Question about theft of personal belongings on the train

[brian212]

I'm planning my first LD trip in March from Chicago to Seattle (TE-CS) and I'll be traveling with my laptop, phone, tablet, etc. I've contacted my insurance carrier to ask about coverage for loss/theft while traveling, and I'm covered (minus deductible) by my renters policy. What I'm curious about is if the theft occured on the train, what law enforcement agency would it be reported to, and how would that work? Hoping that this won't even be an issue, but I'm wondering if anyone knows what would happen in that circumstance.

 

[Shortline]

Simply report it to the Conductor, who will make a report, and pass it on to Amtrak police. However, in reality, that's just for your insurance purposes, there will be no active investigation, unless whatever is lost shows up in a lost and found or is turned in, it's extremely unlikely it will ever come up again. In reality, it's so exceedingly rare for something to disappear, especially if you take even the most basic precautions, that I wouldn't even think about it. I travel 4-5 times a year overnight and have for the better part of a decade now, and it never even occurred to me to think about checking with my insurance to see what is covered. Unless there is simply something irreplaceable on the laptop (which there shouldn't be-You DO back up to an external hard drive regularly don't you?) I wouldn't even think twice about leaving it in my roomette/bedroom, and if in coach, would simply put it out of sight in the bag, in the overhead bin when not at my seat.

 

[BCL]

Amtrak has its own police department. Although Amtrak is technically a corporation, I think Amtrak Police is legally considered federal law enforcement with normal powers of federal LE to enforce federal laws. They would also be considered railroad police, and most states give railroad police the authority to enforce state and local laws.

https://police.amtrak.com/

However, you could report an issue to an attendant or conductor. It could be referred to Amtrak Police or possibly to local law enforcement. I suspect Amtrak Police would probably take charge since it's difficult to determine where exactly a theft took place on a moving train. Amtrak Police's phone number is (800) 331-0008, and you can text an issue to APD11.

I personally don't leave anything valuable when I go to another part of the train. I might possibly leave a piece of luggage near my seat, but I wouldn't leave anything other than clothes and toiletries.

 

[SarahZ]

Do you have a roomette, or are you traveling in coach?

When I travel in a roomette, I just shove everything under the seat or closet and put the cords away (cords are a dead giveaway). Then I close the curtain and door. When the curtain and door are shut, you can't tell if someone is in the room or not, and it can deter theft.

I take my phone and purse to the dining car, but I leave my laptop.

 

[brian212]

Do you have a roomette, or are you traveling in coach?

When I travel in a roomette, I just shove everything under the seat or closet and put the cords away (cords are a dead giveaway). Then I close the curtain and door. When the curtain and door are shut, you can't tell if someone is in the room or not, and it can deter theft.

I take my phone and purse to the dining car, but I leave my laptop.

I'll be in a roomette, so I imagine everything will be fine. I'm not too concerned, but figured it wouldn't hurt to ask "what if" since I've never done any LD travel before by rail. I appreciate everyones responses, makes sense that Amtrak Police would be the reporting agency. Looking forward to the trip!

 

[SarahZ]

Do you have a roomette, or are you traveling in coach?

When I travel in a roomette, I just shove everything under the seat or closet and put the cords away (cords are a dead giveaway). Then I close the curtain and door. When the curtain and door are shut, you can't tell if someone is in the room or not, and it can deter theft.

I take my phone and purse to the dining car, but I leave my laptop.

I'll be in a roomette, so I imagine everything will be fine. I'm not too concerned, but figured it wouldn't hurt to ask "what if" since I've never done any LD travel before by rail. I appreciate everyones responses, makes sense that Amtrak Police would be the reporting agency. Looking forward to the trip!

Questions are good. It never hurts to be prepared.

Enjoy your trip!

 

[RichardWSnow]

If you have a cable lock for your laptop, you can thread it through the support for the fold-down table and make your laptop reasonably secure. I do this routinely. At night you can unhook the laptop, put the table up, and bed down while leaving the cable in place, so you don't have to unthread it until the end of your journey.

Have a great trip!

 

[chakk]

Left luggage on the lower level baggage rack does sometimes get rifled through. Two decades ago my daughter's schoolmate had several hundred $$ stolen from her suitcase on the lower kevel rack. Had I known in advance she was storing her spending money there, i would have insisted she carry it on her person.

 

[StriderGDM]

I've never had a problem in coach or sleeper, but do tend to keep things hidden (and often will make sure I'm near my stuff when at stops (so someone can't grab it and jump off the train right away).

And yes, Amtrak police are full law enforcement officers with all the powers you'd expect. (so when the nice officer asks you to step off the train at Wilmington like I saw one time, simply do it and don't argue. ;-)

 

[Peter KG6LSE]

that kensington lock sounds likea good idea !

I might look in to one for this .

 

[spacecadet]

Left luggage on the lower level baggage rack does sometimes get rifled through.

Lock your luggage!

Someone can still take the whole bag at a stop, but I have actually never heard of that happening, and I don't think anyone would think it was worth it if they didn't know what was inside.

I'm also thankful for the Kensington lock tip - I'm about to take a trip on the SWC (first LD trip in a while) and I never thought of that before. In the past I have left my laptop in the room and closed the door as someone else suggested above, but you can never be too careful.

 

[tp49]

Having a lock on the bag doesn't matter if it is one that closes with a zipper. The zipper can be easily defeated and access to the contents of the bag gained.

 

[spacecadet]

Having a lock on the bag doesn't matter if it is one that closes with a zipper. The zipper can be easily defeated and access to the contents of the bag gained.

Any security feature can be defeated, the point is to make it hard enough that it's not worth trying. Those kensington laptop locks can also be cut, but not a lot of people are walking around with a set of bolt cutters on a train.

If your bag is locked, and someone's bag next to it isn't, a thief is just going to go for the bag that isn't. If *all* of the bags are locked, he/she is probably going to try gaining access to one of the rooms before fiddling around with trying to get a locked zipper open in the middle of a publicly accessible area. The risk becomes really high when you have to do something that's clearly breaking in. With an unlocked bag, there's no way to know that the thief isn't just looking through his own bag as he steals other people's belongings, so even if they're seen, they won't be caught.

 

[BCL]

Having a lock on the bag doesn't matter if it is one that closes with a zipper. The zipper can be easily defeated and access to the contents of the bag gained.

Any security feature can be defeated, the point is to make it hard enough that it's not worth trying. Those kensington laptop locks can also be cut, but not a lot of people are walking around with a set of bolt cutters on a train.

If your bag is locked, and someone's bag next to it isn't, a thief is just going to go for the bag that isn't. If *all* of the bags are locked, he/she is probably going to try gaining access to one of the rooms before fiddling around with trying to get a locked zipper open in the middle of a publicly accessible area. The risk becomes really high when you have to do something that's clearly breaking in. With an unlocked bag, there's no way to know that the thief isn't just looking through his own bag as he steals other people's belongings, so even if they're seen, they won't be caught.

I was thinking of just taking a few zip ties. It's not much of a deterrent, but it sounds like most issues come from someone just rifling through random bags. Since many people go through their bags just looking for needed items, it's generally not noticed by others that someone is attempting to steal something. However, someone breaking through a lock or trying to separate a zipper will get noticed.

 

[tp49]

Any security feature can be defeated, the point is to make it hard enough that it's not worth trying. Those kensington laptop locks can also be cut, but not a lot of people are walking around with a set of bolt cutters on a train.

If your bag is locked, and someone's bag next to it isn't, a thief is just going to go for the bag that isn't. If *all* of the bags are locked, he/she is probably going to try gaining access to one of the rooms before fiddling around with trying to get a locked zipper open in the middle of a publicly accessible area. The risk becomes really high when you have to do something that's clearly breaking in. With an unlocked bag, there's no way to know that the thief isn't just looking through his own bag as he steals other people's belongings, so even if they're seen, they won't be caught.

You are aware that a bag with a zipper can easily be defeated with either a ballpoint pen or a house key? Hence, why any valuables should be either on the person or if in a sleeper, hidden within the room. It's also why I don't use the lower level baggage rack.

 

[BCL]

Any security feature can be defeated, the point is to make it hard enough that it's not worth trying. Those kensington laptop locks can also be cut, but not a lot of people are walking around with a set of bolt cutters on a train.

If your bag is locked, and someone's bag next to it isn't, a thief is just going to go for the bag that isn't. If *all* of the bags are locked, he/she is probably going to try gaining access to one of the rooms before fiddling around with trying to get a locked zipper open in the middle of a publicly accessible area. The risk becomes really high when you have to do something that's clearly breaking in. With an unlocked bag, there's no way to know that the thief isn't just looking through his own bag as he steals other people's belongings, so even if they're seen, they won't be caught.

You are aware that a bag with a zipper can easily be defeated with either a ballpoint pen or a house key? Hence, why any valuables should be either on the person or if in a sleeper, hidden within the room. It's also why I don't use the lower level baggage rack.

I'm sure we're understanding that zippers are pretty easy to break open. However, the issue is more about whether or not some potential thief is willing to do things in a public place that might be detected. Breaking open a lock is suspicious. Jamming a pen into a zipper looks suspicious. Opening an unsecured zipper doesn't look suspicious, which is why there have been suggestions to secure it somehow.

 

[TinCan782]

Several years ago returning to LA on the SWC an overhelpful passenger, who was detraining, removed one of our bags and another person's at San Bernardino. The were on the deck and not in the rack the person thought he was helping the SCA! If the other passenger and I hadn't spotted this, they would have been left sitting on the platform. I guess he thought the SCA had "staged" the baggage to be ready for the stop.

I gave him the benefit of the doubt that it was an accident and not intentional.

 

[Orangesaint]

Do you have a roomette, or are you traveling in coach?

When I travel in a roomette, I just shove everything under the seat or closet and put the cords away (cords are a dead giveaway). Then I close the curtain and door. When the curtain and door are shut, you can't tell if someone is in the room or not, and it can deter theft.

I take my phone and purse to the dining car, but I leave my laptop.

I'll be in a roomette, so I imagine everything will be fine. I'm not too concerned, but figured it wouldn't hurt to ask "what if" since I've never done any LD travel before by rail. I appreciate everyones responses, makes sense that Amtrak Police would be the reporting agency. Looking forward to the trip!

If you wanted to take it a step further, leave a DVD movie running on your laptop while you are out and about with your door and curtain closed, so if there is a thief on board, they will hear that too and definitely not bother!

 

[AmtrakBlue]

Do you have a roomette, or are you traveling in coach?

When I travel in a roomette, I just shove everything under the seat or closet and put the cords away (cords are a dead giveaway). Then I close the curtain and door. When the curtain and door are shut, you can't tell if someone is in the room or not, and it can deter theft.

I take my phone and purse to the dining car, but I leave my laptop.

I'll be in a roomette, so I imagine everything will be fine. I'm not too concerned, but figured it wouldn't hurt to ask "what if" since I've never done any LD travel before by rail. I appreciate everyones responses, makes sense that Amtrak Police would be the reporting agency. Looking forward to the trip!

If you wanted to take it a step further, leave a DVD movie running on your laptop while you are out and about with your door and curtain closed, so if there is a thief on board, they will hear that too and definitely not bother!

Nobody should be playing a DVD or other "sounds" that can be heard by people outside of the rooms. Pax are asked to use headphones.

 

[Metro Red Line]

Left luggage on the lower level baggage rack does sometimes get rifled through. Two decades ago my daughter's schoolmate had several hundred $$ stolen from her suitcase on the lower kevel rack. Had I known in advance she was storing her spending money there, i would have insisted she carry it on her person.

I padlock my luggage rack items. We can do that on Amtrak since we're free from TSA oppression

 

[Orangesaint]

Do you have a roomette, or are you traveling in coach?

When I travel in a roomette, I just shove everything under the seat or closet and put the cords away (cords are a dead giveaway). Then I close the curtain and door. When the curtain and door are shut, you can't tell if someone is in the room or not, and it can deter theft.

I take my phone and purse to the dining car, but I leave my laptop.

I'll be in a roomette, so I imagine everything will be fine. I'm not too concerned, but figured it wouldn't hurt to ask "what if" since I've never done any LD travel before by rail. I appreciate everyones responses, makes sense that Amtrak Police would be the reporting agency. Looking forward to the trip!

If you wanted to take it a step further, leave a DVD movie running on your laptop while you are out and about with your door and curtain closed, so if there is a thief on board, they will hear that too and definitely not bother!

Nobody should be playing a DVD or other "sounds" that can be heard by people outside of the rooms. Pax are asked to use headphones.

Maybe you have had better luck in your roomettes then I have had in some of them. Recently the door to my roommette on Capitol Limited would not close unless I had it locked from the inside. So when I was out, the door would ultimately slide open every time, so I would just have the curtain closed. Having a slightly audible DVD running that sounded like conversation would be a thief deterrent. You'd only hear it if you went right up to the room door, its not as if any other passengers would be disturbed. I did let my SCA know of the issue, but understandably there was nothing that could be done en route. This is my reasoning for throwing this out there as a suggestion.

 

[zepherdude]

No one will take your stuff, cover it up and close the curtains and the door. I would take your phone, but nothing else has been an issue for me, ever.