Evening star., 1946-07-04
Black Market Profits
Spur Highway Bandits
To Increased Activity
By the Associatsd Rrssa

bandits are cashing in on the pub
hes impatience for hard-to-get
items by looting trucks Of every
thing from textiles to ice cream,
from cigarettes to greeting cards.
Anything and everything, except
maybe sewer pipe, is being hi-jacked
today" says one representative of
trucking interests in commenting
on the thievery increase, which is
one phase of the national rise in
many types of crime.
Police, insurance and truck asso-
citation officials say that the last
few month have seen sizable in
crease in the frequency, value and
daring of such robberies. They say
that the main centers Of trouble
are New York, Chicago and Phila-
delphia, with small towns coming
In for a proportionate share of the
depredations.
Thefts Reach Millions.
Accurate reports are difficult to
obtain because the Federal Bureau
of Investigation does not catalogue
separately truck and other ship
ment thefts, and the insurance firms
providing coverage still are pretty
much in period of rugged individ-
ualism. However, an analysis re-
Gently compiled by the Babaco
Alarm Systems Co. of New York
which has become a quasi official
information center, reported 800
truck thefts with total merchan-
disc value of S2,5OO,OOO and estimated
that this figure was only 10 per cent
of the Nation wide take in the last
year.
Jack Seide, president of Babaco,
cites the shortages OF most civilian
goods plus big. quick black market
profits for the increase. To this
opinion A. F. Bracker, insurance
manager for large shipping firm,
adds:
With the goods shortages of to-
day, the shipment itself is what is
wanted, not just the dollars it
represents"
Technique Called Jump"
The main technique of grabbing
shipments is not the highjack
wherein blazing guns halt a speed
ing truck on rural road, but the
more stealthy Jump" This device
has brought thievery in from the
country highway to the congested
warehouse streets, the traffic lights
and parking lots of big cities. Mr..
Seide estimates IS per cent of the
losses result from the Jump and
figures that SO per cent of the crimes
are committed in urban centers.
The Jump consists of seizing
vehicle when it has stopped prepara-
tory to unloading or when parked
overnight, driving it off to a rem
devious and rifling the contents at
leasure. Even a few minutes alb
sence of the driver has resulted in
Jumps" Almost invariably, the
stolen truck or trailer, cleaned of its
merchandise, is found nearby within
q few hours.
Textile shippers are the principal
victims of truck thefts and hijack-
ings. Value Of such cargoes is about
80 per cent of the total for the last
year, with liquor shipments next,
then clothing and tobacco products.
Furs also are a favored target, and
food, yarns, unfinished piece goods,
tires and phonograph records are
getting plenty of attention. A haul
OF greeting cards caused a big loss
in New York.
Goods Little Protected.
In discussing efforts to do some
thing about pyramiding losses, Po-
lice Chief Fred A. Rolf of Morris
town, N. j., president of the Inter-
national Association of Chiefs of Po-
lice, declared in trade journal:
This. must be remembered-the
upsurge in crime could not attain
its present proportions if the goods
being stolen were better protected.
And that is something beyond our
control. We can enter the picture
only after the loss is incurred.
Prior to that, the situation is en-
tirely in your hands-and you can
do much, if you WILL to meet this
situation and prevent many OF these
losses"
Increasing attention is being To-
cused on lookup and alarm de-
vices for the trucks. For example,
Babaco systems have been installed
on 5000 vehicles across the country
including the trucks Of department
stores, fur houses, liquor concerns
and general merchandise haulers.
During the war they were used on
Army equipment transporting mate
rials for development of the atomic
bomb.
In one 1916 alarm system, elab-
crate electrical devices, BOBBY
trapped in possibly a dozen spots
stall the trucks motor and let loose
a high-powered Banshee siren which
can wall for hours. The jammed
engine prevents moving the vehicle
but it is the noise which gets the
lNr'c Of r