A lot of stolen goods change hands in Vancouvers drugs ghetto. Who could have guessed that people that don't work for a living but need copious funds for drugs would commit crimes ?
um, shocking.
anyway, sounds like the place could use a prescribed burn.
The street market was busy Monday afternoon on the north side of Hastings between Carrall and Columbia.
A man scraping a bar-coded identity tag off a laptop on the #4 Powell bus. A young woman chanting “iPod, iPhone” as she shuffles down Hastings Street near Columbia Street. Three young men offering up a white Samsung Galaxy in Pigeon Park.
Purloined high-tech goods continue to be a hot commodity on Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.
When Tammy Jones, a Vancouver-based Steadicam operator, discovered thousands of dollars worth of highly-specialized movie equipment had been stolen from her car outside her Kitsilano home Jan. 6, the poverty-stricken neighbourhood was one of the first places she went after alerting police.
Posters offering a reward for the gear, which has its serial numbers registered on international databases, are plastered in the area as Jones continues her search.
“What can you do?” asked the single mother, who had bought the gear for work. “It has no street value. No one on the street will be able to use it.”
Jones’ friend Michael Dewey helped her search for the gear in the Downtown Eastside, where he expected she might find it.
“It’s pretty much everything you could imagine,” Dewey said of the goods being sold on the street. “It’s much more than any department store.”
While Jones was a victim of auto theft, police said a lot of thieves also take advantage of people who simply aren’t keeping a close eye on their highly-valued electronics and other personal property.
This led the Vancouver Police Department to launch its “Who’s Watching It ... When You’re Not?” campaign last fall.
Sgt. Randy Fincham said that in 2014, police recorded 6,533 incidents of “theft other,” where thieves walked away with unguarded personal property, down from 6,830 in 2013.
But there continues to be a “black market” for stolen electronics such as laptops, tablets and smartphones, and police also deal with some 300 cellphone-specific robberies in Vancouver each year, Fincham said.
Fincham said people should always record their equipment’s serial numbers, as Jones did, which helps police prove goods are stolen so they can seize them and arrest the seller.
Fincham also said people who thinks they’ve located stolen property should contact police before risking their safety by attempting to take it back themselves.
‘Hot’ commodities abound on Vancouver's Downtown Eastside
um, shocking.
anyway, sounds like the place could use a prescribed burn.
The street market was busy Monday afternoon on the north side of Hastings between Carrall and Columbia.
A man scraping a bar-coded identity tag off a laptop on the #4 Powell bus. A young woman chanting “iPod, iPhone” as she shuffles down Hastings Street near Columbia Street. Three young men offering up a white Samsung Galaxy in Pigeon Park.
Purloined high-tech goods continue to be a hot commodity on Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.
When Tammy Jones, a Vancouver-based Steadicam operator, discovered thousands of dollars worth of highly-specialized movie equipment had been stolen from her car outside her Kitsilano home Jan. 6, the poverty-stricken neighbourhood was one of the first places she went after alerting police.
Posters offering a reward for the gear, which has its serial numbers registered on international databases, are plastered in the area as Jones continues her search.
“What can you do?” asked the single mother, who had bought the gear for work. “It has no street value. No one on the street will be able to use it.”
Jones’ friend Michael Dewey helped her search for the gear in the Downtown Eastside, where he expected she might find it.
“It’s pretty much everything you could imagine,” Dewey said of the goods being sold on the street. “It’s much more than any department store.”
While Jones was a victim of auto theft, police said a lot of thieves also take advantage of people who simply aren’t keeping a close eye on their highly-valued electronics and other personal property.
This led the Vancouver Police Department to launch its “Who’s Watching It ... When You’re Not?” campaign last fall.
Sgt. Randy Fincham said that in 2014, police recorded 6,533 incidents of “theft other,” where thieves walked away with unguarded personal property, down from 6,830 in 2013.
But there continues to be a “black market” for stolen electronics such as laptops, tablets and smartphones, and police also deal with some 300 cellphone-specific robberies in Vancouver each year, Fincham said.
Fincham said people should always record their equipment’s serial numbers, as Jones did, which helps police prove goods are stolen so they can seize them and arrest the seller.
Fincham also said people who thinks they’ve located stolen property should contact police before risking their safety by attempting to take it back themselves.
‘Hot’ commodities abound on Vancouver's Downtown Eastside
