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Train burglaries in LA

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Re: Train burglaries in LA

#441

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's quite common on European high streets to see private security guards outside of clothing and electronic stores, whereas that is fairly rare in the states. At least, I can certainly attest to their presence in the UK, Italy, Spain and France. And I think everyone individually is trying to minimize societal ills like theft. But good luck getting enough people to agree on what is the right path forward.

Yeah, we have public police in front of our stores instead.

[deleted]

Re: Train burglaries in LA

#443

People robbing rapid testing kits for the global pandemic from cargo trains entering LA sounds like something from a dystopian cyberpunk novel.

Lacks autonomous armed drones swarming around the train, "disencouraging" anyone who doesn't belong there to stay off the tracks.

I'm fairly certain the FAA is the only things preventing their use. They're already being deployed in India: https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/western-railways-to-use-surv...

Re: Train burglaries in LA

#444
post #3

Wonder how organized that looting is. Is just individuals over many months or years, or a large gang over a few weeks time. On the one hand it’s shocking to see it in LA in US. On the other I am surprised it’s not happening more often. In large cities, some of my acquaintances had to get PO boxes as their packages kept getting stolen. But why bother wasting time going house to house, when you can hit a whole train ca…

When I was in jail I met dozens of people who have done this. None of it was organized that I was aware of, it was just opportunistic. Some friends would get together and say "Let's go wait for a train and bust open some containers." There are literally thousands of places where it is possible to do this.

When I was a kid, the train conductors would shoot salt rounds at us from their shotguns. I guess that's not the case anymore?

Re: Train burglaries in LA

#445
post #437

Serious question: Have they not thought of mounting Mark Rober-style devices on each freight car that releases some combination of {glitter, fart spray, honey, glue, itch powder, pepper spray, ink}? It might sound funny but I think the sheer discomfort would deter thieves in an instant, and they would be easy to identify for several days. A device of this sort would be super useful for car thieves as well.

At the risk of sounding like a Reddit comment - I came here for this comment!

Re: Train burglaries in LA

#446

Earlier quoted context omitted.

there has been no meaningful defunding of police in any major metropolitan area in california and no directive to not pursue property crime. police have not pursued property crime for decades. you are regurgitating authoritarian propaganda with no evidence.

> no directive to not pursue property crime. police have not pursued property crime for decades If there's no directive, why is property crime not pursued?

Because it’s work and the cops are lazy? No one’s on their ass to go after it either unless it happens to someone with money or connections.

Re: Train burglaries in LA

#447
post #351

Are other cities that operate major Class I freight rail seeing the same looting issue, or is this just LA/UP "market disruption" that hasn't caught up with the rest of the country? EDIT: To be sure, I wonder because my city is both HQ and a significant hub for one of those F500 major Class I freight rail operators, but I haven't heard of such brazen exploits happening locally...yet?

Its hard to say with just anecdotes, but this random person says it's not just Los Angeles. Another commenter mentioned a conductor-friend out of Louisiana is seeing similar things. https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/s2sjxj/los_angeles_th... I wonder if this is an evolution of the security cat & mouse game with shipping switching to have more random items people ordered directly to their home? Similar to porch-pi…

Containers carrying lots of packages headed directly to homes is new.

Before, if you broke into a container, you'd often find weird homogenous B2B stuff. Like a bunch of dog food.

Re: Train burglaries in LA

#448

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's quite common on European high streets to see private security guards outside of clothing and electronic stores, whereas that is fairly rare in the states. At least, I can certainly attest to their presence in the UK, Italy, Spain and France. And I think everyone individually is trying to minimize societal ills like theft. But good luck getting enough people to agree on what is the right path forward.

Yeah, we have public police in front of our stores instead.

We do? I mean...you may see police in front of a store if their beat takes them by it, or you might see a centralized kiosk with a cop in it at a mall or something, but you don't really see security in front of every store like you do in many parts of Europe. Maybe that will change, at least in LA if smash and grabs become popularized

Re: Train burglaries in LA

#450
post #447
post #351

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its hard to say with just anecdotes, but this random person says it's not just Los Angeles. Another commenter mentioned a conductor-friend out of Louisiana is seeing similar things. https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/s2sjxj/los_angeles_th... I wonder if this is an evolution of the security cat & mouse game with shipping switching to have more random items people ordered directly to their home? Similar to porch-pi…

Containers carrying lots of packages headed directly to homes is new. Before, if you broke into a container, you'd often find weird homogenous B2B stuff. Like a bunch of dog food.

>Before, if you broke into a container, you'd often find weird homogenous B2B stuff. Like a bunch of dog food.

but presumably the volume of b2c stuff being shipped over rail hasn't changed? after all, the b2c stuff has to get to customers somehow. Maybe a random assortment makes it a more attractive target due to the skinner box effect (ie. lootboxes).

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