When the economy tanks, too often people become predators – and prey.

And according to USA Today, the hotel industry is increasingly feeling the effects of this. Most of the crime is theft, of course – as it always is – along with vehicle break-ins (just another form of thievery).

So what to do? You know what to do. I’m just here to remind you.

1. Anytime you’re in your room, make sure the door is shut and locked (bolt and chain, too).
2. Don’t bring expensive jewelry with you when you travel. If you do, keep it in the hotel safe – but you might want to check the extent of the hotel’s liability, just in case the safe is robbed.
3. Don’t open the door to strangers. So no ordering in. If you’re too tired to go out to eat, pick up something on your way back to the hotel.

See the rest of the tips — on Rick Seaney’s blog — right here.

…and One Completely Clueless Airline.

The airline is Northwest – the action takes place at Oregon’s Portland International – and the tale is courtesy of the Oregonian.

A Northwest baggage handler – one Bridgette Bunnell – calls the cops back in January to report that one of her underlings, Jose Trejo Romero, is stealing stuff from checked-bags.

According to an affidavit, the police put in surveillance cameras and sure enough, there’s Jose shoving stuff down his shirt and later hauling it off to his locker. Good stuff like jewelry, laptops, designer handbags and more.

And then, the cops get another tip – suggesting they might want to question Bunnell a little more closely. Turns out (again, according the affidavit) the woman who ratted out the baggage handler, was in on the thefts, and only called the cops when Jose quit giving her a share of the loot!

It gets better. Way back last summer, several employees actually went to Northwest management and told them about the thefts – and nothing was done! In fact the supervisor of the two alleged thieves admits he heard rumors, but apparently didn’t do anything about it – even though he was aware that Bunnell was “frequently on the airline computer listing purses on eBay”.

Couple of questions:

• How come the cops had to put in surveillance cameras? Why weren’t any in place?
• How come (according to the affidavit) Jose and Bunnell were able to get away with this for two years?
• How come the supervisor lets employees use airline computers for personal fencing?

JFK is turning into some horrible movie where a bunch of aging actors stand around and talk about “pulling off one last heist” while holding postcards of the island resort where they’ll retire and live a “normal life” once said heist has been pulled.

In case you’ve been out of the loop, in a relatively short period of time, workers at JFK have stolen credit card numbers, run smuggling rings, and made off with people’s baggage. Well, I guess none of those was worthy of “one final score” status, because JFK workers are now being accused of stealing $250,000 in diamonds.

Oh, JFK workers don’t you know that those heist movies almost always end poorly. Check out The Consumerist for all of the details.

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