Hunt for vandal heats up at Boeing

The tip lines have been ringing off the hook since the feds posted a $5,000 reward for information on the person or persons responsible for vandalizing a couple of helicopters in production at Boeing’s Ridley Township plant.

That’s not surprising. Five grand has a tendency to get people’s attention. And to loosen lips. It’s the same philosophy adopted by a lot of anti-crime groups when it comes to getting someone to “drop a dime.”

“We have received plenty of calls on the tip line,” said Kenneth Maupin. He’s the man in charge of the investigation that is being run by the Defense Criminal Investigation Service. They’re the police arm of the Defense Department, and they were called in when damage, including severed wires, was discovered in a couple of Chinook helicopters at the local Boeing facility.

Investigators quickly labeled it a deliberate act of vandalism and posted the reward fliers, littering the plant, and the 5,200 workers who enter it each day, with handouts announcing the bounty.

Which makes the reaction of union bosses and workers all that much more interesting.

They don’t want the reward money. They just want the person responsible caught.

John DeFrancisco is the outgoing head of the United Aerospace Workers Local 1069. He makes no bones about the mood of Boeing’s union work force. They’re angry.

That’s because they know what is at stake.

Workers at the sprawling facility that hugs the Delaware River along Route 291 have gotten used to the vagaries of defense work. They’ve seen their numbers gradually decline over the years, before a recent uptick put them back over 5,000.

They know their reputation is on the line. They know that stories like this one damage that reputation, and give ammo to those who believe the work should be done somewhere else.

They’re proud of what they produce. They realize these helicopters will soon be ferrying troops in and out of battle.

And they’re not about to stand for their work ethic, and what they produce, being damaged by a mindless act of sabotage.

They want the person responsible caught and, as DeFransicco put it, “out of here.”

Something tells me they aren’t going to have wait that long.

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