
Arrests for Low-Level Crimes Are Plummeting, and the Experts Are Flummoxed - Bostonian
https://www.wsj.com/articles/arrests-for-low-level-crimes-are-plummeting-and-the-experts-are-flummoxed-11570354201?mod=rsswn
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onion2k
People carry far less cash now. It's trivial to block a credit card. It's
_really_ hard to steal a modern car unless you're very dedicated. Mobile
devices can be bricked by the owner fairly easily, and the fact smart phones
are basically ubiquitous means you won't make much from a stolen one.

Maybe there's just less low-level crime because it's not worth doing it any
more.

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geophile
Couldn't read it, firewalled. But could it be that things that used to be
stolen -- record players, CD players, speakers, receivers, cameras, TVs,
watches -- that those things are obsoleted by smartphones? And that the would-
be thieves already own those?

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Bostonian
There was a recent thread here
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21153933](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21153933)
about a decline in quality of life in San Francisco due to less policing.

