Train burglaries in the US, do we have anything at this scale in the UK?

[dowie]

I don't doubt there is some crime on UK railways, British Transport police exist for a reason etc.. but has anyone ever heard or seen of it happening at this scale?

This is in LA, apparently, only a Month after this section of track was already cleared up:

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1481770817767698435

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1481770959673520128

That seems like an insane amount of stuff stolen/boxes broken from containers and ripped open!

 

[Malevolence]

It's California, that state is ******. In San Francisco they've recently 'legalised' shoplifting of anything up to a value of $950 by making it a misdemeanour rather than a felony. Crimes of that nature sky-rocketed and the police can't be arsed to investigate, so the usual suspects are out in force and helping themselves to anything and everything with little to no recourse.

 

[Hotwired]

It's California, that state is ******. In San Francisco they've recently 'legalised' shoplifting of anything up to a value of $950 by making it a misdemeanour rather than a felony. Crimes of that nature sky-rocketed and the police can't be arsed to investigate, so the usual suspects are out in force and helping themselves to anything and everything with little to no recourse.

But we also have those sentencing guidelines, I looked at them because of the shoplifting thread

https://www.sentencingcouncil.org.uk/offences/magistrates-court/item/theft-from-a-shop-or-stall/

If you don't threaten anyone and you're a pathetic case they can't be bothered stuffing you in a jail.

Maybe you get a fine of a % of your income but 50% of 0 is 0.

 

[Fubsy]

I did something like this in RDR2, but then it got really boring so I quit.

 

[EdwardTeach]

That is shocking, they should equip their police with guns.

 

[bimbleuk]

Seems the US like to make the lives of criminals as easy as poss. I stopped ordering packages to my sis in Florida because of door step robberies becoming so common then Amazon started that trend over here!

 

[Diddums]

America really is going off the rails

 

[Diddums]

Should probably train their law enforcement to prevent this tbh.

 

[adolf hamster]

America really is going off the rails

Should probably train their law enforcement to prevent this tbh.

are we really going to de-rail this thread with puns?

 

[BowdonUK]

I don't think we carry those items by train.

 

[Diddums]

are we really going to de-rail this thread with puns?

Mind your conduct, you're on track to get a ban!

 

[MadMossy]

There's a reason so many people are leaving those states and moving to Texas.

 

[Blackjack Davy]

There's a reason so many people are leaving those states and moving to Texas.

Yeah they can properly carry a gun there, no namby pamby liberals telling them otherwise. /s

 

[GreatAuk]

The scale of lawlesness is pretty impressive. Can't think of anything on the same scale here tbh. Am sure there's the odd theft and maybe a bent courier or two, but nothing like that in either our delivery networks or rail networks afaik. Makes me think a bit of some of the cable thieves that rip out sections of copper cable from the railway every now and then, but that's a lot more unpredictable and they do actually get pursued by police every now and then.

 

[Minusorange]

are we really going to de-rail this thread with puns?

Stop your railroading of peoples fun

 

[Malevolence]

Only one solution.

 

[Werewolf]

I'm going to hazard a guess that part of the reason it's happening is the relative closeness of those trains to heavily populated areas, and poor security in and around the train yards. IIRC US frieght trains tend to run very very slowly in a lot of areas compared to UK ones due to poor track layouts and maintenance (watching some of the programs about their train network makes me think it's barely been improved since they laid the first tracks).

I'm guessing there is going to be some sort of dispute about whose job it is to provide the security, and it's down to the train operators who are trying to save money, whilst the police won't be interested because it's transport/boring and requires more work than pulling someone over, or jumping on someone who they don't think has a ticket in the station.

 

[Werewolf]

It's California, that state is ******. In San Francisco they've recently 'legalised' shoplifting of anything up to a value of $950 by making it a misdemeanour rather than a felony. Crimes of that nature sky-rocketed and the police can't be arsed to investigate, so the usual suspects are out in force and helping themselves to anything and everything with little to no recourse.

The US police often can't be bothered to investigate actual crimes that go on in front of their eyes, or that they're called to that are definitely felonies.
I've seen so many tales of people in "good" neighbourhoods with extremely well funded police getting a bored officer who can barely be bothered to take a report of fairly major crimes because they're not interesting or not going to be instantly solvable, so it's seen as a problem for the police as it means their stats are going to look.

One of the reasons you tend not to send people to jail for low value, non violent crimes is because it costs so much to do so and there are, in most countries, often better options. Is it worth sending someone to jail because they've stolen $50 worth of goods, and spending tens of thousands on that (and ensuring the person is far more likely to resort to crime in the future), or is it worth trying to spend a few hundred on other options as the first resort.

 

[m@rty]

Circa $30k per prisoner, per year I think

 

[Combat squirrel]

One of the reasons you tend not to send people to jail for low value, non violent crimes is because it costs so much to do so

Unless you're a person of colour, in which case they will lock you up for 10-20 years minimum, add on top of which free slave labour........people of colour locked up for a couple of decades for carrying like 5 grams of pot is rife over there (which isn't a big crime at all they just pretend its serious) and a MASSIVE abuse of human rights - but as it is, the black prison population is the free slave labour that makes the arms industry so cheap over there, they do pay them to get around "laws' but something like 5 pence a day.

The USA needs hauling in front of the world human rights judges tbh !!