Cloned Trucks
Criminals are using cloned trucks to bypass security:
Savvy criminals are using some of the country’s most credible logos, including FedEx, Wal-Mart, DirecTV and the U.S. Border Patrol, to create fake trucks to smuggle drugs, money and illegal aliens across the border, according to a report by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
[…]
In August 2006, the Texas Department of Public Safety, on a routine traffic stop, found 3,058 pounds of marijuana and 204 kilograms of cocaine in a “cloned” Wal-Mart semi-trailer, driven by a man wearing a Wal-Mart uniform.
In another case, a truck painted with DirecTV and other markings was pulled over in a routine traffic stop in Mississippi and discovered to be carrying 786 pounds of cocaine.
This is the same problem as fake uniforms, and the more general problem of fake credentials. It’s very hard to solve.
EDITED TO ADD (2/6): Here’s someone who puts on a red shirt and predends to be a Target employee so he can steal stuff:
Police in North Miami Beach are looking for a man they say likes to pose as a Target employee while stealing pricey iPods, and the man allegedly knows so much about the store, he’s even helped customers who thought he was a real employee.
[…]
Investigators say McKenzie simply walks into the stores, wearing a red polo shirt, and pretends he works there. North Miami Beach police officials say he has extensive knowledge of Target procedures and has even assisted customers.
Anonymous • February 6, 2008 1:13 PM
I work with refugees and immigrants of all stripes, and the obsession Immigration and border control types have with reliable ID is patently insane. They all long for a card and a database slot to put it into, everyone numbered and known (servants of Revelation/Apolypse and and all see where this might go) and they will never ever get that, no matter how many insanely expensive phantasmagoric contracts they put out
There is no such thing as a single coded perfect ID ticket, and most certainly, there will never ever be one from a war zone. Duh.