Hertz to face 100 new false arrest claims from customers | Hacker News Reader

Hertz to face 100 new false arrest claims from customers

foxbusiness.com

50 pointscwwc21 comments

Hertz surely is partly responsible for these incidents, but I'd also say that the SWAT team-esque response, with a dozen officers drawing their guns on peaceful people, against those merely suspected of driving a "stolen" rental car, is both excessive and fairly draconian.

but but but officer safety /s

Living in Baltimore...a stolen car is a next level offense. Maybe it's justified? But it literally brings 10s of cops and a helicopter or two.

Cops, like any other predator, pick easy targets.

They're much less likely to get shot back at stopping stolen cars then they are kicking in the doors of people who know they are engaged in the kind of business that gets your door kicked in.

Sir, that Hyundai Sonata might be operated by someone without the proper authorization of Hertz and so we need air support for our entire platoon of heavily armed quasi-soldiers trained to open fire at the slightest perceived threat. Our officers are risking life and limb to perform the necessary public service of totally demolishing the occupants’ lives until they prove to the court that theyre normal people driving a rental car they paid for, and they deserve to be safe

The chain is probably a dozen people long. If any one of those dozen people had an incentive to give a lot of shits about false positives this wouldn't happen.

TBF, the cops don't know if the driver is an innocent office worker, falsely fingered by Hertz, or really is a criminal who has stolen the car.

The cops at this point ought to be pushing back against Hertz, telling them to get their shit together so that their officer's time & risk aren't being spent on these wild goose chases that just end up making them look bad.

I for one, am not going to be renting from Hertz or their other brands (Dollar, Thrifty). I don't want to get swatted by them.

It seems fine for these cases to become a traffic stop. But as soon as the driver produces documents saying they've legally got the car, the arrest shouldn't proceed unless Hertz claims the documents are false.

A quick phone call to Hertz customer service by the police officer should answer that question.

Why are these cases civil, and not criminal? If I make a false report to the police, in sure I'll get criminal charges against me. Why is it different of its a company?

I think what you are referring to is "piercing the corporate veil". This basically never happens in America.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piercing_the_corporate_veil

Corporations can be prosecuted criminally without piercing the corporate veil, it just doesn't do much.

I'm guessing that the fact that it doesn't do much is why it is so rare in the US.

You probably won't get compensated for a criminal case.

The problem is that a "false arrest" kicked off by a company needs to result in jail time for a company executive.

Anything short of that, and it's "just a cost of doing business".

Get the printed receipt when you return the vehicle.

Take time-stamped phots and beginning and end of rental.

Need an app that scans car plates and tells me if the car is reported stolen.

Or, more simply, I now need to remember to check that the car I'm assigned _matches the paperwork_'s license plate number. It's not something I would have considered necessary, but is a good idea nonetheless.

Papers Please has prepared me for this. Glory to Hertztotzka.

No, that's still the wrong solution. A computer telling an officer that a car has been stolen - that mechanism is too easy to abuse - it ends up hurting totally innocent people. In most of these cases the driver even showed the officer their paperwork - a rental agreement showing they have the right to use the car.

Don't let a computer tell the officer to pull out their gun.

I got news for you, basically everything we do is delivered by computers.

Also, isn't it a hertz employee reporting the crimes?

Would loooove to see the 'report a crime' API hertz is using.

Police already have ALPR in their cars, and the computer will tell them when they drive past a car that is flagged for any reason.

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