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From the article: > Fourth, police forces largely remain in the dust. NaVCIS has enjoyed some success, intercepting 550 cars in the past year. But that is a sm

From the article: > Fourth, police forces largely remain in the dust. NaVCIS has enjoyed some success, intercepting 550 cars in the past year. But that is a small fraction of what gets through. Mr Gibson is one of three officers on the whole south coast. Britain’s police have yet to catch any high-ups in the business. European forces do not even have dedicated investigation teams. Across the rich world, police resources tend to be directed towards “higher harm” offences. There's just very few people working on it because it's not a priority.

potato3732842 1y ago
The state only cares about thieves insofar as the optics of their activity is bad for the state, illicit trade is lost revenue and every score criminals settle among themselves challenges the state's monopoly on violent dispute resolution, it doesn't really care about the peasants' property, it just looks like it cares a little when the interests align.
- margalabargala 1y ago
  That's grossly untrue in democracies. The people who vote in democracies care. And therefore, the state also cares. You expect them to let pass by such a great opportunity to performatively score points with voters by being "tough on crime"?
  - bsder 1y ago
    The police can hunt down car thieves which they don't get much money from. Or police can hunt down low-level marijuana offenders which they can extract money from over and over and over. Which one do you think is going to get voted for?
    - scythe 1y ago
      I think a prototypical amoral economist would "solve" the problem by having people pay the cops some kind of percentage fee if they get their car back. Or at least I think that would work, but it bothers me.
      - gruez 1y ago
        Or just change the incentive structure. Make the fines go to the general government operating fund, not directly to the police department. Assess performance based on solving the crimes you want solved, rather than pure # of offenses. It's not hard to come up with alternatives.
      - mcphage 1y ago
        You’re suggesting we pay cops to steal cars and then recover them?
- bigiain 1y ago
  > their activity is bad for the state, illicit trade is lost revenue I wonder. With a sufficiently sociopathic point of view, every high end car theft almost certainly represents a subsequent insurance claim and new car purchase. And every insurance claim results in upward pressure on insurance prices. If you just look at car theft and export through a "economic impact to the state" lens, there are without doubt a lot of industry and political people who see it as being new revenue and _good_ for the state.
  - potato3732842 1y ago
    Your logic reminds me of when we see people on HN saying that it's "good" when old cars get totaled out over petty BS or have their operating costs artificially raised by the state because they statistically get replaced with safer, cleaner cars but at the end of the day the population has to bear those costs at some point. At the end of the day people are basically forced to surplus in a particular way. Viewed through a state lens of course the state wants this invested in highly regulated, fairly complex and integrated areas of the economy. You don't even need to be a sociopath. You just need to be a single minded idiot who's rounding every hard to measure harm to zero in dishonest pursuit of your goal. You see these thought patterns and flimsy justifications on all sorts of issues once you start looking.
  - Ekaros 1y ago
    If you really think it in non-standard ways. It does contribute to GDP. New cars sold, insurance claims. And I suppose on average the criminals are more likely to spend their gains in economy in general.
    - potato3732842 1y ago
      It contributes to GDP in the same way that someone fucking a whore instead of their wife does. Yeah there's a transaction there, but should there be? And at what cost? Ditto for the divorce. This kind of stuff is textbook broken windows fallacy.
      - 1y ago
rekabis 1y ago
> There's just very few people working on it because it's not a priority. Right? The existence of organized crime is a policy choice by politicians. If they truly wanted to do something about it, the policies would change - both in terms of funding/staffing, as well as the incentivizing of officers to pursue leads.

potato3732842 1y ago

The state only cares about thieves insofar as the optics of their activity is bad for the state, illicit trade is lost revenue and every score criminals settle among themselves challenges the state's monopoly on violent dispute resolution, it doesn't really care about the peasants' property, it just looks like it cares a little when the interests align.

margalabargala 1y ago
That's grossly untrue in democracies. The people who vote in democracies care. And therefore, the state also cares. You expect them to let pass by such a great opportunity to performatively score points with voters by being "tough on crime"?
- bsder 1y ago
  The police can hunt down car thieves which they don't get much money from. Or police can hunt down low-level marijuana offenders which they can extract money from over and over and over. Which one do you think is going to get voted for?
  - scythe 1y ago
    I think a prototypical amoral economist would "solve" the problem by having people pay the cops some kind of percentage fee if they get their car back. Or at least I think that would work, but it bothers me.
    - gruez 1y ago
      Or just change the incentive structure. Make the fines go to the general government operating fund, not directly to the police department. Assess performance based on solving the crimes you want solved, rather than pure # of offenses. It's not hard to come up with alternatives.
    - mcphage 1y ago
      You’re suggesting we pay cops to steal cars and then recover them?
bigiain 1y ago
> their activity is bad for the state, illicit trade is lost revenue I wonder. With a sufficiently sociopathic point of view, every high end car theft almost certainly represents a subsequent insurance claim and new car purchase. And every insurance claim results in upward pressure on insurance prices. If you just look at car theft and export through a "economic impact to the state" lens, there are without doubt a lot of industry and political people who see it as being new revenue and _good_ for the state.
- potato3732842 1y ago
  Your logic reminds me of when we see people on HN saying that it's "good" when old cars get totaled out over petty BS or have their operating costs artificially raised by the state because they statistically get replaced with safer, cleaner cars but at the end of the day the population has to bear those costs at some point. At the end of the day people are basically forced to surplus in a particular way. Viewed through a state lens of course the state wants this invested in highly regulated, fairly complex and integrated areas of the economy. You don't even need to be a sociopath. You just need to be a single minded idiot who's rounding every hard to measure harm to zero in dishonest pursuit of your goal. You see these thought patterns and flimsy justifications on all sorts of issues once you start looking.
- Ekaros 1y ago
  If you really think it in non-standard ways. It does contribute to GDP. New cars sold, insurance claims. And I suppose on average the criminals are more likely to spend their gains in economy in general.
  - potato3732842 1y ago
    It contributes to GDP in the same way that someone fucking a whore instead of their wife does. Yeah there's a transaction there, but should there be? And at what cost? Ditto for the divorce. This kind of stuff is textbook broken windows fallacy.
    - 1y ago

rekabis 1y ago

> There's just very few people working on it because it's not a priority. Right? The existence of organized crime is a policy choice by politicians. If they truly wanted to do something about it, the policies would change - both in terms of funding/staffing, as well as the incentivizing of officers to pursue leads.