SECURITY NOTICE: INTERSTATE REST AREA SECURITY www.privateofficer.com

Atlanta GA. June 1 2008

By: Rick McCann

Ntl. Assoc. Private Officers

http://www.privateofficer.com/

WARNING: If you are traveling by car this summer, stay alert when stopping at highway rest areas.

Meant to serve as safe grounds for a nap, snack or bathroom break, highway rest stops throughout Florida and across the country sometimes become the settings for drug deals, murders and other violent crimes.

Authorities say rest areas are generally safe and regularly patrolled, but vulnerable to crime because of their location.”If you’re going to stay there for any length of time, say, for a nap, you certainly want to lock your doors,” said Lt. William Leeper, a trooper spokesman based in the

Jacksonville region, home to three rest stops.

State lawmakers beefed up security at highway rest stops after the 1993 slaying of a British tourist at an Interstate 10 stopover near Tallahassee, but two years later approved cutbacks.

Currently, private security officers watch over some rest stops at night in Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and many other states while troopers try to make regular rounds at others.

For the most part, travelers have an area where they can stop, refresh themselves, use restroom facilities and buy a cold soft drink or snack without fear of harm. But as with any location that draws people, there will always be a certain level of crime to be expected said state trooper Dan Howard.

And with the vacation season in full swing, people have taken to the highways even with the high gas prices and families need to think safety and security in any situation Howard said.

In the past three months, at least five travelers have been shot in North Carolina, Tennessee and Alabama, all victims of robbery attempts according to police. And that doesn’t take into account the other robberies, thefts or assaults where there were no injuries reported.

Among the crimes linked to the Florida rest areas in recent years:

A Kentucky man was found murdered Jan. 4 at the Alligator Alley rest area near mile marker 40, on the western edge of Broward. Sheriff’s investigators say the man was killed during a botched cocaine sale. Authorities charged a Miramar man in the death.

Six months earlier, authorities discovered a woman’s head floating in the water near a boat ramp at the rest area near mile marker 35 and eventually arrested two New York men in her killing.

One man stabbed another during an argument at an I-95 rest stop in St. Lucie County in September 2006. The wounded man survived.

In April 2001, a Missouri fugitive shot his girlfriend to death and then turned the gun on himself at a rest area along U. S. 41, near Naples. The couple had been traveling with an Oregon woman and her two young daughters. Weeks later, the woman was found shot to death in Nevada. The girls 2 years old, the other 4 months — remain missing.

Other cases from across the country include the January 2005 death of an Ocala man, 70, who suffered a fatal heart attack immediately after a robbery attempt at an I-95 rest stop in

Florence, S.C.In May 2003, someone beat a Pensacola woman inside a rest stop bathroom along

Interstate 65, near Montgomery, Ala., leaving her critically injured.

More commonly, authorities find stolen vehicles and fugitives at rest stops.

The potential dangers at the stopovers are enough for some travel experts to recommend an alternative for road trippers who need a nap: campgrounds.

“The safety in campgrounds is just not an issue,” said Lance Wilson, executive director of the Florida RV Trade Association.More advice from authorities and RV travel experts, who know a thing or two about safe places to park while on the road:

Be alert.
As you pull into the rest area, take notice of its name or the closest mile marker, in case there is an emergency and you need to tell authorities where you are.

As you pull into the rest area, take notice of its name or the closest mile marker, in case there is an emergency and you need to tell authorities where you are.

Avoid parking close to tractor-trailers, which need a lot of space to maneuver and which could also block other people from seeing your car, providing the kind of cover that criminals often seek

Parents traveling with young children should use family restrooms, when available, that allow adults to accompany children. At the same time, older children and adults should have someone go with them to the rest room or wait outside.

Travelers who find themselves at a quiet rest stop at night should try to flag down a security guard or a state trooper and ask them to keep an eye out as you use the facilities, especially if traveling alone.

If the rest stop is particularly isolated and empty, try to avoid stopping there at night. If possible, opt to use the indoor facilities at a fast food restaurant or convenience store.

RV travelers should never open their camper door to strangers. Keep the door locked, and when someone comes knocking, talk to them through a window or from behind the camper door.
It’s illegal to sleep overnight at rest stops in Florida, not that authorities would recommend doing so.

In other nearby states, it may not necessarily be illegal to park overnight at a rest area, but many have signs warning against it. Instead, drivers should map out campgrounds or state parks along their route where they’d be able to enter for a small fee and get some shuteye in the car.

The bottom line police say is that you are responsible for your own safety and security and you need to be aware of your surroundings at all times.

Be alert, be wary and be proactive. Don’t take chances. If you feel uncomfortable about the area, or people who might be loitering or you just have a “gut feeling”, it may be safer to drive on to the next rest area, campground, or get a hotel room for a good night’s rest.

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