Posted on 04/12/2022 1:14:38 PM PDT by Mr. Mojo
More than a dozen Los Angeles gangs are targeting some of the city's wealthiest residents in a new and aggressive manner, sending out crews in multiple cars to find, follow and rob people driving high-end vehicles or wearing expensive jewelry, according to police.
In many cases, they're making off with designer handbags, diamond-studded watches and other items worth tens of thousands of dollars — if not more — and then peddling them to black-market buyers who are willing to turn a blind eye to the underlying violence, police said.
In some cases, suspects have been arrested but then released from custody -- only to commit additional robberies, police said.
Those are among the conclusions of a Los Angeles Police Department task force convened at the end of last year to identify the cause of a sudden surge in "follow home," or "follow off," robberies, so called because victims are robbed soon after leaving luxury boutiques and hotels, ritzy restaurants, trendy nightclubs and other locations where the gangs are scouting for targets.
According to Capt. Jonathan Tippet, who spearheads the task force, police have identified at least 17 gangs, most based out of South L.A. and operating independently, that are involved. There were 165 such robberies in 2021 and 56 so far this year, he said, including several over the weekend.
The area with the most robberies during that time was the LAPD's Hollywood Division, with 50, followed by 46 in the Wilshire Division and 40 in the Central Division, which includes downtown. The Pacific Division had 17, West L.A. 15, North Hollywood 14 and Topanga 11.
Tippet did not say how many robberies police attributed to which gangs, but said individuals allegedly affiliated with both the Bloods and Crips have been identified among the culprits.
(Excerpt) Read more at yahoo.com ...
Just an evolution of the “follow the big winner when he leaves the casino” type of criminal strategy, I guess.
Suck on it LA
Excellent!
Couldn't happen to a nicer Prog Liberal Socialist City and City Government!
good.
Just carry a gun like we do here in Texas. Oh wait......it’s California. Never mind.
Bet they don’t want to defund the police anymore-
“ In some cases, suspects have been arrested but then released from custody — only to commit additional robberies, police said.”
Well, duh,
Elections have consequences.
So they created a task force, moved officers from other jobs, coordinate efforts, gather intelligence, spend money, and arrest suspects - only to simply have them released immediately afterwards.
Welcome to woke California politics.
Beat up POS trucks must be pricey.
Got to feed their families!
And shucky-darn they are closing the only gun shop in Beverly Hills ... guess they’ll just have to hire more private security.
Karma beeza bitch
Cue Cyrus from The Warriors; “Can you dig it!”
Old fashioned privateers from the looks of things.
Electing communists have dire consequences.
California government is a large organized crime organization in and of itself. Now regular lowlife gangs want a piece of the action.
I havent been on Rodeo Drive for more than 20 years but I was there to look not buy ...
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