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

washingtonpost.com

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

#311

Post by wdb »

kbos87 wrote: post #158
segmondy wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly this. Since there's less crime in affluent areas, the police actually have time to investigate what get's ignored in other areas. By also solving these crimes, it tells the criminals to avoid those areas, it's kind of a feedback loop.

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…

Yeah, fingerprinting and report that’s what they did when my house got broken into in Westminster London.

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

#312

Post by fastball »

saagarjha wrote: post #282
fastball wrote: post #245

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So they steal from you, and then you get the privilege of your tax dollars paying for their room and board. I dunno, I can see why some people might not be chuffed to bits by that solution.

You are welcome to avail yourself of this free room and board anytime you like.

Indeed, but I am uncertain how that relates to my point.

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

#313

Post by jonathankoren »

hluska wrote: post #310
paulmd wrote: post #304

Earlier quoted context omitted.

weee wooo weee wooo here comes the tone police! (if only real cops could get that kind of response time/clearance rate!) like that’s just a shitty argument yourself, you lost the argument on the facts so you’re complaining about how the presentation. Lazy argumentation, it’s a way to attack the messenger(‘s presentation) instead of addressing the argument. It’s the highbrow version of “minor spelling mistake!!!!”.

I just asked this question and I’ll ask it again. Why be so combative? You wrote the sound of a siren - that’s overly combative. Fucking chill. This is a website, few of us are politicians and our opinions barely matter.

Sea lion.

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

#314

Post by brookst »

Spooky23 wrote: post #264
Aloisius wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The person stealing doesn't need to know who hired them I think you're vastly underestimating how difficult it is to anonymously recruit and pay thousands of thieves from all over the country to target one particular brand and ensure they actually do the job. Maybe one could offer some sort of buy-back program to maybe induce this behavior, but that would be quite expensive.

Why do you think CVS locks up specific brands of soap? It’s not that hard!

CVS is defending against hundreds, maybe thousands of small time crime rackets.

But imagine you’re Black and Decker, and you want to hire thousands of thieves around the country to target tens of thousands of your customers (People who bought DeWalt, Stanley, etc).

How? Is there a budget line item for market development? And you convert maybe $20m into cash, and have reps in major metro areas? Do you fire low performers who don’t steal enough?

The whole thing collapses when you think about the logistics. No different from the “1000 people were paid off to falsely claim they saw an airplane hit the Pentagon, but nobody has come forward with receipts” nonsense.

Normal business is impossible to get right. These kinds of conspiracies are just fantasy.

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

#315

Post by Fatnino »

xeromal wrote: post #164
segmondy wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly this. Since there's less crime in affluent areas, the police actually have time to investigate what get's ignored in other areas. By also solving these crimes, it tells the criminals to avoid those areas, it's kind of a feedback loop.

It's also this way in smaller towns. I live in a small north GA town and you can ask the cops to come by your house during the holidays to see if anyone has broke in. Cops here are much more useful than when I'm in SoCal where I could even get cops to show up within an hour when a hit and run caused me to crash into someones back yard and total my car.

When I was in SoCal some vandals broke into the construction site next door. We saw them. Breaking things and spraying graffiti etc.

Called the cops. They responded by sending a helicopter over 15 minutes later. It shined it's spotlight around for a moment and then flew away.

"job well done" - LAPD probably.

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

#316

Post by technothrasher »

djmips wrote: post #301
technothrasher wrote: post #288

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I owned a liquor store many moons ago, the police in that city basically would only respond, at least in any reasonable time frame, to businesses who made regular donations to the "Policeman's Benevolent Society". They didn't even pretend to hide their racketeering; it was openly understood you paid up or you got ignored.

Was that just a social thing or could they make real coin?

I paid them $100/month, and as there was plenty of crime around, most of the other retail businesses no doubt paid up as well. I'm sure they made good money. I eventually had enough of not seeing much difference between the police and the gangs in town and sold the place.

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

#317

Post by saagarjha »

fastball wrote: post #312
saagarjha wrote: post #282

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are welcome to avail yourself of this free room and board anytime you like.

Indeed, but I am uncertain how that relates to my point.

Describing prison as "free room and board" is absurd. People are not going there by choice. They are there because we as a society say they should be there, and we pay for that as a society. Every attempt to not do that (e.g. by charging people for the cost they impose on the judicial system) has turned out to be an exploitative nightmare. Are you also upset that people steal and therefore your tax dollars need to go towards policing?

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

#318

Post by saagarjha »

s1artibartfast wrote: post #305
saagarjha wrote: post #299

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you have in mind?

I think there are lots of preferable situations. The simplest and best is probably if theft was simply viewed as a personal moral failing and looked down on. This is reinforced by shaming and is how it works in high trust societies. Other options include making sure people have enough success that they have something material to lose from getting caught stealing.

Despite agreeing with you in broad strokes I still don't see this being completely feasible. We should obviously strive for a society where people don't need to steal and don't feel compelled to steal either. That said, even in a much better situation there will still be someone who does it. At some point you really do have to go "investing more resources into this is not productive for society".

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

#319

Post by Spooky23 »

brookst wrote: post #314
Spooky23 wrote: post #264

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you think CVS locks up specific brands of soap? It’s not that hard!

CVS is defending against hundreds, maybe thousands of small time crime rackets. But imagine you’re Black and Decker, and you want to hire thousands of thieves around the country to target tens of thousands of your customers (People who bought DeWalt, Stanley, etc). How? Is there a budget line item for market development? And you convert maybe $20m into cash, and have reps in major metro areas? Do you fire low perform…

> Is there a budget line item for market development?

Sure.

> And you convert maybe $20m into cash, and have reps in major metro areas?

You’ve seen examples in the thread. Flea markets, online marketplaces, injections into clean retail supply chains. (Amazon)

> Do you fire low performers who don’t steal enough?

Yes.

The existence of small time crooks doesn’t prove that organized crime is a myth. Getting stolen at scale commodities to market is not so different than managing global supply chains of cocaine and heroin. The street level people are independent contractors who make near minimum wage. The best example of business that skirt the line between legit and criminal enterprise are Chinatown busses… they provide cheap, unsafe travel and fuel the human trafficking pipeline of sexually exploited women as well as economically exploited restaurant and other employees.

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

#320

Post by MisterTea »

ChoGGi wrote: post #232
MisterTea wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Selling overseas would require hardware changes with the plugs Canada, Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Colombia, Venezuela, and a few other Central/South American countries can plug these tools right into the wall.

Also a lot of power tools are battery operated, chop saws, skill saws, sds drills, etc. All you'd need for overseas is a charger.

I bet most of those chargers operate on 90-250 VAC 50-60Hz since they're switching supplies. You'd just need an adapter.
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