6 ms·
Short of locking the doors, what can be done to prevent criminal flash mobs?
by Simulacra 3y ago
Short of locking the doors, what can be done to prevent criminal flash mobs?
- 8b16380d 3y agoPunish crime?
- BMc2020 3y agoexactly. If they wanted to stop it they could.
- brookst 3y agoWalk me through your reasoning? These flash mobs wouldn’t happen if…
- arsome 3y agoThere was substantial risk of being prosecuted, or failing that, shot and killed.
- croes 3y agoThe US already have one of the highest incarceration rates in the world so it seems like that doesn't work.
- thebears5454 3y agohttps://ktla.com/news/local-news/3-arrested-for-luxury-handbag-theft-in-glendale/ https://ktla.com/news/local-news/3-arrested-for-luxury-handb... They've already caught some of them. This simply isn't true.
- CamperBob2 3y agoAnd what happens after they're caught...?
- brookst 3y agoWhy don’t you speculate for us?
- CamperBob2 3y agoI don't have to speculate; that would be your department. There are records. What happens after they are arrested is that they're released to the same communities they attacked previously.
- thebears5454 3y agoThey're currently being charged with felonies, but they all 3 have been released with $20,000 bail.
- brookst 3y agoLaw enforcement works on statistics and psychology. We do not have nearly enough police or prisons to prosecute dramatically more people. And the US is already the most incarcerated country; this “just build more jails” reasoning seems as suspect as “the solution to having the highest rates of gun violence is more guns”.
- moralestapia 3y agoNot GP but ... ... if the people involved in them were sent to jail.
- TimTheTinker 3y agoBingo. This is the real issue. DAs are refusing to prosecute, so criminals are back on the street within hours or days of being arrested. It's so bad that cops in Southern California try very hard to find evidence that will allow them to hand a criminal over to the feds -- because federal prosecutors will actually prosecute, but state prosecutors will not. (Source: I'm friends with a cop in socal who specializes in theft crime rings) We need to throw out these inept district attorneys and never elect such people again. A bigger question: how did they get elected en-mass in the first place?
- lokar 3y agoCan you point to a case of a DA refusing to prosecute a case of organized theft like this?
- goda90 3y ago> how did they get elected en-mass in the first place? It's a reaction to unjust laws, for-profit prison systems, lack of police accountability, and high rates of recidivism from not treating the cause of lots of crime.
- TimTheTinker 3y agoIf that's the case, then it's abundantly clear that the reaction is causing even more problems.
- brookst 3y agoOr perhaps dismantling a cancer is leaving the patient susceptible to pneumonia.
- anigbrowl 3y ago
- CamperBob2 3y ago... the participants were sitting in jail following their last attempt at pulling something like this.
- squokko 3y ago... participating in one carried a 2% risk of death and a 10% risk of permanent disability
- foogazi 3y agoYes, because that’s what stopped people from doing drugs, speeding or downhill skiing
- CamperBob2 3y agoBut those all have much better odds, by orders of magnitude.
- foogazi 3y ago…the people doing the flash mob were in jail
- thebears5454 3y agoThey've already caught, arrested and charged some of these people.
- bugglebeetle 3y agoOutlaw police unions and force cops to do their jobs instead of being another gang running an extortion racket.
- Humboldtsnee 3y agoCrime is down, overall. I don't think we should make laws or changes based on the rare event like this. But the real prevention is "make living your life possible for everyone". People whose needs are met don't generally go on risky crime sprees like this. Make housing, healthcare, and food affordable. Give childcare, support education. Crime will plummet.
- PaulHoule 3y agoOrganized shoplifting has long been a problem. My mom sold men's clothing at Macy's in the sleepy city of Manchester, NH and (circa 1990) one day after she left a whole family came in and the father distracted the sales clerk while mom and the kids cleaned out a few rows of suits. The security guard came running but they were already gone when the clerk realized what happened. She talked frequently with the security guards about the problems they faced: one was run over by a car by an escaping shoplifter. They weren't allowed to fight back under any circumstance because Macy's could be sued by anyone who was attacked by a security guard. This book https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/black-mafia-ethnic-succession-organized-crime https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/black-ma... has an excellent description of an organized shoplifting network in New York City in the 1970s that would sometimes steal goods from delivery trucks behind shops and then fence them at stores in Harlem. (It's a great book, it has descriptions of street life and police corruption that are right out of KRS-One's albums like Criminally Minded.)
- NoZebra120vClip 3y agoI worked at a Tower Records 24 years ago, and being in a college town, we had a high level of theft, perhaps not so organized. We had no security guards, although we did have a Loss Prevention specialist who would visit on occasion, so basically it was up to clerks and managers to detect any shoplifting. Of course we were absolutely forbidden from pursuing anyone beyond our front door. Yet, while I was employed there, at least one clerk rushed outside and tackled a thief, recovering the goods. He was roundly praised, but I felt that was a bad idea, because he'd violated policy and could've gotten himself and the store in a lot of trouble. Being a CD store, we had shelves chock full of high-value, high-demand, small and concealable merchandise. I can't remember the exact nature of our anti-theft measures, but they were minimal. Tower soon went out of business anyway, so perhaps they simply didn't care anymore.
- zoklet-enjoyer 3y agoExploding dye packs
- Tao3300 3y agoAt this level of coordinated force, you just make sure you steal the gizmo that removes the dye pack while you're there. Though they probably already have dozens of such devices.
- mattigames 3y ago---
- selestify 3y agoThat’s not the responsibility of the retailer, it’s the responsibility of the government.
- gsatic 3y agoLuxury goods will always be targeted cuz of how effective Marketing of luxury goods has become. If you convince the chimp troupe diamonds are magical, a large part ot what you end up spending on is securing your diamonds in vaults of ever growing complexity.
- d__a__n__g 3y ago[flagged]
- analognoise 3y agoLots of countries have armed security guards - and I mean rifles and bullet proof vests. I think sadly that's what well see here too.
- thebears5454 3y agoYou're not going to see this in California, you are wildly out of touch.
- analognoise 3y agoI used to think abortion was a solved issue, everyone agreed child labor was bad, we wouldn't have to worry about hurricanes, etc. This timeline hasn't exactly proven stellar so far. You're right though - California did a good job restricting guns. Until that gets overturned (which at this point, I think it will). On the other hand the reason California is so for gun control was originally to prevent the Black Panthers from marching with guns (seriously - gun control in California is deeply racist in origin). Given all this I just think we'll get there and we'll get there faster than we expected, and we'll all have to pretend to be shocked and then it will become normal.
- rasz 3y agohttps://koryogroup.com/blog/who-were-the-rooftop-koreans https://koryogroup.com/blog/who-were-the-rooftop-koreans
- benwad 3y agoWhich countries have rifle-wielding security guards in clothing shops?
- Tao3300 3y agoUniversal basic income? You need to cure desperation so people don't wind up having to do this.
- moralestapia 3y agoThese people are not doing this out of desperation.
- wrp 3y agoDecades ago in Eastern Europe (don't know about now), shops were set up so that all goods were behind counters. When you wanted to buy something, you paid at the register in front, then showed the receipt to the clerk at the appropriate counter. I've wondered whether that arrangement was to prevent theft or to increase employment.