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Yet again: Police say man kidnapped woman outside Boston bar, drove her to Rhode Island and raped her
By adamg on Thu, 01/09/2020 - 8:24pm
The Globe reports on the charges against Alvin Campbell Jr., which officials say started with an incident in which Campbell pretended to be a ride-share driver outside the Harp on Causeway Street.
Campbell, who is no stranger to police, is the brother of City Councilor Andrea Campbell. Their brother Andre died in custody while awaiting trial.
The incident was at least the third in which authorities say a man kidnapped a woman outside of Boston bar or club last year.
In February, Jassy Correia, 23, was kidnapped after leaving Venu in the Theater District; her body was found in a Providence apartment.
In January, another woman was kidnapped after leaving Hennessy's on Union Street; she was found alive in a man's apartment in Charlestown.
Innocent, etc.
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Comments
Uber has always had the
Uber has always had the license plate number of the vehicle picking you up displayed on screen. For the past few months you receive a second message reminding you to check the plate before getting in the car. Most Uber and Lyfts I see have illuminated signs. What other measures can be taken? Should bar security staff start paying more attention to over-served patrons when they exit?
Re: Uber has always had the
These attacks are awful.
Some Lyft and Uber cars still don't have those neon signs yet. I've ridden a couple of legitimate cars that didn't display them. Before I get in, I take great care to ensure the description of the car, the license plate, and the driver match, plus I expect them to know my name.
I also don't leave any place late at night alone anymore.
So far, I have been treated well, but I wish these car services would require that the cars show these signs prominently. If Uber and Lyft won't make them mandatory, I hope the city and/or the state will. It won't solve all of the problems, but it might help.
How hard is it to get a neon
How hard is it to get a neon sign if you're not actually a driver?
I think they should require the license plate number to be displayed on the sides of the car, like the medallion number on a taxi. You shouldn't have to walk around to the back of the car to check it.
Is this the reputation Boston
Is this the reputation Boston deserves ? A city that is unsafe for women? I think it’s beginning to earn that title.
You might know if it does or not
If you ever left Boston for a city that is in the top 100 for such things.
Not anything new, nor limited to Boston
Do you think this is a new phenomenon? It's just a new way of doing what's been done forever. And, sadly, kidnap and rape are pretty universal.
nobody
should be put away for non violent drug use.
and we owe it mexico to legalize most of the shit anyway.
Always ask the driver what your name is
Lyft (and I assume Uber) sends the driver your first name. I never get in a ride share without checking that the driver knows it - a fake one won't.
Uber does give the driver's first name
As well as the plate number and a brief vehicle description.
Rideshare
The rideshare driver cancels suddenly and this predator just happens upon his victim and knows her name? I hope the driver that cancelled is being investigated.
When daughter takes an Uber,
When daughter takes an Uber, she always forwards the drivers information to me and her bf before being picked up. Not sure how much it helps, but it does give her some sense of safety.
This poor woman. Unfortunately these rapist assholes are using the ride share programs to further their terrorism. Throw the book at them.
Uber just added a PIN verification service to help combat
this kind of crime. From their email yesterday:
"After opting in, you’ll receive a unique 4-digit PIN whenever you request a ride. Before entering your driver’s vehicle, tell them your PIN; if they are the driver the app matched you with, they’ll be able to start the trip after they enter your PIN into their app.
You can also verify that you’re getting into the right car by making sure that the driver matches their profile photo and that the license plate number and car make and model match what’s shown in your app."
I plan to use this, and I suggest you do, too.
How is this supposed to help?
How is this supposed to help?
Why wouldn't the bad guy just say "Oh yeah, I just entered your PIN, let's go!"
It seems like it would make more sense if they gave the driver a PIN and you had to enter it into your app.
I plan to watch as they enter the PIN, see it accepted
by the app, and start the trip in the app before entering the vehicle.
That might work, if the guy
That might work, if the guy doesn't just enter it quickly and say "all set". How are you going to watch him before you get in the car? Walk around to the driver's side and stand in traffic with your head stuck in the window?
I'm not busting your balls to be a jerk, but this sounds like a really terrible attempt at a solution. Most people won't even bother to check. They'll either wait until they're already sitting in the car or just read the number to him from the sidewalk and not be able to see what he's doing with his phone.
This is actually dangerous because it will give people a false sense of security, whereas it presumably would have been trivially simple to do it the opposite way and actually give people some protection.
It turns out that the email I quoted above leaves out
a crucial step, the fact that the rider's app flashes a "verified" message if the correct driver enters the PIN.
This video shows how it works: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nza3udC73zo
1. You enable "Verify" in your app settings (a one-time thing)
2. You summon an Uber and get a unique PIN for that ride
3. You give the driver the PIN when s/he arrives.
4. The driver enters it, your app signals you "Your ride is verified."
That seems pretty well-thought-out.
OK
That makes more sense.
Or
Just asking the driver, "what's the name of the person you're picking up" would work almost as well. If they don't know your name (as seen on the app), they aren't a real driver.
What's going on?
Did this kind of stuff happen when people jumped into cabs not knowing anything about the driver and we just didn't hear about it? I'm genuinely curious. I never used cabs much because they rarely came to Roxbury and I don't use Uber or Lyft because public transit works for me.