If these things are all being set up using cell phones and the so-called social media tools, then it should be not too difficult to identify all or most of the members of these flash mobs. Identify at least one person who was involved; subpoena their phone records and social media records (in this case, the fetish that facebook and others have for putting all of their systems together and tracking their users across different domains becomes a potent weapon); trace from the communication(s) that relate to the flash mob to see who this person communicated with, and follow the chain of communications until you’ve identified all or substantially all of the potential participants; question those identified to see if there’s any reasonable explanation for their participation in the communication about the flash mob and whether there is any evidence that they did not participate; finally, identify the ringleaders and if you can show that they have set up or worked on at least three flash mobs involved in criminal activity, prosecute every single person who participated in that flash mob under the relevant state RICO act.
This is more a failure of imagination on the part of the public prosecutors than it is of the police.
these people don’t need “social media” to form....it seems almost natural for these gangs of animals to form up because singularly, they’re cowards....
I have heard of a store that was frequently being robbed putting in a mini-cell phone tower inside the store. Since most of these youts have cell phones, and dont think to live their phones in the car, it was easy for the police to match the cell phone numbers and pick them up. Videos on exits allowed for easy identification in court.