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  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    Over the past few years, criminal markets have evolved, leading to dramatic changes in burglars’ targets.

    “Years ago, you’d see a man in a pub selling CDs,” says Eric Phelps, a detective in London’s Metropolitan Police. “Not any more.” Indeed, thefts of entertainment products like CDs and DVDs have collapsed in England and Wales, to the point that they are now taken in just 7% of all burglaries in which something is stolen (see chart). They are now targeted no more frequently than are toiletries and cigarettes. They are now targeted no more frequently than are toiletries and cigarettes.

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    Computers, on the other hand, are both valuable and increasingly portable: they are now taken more commonly than anything except purses and wallets. Mr Phelps says that gold jewellery has also become more popular as the value of that metal has soared.

    “These sorts of crimes are regarded even by criminals as the preserve of the desperate,” says James Treadwell, a Leicester University criminologist. Burglars are generally drug-addled, unskilled and opportunistic. Yet they are capable of making economic calculations.

    Via: http://www.economist.com/node/21542438

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  • 8 Replies sorted by
  • driftwooddriftwood

    Yep true. I lost a Sony Vaio the other week in our office building's burglary. They went from business to business stealing laptops & cash only. I had far more valuable stuff up there than what was stolen. But laptops are the ultimate economical steal & sell - thats for sure. It takes only one guy to load 3 or 4 laptops into a rucksack and be away without being noticed. You have been warned - don't buy laptops for the office, buy decent desktops and take one of the sides off so they look unsellable!

  • RobertoRoberto

    @driftwood

    take one of the sides off so they look unsellable

    Good hint! Also remember the usual hints when travelling with notebooks, even in airports. Me, I keep mine in an army surplus canvas shoulder-bag.

  • mattherematthere

    @Roberto with regards to travel and carrying expensive equipment, GH2's & lenses included I was considering a Crumpler Bag http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/606425-REG/Crumpler_MD_07_07A_7_Million_Dollar_Home.html

    But this thread makes me wonder if there are other (better) recommendations for traveling with the GH2, notebook, hard drive, and a few lenses? Thanks :)

  • Mark_the_HarpMark_the_Harp

    @Roberto When travelling to her university courses my wife puts her Samsung laptop in one of those Amazon cardboard wrappers they use to send books through the post. Protects (a bit) and hides it.

  • AthirilAthiril

    You're not protecting anything in a crumpler bag, any thief needing a good head stomp would already be onto those as they start becoming popular, plus a large bag like that?

    @matthere http://photojojo.com/store/awesomeness/photorito-lens-wrap/

  • RobertoRoberto

    If I ever do need to leave my laptop or kit in my ute [pickup truck] I place it on the floor, with a fluoro safety vest loosely dumped on top; anything sticking out under the vest just looks too dark to see, like the floor.

  • Mark_the_HarpMark_the_Harp

    @Roberto your comment reminded me of when I parked in London - I was pretty careless in those days and my car was also a bit of an untidy wreck, so I imagined no-one would bother with it.

    I was moving house but the inside of the car was reasonably clear of stuff as I put all of it in the hatchback at the back, except for one thing that wouldn't fit, an old TV aerial [antenna], which I took apart and left the long bit in the footwell behind the front seats and I just covered it with an old newspaper. They broke in and obviously looked under the newspaper and stole the TV aerial (which wouldn't have worked without the rest of it) and didn't bother opening the back at all (and I had power tools there and all sorts of potential goodies). Also, I had left a spare car / house key right in view, and they didn't take that. I was pretty careless, but interesting that the only thing they took was (I thought) hidden and pretty invisible.

  • Mark_the_HarpMark_the_Harp

    But hey, taking Vitaliy's point, now music is all downloads, that's another reason to steal ipods / laptops and the like, because you potentially get access to that, along with the actual value of the equipment (if they can be bothered copying it all!)

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