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Police take Grinches off streets of Boston
By adamg on Thu, 12/23/2010 - 1:25pm
Davis at the fake shop.
It looked like all the other stalls in the nondescript jeweler's storefront at 365 Washington St. in Downtown Crossing. But the two guys behind the new M.I.B. Jewelers spread the word they were willing to buy stolen goods when they opened five weeks ago. Helped by a sudden police crackdown on other stores fencing stuff, business boomed - at least until today, when Boston Police announced that the stall was actually a sting operation staffed by two undercover cops.
At a press conference inside the narrow storefront today, Police Commissioner Ed Davis said the operation has resulted in 24 arrest warrants and the recovery of more than 230 items, including cell phones, flat-screen TVs and Hyde Park resident Brook Woodson's three beloved electric bass guitars - one of which Mayor Tom Menino handed back to him after Davis spoke.
Davis said he expects another 30 to 40 warrants to be issued in coming weeks as Boston Police share the results of the operation - whose acronym stands for "Men in Blue" - with police in surrounding communities and as far away as Amherst and Chatham.
"We're going to lock these people up and throw away the key," Menino vowed.
Davis said the crackdown on other shops - which resulted in eight criminal complaints - was no coincidence. Police wanted to funnel as much stolen property as possible to M.I.B., whose officers wore tiny cameras embedded in their clothing. They were also monitored by other hidden cameras.
Davis said that as cell phones came in, officers would trace the owners and contact them. In one case, though, that led to one of the alleged thieves - who promptly called M.I.B. to let them know the cops were onto them, Davis said. He added he wasn't too concerned with any thieves figuring out what "M.I.B." stood for. "We don't catch the smart ones," he said.
Suffolk County District Attorney Dan Conley praised BPD for coming up with the idea. "I was almost giddy," when told of the scheme, he said.
Police topped off all the stolen stuff with a dancing Grinch. However, they did not turn it on during the press conference:
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Comments
Menino's Vanity
This city's government and police force care more about bragging about getting things done...than actually getting things done.
If the recipe is successful, just keep doing it, quietly. Shut down the "business" once word spreads...then open another one elsewhere. Rinse, wash, repeat. But oh no...2 weeks, and Menino just HAS to do a press conference.
How many people didn't get their stuff back because BPD officers told them not to bother filing a report? I know plenty of people who had break-ins and then when they called the cops, the best they got was a shrug and a "don't bother filing a report, it won't do you any good."
More like "we don't want to do the paperwork and it will look bad on the city crime stats."
You are a big fat liar
Call them back and ask them exactly what happened. I will bet you big money that this never happened. Your simple minded unconcious bias against the police is what makes you think this way. The Boston Police always do reports for breaking and entering crimes. Always. 90% of cops taking an initial B&E report is not going to care about the crime stats anway, and everyone of them is going to be questioned by a boss why a report wasn't filed for a B&E.
Eventually this is going to hit the press anyway, because courts have to start charging people with the crimes, and the media is going to do a story about it.
Merry Christmas Brett you dumbass :)
Maybe ... maybe not
Since all calls are recorded - at least they say they are at the start - it would be easy enough to sort this out one way or another.
Ironic that someone with a
Ironic that someone with a name of Nice calls another person a big fat liar and dumbass and then closes with a lame emoticon.
Brett's information is at least half correct. Police do not generate reports for all calls. But judges will not listen to a complaint without a police report. That is why with any quality of life issue (noisy neighbors) it is important to request a police report for every occasion police are called to help quiet the noise.
But disagreeing with someone with insult and put downs is, well, it's just not Nice.
DaveL you need to follow this site more
If you had a poll which asked people what they thought about Brett and your three options were 1-nice, 2-a dumbass, and 3-a big fat liar, you would find that probably 1% of people would find him as 1-nice, and that would only be true if Brett was allowed to vote.
And if a place was actually broken into, yes a report will ALWAYS be generated. ALWAYS.
Oh look, Brett railing
Oh look, Brett railing against LEO's. Also just in, water wet, sky blue, snow cold.
Pretty Cool If You Ask Me
This sounds like creative, effective law enforcement. The kind some people are always saying BPD should engage in.
Downtown Crossing
I think the biggest surprise of this story is to learn that there exists somebody who actually still does business in Downtown Crossing.
P.S. Doesn't that Hyde Park man look like he could be the long lost son of Tom Menino?
M.I.B. Jewelers?
They called themselves Men In Black Jewelers, and nobody was the least bit suspicious?
If you call 911 to report a
If you call 911 to report a break into your car. or your house the officer HAS to do a report. unless the person calling decides not to do the report on his own. and as far as the noise and lmusic complaints if you want the officers to spend the entire night doing reports for noise & music calls, there would be nobody availbable to take calls for real crime ,assaults robberies and person shot calls.. All calls into 911 are recorded and cannot be deleted. just F.Y.I.