Beware of NYPD license plate readers

The New York Times has an article about the NYPD's license readers and how they have been used to solve a variety of crimes.

Pick Pockects Fade Away

Slate has an article on the declining state of pickpocketing in the US.

Pickpocketing in America was once a proud criminal tradition, rich with drama, celebrated in the culture, singular enough that its practitioners developed a whole lexicon to describe its intricacies. Those days appear to be over. "Pickpocketing is more or less dead in this country," says Harvard economist Edward Glaeser, whose new book Triumph of the City, deals at length with urban crime trends. "I think these skills have been tragically lost."

via Bruce Schneier

Museum Security

In a view from the other side, The Secret History of Art has two posts about improving museum security (part 1 and part 2).

Breaking into cars through the door

Blackbag has an article about how thieves in the Netherlands have taken to cutting though the metal of the car door to disable both that alarm and locks.

Robbing ATMs with vacuum cleaners

The Sun reports that thieves in France have developed a method of using a vacuum cleaner to suck the money out of an ATM.

5 Major Artworks Stolen in Paris

Illicit Cultural Property has a post about the theft of 5 important works of art from the Musee d'Art Moderne in Paris.

The value estimates are very rough, ranging already from 100-500 million Euro. Yet these works can never be sold in a legitimate market, so in one sense their market value means little.

Apparently, the gallery's alarm system was not working.

They also have a followup post on the reaction to the theft.

Much later followup: Three people have been arrested in the theft.
More: They claim to have thrown the paintings in the trash.

Thieves steal $75 million of pharmaceuticals

The Wall Street Journal has an article about some thieves who broke in to a drug warehouse and stole $75 million worth of drugs.

Brazen thieves cut a hole in a roof, slid down a rope and made off with $75 million in drugs from an Eli Lilly & Co warehouse in Connecticut during the weekend in one of the biggest pharmaceutical heists ever.

Working as if in an elaborate caper flick, the thieves disabled the interior alarm system and spent hours inside an Enfield, Conn., warehouse that stored antidepressant and antipsychotic drugs. Enfield Police Chief Carl Sferrazza said the burglars likely loaded the dozens of wooden crates of prescription pills onto a tractor-trailer.

I was surprised at the value of what is essentially a warehouse robbery. I suppose you would need connections in order to unload the drugs.