Transportation securityNYPD commissioner: tighter security needed at Trailways bus depot
During the past decade, a New York man stole more than 150 buses from an unsecured Trailway bus depot in Hoboken New Jersey; the doors were open, the key were left in the ignition, and he just drove off the lot, using the coaches for everything from fast-food runs to jaunts to North Carolina; he was finally collared last week after he stole a bus, drove to Manhattan, and took a group of flight attendants to Kennedy Airport
Darius McCollum, pictured in 2005, stole 150 buses // Source: nydailynews.com
Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly wants NYPD to look into lax security at a New Jersey depot from which bus-thief Darius McCollum stole more than a hundred buses.
The New York Daily News exposed serious security lapses at the Hoboken facility this week, prompting workers finally to lock bus doors and remove keys from the ignitions. Kerry Wills and Dave Goldiner write that the front gate of the depot, however, remained wide open and unguarded Monday — and a reporter and a photographer with conspicuous large-lens cameras strolled in and spent several minutes walking around without being challenged.
“You’re not supposed to be in there,” one cleaner shouted — but no one followed up to ask the pair what they were doing poking around in the big buses.
Kelly said counterterrorism experts at the Police Department will be speaking with Trailways bus company about problems at the hub. “We ask them to be alert,” Kelly said Monday. “Now is a time we’d have them look at their own security.”
In a jailhouse interview last week, McCollum boasted about how he had stolen 150 buses from the Hoboken depot in the last decade. The keys were always left in the ignition, and he just drove off the lot, using the coaches for everything from fast-food runs to jaunts to North Carolina.
He was finally collared last week after he stole a bus, drove to Manhattan, and took a group of flight attendants to Kennedy Airport.
The Daily News went to Hoboken to see whether McCollum was exaggerating about how easy it would be to take a bus — and found he was telling the truth. On two consecutive days, reporters were able to walk to the lot and get on a bus — which was left unlocked with the keys inside.
Trailways did not respond to requests for comment — but it appears it is paying attention since security has been tweaked.
Wills and Goldiner note that security experts say buses and big-rig trucks could be tempting targets for terrorists because they attract less attention from law enforcement officers.
