Dire Gloop - a warning

I have sent this letter below to the LA Times, to the LA Police Department and the mayor of LA, now I am exhausted by the whole process since nothing has happened to assist me.  I have also rung the LAPD to get a report for my insurance and had no report sent to me. I wrote to LAX Lost and Found and told them all the details below so they could investigate the woman who I believe stole my laptop, who works there, but they said they are not in the business of investigating anything. I now have to ring the LA police again and report this once more, if I am to get any report for my insurance.


Let this tale be a warning to you. Los Angeles Airport is not safe, you have to keep an eye on your belongings even during security check there. LA officials and LA airport staff are not helpful or safe either. It is better to avoid LA altogether if you can. An airline employee told me Orange County (or some say San Francisco) is a better place to arrive in the U S A, from the Pacific.  If flying back to NZ overland via LA it is better NOT to do so and go a longer route, so avoiding Los Angeles. 


I had to be wheeled in a wheelchair since I have some arthritis. Thieves who work at LAX, airport employees  may target you if you appear infirm or older.  In this case they did not seem to realise I still had a brain and could observe their criminal behaviour.  Here is what happened, I hope it is useful to someone else. Comments are welcome.


30 April 2012

[sent to]
LA Times
LAPD
The Mayor of LA
Los Angeles

Dear Sir/Madam,

I have telephoned the police about this on the day of 17th April 2012, when I got back to NZ and also, written to LAX Lost and Found twice about this theft, already. The police have not got back to me with a report for insurance purposes, they have not said they will investigate this through Lost and Found at LAX either even though it appears one of their airport employees stole my laptop. 

My white AppleMac Macbook computer with a piece missing lower right side of case when it is opened, (a piece is chipped off) and my name on the bottom, Raewyn Alexander, was stolen I believe at LAX during the security check process. That was the last time I saw it. 

In short - I travelled all the way across the top of America for a month to see friends there, Hawaii, San Francisco, Seattle, Iowa, Chicago, New York, then flew NY to LAX, then to NZ. I have a lot of experience travelling. I've also been to many other countries and around the whole world. I left LAX 16th April, on flight NZ 1, it was in the hour or two before 2100 hours my laptop was stolen, (the plane boarded at 2100, gate 23A, I boarded in Premium Economy and was in a wheelchair being pushed by an attendant). I believe CCTV footage would show the computer being taken in the security check area of LAX.

The long story is - On 16 April 2012, about 1900 hours or some time shortly after or before the disability bus took me to the LAX terminal where I was to connect with my flight to New Zealand. My laptop had been strapped onto a small trolley in a satchel all this time, securely. The driver walked me a short distance into the office of the people who wheel passengers who need assistance to the plane. I sat there in the office. Two people who assist were on chairs to my left. The woman in charge behind a desk with a computer screen on it, she looked at my name on my boarding pass, she spoke at length in Spanish to the attendants. It seemed strange to me she said so much. I wonder now if she was saying something about me being someone it could be easy to steal from? Her instructions went on for some time, about two minutes. I have not had this happen any time in the world and am often wheeled to the plane because of my arthritis.

The woman to wheel me took me then in the chair with my belongings, my carry-on baggage only.

I believe the only time my laptop could've been stolen was during the security check when I took the satchel off the trolley it was tied to with an elastic 'bungee' cord, (impossible to get things out of the satchel while tied up like that). I took the Apple laptop out and placed it in a plastic bin at LAX security check prior to boarding the plane. 

My belongings went through the x-ray machine, while the woman wheeling me in the wheelchair I thought would help me and watch over my things when they came out the other side. I have arthritis but can walk some. I was put through one of the people x-ray machines, where I had to stand with my arms above my head. They asked me to do this twice. Then they asked me to show the contents of a pouch round my neck, (a gift from an American friend for good luck). 

The computer was inside a satchel which was on a little trolley strapped on and could only have been stolen from the security check area, nowhere else. The last time I saw it was at security check. I believe they need to be thoroughly investigated. Many people go through LAX and you do not want LAX to get a bad reputation, do you?

The woman wheeling me in my wheelchair was a larger-size woman, Latino, with a square face and long black hair pulled back. I believe she was acting strangely with my belongings, now I look back. She stood as if shielding my bins from me and looked over her shoulder at me to see where I was up to with replacing my pouch round my neck and so on. She did not have open body language and looked suspicious. She was not friendly, but looked quite sullen and annoyed a lot of the time and like she wanted me to hurry up. 

She packed things up for me and took them away from the conveyor belt. I finally got things back together, and found my belongings on a table with the woman who was supposed to be helping me.

I wanted to go to duty-free and left the assist-woman with the chair and my things at the door while I purchased duty-free. I can walk some with my stick. I could see her and the chair at all times I was in the shop. My satchel with supposedly, (I thought) my laptop in it was then strapped to the little trolley again, secure and impossible to get anything like a laptop out of it.

I need to hear from LA police they have taken this down as a record, they ignored the phone call I did make. I need to know what has happened with my valuable computer and what this woman has said about it, please. I think making this a media issue and telling your mayor, plus putting this letter online is my only hope. 

I believe if police look at CCTV coverage of the area they will see the woman wheeling me and myself, and my computer being stolen on the 16th April 2012, at some time in the two hours before 2100 hours at LAX.

I was going to catch flight NZ1 which was boarding at 21.00 hours. I was in the security area some time in the two hours before that flight boarded. I flew premium economy. I have grey hair in a bob just over my ears, it is soft, fine hair, I am five foot six inches tall and a larger sized person, I was in a wheelchair with a hooked walking stick, a black satchel on a little chromed trolley and a black cloth handbag with flowers embroidered on it. I wore dark clothes and black flat shoes. I wore a gold medal around my neck and some large rings. I wore dark-red rimmed Chanel spectacles, rectangular in shape and dark lipstick.

I trust you can assist me with this terrible situation. People need to see what happened in the security check area with my belongings. It is terrible my laptop can go missing when LAX people are supposed to be caring for security. As a guest of Americans all the way across your land, as a traveller from a faraway place, New Zealand one of your country's friends and as a vulnerable stranger in your country I deserve better treatment. This is my fourth attempt to get some kind of action. Now, I have an enormous group of friends interested to see what happens which includes 15 people who know me extremely well in the USA, (have done for 12 years) and countless people who know my work world-wide, My writing is read in many countries across the globe, this letter will be going on my blog which is read in the USA, UK, Australia, Russia, Alaska, France, Spain, India, Indonesia and New Zealand. This is an issue which needs to be resolved as fast as possible, thank-you.

My white AppleMac Macbook computer with a piece missing lower right side of case when it is opened, (a piece is chipped off) and my name on the bottom, Raewyn Alexander, was stolen I believe at LAX during the security check process. That was the last time I saw it. I need a police report about this and for the incident to be investigated.


Yours sincerely etc

and it seems many people do not like LAX  http://www.nzherald.co.nz/travel/news/article.cfm?c_id=7&objectid=10803898

aaand after all that horrible news here's a great new video from Grace Pageant - tamaki makaurau auckland aotearoa nz - they've worked hard on this - beware of the buttons if you're phobic tho' -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSPYfmmMTfU