Originally published at: Police in Maryland chase stolen 5-ton military vehicle | Boing Boing
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Fun fact! It’s called a 5-ton because it can carry five tons. It actually weighs 10 tons.
Fun fact! US military vehicles usually don’t have an ignition key to start the engine, just a manual switch. You lock them by using a padlock. This makes them not too difficult to steal.
Fun facts!
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I’m sure the cops were highly motivated to confiscate it and add it to the rest of their military gear.
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Woohoo, civil asset forfiture baby!
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I don’t think so @NukeML it was taken from the righful owner illegally. The owner did not commit the crime therefore his vehicle would not be tried.
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True. But I wouldn’t put it past cops to take assets that aren’t their’s
ETA: no spel gud
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I know some people enjoyed this “gritty” reboot of the “Fast & the Furious” franchise, but to be honest I was hoping for something with a little more ‘zing’ to it.
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With civil asset forfeiture, you have to prove that the truck is innocent.
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We can’t rule out the possibility of an inside job.
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Related fun fact that has long been one of the best kept secrets in crime- construction machinery doesn’t have keys either. At least, it never used to. I think nowadays they do, and the doors lock if nothing else. But older machines have nothing to stop you from getting in, turning on the intake heater, and pushing the starter.
I was always fascinated by that from the moment my dad taught me to operate machinery on the farm. From then on, every time I drive by a road crew after hours, with all the machines just sitting around, I’d always think, “there’s nothing stopping anyone from getting in those and driving them away”. I mean, you wouldn’t get far at 4mph and a D9 Cat is a little bit difficult to move inconspicuously, but still, the possibility is there.
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Pros turn up at the work site with a flatbed and the paperwork “proving” that the rented/leased [enter machine] is due to be replaced/serviced and they’re here to pick it up. And that a new [insert machine] is on its way and due any minute. And get the on-site operator to drive [insert machine] on the flatbed.
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That must be why they do have keys nowadays. 
Crime used to be so much easier in the good old days. 
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I immediately thought of the Grand Theft Auto franchise, especially because of this one detail:
I think we’ve all played the game that way, right?
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Just to add, the thief would had a much harder time had he tried stealing a 2.5 ton truck (aka deuce-n-half). Double-clutch!
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This is similar to what likely what prevented most construction vehicle theft prior to the thieves learning to rent flatbeds. The average schmo off the street would never be able to get a big industrial diesel started from cold. It’s a whole art and science getting those big girls to turn over and catch.
This is not quite security-through-obscurity. Security through minimum skill required to operate? Not as catchy. 
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Nor do most military planes and civilian heavy aircraft.
Which is why this happened:
And why there’s a group of professional repo pilots who can repo large luxury aircraft.
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We do have handy locks that you can secure around one or more circuit breakers as part of lockout-tagout precautions. But yeah, there’s no ignition key on a Boeing 747!
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And a lot of things that have a key use something like the the 1284x or CH751 which are so universal as to basically not be a lock. People may refrain from stealing a full tower crane at some sites, but a lot of bobcats go missing.
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I think I’ve seen construction sites that suspend heavy equipment off the ground-- can’t drive off the bulldozer if it’s 6 feet off the ground, I don’t really understand if this is a common practice, or if anti-theft is the rationale.
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