Metro-Wide Task Force Looks To Crack Down on Flat-Screen Theft
Decatur Metro | February 25, 2009The Atlanta Police Dept, along with East Point and Fulton County police, are creating a task force to deal with the rampant flat-screen television theft in the Atlanta metro area.
According to the AJC, the task force is a lot like the one created last summer to deal with the “blue jean bandits”. The article continues…”The group, which will meet every other Thursday, will pinpoint neighborhoods in the county that have the heaviest number of burglaries and try to identify those involved in the crimes, through surveillance, undercover decoys and other police tactics, Williams said.”
Perhaps Decatur will also soon join this task force, since we’ve seen our fair-share of flat-screen theft.
Also, might I suggest that they wrap GPS theft into this flat-screen task-force? These two electronics are so frequently stolen, it almost seems like there is some sort of clearinghouse where these items can be quickly sold onto the black market.
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Flat screens are an almost perfect item to steal. They are expensive and in demand meaning there is a profitable market for them. And they are easy to locate in a residence (unlike, say jewelry) and easy to to quickly get out of a residence (just unplug a couple of cords).
I believe the “blue-jean bandits” were essentialy just one group, and once they were caught most of the robberies stopped (it at least seems we have stopped hearing about them). They haven’t been replaced by other groups because of the danger and difficulty of either breaking into a store or holding someone up at gunpoint.
When done “right”, flat panel thefts are quick, easy and low-risk. And for that reason I think such crimes are going to be much more difficult to stop.
They need to invent a Lo-Jack for flat screens.
Self-destruct devices in every flat screen? Its not like the odds of recovery are in our favor anyhow?