Another photographer was the victim of a robbery in Oakland, San Francisco according to multiple reports although, thankfully, no one was injured in this case unlike others we reported on in the past.
Indeed, most news outlets are drawing attention to the recent violent robbery of a camera crew in Oakland not too long ago wherein a security guard was killed.
Prior to that, we’ve covered stories about thieves following a photographer for hours only to rob him at his home as well as those bold enough to steal at popular tourist attractions.
San Francisco Chronicle’s Editor in Chief Emilio Garcia-Ruiz commented on the theft, saying, “Any incident in which a person is robbed of their possessions at gunpoint is incredibly troubling. We are relieved that our colleague was not physically injured. We are a part of this community and we will not retreat from providing the news and information it needs.”
As PetaPixel highlights, and as our reporting details, it seems like there are an awful lot of camera equipment robberies in the San Francisco area and violent ones at that. We’ve discussed in the past how easy it is to steal camera gear and how it is attractive for not only this reason but also second-hand-market values for most of it tend to be pretty high.
That said, we’ve also discussed how camera manufacturers can make it harder to resell equipment or perhaps even establish databases for stolen goods. After all, most of this stuff will need to be repaired at some point so it’s not like you can just get a really fancy Nikon on the cheap then never place it into an official channel for one reason or the other. The way this thinking goes is that you’re going to find that stolen camera eventually so why not make it easier while people can still be punished for the crime?
If you have any thoughts on what could be done to make camera equipment less attractive to thieves, we’d love to hear them in the comments below.
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