About those smash and grabs...

[Sympthsical]

29. Given the level of organization, I'd imagine look outs are involved

Maybe know the patterns of police patrol, have a few people listening to scanners, know the roads and amount of cops around at any given time.

Just by virtue of living here, I have a pretty firm grasp of the police presence in my area. Almost none around early in the morning. One or two might float around the shopping center by afternoon - the peak shopping periods. Even then, you often don't see them. The only kind of presence in the entire shopping center is usually the private security guy standing around outside the Costco.

Plus, my city's geographic area is spread out quite a bit. If I was going to smash and grab, I'd do it where I live. The cops are six, seven miles away towards the city center where there are crime problems.

I've mentioned before, there's a guy at my local Safeway. He's a regular shoplifter. He'll put two cases of beer in a shopping cart and walk right on out the door. Employees are instructed not to interfere. Like, they know who the guy is as soon as he walks through the door. But the cops are never around when he appears, so he just goes on doing it.

If people aren't getting prosecuted, the cops aren't going to come bouncing over from wherever to bother about it.