Crime in PH and western Crown Heights, late April and early May

As noted in bold, it appears thieves don't need to go far to fence iphones.

...I think the going rate is something like $50.

ntfool said:

...at Soda Bar after he left it for a moment while he withdrew money from an ATM. The theft took place between 8:30 p.m. and 9 p.m....

Excuse me, did some idiot leave his laptop unattended at a bar for an entire half hour to go find an ATM? Really?

Good questions. Here's another: Is it appropriate to use the word "grab", when someone drinking at a bar watches you leave your laptop to go get cash, then takes the time to finish their beverage. Then casually walks out with your laptop?

eastbloc said:

If it really was a Powerbook, I'd be surprised to find it missing if it was left on the side of the road (assuming it was not trash day).

This is part of why I hoped he finished his beverage first. Abandoning half of a beverage for a laptop is not always a fair trade....

I must say I am most intrigued by the last guy.

I understand the attempt to avoid arrest by eating the evidence.

However, when this fails and the cop yanks the joint out of your mouth, I think it is safe to assume you are getting arrested. At some point, we all have to accept that we are going to have a lousy day, and then simply do our best to not make it worse.

Has anyone ever heard of a cop changing their mind about arresting someone because they grabbed a park bench and wouldn't let go?

.

A 42-year-old woman said she was moving into a new apartment and left all the valuable itmes in the vehicle when she went inside for the night at about 2 a.m. At 10:30 the next morning the items were gone.

Although she received a rude welcome to our fine neighborhood, is it wrong for me to wonder where she was moving from?

....obviously, she has never looked for a parking spot late at night and witnessed guys shining flash lights into cars, seeking valuables to snatch.

Once you you see this, or have your car broken into, you never leave anything valuable visible in your car again....

Booklaw-

That is certainly a possibility.

In order for such a scheme to work, she'd have to have a policy that covered the contents of the car, not just the car itself. Back when I had a car, I was told my "comprehensive" policy only covered the car.

As a result, I tend to believe she was naive, as opposed to conniving.

Ishtar said:

Snatched iPhone Tracked to Area Bodega

A 38-year-old woman reported that someone grabbed her iPhone from her hand as she was getting into her car. The woman had an iPhone tracker activated on the phone was cops were able to track down the phone to Franklin Mini Mart at 835 Franklin Ave. at Union Street, where the thief had sold it. The theft took place at 6 p.m. on Thursday, April 26 on Lincoln Place between Underhill and Washington avenues, according to a police report.

I would like to know if this particular bodega is dealing in stolen goods or if a patron was caught in the bodega with the stolen iPhone.

I personally believe that many of the bodegas along Franklin are involved in drug dealing and other illegal activities, which is why I refuse to buy in any of them. I could very well be wrong, but I would much rather be a judgmental jerk making assumptions than potentially supporting elements that contribute to crime in the community.

ETA: I just realized exactly which bodega this is. I avoid this place like the plague and it annoys me that this is the closest location for a Sunday Times. Things have gotten a little better since the police installed cameras at the corner of Union and Franklin.

While avoiding said bodegas is helpful, this story interviews the Community Affairs Officer of the 71st Pct (which covers CH south of EP). His theory is that these phones are eventually exported overseas.

It seems to provide good advice on how not to be the typical target, and describes where such snatching usually occur in the Crown Heights area.

Thieves target subway stops, since unsuspecting straphangers often reach for their phones as soon as they get above ground. In 2012, those snatches have clustered around Flatbush Avenue and Utica Avenue, with a smaller number at the Franklin Avenue and Kingston Avenue stops, police said.

"They’ll start running from a block behind you and pick up speed and snatch it out of your hand and keep running," Martinos said. "All you’ll see is the back of them."

The snatchers usually unload their loot to middlemen, whom police believe may be selling the phones overseas.

"The only way we're going to make inroads with this is through education," Martinos said. "We don’t see an end in sight, unless people really start smartening up."