Potential Indicators of Terrorist Activities Related to Rental Cars
What Should I Consider Suspicious?
- Reluctance to provide complete personal information when completing rental paperwork.
- Using cash for large transactions or a personal credit card in someone else’s name. • Providing multiple names on rental paperwork.
- Inability to recall the name used to rent a vehicle.
- Individuals surveilling the facility.
- Returned vehicles that contain
- Unusual burn marks or odors.
- Blueprints, photographs, or video of buildings and landmarks.
- Extremist training manuals or literature.
- Surveillance equipment.
- Receipts for hazardous items.
- Weapons.
- Explosives.
- Maps with sensitive locations marked.
- Efforts to quickly collect deposits for vehicles reported as stolen.
- Unusual questions regarding ? A limousine’s or other vehicle’s dimensions, fuel capacity, or interior volume. ? Local sites, including government, military, law enforcement, communications, and power facilities.
- Reports of abandoned rental vehicles, particularly those near
- Military bases
- Government buildings
- Power plants
- Shopping malls
- Stadiums
- Schools.
Note: It is important to remember that just because someone's speech, actions, beliefs, appearance, or way of life is different, it does not mean that he or she is suspicious.
What Should I Do?
Be Part of the Solution
- Require a valid driver's license from all customers.
- Make note of suspicious statements, people, and/or vehicles.
- Report missing or stolen vehicles or license plates to law enforcement authorities.
- If something seems wrong, notify law enforcement authorities.
Do not jeopardize your safety or the safety of others.
Preventing terrorism is a community effort. By learning what to look for, you can make a positive contribution in the fight against terrorism. The partnership between the community and law enforcement is essential to the success of anti-terrorism efforts.
Some of the activities, taken individually, could be innocent and must be examined by law enforcement professionals in a larger context to determine whether there is a basis to investigate. The activities outlined on this handout are by no means all-inclusive but have been compiled from a review of terrorist events over several years.
Osceola County Sheriff's Office
407-348-2222