[JudgeWapner]

Steal from Grandmas porch: labelled a "porch pirate", told by police "we don't respond to property crimes, fill out a police report online".

Steal from the richest man in the world: FBI is on the case with military-grade weapons, tactics and surveillance.

[KibbutzDalia]

In California, at least, Porch Pirates have the law on their side.

California Voters overwhelmingly voted to end the "three strikes" laws, and also make any theft of less than $950 a misdemeanor. See https://ballotpedia.org/California_Proposition_47,_Reduced_P...

This means you can steal packages from FedEx and UPS or Amazon deliveries from porches to your heart's content (not USPS because they are covered by federal law) and almost certainly never have to spend more than a day or two in jail if you're caught.

The $950 limit was proposed because Californians thought it was "not fair" to be charged with a felony for stealing an iPhone.

In this particular case here, Bezos makes his money back because the article indicated that the stolen items were being sold on Amazon! He'll get paid either way.

[JudgeWapner]

I heard about that. Local news interviewed a 7-11 owner who said he's toast because they're so low-margin to begin with, and shoplifting is already high. Maybe one good thing that could come from this: stores move to either online-pickup only, or browse large posters/catalogs in the store and scan what you want, then pick up from the cashier. Products are located in a warehouse divided from customers and they pack your bags for you. 0 shoplifting loss (yes employees could steal), but the benefit for me is more efficient shopping.

[massysett]

The browse then pickup concept is an old one. Service Merchandise and Best did it years ago. They’re out of business so maybe it didn’t work so well.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catalog_merchant

[JudgeWapner]

They had tablets in the 90's. They never took off so it's obviously not a viable product.

[philip1209]

This really comes down to the fact that, in this case, there was clear evidence that stolen goods, and hence the crime, crossed state lines.

[dymk]

Really big organized crime is more important and gets more resources than small crime. Woah.

[learc83]

This kind of thing probably solves many "porch pirate" cases where it was actually the delivery driver stealing the items.

[kartan]

> Steal from the richest man in the world: FBI is on the case with military-grade weapons, tactics and surveillance.

Steal from the richest man in the world * that avoids paying taxes * : FBI is on the case with military-grade weapons, tactics and surveillance * paid by taxpayers *.