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Earlier this week, officers from the NYPD descended on Canal Street and shut down more than two dozen businesses that were selling fake handbags, wallets, and watches. But maybe the normally clever counterfeiters in the area should have seen it coming?

NYC the Blog points out that a few weeks before the raid went down, the NYPD set up a couple of elevated towers on Canal Street—or "Skywatch" mobile surveillance systems, as the NYPD refers to them—presumably as part of an effort to gather intelligence in advance of a raid.

Let's all take this as a lesson, shall we? If you're doing something you're not supposed to be doing, and the police come along and set up the sort of military installation that's typically used in places like Iraq (but still looks like a glorified lifeguard tower), and it happens to be located about 10 feet away from you, it's probably a good sign that you should move along.

Canal Street Crack Down; NYPD Watches From The Sky [NYC the Blog]
Staring Down SkyWatch [Animal NY]