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TAKE ME TO YOUR STEALER

Double-plus unclever thievery in Lindenhurst, NY:

Three thieves who allegedly stole 14 global positioning system devices didn’t get away with their crime for long. The devices led police right to their home.

Posted by Tim B. on 01/20/2007 at 09:48 AM
  1. You would think the Police would have given them some latitude and let them go, ala NSW.

    Posted by surfmaster on 2007 01 20 at 10:03 AM • permalink

  2. Oh man, that’s killing me. It’s so damn funny!

    Posted by Ash_ on 2007 01 20 at 10:15 AM • permalink

  3. Thats what happens when you have a bad longtitude.

    Posted by surfmaster on 2007 01 20 at 10:21 AM • permalink

  4. This just shows that one must never mess around with Science™.

    Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2007 01 20 at 10:27 AM • permalink

  5. I have a problem with this.

    The “GPS devices” are not identified as to what they are ... a simple GPS “device” is a receiver of satellite signals, and cannot transmit its own location to any other device.

    The cited story says:

    “The town immediately tapped its GPS system, and it showed that one of the devices was inside a house.”

    Sorry, but it sounds a bit like bullshit to me.  Just sayin’.

    Posted by Kaboom on 2007 01 20 at 10:30 AM • permalink

  6. Yes it sounds funny (hence my humerous posts), but they talk about installing the things in all sorts of machinery, which leads me to believe they may be active devices, pinpointing the vehicle etc they are installed in as opposed to passive devises which just sit on the dashboard and wait to be dominated by mistress melissa from http://www.gps.dominatrix.com

    Posted by surfmaster on 2007 01 20 at 10:33 AM • permalink

  7. Ahhhh! Surfmaster, you are indeed correct:

    “Babylon installed 300 GPS devices in snow plows, dump trucks, street sweepers and other vehicles last January.”

    Obviously, these GPS devices are not designed to assist the operator, but rather to assist the local Council to keep track of where its vehicles were, and who was slacking off.

    Which means that each would have a specific mobile phone number for GPS querying, and hence the ability to find an address for the perps.

    Silly fuckers.

    Posted by Kaboom on 2007 01 20 at 10:42 AM • permalink

  8. It is a little like mobile phones, they can be tracked if they are turned on - by the provider, who can give an approximate location of the phone.

    Posted by surfmaster on 2007 01 20 at 10:50 AM • permalink

  9. No, a “normal” GPS is purely a receiver. 

    A mobile phone does transmit its approximate location between cells when active.  A GPS does not.

    However, a security device GPS has an integrated mobile phone, and a query will cause an SMS of lat/long to be sent.

    As I say, silly fuckers….

    Posted by Kaboom on 2007 01 20 at 10:58 AM • permalink

  10. I guess the perps didn’t have a degree between them. Did have a degree between them? Oh, well, let’s hope they’ve learned their lesson.

    Posted by andycanuck on 2007 01 20 at 11:09 AM • permalink

  11. The cops had everything to go on.

    Posted by Penguin on 2007 01 20 at 11:35 AM • permalink

  12. They had a 13 year old boy with them, and he couldn’t tell them what they had?  What, was the kid raised in a cellar?

    Posted by RebeccaH on 2007 01 20 at 11:44 AM • permalink

  13. Andycanuck—Arts majors.

    Posted by richard mcenroe on 2007 01 20 at 01:33 PM • permalink

  14. At least some cities in the US use global tracking devices (which necessarily are GPS, right?) to more efficiently and effectively move their heavy vehicles (like snowplows) around.  Also, of course, it can tell if the equipment is moving at all (i.e. the driver isn’t goofing off by napping or hanging out at the local doughnut shop).

    Surely using GPS as shorthand for any device that allows global positioning isn’t wrong.

    Posted by JorgXMcKie on 2007 01 20 at 02:27 PM • permalink

  15. Explanation for their stupidity?  It’s the New Jersey in them.

    Posted by ushie on 2007 01 20 at 03:53 PM • permalink

  16. This sort of stuff is available (for a price, of course) to the general public. Mainly for security purposes. You can keep one in your car and check on your car every so often to make sure it’s where it should be. And if it isn’t, you can find it pretty damned quickly. Preferably accompanied by 10 - 20 of your closest and dearest friends.

    Check out http://www.ozspy.com.au

    Posted by AlburyShifton on 2007 01 20 at 03:54 PM • permalink

  17. So now I understand the old saying “Thick as thieves”!

    Posted by Rafe on 2007 01 20 at 05:03 PM • permalink

  18. This is just funny.

    Posted by thefrollickingmole on 2007 01 20 at 05:42 PM • permalink

  19. Thankfully, most criminal types are dumb as door knobs.  Some may be clever, but clever will only get you so far.

    It isn’t just cities that use this type of system.  Most trucking companies use them to keep track of the whereabouts of their trucks.

    Posted by saltydog on 2007 01 20 at 06:09 PM • permalink

  20. saltydog

    I remember talking to a chap who had driven trucks for a couple of years in the US. He mentioned most big trucking mobs used beacons on their trucks about 10 years ago.He also mentioned skilled road train drivers were in such short supply he got a working visa pretty well straight away. (he was a kiwi)
    Any Americans back up his claims??

    Posted by thefrollickingmole on 2007 01 20 at 06:49 PM • permalink

  21. #20 thefrollickingmole: Maybe, unlike that muslim bloke who only wanted to drive a load of hazmat in a forward direction, your kiwi friend could actually back-up his rig, turn it around and stuff like that there.

    Posted by SandiM on 2007 01 21 at 12:30 AM • permalink

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