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To Antinoro, one of the strangest parts of the situation was that after he told the company the threat was false, it asked him to put out a press release hyping

To Antinoro, one of the strangest parts of the situation was that after he told the company the threat was false, it asked him to put out a press release hyping it. He declined, but Tesla publicized the incident anyway. Antinoro says he’s told his force not to bother investigating crimes at the Gigafactory unless Tesla starts cooperating. Big business, he’s decided, is its own strange world. “Standard Oil was probably as weird as Elon Musk,” he says. Yep, this is every small town sheriff dealing with someone they believe to be a crackpot. One shouldn't play games with law enforcement.

shkkmo 8y ago
Umm... shouldn't the sheriff be fired for this? Investigating crimes is his job, corporate recalcitrance is not an excuse for not trying to protect that corporation's employees.
- protomyth 8y ago
  Like a lot of things, its a matter of resource allocation. Asking a sheriff to do a press release that's a lie lessens the credibility of the source. Having a company ask you to use your resources to "investigating crimes at the Gigafactory" without Tesla's honest cooperation is a waste of those resources and could get someone else killed while his people chase their tails. It is an extremely reasonable judgement call on the sheriff's part, and he should be commended for not bowing to the pressure of a big company over his office's integrity and the rest of the citizens he is responsible for.
  - shkkmo 8y ago
    Not prioritizing the investigation of complaints filed by Tesla when they refuse to cooperate and not issuing press releases on command is commendable. Publicly announcing that no crimes at the Gigafactory will be investigated seems like dereliction of duty and abandoning the tax paying workers of Tesla to a potentially unsafe environment.
    - protomyth 8y ago
      The key part of the phrase is "unless Tesla starts cooperating". I'm sure Tesla will actually cooperate if there is an actual danger as opposed to another attempt to get the Sheriff's office to lie for them. The Sheriff is not doing anything wrong, and Tesla should have learned the whole cry wolf thing long ago.
      - shkkmo 8y ago
        Again, saying they won't investigate crimes reported by Tesla is very different from saying they will investigate no crimes at the Gigafactory. You seem to think that I am saying something I am not.
- robdachshund 8y ago
  There was no crime committed. He investigated the call and found that Tesla was lying. They refused to cooperate on it, so its done. If you lie to the cops, they know you are lying, and you refuse to work with them, why would they investigate a crime that didn't occur? What do you want them to do, arrest the guy on hearsay?

shkkmo 8y ago

Umm... shouldn't the sheriff be fired for this? Investigating crimes is his job, corporate recalcitrance is not an excuse for not trying to protect that corporation's employees.

protomyth 8y ago
Like a lot of things, its a matter of resource allocation. Asking a sheriff to do a press release that's a lie lessens the credibility of the source. Having a company ask you to use your resources to "investigating crimes at the Gigafactory" without Tesla's honest cooperation is a waste of those resources and could get someone else killed while his people chase their tails. It is an extremely reasonable judgement call on the sheriff's part, and he should be commended for not bowing to the pressure of a big company over his office's integrity and the rest of the citizens he is responsible for.
- shkkmo 8y ago
  Not prioritizing the investigation of complaints filed by Tesla when they refuse to cooperate and not issuing press releases on command is commendable. Publicly announcing that no crimes at the Gigafactory will be investigated seems like dereliction of duty and abandoning the tax paying workers of Tesla to a potentially unsafe environment.
  - protomyth 8y ago
    The key part of the phrase is "unless Tesla starts cooperating". I'm sure Tesla will actually cooperate if there is an actual danger as opposed to another attempt to get the Sheriff's office to lie for them. The Sheriff is not doing anything wrong, and Tesla should have learned the whole cry wolf thing long ago.
    - shkkmo 8y ago
      Again, saying they won't investigate crimes reported by Tesla is very different from saying they will investigate no crimes at the Gigafactory. You seem to think that I am saying something I am not.
robdachshund 8y ago
There was no crime committed. He investigated the call and found that Tesla was lying. They refused to cooperate on it, so its done. If you lie to the cops, they know you are lying, and you refuse to work with them, why would they investigate a crime that didn't occur? What do you want them to do, arrest the guy on hearsay?