THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, December 24, 1995 TAG: 9512220517
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY CHRISTOPHER DINSMORE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 178 lines
Rafael Garcia was a 20-year veteran of the New Haven, Conn., police force when he retired and moved to Williamsburg.
As captain of operations for the New Haven police, Garcia oversaw a force that practiced community-based policing. The idea calls for police officers to become involved in the community they patrol and get to know the people and their problems.
When Garcia was hired four years ago by the Virginia Port Authority as a patrolman for its police department, he brought community-based policing with him. He quickly moved up through the force, becoming a captain last month.
``The port community is no different than the community out there,'' Garcia said. ``The same process works in here. Working with people to prevent problems and solving problems when they occur.''
Garcia's approach has helped provide the port of Hampton Roads with the most theft-free major cargo terminals on the East Coast.
While other ports lose millions of dollars in cargo a year to thieves, a miniscule $10,000 worth disappeared from the port of Hampton Roads terminals last year. And most of that was personal items stolen from employees, not cargo, Garcia said.
The absence of theft helps the port of Hampton Roads distinguish itself from other East Coast ports and could help attract more cargo here in the future.
Theft statistics for major ports punctuate the port's advantage:
The port of New York and New Jersey handled $62.5 billion worth of cargo in 1994. The U.S. Maritime Administration estimated that at least $1.8 billion, or 3 percent, to as much as $7.3 billion, or 11.7 percent, of that was stolen from the docks.
The port of Miami, which handled $18.7 billion of cargo last year, has had cargo-theft losses of more than $150 million in recent years, according to MARAD.
The port of Hampton Roads saw $24.6 billion worth of cargo shipped across its docks in 1994 with statistically insignificant theft-related losses. Hundreds of containers and trucks pass through terminal gates every day, but port police helped assure that less than 0.0004 percent of the cargo shipped through the port was stolen.
``It assures our customers that if they use this port, their cargo's safe and it will get to its destination without getting stolen,'' said J. Robert Bray, the port authority's executive director. ``It's another arrow in our quiver.''
Port officials attribute their security successes to the structure and quality of the 71-person port police department. An honest work force helps a lot, too.
``It's always been a port where the men themselves are basically honest,'' Bray said. ``That's always been a thing in our favor.''
When Gov. George F. Allen's budget-cutting strike force went looking in 1994 for places to save money, it looked at the port police. The committee questioned whether the police could be replaced by private security forces.
Port officials strongly opposed the idea. The port authority submitted a report this fall to the General Assembly showing the effectiveness of its police compared with security forces at other ports.
To further protect its police force, the port authority volunteered to give up its subsidy from the state's general fund, which helped pay for the police, and to pay its own way in the next state fiscal year starting July 1. That proposal is now before the General Assembly.
Other ports have security problems because their terminals are Balkanized and have several different security forces, said Chief Donald Boyd of the port police.
A typical terminal in other ports may have a mix of sworn police and security guards working for numerous clients including the local port authority, shipping lines and stevedoring companies.
Because of low pay and high turnover, security guards may not take as much an interest in protecting a port from losses, said Boyd, a retired detective captain from Newport News.
Private security companies ``might give you a guy today and he's gone by next week,'' Garcia said. ``You have to have consistency. People who can tell if something's wrong just by looking at it.''
In Hampton Roads, one force of committed careerists guards the docks. They are highly trained constitutional officers who know the port and the people who work there.
It hasn't always this way. Dock security was a headache back in the 1970s before the region's terminals were unified under the management of the port authority, officials said.
Theft and other crimes were regular incidents on the terminals. Prostitutes used to drive on to the docks in vans to ply their trade. There was even a grand jury investigation into the problem of crime on the waterfront, but it didn't really come up with much.
``At one time they didn't even have regular police cars,'' Bray said. ``They had these old compact cars that were all beat up. It just didn't look like a first-class outfit.''
When the port authority took over the terminals from the various cities that had run them, a decision was made to upgrade the port's police force. All officers received the same training as municipal police and became constitutionally sworn agents with the same powers of arrest as regular police. The port officers also vow to uphold state and local laws.
Sometimes port police will respond to police calls right outside the terminals. A couple of years ago, port police at Norfolk International Terminals responded to a shooting at a 7-Eleven on Hampton Boulevard. While one officer took the victim's dying statement, two others chased down the suspects in a nearby apartment complex.
Port police also have seized about 237 pounds of cocaine with a $6.6 million street value since 1990. The cocaine is typically found in otherwise empty shipping containers.
But port police work is a lot more routine than that. Control of the terminal gates is the force's top priority. Most officers spend their days at the gates, checking vehicles coming and going.
At other ports around the country, thieves often drive off with loaded containers, sometimes fooling whatever security there is with fraudulent documentation. In Hampton Roads the security net is tighter.
``There's only one way to get stuff out of here and that's through the police,'' Garcia said. ``The chances of somebody coming in here and taking out a container with $2 million worth of stuff is almost nonexistent.''
``Port police check every container before it leaves the terminal against the bill of lading,'' said Robert R. Merhige III, the port authority's general counsel. ``They make sure the container that's leaving is supposed to be leaving and that the person who has is the person who's supposed to have it.''
While theft is a big concern for the port police, day-to-day safety management is one of the port police's biggest roles.
``They provide security not only for the cargo on the docks, but for the workers down there, so they can work in peace,'' said Edward L. Brown, vice president of the International Longshoremen's Association and the union's leader in Hampton Roads.
At port terminals, community-based policing may mean issuing warnings instead tickets for speeding and telling a repeat offender's employer about the speeding.
It can also mean getting a ``thank you'' from someone you arrested hours earlier, which happened to Garcia a few weeks ago.
Whenever an employee on a port terminal is fired, the port police show up to prevent confrontations and escort the employee off the terminal. During a recent firing, the police ended up having to arrest the employee. They also discovered some marijuana while frisking him.
Garcia and another officer took him down to the Norfolk magistrate for booking and a while later the ex-employee was released on his own recognizance.
Garcia offered the employee a ride back to the terminal and his car. The officers also escorted him to his locker on the terminal so he could empty it, which served the dual purpose of preventing another fight with his boss and putting him at ease, Garcia said.
When it was all over, the ex-employee thanked Garcia.
Reducing theft and keeping the peace is of paramount importance. But so is safety.
A port terminal can be a dangerous place. Huge cranes and shuttle carriers lumber about the docks; trucks are everywhere, picking up and dropping off containers; and trains come right onto the terminal. The speed limit is 15 mph.
Port police attend every safety meeting at the port so they understand what's going on and what safety concerns there are. They are responsible for investigating every incident.
Police also meet every ship that calls to document its arrival time, be there in case of accidents and be a witness should anything happen.
They also must break up arguments and fights, but that's about the worst violence they may face.
It helps make working for the port police attractive, too. There are hundreds of applicants for every opening, Boyd said. The work is reasonably safe and pay is comparable with other police jobs.
``We have a controlled environment,'' Boyd said. ``It's not like what you'd face on the street.''
When people come to work for the port police they tend to stay there. There's very little turnover, Boyd said.
There are dangers, though. While a port police officer isn't likely to get shot, there's always the likelihood of some industrial accident.
``Nobody can predict when an incident might occur,'' Garcia said.
Avoiding incidents is key. It's difficult to say how much it costs if something happens and the port is shut down or traffic is slowed.
``You've got to think of this place as a big machine,'' Garcia said. ``If you take out a bolt or a cog breaks, the machine stops or it produces less efficiently. . . .
``We try to handle things here in a way that enforces and prevents, but does not interfere in the flow of commerce.'' ILLUSTRATION: VICKI CRONIS color photos/The Virginian-Pilot
Stacey Jones, a police officer for the Virginia Port Authority,
waves at one of the many workers she knows from patrolling the port
terminal area.
by CNB