WASHINGTON – After a successful trial program aimed at deterring people from pointing lasers at aircraft – by rewarding those who provide information about individuals who engage in this dangerous crime and aggressively prosecuting the perpetrators – the FBI is expanding the campaign nationwide.
“Aiming a laser pointer at an aircraft is a serious matter and a violation of federal law, said Joe Campbell, assistant director of our Criminal Investigative Division. “The public awareness campaign we launched in February has been effective in reducing the number of incidents, and our hope in expanding the program is that people will think twice about illegally using these devices.”
A key part of the publicity campaign is reward money. The FBI will offer up to $10,000 for information leading to the arrest of any individual who intentionally aims a laser at an aircraft. Robert Hughes, the chief of the Violent Criminal Threat Section, says violators of the federal law can receive up to five years in prison, a $250,000 fine, and an $11,000 civil penalty.
“We want to encourage people to come forward when they see someone committing this crime, which could have terrible consequences for pilots and their passengers,” said George Johnson, a federal air marshal who serves as a liaison officer with the Bureau on laser issues.
The nationwide campaign mirrors a pilot project in a dozen FBI field offices. Since the pilot program began in February, there has been a 19 percent drop in laser strikes in the metropolitan areas of those field offices. Laser strikes could result in the loss of aircraft control and even death. Hughes, also a former helicopter pilot, explains how a narrow beam of light on the ground looks to pilots in the sky.
“It lights up the entire cockpit. So what that does is it basically takes away your night vision. For lack of a better term, it blinds you,” Hughes said.
As of December 2013, the FAA had documented at least 35 incidents where pilots required medical attention after a laser strike.
Interfering with the operation of an aircraft has long been a federal crime, but in 2012, a new law made it a felony to knowingly point the beam of a laser at an aircraft. The new law lowered the threshold for prosecution, Johnson said, “and the trend is on the rise for jail time in these cases.”
In March, for example, a 26-year-old California man was sentenced to 14 years in prison for aiming a laser pointer at a police helicopter and a hospital emergency transport helicopter. The man and his girlfriend were using a device that was 13 times more powerful than the permissible power emission level for handheld lasers. The girlfriend was also convicted and recently sentenced to a two-year prison term.
Since the FBI and the FAA began tracking laser strikes in 2005, there has been more than a 1,100 percent increase in the number of incidents with these devices, which can be purchased in stores or online for as little as a few dollars. Last year, 3,960 laser strikes against aircraft were reported. It is estimated that thousands of attacks go unreported every year.
If you have information about a lasing incident or see someone pointing a laser at an aircraft, call your local FBI office or dial 911.
[poll random]
