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posted by takyon on Sunday April 05 2015, @01:00PM   Printer-friendly
from the proactive-sharing-economy dept.

Gerald Montgomery, a 51-year-old UberX driver, has been arrested on suspicion of second-degree burglary. He was reportedly trying to break into the Denver home of a woman he had just driven to Denver International Airport, and was found carrying "burglar tools". Uber says that Montgomery had passed all background checks, and the man had no criminal history in Colorado according to Colorado Bureau of Investigation records. Montgomery has been "deactivated" from the UberX platform and the Denver victim's fare was refunded.

The UberX platform requires drivers to operate their own vehicles and is less regulated than taxi services. Rides are covered by commercial insurance. An investigation [autoplay video] by NBC Los Angeles last year found that Uber has employed "screened" drivers with long-term felony records.

The company continues to attract unwanted attention around the globe; Uber's headquarters in Amsterdam has been raided twice this week, and an Uber employee has been arrested for obstructing the investigation. The investigators were looking for evidence that the company is continuing to operate UberPop, an urban ridesharing service deemed illegal by a Dutch court.

 
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  • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 05 2015, @01:40PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 05 2015, @01:40PM (#166656)

    > One of their favorite subjects, is just how DUMB crooks can be.

    Correction. Just how DUMB caught crooks can be.
    You never hear about the smart ones.

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  • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 05 2015, @02:20PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 05 2015, @02:20PM (#166663)

    One of their favorite subjects, is just how DUMB crooks can be.

    Correction. Just how DUMB caught crooks can be.
    You never hear about the smart ones.

    "I am not a crook."

    =)

  • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday April 05 2015, @02:52PM

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Sunday April 05 2015, @02:52PM (#166668) Journal

    How many crooks don't get caught? Alright, so a burglar gets away with 25 burglaries, for which he is never charged. Number 26 catches him on video, someone identifies him, and he's picked up. So, maybe he is less stupid than the burglar who gets caught the first time, but he is still pretty damned dumb.

    I would wager that the smartest criminals only commit a few big crimes in their lifetime. They let all those petty crimes of opportunity pass by, because the odds really aren't with petty criminals.

    • (Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 05 2015, @03:03PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 05 2015, @03:03PM (#166669)

      so a burglar gets away with 25 burglaries, for which he is never charged. Number 26 catches him on video, someone identifies him, and he's picked up. So, maybe he is less stupid than the burglar who gets caught the first time, but he is still pretty damned dumb.

      Nothing in your manufactured example suggests the man with a 96% success rate is "pretty damned dumb."

      Which gets to the unstated point of my previous post - your spin on events is all mood affiliation. It makes you feel good to believe that "bad" people are also dumb people.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 05 2015, @04:10PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 05 2015, @04:10PM (#166683)

        Nothing in your manufactured example suggests the man with a 96% success rate is "pretty damned dumb."

        Because if he was smart, he would've taken into account the possibility of cameras.

        • (Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 05 2015, @04:27PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 05 2015, @04:27PM (#166688)

          or just skip the 26th time and go straight to the 27th.

    • (Score: 2) by frojack on Sunday April 05 2015, @07:32PM

      by frojack (1554) on Sunday April 05 2015, @07:32PM (#166756) Journal

      How many crooks don't get caught?

      How the hell would anyone know that?

      Yes, I understand that the question was rhetorical, but when you only sample one segment of the population, (those caught) you have no clue about the population as a whole.

      Burglaries in general have one of the lowest clearance rate of any crimes according to the FBI. [fbi.gov] About 12.7 percent. Car theft is even less likely to be solved.

      We have no clue who makes up that other 88%.

      The FBI definition of "Clearance" of a crime takes into account making one arrest and thereby clearing 25 crimes. Yet 88% go un-cleared. So I would say there is a good chance that there are a significant percentage of crooks out there among that 88% that never get arrested.

      --
      No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 05 2015, @10:03PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 05 2015, @10:03PM (#166788)

        How many crooks don't get caught?

        How the hell would anyone know that?

        Same way they 'know' how many unreported rapes happen—buttmagic.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 06 2015, @07:33AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 06 2015, @07:33AM (#166878)

      How many crooks don't get caught?

      Most criminals don't get caught, only a very tiny percentage ever end up arrested or facing criminal charges. Something like 95% of drug users (sadly, drug use is a crime), 99.9% of police conspirators (criminal conspiracy + obstruction of justice), 100% of the traitors working public service (overthrowing the constitution [cornell.edu]), etc, break the law constantly and never see any kind of punishment.

  • (Score: 2) by isostatic on Sunday April 05 2015, @08:16PM

    by isostatic (365) on Sunday April 05 2015, @08:16PM (#166767) Journal


    Correction. Just how DUMB caught crooks can be.
    You never hear about the smart ones.

    Sure you do [wikipedia.org]