A Tesla Helped Police Track Down a Hate Crime Suspect (gizmodo.com) 78
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Gizmodo: Throughout December, someone was setting fires at the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Presbyterian Church, a "predominately Black" congregation located in Springfield, Massachusetts. An FBI affidavit claims that the last of these fires, set on Dec. 28, "essentially destroyed" the building -- burning away large parts of the interior. During this period, the same person is suspected of having carried out a "series of tire-slashings" targeted at vehicles near or around the church -- a majority of which were owned by Black individuals. Now, 44-year-old Maine resident Dushko Vulchev has been arrested in connection to the crimes. He was charged in a federal court in Springfield on Thursday, a release from the U.S. Justice Department shows, and is potentially facing decades behind bars.
Court documents illustrate how state, local and federal authorities used a variety of surveillance footage and data collection to piece together Vulchev's whereabouts and place him at or near these crimes. In particular, the vandal slipped up when he allegedly slashed the tires of a Tesla located not far from the church. Authorities say one of the car's many pre-installed security cameras caught blatant images of the culprit as he damaged the tires, then later returned to steal them along with the vehicle's rims. "Based on my training and experience and this investigation, I am aware that the Tesla mentioned above is equipped with cameras at various points around the body," said the FBI agent who wrote the affidavit. "I have reviewed video footage retrieved from the Tesla showing an individual that I can identify as Vulchev...The video footage from the Tesla shows Vulchev at a close distance crouching near the Tesla and using a tire iron to remove the wheels." Using other data collected and a variety of local surveillance footage, law enforcement was able to build a case against Vulchev.
Court documents illustrate how state, local and federal authorities used a variety of surveillance footage and data collection to piece together Vulchev's whereabouts and place him at or near these crimes. In particular, the vandal slipped up when he allegedly slashed the tires of a Tesla located not far from the church. Authorities say one of the car's many pre-installed security cameras caught blatant images of the culprit as he damaged the tires, then later returned to steal them along with the vehicle's rims. "Based on my training and experience and this investigation, I am aware that the Tesla mentioned above is equipped with cameras at various points around the body," said the FBI agent who wrote the affidavit. "I have reviewed video footage retrieved from the Tesla showing an individual that I can identify as Vulchev...The video footage from the Tesla shows Vulchev at a close distance crouching near the Tesla and using a tire iron to remove the wheels." Using other data collected and a variety of local surveillance footage, law enforcement was able to build a case against Vulchev.
Comment removed (Score:4, Funny)
Re: Slashed them then stole them (Score:2)
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Nobody steals wheels for purely the tires.
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Halfway decent tires cost more than cheap but serviceable wheels, even larger-than-stock alloys. This is especially true when it comes to lifted trucks, where a good set of tires starts at around $1000 out the door and you can get a decent set of wheels for around $800 new.
No ideer what Tesla wheels cost though
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He've slashed them off anyhow. The rims are the valuable part. Yur a maroon.
It's David Brin's Earth come to life (Score:2)
Cameras are everywhere - but it's citizens who have most of them, can control most of the feeds...
This is a good thing.
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but it's citizens who... can control most of the feeds
It's adorable that you believe this is how that works.
Big Brother (Score:2)
When the powers of big brother is used for good.
And you wonder why China distrusts Tesla? (Score:5, Interesting)
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Yeah, it's not like you can leave a dashcam or two running in your car when you park it, is it?
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And you wonder why China distrusts progress? (Score:2)
So that basically means the Chinese will only be producing EVs, while the US will be ahead in autonomous vehicles.
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Why? China will just limit autonomous vehicles to ones that send their data somewhere safe like their government. Not much different from America who probably won't allow Chinese autonomous vehicles around secure locations.
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Why is this on Slashdot? (Score:3)
This story is on Slashdot because the camera that caught this fellow happened to be on a Tesla?
Seriously?
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'hate crime'
'decades in jail'
'slashing tires'
this country is going off the rails.
Re:Why is this on Slashdot? (Score:5, Insightful)
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Re: Why is this on Slashdot? (Score:3)
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I never said this particular church was guilty of anything, my statement was very clearly broad at all churches, go back there is clearly a plural church in that sentence. > You are really sick. What you are saying is that any crime is fine to you, since the victim could have committed a similar crime.
Big words from the person who has lied not once by several times in this very reply.
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Your intent might have been to defame churches in general, but this story is about one rather singular church and one singular criminal committing a hate crime and the role technology played in his capture and conviction. Weither any other churches have committed "hate crimes" is completely outside the boundaries of this story and could be construed as deflection from the core issues.
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Was there any untruth in my statement ?
> but this story is about one rather singular church and one singular criminal committing a hate crime and the role technology played in his capture and conviction
THey call themselves a church which by definition associates them with religion, so my comment is very much part of the discussion. THey want everyone to know they have faith in a certain religious faith, and with that there is also the
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Re: Why is this on Slashdot? (Score:2, Flamebait)
Yes. Because apparently conservatives (ya know, the "defEnd the police" law and order types) think investigating arson and vandalism is a waste of time? /s
I remember about 20 years ago when liberals were accusing *us* of pushing the surveillance state. Many of those liberals are now in power in blue cities and blue states where they outlaw/curtail the use of video surveillance technologies. Heck, my little blue town wouldn't even allow the high school to buy new security cameras when it came up last year.
It
Re: Why is this on Slashdot? (Score:2)
It does not matter which political party is in charge, both are pushing for CCTV/Big Brother.
1984 seen as instruction manual and all that...
Re: Why is this on Slashdot? (Score:2)
To date this has sounded scarier than it actually was because government in America is limited in its reach and its capabilities by virtue of this place having spent most of its formative and industrualizing time period as the wild west libertarian utopia I'm told was full of all the bad isms out there.
Re: Why is this on Slashdot? (Score:4, Interesting)
That's true, back in the day, the actual powers that be discovered that private police (Pinkerton's) was the way to go if you want to infringe on peoples rights.
Today, it is private security companies, selling directly to the government as often as not.
Re: Why is this on Slashdot? (Score:1)
Indeed. But times change and attitudes evolve. Many libs seem to think it's ok if the private actors wield ban hammers instead of night sticks. Then there's still a figleaf of respectability to hide behind.
Re: Why is this on Slashdot? (Score:2)
Yeah. Nothing to get worked up about when "journalists" call up banks or Uber or Google to "ask for a comment" about some guy they don't like using their service to get their money frozen or their email locked or whatever. Not mafia tactics at all.
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Yea, I know what you mean. There's the cupcake forum that bans people that bring in politics. In real life here, the neighbourhood dump and even the post office, both run by a government (local or federal) have prominent signs up saying that disruptive behaviour will not be tolerated.
Imagine not being free to express yourself by screaming at some clerk who works for the government, talk about repressing rights. Of course lately there's people who go into private businesses and scream and occasionally get vi
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No it's because Tesla helped solve a hate crime.
But did the Tesla know it was a hate crime? We shouldn't be crediting it with any sort of altruism just because it ratted out somebody slashing its own tires.
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A Bulgarian national setting fire to a predominantly black church named after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.?
Sounds more like state sponsored sedition than hate crime, but whatevs.
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Agreed.
Car with camera catches suspect. News at 11.
-- /s
Can we stop with the bullshit phrase "hate crime". Does that mean if I hire a prostitute that it is a "love crime"?
Re: Why is this on Slashdot? (Score:2)
Yes
Why is this on privacy 101? (Score:3)
How many cars do you know that come with cameras constantly monitoring things? That's why it's on slashdot, plus the fact that not all technology is bad helps.
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It all depends whether it comes with a big ole off button, so it does not spy on you. A key to disable the monitoring. Can not disable it then it is really quite awful.
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This story is on Slashdot because the camera that caught this fellow happened to be on a Tesla?
Seriously?
Why not? High-tech vehicle helps cops catch perp. Sounds like a Slashdot story to me.
Re: "hate crime" is the new "cyber crime" (Score:2)
Awwww, somebody picked up some big words. How cute!
Re: "hate crime" is the new "cyber crime" (Score:2)
There is a picture somewhere on the net of a hate graffiti incident. There are a bunch of crude figures drawn that are either poorly drawn dildoes with smiley faces, or some kind of novelty candle sticks. I guess they were supposed tonbe KKK, or something.
About as laughable as when I saw a graffiti that read "Hail Satin".
Re:"hate crime" is the new "cyber crime" (Score:4, Informative)
In addition, according to charging documents, a subsequent search of Vulchev’s vehicle and electronic devices revealed messages from Vulchev demonstrating Vulchev’s hatred of Black people, including recent messages from Vulchev in December 2020 calling to “eliminate all N****s.” In addition, the devices contained images demonstrating Vulchev’s racial animus toward Black people.
Pretty much the definition of a hate crime.
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Tons. Embezzlement is one. In fact, very few crimes are done to make the victim feel any which way - almost all of them are to satisfy some urge on the criminals part.
Re: "hate crime" is the new "cyber crime" (Score:3)
I get what you mean, but it is important to recognise intent in certain abhorrent acts as the based on unjust hatreds.
There are other crimes that involve greed, lust, etc. It's not like rich tax cheats hated being poor!
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Re: "hate crime" is the new "cyber crime" (Score:2)
Uhh. Theft. Neglect. Fraud. Urinating in public? Lots of vandalism, arson.
Then there are people who just don't care, and aren't emotionally driven.
I mean, serial killers, hello.
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Theft
Hate of being poor.
Neglect
Hate of paying attention to details.
Fraud
Hate of working hard
Urinating in public
Hate of walking with full bladder
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theft, fraud = money.
Re: "hate crime" is the new "cyber crime" (Score:2)
Hate crime just means additional punishment.
Do you have a hate crime in mind that you thought the punishment was too severe for?
Oh, do you prefer a more PC phrase bias motivated crime.
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If someone punches you in the face would you want them to receive a lower punishment because they also wanted to steal your wallet and phone?
Because that's what would happen if they also said at the time, "I'm sorry to do this to a person of your skin colour, I just want the money".
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2. That said, I've always found it really weird that, in terms of aggravating factors, we rank 'I victimized someone because of their race' to be somehow worse than 'I victimized someone because I just have poor impulse control' or 'I victimized someone because I didn't like their stupid hat'. These things all seem equally worthy of discouragement, and I don't super-want to live next door to an
Priorities (Score:4, Funny)
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It's mustache twirling wax, not grease.
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only for those that lack the style to use bacon grease . . .
and unlike old spice, not only the gals will chase you, but every random dog, cat, coyote . . .
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Real men use bear grease, preferably Grizzly.
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Doesn't America (or Tesla)have locking wheel nuts? (Score:2)
Theft of alloy wheels used to be a problem here until locking wheel nuts [mrtyre.com] became common. Is this not a problem in America too?