WASHINGTON, DEC. 14, 2005 - "Cargo theft is a growing problem throughout the nation and especially in Florida given our ports in Jacksonville, Tampa, and Miami," stated Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Ocala). In recognition of this serious crime, the key provisions of Stearns' cargo theft legislation were included in the PATRIOT Act.
The House today approved the House and Senate compromise on H.R. 3199, the USA PATRIOT and Terrorism Prevention Reauthorization Act, which extends key elements of the Patriot Act that:
* Removed major legal barriers that prevented the law enforcement, intelligence, and national defense communities from coordinating their work;
* Allowed law enforcement to conduct surveillance of more terror-related activities and allowed the authorization of nationwide search warrants;
* Updated the law to reflect new technologies and new threats; and
* Increased penalties for those who commit acts of terrorism and those who harbor terrorists.
The PATRIOT Act also includes the main provisions from Stearns' H.R. 785, the Cargo Theft Prevention Act. "These provisions increase the criminal penalties for cargo theft and create an all-inclusive database regarding cargo theft to allow state and local law enforcement to coordinate reports of cargo theft," explained Stearns. "In addition, cargo theft will be reflected as a separate category in the Uniform Crime Reporting System used by the FBI, enabling the valuable tracking and monitoring of trends in this crime. "
Concluded Stearns, "Cargo theft costs the American people up to $30 billion a year and continues to grow because criminal penalties are not stiff enough. Opportunistic thieves, street gangs, and organized crime groups target cargo as a new source of money, and the cash resulting from these thefts can be funneled easily back into their criminal enterprises, and perhaps even into terrorist organizations. The high value to volume ratio of hi-tech goods has encouraged criminals previously involved in drug dealing to move in cargo theft where they run less risk of detection and suffer less severe penalties if caught."
For Further Information Please Contact Paul Flusche at 202-225-5744 or Email.
