Word: crimeds
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...pictures of crime in Middle America...
...busiest ports in the world: nearly every car - new or used - passes through its docks on the way out of Germany. And this week, the police charged with patrolling the harbor released evidence showing that Germany's hugely popular cash-for-clunkers program may have some unintended beneficiaries: organized-crime groups and individuals who export the old cars to the Third World instead of crushing them into scrap. (Watch a video on how the cars-for-clunkers process works...
...steel companies. But with scrap prices taking a dive, some dealers are eying the bigger profits that come from selling the cars abroad. "The problem is that there is no supervision of the companies to ensure that they actually scrap the cars," says Frank Wolff, director of the environmental-crime division of the Hamburg police. "These firms are supposed to turn the cars into scrap, but instead, some are selling them to buyers in Africa." (Read "Cash for Clunkers: How Big an Environmental Boost...
...cars, but if they don't, it's only considered a minor violation, not a criminal offense. "It just opens the door for abuse," says Ronald Schulze, an official at the Federation of German Detectives. "We can't charge them with fraud because lawmakers failed to define the crime." (See the 50 worst cars of all time...
...abuse could have been prevented if lawmakers had also created a control system to track each car from the point of hand over to the scrap heap. And the police could have prosecuted dealers who sell the cars instead of scrapping them if lawmakers had made it a crime. Instead, the hands of the police are tied, and as Germany's cash-for-clunkers program runs its course - it's limited to 2 million cars - public interest in cases of abuse will likely fade...