The Press has a hilarious story about one Ralph Williams who outsmarted cops who placed tracking devices in two cars he used – he ripped out the devices, traced their transmissions to a particular police officer, and then placed the devices on Trademe!

Williams said he found the devices concealed behind panels in the passenger-side footwells of the cars. They were marked with the name Trimble, an international company that produces GPS location devices.

Williams took apart one of the devices and found a sim card, which he put into a cellphone. He found the device was sending location text messages to Shaw’s mobile number.

Williams placed one of the devices on Trade Me with a price of $250.

Now here at Pacific Empire we have great respect for the police in most matters, but it sounds like Raph was under surveillance for no good reason. He also gets anti-police sympathy points because spent time in prison for a victimless crime – selling marijuana.

On a completely unrelated note, the New Yorker has a really interesting article about the effect of light pollution on our view of the night sky. I certainly know that when I visit my parents in Stratford, Taranaki, the stars look much brighter.

If you liked that article, you’ll probably love Celestia, the open-source astronomy program which gives a beautiful free-flight view of our solar system and the Milky Way. Phil and I have enjoyed it for years.

Update:  Phil here.  Fans of The Wire will note similarities between the hapless cop Shaw’s real-life predicament detailed above, trying to get his $250 tracking device returned, and Herc of The Wire’s potentially career-ending drama involving an unauthorised surveillance camera stolen by the intended target, Marlo Stanfield.  In fact, the experienced kingpin Prop Joe had counseled Marlo to steal the camera, in order to find out whether it was placed by local cops – who would seek to have the expensive camera returned – or the FBI, who would let it go to keep their operation secret.  NZ police (and criminals) could learn a few tricks if they watched the show more often…

Posted by Luke H on Monday, September 10th, 2007 at 6:42 pm.