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Earlier quoted context omitted.
Thefts at train stations and bike thefts are very common in Switzerland. Japan is by far much safer than any European country.
Japan is quite safe, but has an organized crime problem.
If you leave your wallet on the ground in a park in SF, the chances you’ll get it back are probably pretty high. If you leave it in your locked car, your car will probably get broken into. Thieves are strategic. They’re not looking around in parks for lost wallets, nor are they going to libraries hoping they can lift a bunch of unattended books.
Career thieves wouldn't scour a park for wallets, no, but many people are opportunistic thieves. If they happen upon money with no one in sight, they'll just take it, without thinking it's a big deal. The case in the article matches the second model, not the first. Hundreds of people realised they were in a library with no staff. Two-hundred books were taken out, presumably without anyone having to log their names. T…
Two of my favorite related articles:
- Serendipity in robbery target selection[1]. Interviews with chronic robbers talks about how they cruise around looking for marks. They are strategic though in their "foraging".
- The role of territoriality in crime prevention: A field experiment[2]. Experiment with leaving a $10 gift card on a desk in Uni library. (So similar to here, unlikely people going to library intending to steal.) There were thefts - in one condition 1/30 people who passed by nicked the card.
Since a single chronic offender can commit many crimes, the current patterns of car break ins in cities are IMO likely driven by a small number of "professional" offenders, moreso than victim behavior.
[1] http://www.d-ddaily.com/images/6-1-15_Serendipity%20in%20Rob...
[2] https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1301910/1/Wortley_%26_...
At least in Finland it wouldn't make much difference if the library is open or not. Even when there's staff, it's up to you to scan the books you take out and the staff doesn't control this at all. Many similar situations, e.g. self-scanning items in-store and bagging them, where stealing carries essentially zero risk of getting caught, but stealing doesn't happen much.
At least in Finland it wouldn't make much difference if the library is open or not. Even when there's staff, it's up to you to scan the books you take out and the staff doesn't control this at all. Many similar situations, e.g. self-scanning items in-store and bagging them, where stealing carries essentially zero risk of getting caught, but stealing doesn't happen much.
Yes, I was going to say this. Not sure if the books use any kind of alarm system? Here Im pretty sure they cannot be using it, since you can scan the books up to like 10 at a time via RFC (?) and Ive never seen a magnetic alarm tag being deactivated at that distance. Also, our local library recently closed down the possibility of entering with your library card at extended times, due to abuse of some kind.
https://360.northmanvr.com/F1utgPQ3E0/12117837p&152.57h&75.2...
Recently, we were at a resort in Switzerland. Arguably one of the safest countries on earth. But: as we exited the swimming pool house, our umbrella was gone. I said „what an irony, the first time we have something stolen is in Switzerland“. Two hours later, the umbrella was again where we had left it: someone must have borrowed it to protect themselves/their children from heavy rain. We understood why there were no…
Thefts at train stations and bike thefts are very common in Switzerland. Japan is by far much safer than any European country.
If you leave your wallet on the ground in a park in SF, the chances you’ll get it back are probably pretty high. If you leave it in your locked car, your car will probably get broken into. Thieves are strategic. They’re not looking around in parks for lost wallets, nor are they going to libraries hoping they can lift a bunch of unattended books.
About 7 or 8 years ago I lost my wallet in Golden Gate Park while tripping incredibly hard on LSD. I had been climbing around the trees and scrub for hours, so I was certain it was gone for good. A few months later it showed up in my mail halfway across the country (driver's license address). I was astonished, grateful, and wished I could send a reward or thanks — but it was literally just my wallet in a bubble maile…
Is there normally some security system keeping people from just taking books from a library?
Probably easy to circumvent. But enough to keep honest people honest.
It is sort of a fallacy to expect mayhem just because some door is unlocked once. People can happen to sleep or go away on vacation with their home unlocked and the normal result of that is plain nothing happening.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Just what we need, another place with video surveillance to make it even more normalized. Orwell missed only by about thirty years.
George Orwell never had to see a homeless person throw a tantrum because the library computers' nanny-ware starting blocking the proxy he used to visit Pornhub.
But he wouldn't be surprised at all that homeless persons would be used as a pretext for spying.