Carpenter's AirTags help uncover 'massive' case of stolen tools in Maryland • Hacker News Board

Re: Carpenter's AirTags help uncover 'massive' case of stolen tools in Maryland

#251

Post by bhawks » Sat, Jun 01, 2024, 4:53 PM UTC

PointyDog wrote: post #71

rdtsc wrote: post #11

> He called police, who got a search warrant Kind of sad, that I was surprised they did that. It's definitely a local thing. I'd expect the police to shrug, and say it's too bad, just file a report to use for insurance. I remember people saying "so what if you have tags, police won't do anything and you shouldn't be confronting thieves anyway". Apple, on the other hand, is also explicit about tags not to be used as a…

I lived in Howard County for a year. With the combination of county income tax and affluent property taxes, every service was exceptionally well funded. Having lived in Mountain View & Sunnyvale, CA as well for a decade my experience was Howard County itself had quicker and better services than those cities. It doesn't surprise me at all that their police department is competent and helpful.

Howard county has roughly half the population of San Mateo county and roughly half the budget. Attributing the difference solely to government funding seems challenging.

Re: Carpenter's AirTags help uncover 'massive' case of stolen tools in Maryland

#252

Post by lliamander » Sat, Jun 01, 2024, 4:55 PM UTC

ToucanLoucan wrote: post #86

nicoburns wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> police in the United States and elsewhere were formed in the basis of law not to protect people but to protect property. Be as that may (and as shitty as that is), this thread is about police forces utterly failing to protect property (or even attempt to).

Well right, my point is the damaged party is in the wrong class. That's why it's not being resolved.

The mass of unpunished retail crimes that has afflicted US cities these last several years rather undermines your narrative.

Re: Carpenter's AirTags help uncover 'massive' case of stolen tools in Maryland

#253

Post by themacguffinman » Sat, Jun 01, 2024, 4:55 PM UTC

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #238

hcknwscommenter wrote: post #219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seriously? Cops really can't do anything unless all the evidence is gathered by citizens and then handed to them?

They have detectives and can go do stings and such. But a beat cop, no, not really.

It's possible for a beat cop to hand off a complicated case to detectives in their police department. I realize this kind of collaboration requires the police to give a shit, but it is possible.

Re: Carpenter's AirTags help uncover 'massive' case of stolen tools in Maryland

#254

Post by gosub100 » Sat, Jun 01, 2024, 4:58 PM UTC

tantalor wrote: post #25

rdtsc wrote: post #11

> He called police, who got a search warrant Kind of sad, that I was surprised they did that. It's definitely a local thing. I'd expect the police to shrug, and say it's too bad, just file a report to use for insurance. I remember people saying "so what if you have tags, police won't do anything and you shouldn't be confronting thieves anyway". Apple, on the other hand, is also explicit about tags not to be used as a…

I guess tracing the stolen property to a huge storage facility vs house makes a big difference to the district attorney. Big time vs. small beans

small beans matter if you're a corporation. I've noticed my local news outlet loves to showcase footage of shoplifters from big-box stores (the kind that use government welfare to build their stores, don't pay any taxes, don't pay employees a livable wage, hire "part time" 39 1/2 hour employees so they don't have to pay insurance) asking the public to help crack the case for a $200 power tool, but if any average burglary victim tried to get news coverage about $2k of stolen goods they wouldn't stand a chance.

Re: Carpenter's AirTags help uncover 'massive' case of stolen tools in Maryland

#255

Post by Spooky23 » Sat, Jun 01, 2024, 5:11 PM UTC

ww520 wrote: post #249

rdtsc wrote: post #11

> He called police, who got a search warrant Kind of sad, that I was surprised they did that. It's definitely a local thing. I'd expect the police to shrug, and say it's too bad, just file a report to use for insurance. I remember people saying "so what if you have tags, police won't do anything and you shouldn't be confronting thieves anyway". Apple, on the other hand, is also explicit about tags not to be used as a…

In cities with less busy police departments, police actually do investigative work. I had police came by couple times asking for security footage for investigation nearby. One time it’s for a family member of a neighbor down the street “stole” a family car parked across the street. Another time was for an alarm wire tripped at 3am at a vacant house couple houses down the street. The footage showed a guy riding a bike…

It depends on the department and who you get.

In alot of places, police tend to take care of friends and referred people first. The top down control involved in that discourages the rank and file from doing more than required.

Re: Carpenter's AirTags help uncover 'massive' case of stolen tools in Maryland

#256

Post by Spooky23 » Sat, Jun 01, 2024, 5:13 PM UTC

hcknwscommenter wrote: post #217

kbos87 wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll offer a counterpoint - I live in a nice building in a bit of a rougher part of a major city. I've learned that the police do show up thankfully, but it takes a very long time unless there's literally a life on the line. (Which, I know, is better than some other major cities.) The couple of times I've interacted with them, it's been painfully obvious to me that they feel like they need to put on a performance for…

Given that 99% of the crimes are committed by repeat offenders, a simple dusting for fingerprints (costs pennies) could likely identify the culprit. But they don't bother. And they act like we've seen too many movies/tv shows. But when an "interesting" crime happens they do in fact dust for fingerprints (cheap!) and do all sorts of swabbing and testing (expensive). The police are lazy in CA especially. And yet they a…

Remember the DA is part of the equation. For low priority crime, there’s a lot of risk with using fingerprints. They won’t take a case they may not win.

Re: Carpenter's AirTags help uncover 'massive' case of stolen tools in Maryland

#257

Post by Spooky23 » Sat, Jun 01, 2024, 5:18 PM UTC

DFHippie wrote: post #246

hluska wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you saying that police should arrest people when it’s not necessary? How do you figure that?

It's the cops who said that. I assume that's why the phrase is in quotes. Apparently they themselves believed they performed some arrests that weren't "absolutely necessary". They said this as a threat to influence negotiations. You should take this question up with them.

NYPD is an MBA style police agency. The management wants to hit their KPIs.

If the bosses want jaywalking tickets, they swarm like bees. Arresting someone for robbery fucks up the metric for the local commander.

It’s like any big dumb company. The officers are like salesmen, and they are trained to do whatever bullshit the boss wants.

Re: Carpenter's AirTags help uncover 'massive' case of stolen tools in Maryland

#258

Post by wnevets » Sat, Jun 01, 2024, 5:21 PM UTC

lupire wrote: post #242

wnevets wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> That is a huge inventory. How do stolen tools get fenced? Sold in bulk to someone overseas is my theory, way too much effort and risk selling this stuff piecemeal online or locally. You can see something similar happening with stolen cars in the US. [1] [1] https://abc7ny.com/stolen-cars-tri-state-port-of-newark-west...

There's no risk in selling stolen goods online.

If I had a bunch of power tools stolen the first place I'm checking is Facebook Marketplace. I refuse to believe I would be the only person checking the usual sites for such goods.

Re: Carpenter's AirTags help uncover 'massive' case of stolen tools in Maryland

#259

Post by pseingatl » Sat, Jun 01, 2024, 5:22 PM UTC

What was the point? The thieves stole the tools, put them in storage lockers, and then...did nothing? Didn't fence them, sell them on E-Bay, what was the point? They had storage lockers all over the place filled with tools...what was the point of the thefts??

Re: Carpenter's AirTags help uncover 'massive' case of stolen tools in Maryland

#260

Post by Spooky23 » Sat, Jun 01, 2024, 5:28 PM UTC

throwup238 wrote: post #132

skyyler wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depends highly on the region. Most US prisons look like daycare compared to Japanese prisons, wrt prisoner treatment. (The prisons in the southeast US are an exception to this)

I don't really mean it in the quality of life sense as prison is pretty awful in most of the world, especially in developing countries. The 13th amendment codifies slavery into our prison system and few things are as barbaric in my mind. It's basically a few small rungs down from sacrificing prisoners to Quetzalcoatl and the rain gods, which is graphic but no more dehumanizing. States with prolific death penalties ju…

Like the guy said, the south is different.

Most places, jails are just depressing adult daycare.