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[NY TIMES] A Truckload of Nike Shoes, Left as ‘Bait,’ Stings Chicago

Discussion in 'BBS Hangout: Debate & Discussion' started by Os Trigonum, Aug 25, 2018.

  1. Os Trigonum

    Os Trigonum Contributing Member
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    I honestly do not have an opinion on this, I could see it both ways. Just curious what people here think.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/24/us/chicago-bait-truck.html
    permalink: https://nyti.ms/2BIKeFV

     
  2. robbie380

    robbie380 ლ(▀̿Ĺ̯▀̿ ̿ლ)
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    It’s bullshit and it doesn’t fix problems
     
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  3. B-Bob

    B-Bob "94-year-old self-described dreamer"

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    Yeah, what dangerous community-destroying career criminals are they catching this way? Few, I would think. Probably just giving a bunch of poor kids their first offense. Great!
     
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  4. DonnyMost

    DonnyMost not wrong
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    ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
     
  5. B-Bob

    B-Bob "94-year-old self-described dreamer"

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    "Hey gaiz, I has lazy way to make monthly collar quota. Come listens to thiz!"
     
  6. Os Trigonum

    Os Trigonum Contributing Member
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    not sure about that, this was a railroad police-led operation by the Norfolk Southern RR: "'Operation Trailer Trap' was led by Norfolk Southern Railway, with officers from its own police unit, and was orchestrated on Aug. 2 and 3 after several thefts of parked and locked freight trucks and containers in the immediate area."

    Freight theft from trains, containers, 53' trailers on highways, etc. is a genuine problem, no?
     
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  7. jcf

    jcf Member

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    Yes. Sounds like the railway had been targeted in the past. The thieves cut locks to steal the cargo. And no teens were arrested. Article says men with ages of 21 to 59.

    Not sure why the thieves are the victims here.






     
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  8. Sweet Lou 4 2

    Sweet Lou 4 2 Contributing Member
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    Wow, this is stunning in so many ways. Really - Nike shoes? Who decided that.
     
  9. durvasa

    durvasa Contributing Member

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    It’s hard for me to see how people committing an obvious crime, breaking into an unmarked truck, are the victims here.

    Treating them as such is just sending a message that hooliganism is not a big deal. Is that making these communities safer?
     
  10. Sweet Lou 4 2

    Sweet Lou 4 2 Contributing Member
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    They aren't the victim, no.

    But if you leave something around with the intent of baiting someone to take it and then accusing them of a crime, what does that make you?
     
  11. durvasa

    durvasa Contributing Member

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    Are you against all sting operations, or are you considering this entrapment (despite these sort of breakins being common, which is why they the operation was conducted)?
     
  12. Sweet Lou 4 2

    Sweet Lou 4 2 Contributing Member
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    This wasn't a sting operation, and calling it entrapment is generous. I mean, putting a truckload of shoes in an impoverished neighborhood is more of a sick joke. You want to say that people who are living in poverty aren't going to steal shoes? How is that close to a sting operation which is meant to capture organized criminals.

    How many of us if starving and saw a bakery truck woudn't try to open it and get something to eat? At what point does doing something like this cross a line?
     
  13. durvasa

    durvasa Contributing Member

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    If they were starving, let them go. Being merely poor is not an excuse to loot. And I don’t think it’s inevitable that any poor person would do so. In the article, someone complained about them being treated as animals. This is exactly what you are doing when you argue that any poor person would of course break in to an unmarked truck.
     
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  14. Sweet Lou 4 2

    Sweet Lou 4 2 Contributing Member
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    Clearly you have never experienced poverty.
     
  15. durvasa

    durvasa Contributing Member

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    Did you or do you steal from others and think it justified, when experiencing poverty?

    Rationalizing that breakins and theft are just fine if you are poor is a great way of keeping communities poor. Why would more well off people want to be in those communities if their own property rights are not respected, and therefore why would businesses want to operate there?
     
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  16. Kim

    Kim Contributing Member

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    I've never met nor heard of a railway cop before. Are they like state troopers of the railroads?
     
  17. B-Bob

    B-Bob "94-year-old self-described dreamer"

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    In the days of the hobos, (e.g. dust bowl and depression times), they were seriously known to be ruthless.
     
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  18. jcf

    jcf Member

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    if it was a food truck and starving people, absolutely understand your position. But poverty can't be a justification for theft (particularly sport shoes). If so, why isn't it an equal justification for shop-lifting, breaking into homes and businesses, etc.

    Poverty might explain why some people are more desperate to steal. But it shouldn't justify criminal behavior. And Durvava's argument re: using poverty as a free pass is essentially saying they didn't have any control over themselves is a good one.
     
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  19. jcf

    jcf Member

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    Also, article states that the railway was hit before. So, they weren't just targeting a community. the railway appears to have some need or reason (a storage station?) to leave railcars in the area and has been victimized before.

    This appears to be an effort to prevent it from happening in the future.

    This reaction of moral outrage over this seems through the looking glass to me.

    Have you ever been robbed? Was your reaction: "well, i'm sure this was justified. The one who stole my possessions probably needed them or the money they could bring more than me."

    If so, you are a better person than me. Mine would be: "I can't believe I was robbed. What a criminal. I hope they catch him/her."
     
  20. nickb492

    nickb492 Contributing Member

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    Don't agree with your stance because that would be like blaming someone who bought a nice car in that neighborhood that had it stolen. Poverty doesn't justify theft. The orginal piece I saw on Vice didn't make it sound like they were authorities with the railroad. I think some of the outrage was that the public thought it was Chicago PD doing which infuriated locals that they would do this instead of trying to stop violent crimes which is totally understandable. But trying to stop theft of the railroad led by them does not seem wrong in my opinion.
     
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