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....although, in the spirit of being fair and thinking about this some more......(and being devils's advocate to my own devil's advocate statement above...)
It does bother me when we make a huge deal about the kidnapping of white children and disregard same stories about kids of color. Then again, here in NY/NJ we have gotten better about it than we used to be..... For example, that 14 year old autistic kid whose face is all over the subway in NYC.
....although, in the spirit of being fair and thinking about this some more......(and being devils's advocate to my own devil's advocate statement above...)
It does bother me when we make a huge deal about the kidnapping of white children and disregard same stories about kids of color. Then again, here in NY/NJ we have gotten better about it than we used to be..... For example, that 14 year old autistic kid whose face is all over the subway in NYC.
In terms of choosing that mall, there have been carjackings there before. It's full of nice cars and idiots like me that think we are safe. I did have a situation once there where two scary dudes were hanging outside looking as though they were scoping the place out so maybe I am not that much of an idiot as I immediately went inside, waited to go back out with a crowd and did so talking loudly on my phone, keys in hand. In other words, there is a history at this mall that had me on my guard at least once before.
There was an elaborate Queens-based car theft ring that was recently busted. They stole from the rich suburbs of LI, Westchester and NJ.
Like many other crime syndicates, their MO was non-confrontational. The cars they swiped were parked unattended in driveways, commuter parking lots and shopping centers while the owners were not near the cars. They succeeded because they had some way to open the vehicles and start the engines, sometimes in connivance with car dealer employees. Another reason is that there are car owners who are stupid enough to leave cars unlocked. They also had strategically-located disposal areas outside of NYC where they can quickly drop the car off and change the plates and VIN.
Car theft is a complex operation, especially when targeting affluent victims. Professional car thieves will almost always choose a non-confrontational tactic over armed robbery. It may be that the SHM carjackers went there intending to steal a car. But it did not look like they were experienced or had the infrastructure to carry out their crime. The fact that they resorted to armed robbery means they had no knowledge or technology to pry open locked cars and start engines. And leaving the SUV in Newark shows they did not have the logistics to process the loot. To put it another way, thieves cannot accumulate the experience in stealing cars - luxury cars - if their usual MO is armed robbery because this strategy does not work too often enough.
It may have worked if they wanted to steal a wallet or handbag. But not an SUV.
There was an elaborate Queens-based car theft ring that was recently busted. They stole from the rich suburbs of LI, Westchester and NJ.
Like many other crime syndicates, their MO was non-confrontational. The cars they swiped were parked unattended in driveways, commuter parking lots and shopping centers while the owners were not near the cars. They succeeded because they had some way to open the vehicles and start the engines, sometimes in connivance with car dealer employees. Another reason is that there are car owners who are stupid enough to leave cars unlocked. They also had strategically-located disposal areas outside of NYC where they can quickly drop the car off and change the plates and VIN.
Car theft is a complex operation, especially when targeting affluent victims. Professional car thieves will almost always choose a non-confrontational tactic over armed robbery. It may be that the SHM carjackers went there intending to steal a car. But it did not look like they were experienced or had the infrastructure to carry out their crime. The fact that they resorted to armed robbery means they had no knowledge or technology to pry open locked cars and start engines. And leaving the SUV in Newark shows they did not have the logistics to process the loot. To put it another way, thieves cannot accumulate the experience in stealing cars - luxury cars - if their usual MO is armed robbery because this strategy does not work too often enough.
It may have worked if they wanted to steal a wallet or handbag. But not an SUV.
You make sense--I did not know all that. Thank you.
For what it's worth, I heard this morning that they are very close to catching these guys.
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