Apple Store in Dallas Robbed...Knox Street

[HLdan]

When someone does a hit and run on you in their car, or walks up to you on the street and stabs you and steals your money, and you're ready to cry out to all the people around you "why aren't you helping me, somebody stop him!", you can go ahead refrain from yelling and die peacefully in the knowledge they are just following your twisted idea of "common sense" in a country that values "don't be a hero" over helping your fellow man.

You're hypothetical doesn't work here buddy, we're not talking about what you do on your personal time, we're talking about employees reacting to a thieve's actions while on company time and on company property. Why don't you stick to the nature at hand rather than creating your own scenarios in your own head? Also, you can drop the childish personal insults.

 

[tflournoy95]

You're hypothetical doesn't work here buddy, we're not talking about what you do on your personal time, we're talking about employees reacting to a thieve's actions while on company time and on company property. Why don't you stick to the nature at hand rather than creating your own scenarios in your own head? Also, you can drop the childish personal insults.

actually this conversation has morphed from "should the apple store employees have done something" and now i think we're arguing about whether its legal to shoot a guy if they are committing an armed robbery. or at least thats what we were arguing about, but i think everyone had pretty much let it go. until you decided to bring it back up again that is.

 

[Corbin052198]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPod; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_1_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7E18 Safari/528.16)

The thieves were stupid to steal iPhones for many reasons:

1. The iPhones likely had MobileMe on them, so they could be tracked and later de-activated (happened to the 1st found iPhone 4 prototype).

2. The phones are pretty worthless without the power cord, contract, box, etc.

3. < Put here everything else people has said abou the thieves >

Also, saving a couple iPhones for a multi-million company is not worth risking your life (if the thieves had weapons) or your job (If you worked there).

 

[fcortese]

Two kids just stole 2 iPhones at the Salt Lake City store and while running out through one of the closed front doors shattered it. Stupid. GPS and mobleMe will track them down. I was in the store looking at the new MBPs when it happened.

 

[tflournoy95]

Two kids just stole 2 iPhones at the Salt Lake City store and while running out through one of the closed front doors shattered it. Stupid. GPS and mobleMe will track them down. I was in the store looking at the new MBPs when it happened.

nobody near the door attempted to trip them? or kick them? or anything? wow thats a shame.

its a shame that kids do these kinds of things but i think its even more of a shame that their parents and society allows them to.

 

[QCassidy352]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_0_2 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/532.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0.5 Mobile/8A400 Safari/6531.22.7)

I would think these are worth quite a bit stripped for parts. The only thing that would be useless is the circuit board.

It makes me sick that thieves like this can just walk out knowing full well that nobody will stop them. The law should be on our side, if you choose to steal you should loose any rights to sue the people that try to stop you.

I agree in theory, but one reason to have the policy they have is that it prevents cases where an employee assaults someone who they think was stealing but wasn't. It's also for the safety of bystanders as much as anything.

 

[rowanmwilliams]

Problem with America.

The problem with many Americans...

I'll sue the hell out of you.

 

[msubugzy]

"outskirts of Dallas"? Funny way to describe Highland Park. Click the map link to the store - that's on the "outskirts" of Dallas kind of the same way the Empire State Building is on the "outskirts" of NYC (and so on)...

Not important, just amusing.

Yeah I noticed that too...on a side note for Dallas people...W(hy)TF is the "Uptown" neighborhood called that when its literally blocks from the "Downtown" neighborhood....wouldn't Highland Park be uptownish...i mean it seems like every neighborhood in Dallas needs to have some trendy sounding name.

 

[sprtnbsblplya]

The problem with many Americans...

Painfully true.

 

[askbjoernhansen]

It's common sense not to chase anyone outside of a store, especially in the honor of multi-billion dollar corporation.

It's only "common sense" because our legal system is so messed up here.

Watch this brilliant ted talk on the topic.

 

[Beric]

It's only "common sense" because our legal system is so messed up here.

Watch this brilliant ted talk on the topic.

Excellent video; thanks for the watch.

 

[protekt0r]

Shortly after the Albuquerque, NM store opened some burglars broke in thru the giant glass doors and stole ipods and macbooks. Me and a couple other cops were hired by Apple corporate to go in and watch the store overnight (from about 10PM to 6AM) until the replacement glass arrived. Anyways the store manager informed me that all apple owned macbooks have software installed that will "phone home" when connected to the internet. Things like the user's IP address and even pictures from the integrated camera are sent back to Apple's servers in an attempt to find the crooks. I never heard if the guys were caught, but I thought it was pretty interesting.

BTW, having the entire store to myself for 8hrs was freaking awesome. The store manager told me "play and use whatever you want." That was the funnest few nights of my life. Prior to that I wasn't really a mac user.

 

[MacFly123]

So how many times have people robbed Microsoft stores lol!?!

 

[aeboi]

So how many times have people robbed Microsoft stores lol!?!

There's only like 4 MS stores so I'm guessing not many...

 

[jjahshik32]

This is why I'm weary of carrying my macbook pro around campus in my university (3 gunpoint robberies in the past 2 months in the parking lot!!).

I carry my cheap netbook around campus, its not fun but it does the job and if I ever get robbed, it'll only be a $300 loss.

 

[conradwt]

The phones are almost useless. They do not have replaceable sim cards, if the people tried to set them up for themselves they wouldnt be able to because the sim is looked to a demo account. Also they have mobileme on them and can be tracked. They are special demo models. Also Apple employees can be fired for chasing people out of the store during a theft due to the chance of bodily harm. They have internal Loss prevention teams that are authorized to take action.

Yes, you're correct. All of the iPhone can be remoted locked, tracked, and all data can be removed using MobileMe. I'm confident that these guys will be in custody very soon and all equipment returned because they can track the the location of the iPhones.

 

[DesmoPilot]

I guess they were trying to beat this record in daylight. Watch the vid.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-Wj2-3BrNg

Too bad they couldn't. lol.

Always makes me giggle how sensationalist American "news" anchors/reporters are.

 

[ranReloaded]

They dont chase because then the company is liable for the employee and the crook. I worked at target and someone chase a crook and the crook got ran over. The crook filed a lawsuit against target and got like $200,000. it did not happen at my store but the entire company had to go to training because of it.

...And then we talk about "Patent Law Reform". Heck, I think the priority lies elsewhere!

 

[Yimbie]

So how many times have people robbed Microsoft stores lol!?!

Spoken like a true... (insert word)

 

[dazzer21]

Magsafe

I guess they were trying to beat this record in daylight. Watch the vid.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-Wj2-3BrNg

Too bad they couldn't. lol.

Looks like MagSafe isn't just great for *accidentally* removing the power cable...

 

[dazzer21]

i think in this situation its pretty obvious that these guys were doing something illegal.Know how to shoot and be the first to pull the trigger. only the bad guy gets hit.

and if the bad guy pulls a gun its very legal for you to pull yours and shoot by they way. cuz its a very big threat to your life if somebody points a gun at you.

its illegal (as it should be) to shoot somebody if they dont have a gun or some other dangerous weapon.

The latest Apple Store job vacancy description cites "Only Rambo need apply."!

 

[Rajani Isa]

Do you see the problem?

The actual wording might say "in the store" but in practice, "in the store" extends to the parking lot and loading areas.

Wow, is this true you can't stop a thief in America?
Over here (Netherlands) a employee can just stop a thief and take him inside until the police arrives.

Also, by law, anyone can 'arrest' a thief.

It's not "not allowed" by law. However, it's also not illegal for such actions (due to safety concerns for other employees and customers) for such to be made against your terms of employment.

It would have been easy just to stick your foot out and trip that worthless pile of trash while he's running and make him do the faceplant, kick him in the face and keep him on the ground until the cops showed up.
Even if I were a customer I would have tried to at least trip the idiot, seriously hate thieves.

I agree with lavem and tflournoy, once you try to steal you are stripped of rights, if something bad happens to you, who cares? I don't, even if you get killed in the attempt, its really not society's problem.

While most smash-and-grabs tend to not show any weapons, you never know what weapons they might have. And in this instance, it wasn't just one thief. Would you seriously put your kids (or others' kids) at risk for worthless merchandise?

Correct, and there's a couple of other reasons. First, believe it or not the company can be sued by the thief if the employee apprehends the thief or if the thief gets hurt in any way from the employee touching him. Yeah, doesn't make sense right, but that's the law.

I think you meant to add a "successful" in front of "sued." And I think locale depends on how successful that is.

You would be sadder if the work out guy who posted above you was allowed to judge_dredd (or "to spiderman-ize", as he said) you just because he "thinks" you're doing something illegal.

To be fair, spiderman and judge dredd are two different approaches to crime stopping.

know how to shoot and be the first to pull the trigger. only the bad guy gets hit.

So just because you got a shot off first there is no chance the other's gun will fire?

Wrong.

No, it's not. Naive means you have a lack of experience. So, you act in a certain way that may be bad for you because you have no experience with the situation. Stupid is a bit more active. You act in a certain way that is bad for you, even though you should know better i.e. you have known better. One term is merely a factual description. The second implies an insult.

The other way of putting it - Naivety can be cured with experience. Stupid, not so much (Honey, go get my gun).

 

[WilliamG]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPod; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_1_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7E18 Safari/528.16)

The thieves were stupid to steal iPhones for many reasons:

1. The iPhones likely had MobileMe on them, so they could be tracked and later de-activated (happened to the 1st found iPhone 4 prototype).

2. The phones are pretty worthless without the power cord, contract, box, etc.

3. < Put here everything else people has said abou the thieves >

Also, saving a couple iPhones for a multi-million company is not worth risking your life (if the thieves had weapons) or your job (If you worked there).

Gosh you're so wrong. Thieves ARE stupid, since they're thieves, but the phones can A.) Be easily restored so MobileMe won't work, B.) Are NOT worthless without power cord, box? Seriously, you can get a cord for pennies, and then you can wipe and jailbreak/unlock/sell the phones easily.

Good grief. The fact remains the thieves made off with many thousands of dollars of iPhone 4s. And they'll likely get many thousands when they sell them.

 

[dubels]

Our legal system is pretty messed up if you can't even chase after thieves stealing company property due to fear of lawsuits. It makes me pretty sad.

It is not that. As an employee of any company your employer assumes certain risk and liabilities. Even if not directly ordered to give chase to a thief by an employer or supervisor, the company can be liable for the employee's damages (injuries or emotional damage) if their are any during the pursuit.

The employee can be sued in a civil case by the thief, but the plaintiff must provide a strong case. Also in most cases their is enough evidence via witnesses and camera footage to nail the thief in a criminal case. Unless the thief is well funded they won't be able to hire a good enough lawyer to represent them in a civil case against the employee.

The most troubling situation is that the employee can sue the company and still gain other compensation for work related injuries while the litigation is going through. There is enough incentive for employees to sue. That is why companies make a policy of not allowing employees to chase after thieves.

What is pretty sad about our legal system is that a DA armed with footage of a thief robbing an Apple Store countless times is not able to successful prosecute without a viable witnesses.

Gosh you're so wrong. Thieves ARE stupid, since they're thieves, but the phones can A.) Be easily restored so MobileMe won't work, B.) Are NOT worthless without power cord, box? Seriously, you can get a cord for pennies, and then you can wipe and jailbreak/unlock/sell the phones easily.

Good grief. The fact remains the thieves made off with many thousands of dollars of iPhone 4s. And they'll likely get many thousands when they sell them.

A) Phones can be restored but how are they going to get the sim card out? The ICCID has already be registered to the demo account, and most likely blacklisted from AT&T. B) The IMEI is going to be blacklisted, so if you are going to go out and tear the phone apart to get the sim card out, you'll still run into the problem of having a blacklisted IMEI. iPhone theft happens all the time at Apple Stores, it is part of doing business, thousands of dollars in iPhone 4's is only the retail estimate. These iPhone 4's are special made demo units which are already written off as non-inventory and have a blocked sim card tray. Also if you go into an Apple Store for help to get the sim card tray out they know immediately it was stolen. But bottom line is thousands of dollars worth the bodily harm that can be cause to an employee, or the ligation that may result from it. An employee hurt in the recovery of stolen property can result in hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages and bad publicity.

 

[jlc1978]

Wow, is this true you can't stop a thief in America?
Over here (Netherlands) a employee can just stop a thief and take him inside until the police arrives.

Also, by law, anyone can 'arrest' a thief.

You can, but stores generally have a "no resistance" policy because they don't want to get anyone hurt. Insurance will cover the stolen goods, and video surveillance gives police something to go on.]; having an employee or customer injured or killed is simply not worth the risk.

You can detain someone in the US as well; but you better be right or they will probably sue you into poverty; not to mention pressing charges for illegally detaining them.