Salvage Values

swordtart · 02-22-2020, 02:03 AM

Gangs in my game sell at the auctions. You only need one "face" who has an air of respectability who can haul all your stuff to a nearby truck stop. There are enough outsiders there (gypsy truckers for example) that grey goods are less difficult to sell on. Also gangs wear colours to identify themselves when raiding, once they take them off, they can easily become anonymous.

IRL, if you buy stolen goods you are guilty of "receiving stolen property" and can be arrested. A quirk of UK law is that if you bought at public auction you are assumed innocent of that crime (indeed the police here auction off recovered stolen property themselves). The vendor can still be charged, but it removes the risk to the buyer. Perhaps the legal position is that you are entitled to assume that goods bought in the open are legitimate. Similarly buying illegal goods via storage or lost luggage auctions. If your lot when opened contained a kilo of heroin you would not be charged with possession (unless you decided to keep it of course).

We also consider the truck stops to be neutral zones. Whilst a gang of bikers could be bandits, they equally might not. This allows law enforcement to conduct negotiations with criminal elements to reduce the impact of them on their local areas (police forces are underfunded and must be pragmatic).

If you try to sell a whole car in the town you boosted it from you can expect to be caught. If you sell the plant from that car a few towns over, there is practically very little to connect you to the original crime and even if they suspect the police will probably turn a blind eye as they don't have the resources to investigate every opportunist. If you bring in a plant every day you will self-identify as a probable-wrecker and you can expect questions on where you are getting them.

02-22-2020, 02:03 AM	#5
swordtart Join Date: Jun 2008	Re: Salvage Values Gangs in my game sell at the auctions. You only need one "face" who has an air of respectability who can haul all your stuff to a nearby truck stop. There are enough outsiders there (gypsy truckers for example) that grey goods are less difficult to sell on. Also gangs wear colours to identify themselves when raiding, once they take them off, they can easily become anonymous. IRL, if you buy stolen goods you are guilty of "receiving stolen property" and can be arrested. A quirk of UK law is that if you bought at public auction you are assumed innocent of that crime (indeed the police here auction off recovered stolen property themselves). The vendor can still be charged, but it removes the risk to the buyer. Perhaps the legal position is that you are entitled to assume that goods bought in the open are legitimate. Similarly buying illegal goods via storage or lost luggage auctions. If your lot when opened contained a kilo of heroin you would not be charged with possession (unless you decided to keep it of course). We also consider the truck stops to be neutral zones. Whilst a gang of bikers could be bandits, they equally might not. This allows law enforcement to conduct negotiations with criminal elements to reduce the impact of them on their local areas (police forces are underfunded and must be pragmatic). If you try to sell a whole car in the town you boosted it from you can expect to be caught. If you sell the plant from that car a few towns over, there is practically very little to connect you to the original crime and even if they suspect the police will probably turn a blind eye as they don't have the resources to investigate every opportunist. If you bring in a plant every day you will self-identify as a probable-wrecker and you can expect questions on where you are getting them.