When plainclothes police officers began patrolling public restrooms at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) recently, they got a big surprise. The officers, who were intent on finding luggage thieves rifling through bags in search of valuables, instead discovered the airport’s public restrooms had become a favored meeting place for men seeking sexual trysts with other men. The dragnet resulted in more than 30 arrests over a three-month period.

The good news is that instances of illicit sexual activity at the airport have dropped dramatically since the undercover operation. The perhaps better news is that airports in general are not the haven for criminal activity — anything from petty theft and misdemeanors to assault and battery — you would expect in any facility frequented by hundreds of thousands of people each day.

Consider this: Walking into an airport is like entering a small city. Approximately 233,000 people move through Hartsfield-Jackson each day. That daily traffic approximates the total population of many major U.S. cities including Birmingham, Ala., Fort Wayne, Ind., and Greensboro, N.C. Isolated incidents of extraordinary crimes make headlines — for example, the attempted abduction last year of a 3-year-old boy from McCarran

International Airport (LAS) in Las Vegas, where, according to Associated Press reports, police used a Taser gun to shoot and wound a 25-year-old man after he grabbed the boy at knifepoint and sprinted through a security checkpoint. The boy, who had been playing in a toy store with his mother, was not harmed.

But statistics compiled by the Travel Industry Association bear out the fact that crimes against domestic travelers occur 40 percent less often than crimes against non-travelers. The data is not restricted to airports, but it does suggest a trend.

Major airports including Hartsfield- Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Boston Logan International Airport (BOS) and Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) all report a decrease in criminal activity. LAX saw a 6.4 percent decrease in overall crime year-over-year from 2005 to 2006. The airport also reported that property crime, which includes non-violent theft such as pickpocketing and burglary from vehicles, dropped 24 percent between 2005 and 2006.

Boston Logan International Airport, where nearly 80,000 people pass through daily, also reports a decrease in crime, though exact figures were not readily available.

Massport, the Massachusetts Port Authority, and airport police credit the decrease in crime to the presence of additional security personnel, which acts as a crime deterrent, according to Sgt. Robert Boufquet, spokesperson for the Massachusetts State Police, which polices Logan. “There has also been an increase in solve rates,” he added.

“Technology brought in since 9/11 has helped up the solve rate. The checkpoints there are equipped with video, and [airport police are] pretty confident they would get the picture [if someone attempted to commit a crime].”

Even in Atlanta, the nation’s busiest airport, the crime rate averages less than one reported incident per day. “Incidents are mainly property theft issues,” said airport spokesperson Sterling Payne. “We have experienced a decrease in crimes in the last two years. Generally, increased security measures have brought more scrutiny and that has helped deter criminal activity.”

That may be true, but it’s of little comfort to anyone who’s been the victim of crime.

“What the traveling public doesn’t realize is that airports are magnets for crooks,” said James R. Hood, president and editor-in-chief of Consumer Affairs.com. “Scam artists and shysters of every kind haunt the public areas, looking for trusting out-oftowners.”

Calculate the total value of your laptop, BlackBerry, Bose headphones, digital camera and whatever other electronic equipment you routinely pack in your carry-on luggage and that satchel sitting by your feet while you casually sip a pre-flight cup of coffee becomes an attractive goodie bag for a passing thief. All it takes is one discreet move and the goods are gone; whisked quietly into a nearby restroom where the thief transfers the bounty to another bag and takes off — literally — with all your valuable equipment in tow.

As in the Atlanta undercover operation, airport police around the country and beyond have implemented their own versions of plainclothes and community policing. In Canada, Ottawa International Airport (YOW) initiated Crime Stoppers in partnership with the Ottawa Police Crime Stoppers Unit. Now in its third year, Crime Stoppers works to foster a community-minded approach to security within the airport terminal building and throughout airport property, including the roadways around it.

By offering cash rewards and providing a single number to call with information relating to any crime, Crime Stoppers encourages local citizens to provide clues that can be vital to solving crimes. Callers who wish to remain anonymous may do so — their information identified only by code number.

The bottom line is that vigilance pays off. Most travelers wouldn’t consider leaving a purse or satchel sitting on a table at a city café, and that mindset shouldn’t change at the airport, even if you’re just dashing to the condiment counter for cream or checking the departure board one more time. It only takes a second and your little black bag — the one that looks like thousands of other little black bags — is gone for good.

Watch Out

Taking reasonable precautions can help ensure you don’t become an airport crime statistic.

Keep an eye on the prize. Never lose sight of your luggage.

Maintain your privacy. Tuck luggage tags inside your bag or identify
with only a cell phone number.

Stay in place. Don’t allow anyone to cut in front of you at the security
line and carefully coordinate timing as you pass through security and
your valuables pass through the X-ray scanner.