vehicles in recent years.
Experts warn that the theft of guns, especially assault rifles, from police cars has become a serious national law enforcement problem. One that poses a unique homeland security threat, especially “if any of these break-ins are in any way related to organized terror groups, be they foreign-directed or homegrown,” said a federal counterterror authority HSToday.us frequently talks to on background.
He pointed out that in a significant number of break-ins of unmarked law enforcement vehicles across the country, it is evident that the thieves knew the vehicle they targeted belonged to a law enforcement officer.
“And that indicates surveillance of officers getting into unmarked police vehicles,” the counterterror expert said. And “that’s truly alarming,” he added.
This certainly seems to have been the tactic in the theft of the handgun and equipment from the Dallas police officer’s pickup.
In 2007, in Palm Beach County, Florida, at least six police cars were broken into and handguns and shotguns stolen, police officials there said.
There were six to eight incidents in which sheriff’s deputies' cruisers were broken into and their guns stolen.
According to authorities, in one case thieves staked out detectives doing surveillance work, drove behind them until they left the car, and then broke into it and took the detectives' weapons.
"One or two incidents were enough for us to start looking at this," Maj. James Stormes of the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office was quoted saying.
In Jan. 2007, guns, ammunition, and "other FBI technical equipment" were stolen from the car of a member of an FBI special response team in Washington, DC.
That same month, the FBI reported that one of their vehicles was stolen in Northwest Washington. Inside the car was a government-issued bulletproof vest and an MP5, a 9mm submachine gun made by Heckler & Koch especially for American law enforcement.
Another MP5 was stolen this past February from a vehicle driven by a member of the Jefferson County, Colorado SWAT team. Also stolen was ammunition, bulletproof vests, and other tactical gear used by the SWAT team.
Also in February, a .40-caliber semiautomatic handgun, three magazines full of ammunition, and an investigator's wallet containing his personal identification and $240 was stolen from an unmarked Las Cruces, New Mexico sheriff’s vehicle parked at the investigator’s home.
Also taken was a bulletproof raid vest emblazoned with "Police" on the front.
A similar raid vest was stolen Jan. 18 from another Las Cruces officer's vehicle parked outside his home. That vest had "Sheriff" sown onto the back.
In Jan., a Smith & Wesson 9mm semiautomatic handgun and badge belonging to a Lone Tree, Colorado police officer was stolen from the officer’s car.
A criminal in possession of a police badge poses a unique threat, Lone Tree police Sgt. Ron Pinson was quoted saying, adding, "somebody could always try to impersonate a police officer with it."
Elsewhere in Colorado, a semiautomatic rifle, ammunition, a bulletproof vest, and a SWAT uniform were stolen from an Adams County deputy's personal vehicle.
In December, Seattle, Washington Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske’s 9mm Glock semiautomatic pistol was stolen from his Ford Crown Victoria while the car was parked downtown.
The gun was not in plain view and there was no sign that anything else had been taken.
Last May, a .223-caliber automatic assault rifle and a 12-gauge shotgun were stolen from the trunk of an unmarked police car in Frederick, Maryland.
These are just a few examples of the scores of reported break-ins of law enforcement vehicles in which weapons, credentials, and other highly specialized police equipment have been stolen.
It’s no wonder then that one of the three “key findings” of DHS’s nine-page threat assessment on Super Bowl XLII was that “the threats of greatest concern” during events like this “include individuals impersonating law enforcement and other security personnel and insiders to facilitate attacks.”
“High-profile events such as the Super Bowl often have designated secure areas – for celebrities, players, VIPs, and others – that unauthorized personnel could attempt to breach,” the assessment said, adding that even “counterfeit law enforcement badges and credentials purchased online” and “hard to differentiate from legitimate credentials and often of high quality" can be used to "facilitate unauthorized entry.”
“It is important to remember that terrorists are trained to blend in and assimilate to their surroundings,” the Arizona Counterterrorism Information Center said in a Jan. 8 “terrorism awareness” bulletin.
Consequently, "illicit use of such credentials to gain access to the grounds of the Super Bowl or to associated events may be difficult to detect,” the assessment said, noting that during a NASCAR race in Talladega, Alabama in May 2005, “an individual using a hat and jacket bearing the FBI insignia impersonated an FBI special agent to gain access to areas of the track. He was not questioned by security personnel or staff and was able to move freely within restricted areas.”
So far, there's no intelligence to indicate that organized terrorist groups, domestic or otherwise, have been directly tied to any law enforcement vehicle break-ins, but there is evidence that organized urban gangs, drug traffickers, and other assorted organized criminal enterprises are intimately involved.
Given that some of these groups, like the Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, are suspected to have links to terrorist groups known to have operational infrastructures in Central and South America, federal and local law enforcement do have reason to be concerned.
MS-13 not only is heavily involved in weapons smuggling, illegal gun sales, and burglary to steal firearms, but many of its members are proficient in using assault and powerful semiautomatic weaponry. The FBI has been investigating the far-flung criminal organization to determine whether any members are receiving formal training in weapons and military tactics before they enter the US - often as illegals.
