posted by
n1
on Wednesday October 01 2014, @06:05AM
from the when-drones-are-outlawed-only-outlaws-will-have-drones dept.
from the when-drones-are-outlawed-only-outlaws-will-have-drones dept.
Pennsylvania authorities suspect that two men accused of stealing mobile phones were monitoring law enforcement. Local media reported Tuesday that when they were arrested last month, one of the two suspects was carrying a camera-equipped drone that police saw flying over the Upper Saucon Township's police headquarters the day before the arrests.
The accused are Duane Holmes, 44, of North Bergen, and Chaviv Dykes, 20, of Newark. Police said they had $50,000 in mobile phones allegedly stolen from a Verizon Wireless store and other outlets that NJ.com said were lifted "during a string of smash-and-grab burglaries."
This discussion has been archived.
No new comments can be posted.
Cops Suspect that Alleged Thieves Monitored them with a Drone
|
Log In/Create an Account
| Top
| 16 comments
| Search Discussion
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 01 2014, @06:17AM
So we have the NSA monitoring all the calls. We have so-called patent and copyright legislation in place and all sorts of tracking technology.
Will someone elucidate me on why anyone would steal a phone? Wouldn't it rat him out the first time he tried to make a call with it?
Sounds as risky as trying to use a stolen credit card.
Or steal artwork.
If someone is gonna steal something, its gotta be anonymous... like gold coin or the like.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Wednesday October 01 2014, @06:26AM
Since money were invented, most of the times, whoever is using the stolen thingy and the thief aren't the same person.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 01 2014, @07:47AM
I seem to remember a time when a phone reported stolen was basically impossible to activate since the IMEI number would wind up on some sort of blacklist. Or what? Am I imagining this?
(Score: 2, Interesting) by glyph on Wednesday October 01 2014, @08:00AM
Some carriers will block the IMEI if you report it stolen to them, but thats only really designed to stop the thief racking up your bill. If they connect the phone to another provider it will work fine.
There's is no real blacklist. Governments have been trying for years to get manufacturers to implement one, but nobody can agree on how to do it and nobody trusts government with the kill switch.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 01 2014, @07:57PM
Even if they do implement a blacklist it will only cause a minor drop-off in cell phone thefts, at least over the long-term.
Thieves will just start selling them to fences who will ship them to another country that doesn't apply the same blacklists.
(Score: 2) by davester666 on Wednesday October 01 2014, @06:15PM
So, not only is it turtles all the way down, it's now drones all the way up.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Wednesday October 01 2014, @06:23AM
Ah say... there som'thn kin' ah say there som'thn kin'da weeeir... [youtube.com] kneejerk reaction lately [soylentnews.org]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 5, Insightful) by nyder on Wednesday October 01 2014, @06:30AM
I seriously doubt the thieves were using the drones to monitor the police, most likely using them to monitor the places they are doing the smash & grabs at. See what is the best time, maybe check if there are any police cars in the area. But to use your drone to watch a police station because you are a criminal, I don't see that happening.
What I do see here is the police making a claim based on probably lies to help promote an agenda for someone.
(Score: 1) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Wednesday October 01 2014, @07:40AM
Burglars watching a police station sounds far-fetched. I'm not sure what happened exactly, but while I'm not in favor of crime in any way or form, if the police was indeed being watched by a drone, well... now perhaps they know how the general population feels when they do it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 01 2014, @07:59AM
Which just means the drones must be forbidden from the genpop.
(Score: 3, Informative) by jcross on Wednesday October 01 2014, @12:26PM
I'm not so sure it is far-fetched. The Zetas cartel has had a lot of success surveiling the police so they just wouldn't be in the same place at the same time [1]. Gerald Blanchard installed surveillance equipment when he robbed banks so he could monitor the progress of the investigation and send the police effective red herrings based on their own suppositions [2]. As long as the payoff is high enough, it makes a lot of sense.
[1] http://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=14/03/29/1942259 [soylentnews.org]
[2] http://www.wired.com/2010/03/ff_masterthief_blanchard/all/ [wired.com]
(Score: 2, Insightful) by GWRedDragon on Wednesday October 01 2014, @12:25PM
I guess reporters have all decided that the extra fear and drama created by using the word 'drone' means that any little RC plane or copter is now a 'drone.'
Oh my god! Burglars have remote control full sized aircraft with rockets and thermal cameras! Wait, no, that's just a cheap RC copter they got at the toy store. But, that just doesn't sound scary enough.
"Burglars use toy for surveillance" just doesn't whip people into much of a frenzy of demanding new laws.
[Insert witty message here]
(Score: 2) by nitehawk214 on Wednesday October 01 2014, @04:31PM
When drones are outlawed, only outlaws will have drones.
"Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Wednesday October 01 2014, @04:43PM
Good, then the next step is free-for-all unlimited target practice.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 01 2014, @08:00PM
> When drones are outlawed, only outlaws will have drones.
And cops.
(Score: 2) by nitehawk214 on Friday October 03 2014, @03:22PM
Already covered in my original premise.
"Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh