But, once again, to put things in perspective, anywhere in South Africa today, routinely giving rides to strangers is regarded as suicidal-the idea of Casual Car Pooling would be regarded as insane. And the robbers would probably NOT have been apprehended by the police, as they have been in Oakland.
Another anecdote that could put things in perspective: in 2009, my sister-in-law, who was a student, was abducted from a petrol station in a nicer part of Johannesburg, by an knife-weilding vagrant, driven around, threatened with rape, and taken to an ATM to withdraw cash, before the vagrant left her car. There was a camera at the petrol station, and at the ATM. The cops came (I insisted that she call the cops, she didn't even want to bother). The police did nothing after taking her statement- they were supposed to send a sketch artist, but he never pitched. The idea of going to look at the CCTV footage probably never entered the cops' minds. I'm sure the criminal still hangs around in the same area. There was obviously no media coverage of the story - such things are too routine. The bank did station a full-time security guard at the ATM after I contacted them.
I am merely pointing out that comparing the situation described in OP to what's happened in South Africa is overly alarmist. And the idea that rent-a-cops are a new phenomenon in the US is also not accurate.
But, once again, to put things in perspective, anywhere in South Africa today, routinely giving rides to strangers is regarded as suicidal-the idea of Casual Car Pooling would be regarded as insane. And the robbers would probably NOT have been apprehended by the police, as they have been in Oakland.
Another anecdote that could put things in perspective: in 2009, my sister-in-law, who was a student, was abducted from a petrol station in a nicer part of Johannesburg, by an knife-weilding vagrant, driven around, threatened with rape, and taken to an ATM to withdraw cash, before the vagrant left her car. There was a camera at the petrol station, and at the ATM. The cops came (I insisted that she call the cops, she didn't even want to bother). The police did nothing after taking her statement- they were supposed to send a sketch artist, but he never pitched. The idea of going to look at the CCTV footage probably never entered the cops' minds. I'm sure the criminal still hangs around in the same area. There was obviously no media coverage of the story - such things are too routine. The bank did station a full-time security guard at the ATM after I contacted them.
I am merely pointing out that comparing the situation described in OP to what's happened in South Africa is overly alarmist. And the idea that rent-a-cops are a new phenomenon in the US is also not accurate.