Legislators discuss a bill to increase penalties for burglaries

JACKSON, Tenn. — State Representative Kip Capley, R-District 71, introduced House Bill 1978. This bill would increase penalties for organized crime burglaries.

“Burglary across the state is on the rise,” Rep. Capley said. “We’ve seen organized cargo theft across the United States but especially in Tennessee.”

Types of these crimes include burglaries of freight or passenger railroad cars, automobiles, trailers, airplanes and other modes of transportation.

“Cargo thieves they are very strategic and they’re coordinated in their approach in their selection of their goods that they target,” Capley said.

Railroad company, CSX, has spent more than $8 million to harden their locations with additional fencing at rail yards, cameras, and hiring extra railroad officers. 

“Instead of it preventing the crime, it just shifts the location of the crime,” Capley said. “So if a rail yard has been hardened, these organized crime units will recognize that and will move to a different location that has softer security.”

If passed, penalties would increase from a Class E felony to a Class D felony.

“As a state we are not soft on crime,” he said. “We are going to move forward in a fashion where we are going to show these criminals that the State of Tennessee is not playing around, and if you commit these offenses that we’re taking it seriously.”

This bill is scheduled to be heard in the criminal justice subcommittee on Tuesday, February 27. 

According to freight security experts, organized cargo theft has jumped 59% nationwide.