20 Parking Meter Pay Boxes Stolen Off City Streets
Is It For The Money, Or A Political Statement?
There’s been a parking meter pay box crime spree going on in Chicago, according to the Chicago Sun-Times, and originally broken by the Second City Cop blog this past Friday.
Since September 17th, approximately 20 of the new, high tech pay and display parking meters have been stolen off city streets. So far four units have been recovered according to police.
More than half the pay box thefts have occurred in Area 5, which is generally the northwest part of the city. Area 5 police detectives have been working with LAZ Parking staff hopefully get to the bottom of the parking meter caper.
Removing five foot tall monstrosities would be quite a feat as, beyond weighing 200 lbs, they are also bolted to the cement.
The effort involved in removing and opening one of these units would not seem worth the amount of the quarters stored inside the machine. Because the pay boxes accept credit and debit cards and meter rates have increased so dramatically, it’s not a surprise that the bulk of the payment transactions are not paid in coin.
In addition, there’s been no shortage of Chicago citizens who’ve been angered by the entire parking meter lease deal fiasco.
Are the boxes being stolen for the quarters inside, or is this more of a political statement?
Or perhaps the CPD should monitor eBay for leads?
UPDATE: Chicago Parking Meters, LLC is assuring drivers utilizing their pay boxes via their website, their credit card data is safe.
The pay boxes transmit financial data via encrypted wireless connection to financial institutions. The credit card data is never stored in the units themselves.
The Sun-Times also has a solid update on this issue as well.
The truth is that they’re becoming sentient, generating the ability to move on tiny treads and leaving Chicago before the winter freezes their buttons.
PS
They are all being led South Pied Piper style by the Google self driving car.
Its public disobedience…plain and simple.
No one is going to risk serious Jail time for theft of City Property for a few hundred bucks in change.
While there are issues in that Area…..this is not normal.
Area 5: 5555 W Grand Ave
014 2150 N California Ave
015 5327 W Chicago Ave
016 5151 N Milwaukee Ave
017 4461 N Pulaski Rd
025 5555 W Grand Ave
Winky is awesome. And I think (s)he is right!
DoR-
I tend to agree with you. Except, there are some rough areas of Area 5.
Is it possible it’s an inside job? Someone with the tools and knowledge how to install/de-install these things?
This warms my heart.
This warms my heart.
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Stealing them for the quarters don’t make sense, given the effort. Now, when someone pays with a credit card, is the information transmitted and not stored? If it’s stored until later, the thief might get the data, unless seriously encrypted. If doing it for the money, you’d be a lot better knocking off an ATM.
Political statement? Probably, with a load of solid quarters as a crappy bonus. The thieves do have one advantage. They are less likely to be turned in by onlookers because everyone hates the meter deal – except for the black hole/bank named Morgan Stanley.
All you need is a …………well…………you can get the tools at any hardware store…
An inside job would be something like the Theft of Credit Card numbers as they are swiped.
4×4…tow strap…
4×4…tow strap…
4×4…tow strap…
4×4…tow strap…
4×4…tow strap…
4×4…tow strap…
Endless fun for all!
I like the 4×4 idea! Or zapping them with a homemade tazer or something like that.
I want one of these, I am fantasizing about having the printer on my front seat, and being able to print out a tag any time I need it. FOR FREE.
Someone in San Francisco was selling giant stickers to place over the solar panels on top . . . I thought that was pretty clever civil disobedience.
The boxes are bolted down, that’s what wrenches are for!
This starting to happen with red light cameras which don’t take cash or credit cards in the traditional sense, they do it by mail.
Face it there are a number of city areas the blue routinely avoid patrolling for good reason.
The machine theft is a statement of public frustration with city gouging. No machine no ticket, plausible deniability.
Cynics don’t believe much of what they see and of what the city claims. Without proof it’s very possible the machines do have hard drives which may or may not do a scheduled data dump, but it’s doubtful anyone at LAZ or the city will admit it. That’s why when you use your plastic always state it’s a credit card not a debit card. That way your PIN won’t be transmitted.
I like the sticker idea. Put the sticker (that looks like the solar panel) on the solar panel and the battery will die after the while. Is it free speech or vandalism?
it’s vandalism – but who give a fuck?
[...] the past five weeks, over 20 parking meter pay boxes have been uprooted and stolen on the West and Northwest sides of the [...]