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My relentless pursuit of the guy who robbed me

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Re: My relentless pursuit of the guy who robbed me

#121

Post by brc »

philwelch wrote: post #74
brc wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I left my car unlocked and accidentally left the garage door up. I lost the stereo from the car, and suffered a lot of console damage as well. I had two surfboards, some tools and a set of CD's stolen. It was all completely my fault for bumping the garage door remote (I now leave it in the car, always). The insurance company paid up, both for the household items taken, and the car insurance for the stolen stereo and…

If you lived in a bad enough neighborhood and had an insurance policy like that, "accidentally" leaving your doors unlocked would be a cheap and easy insurance fraud--which is why some insurers are reluctant to cover people in that situation.

Well I always live in good neighbourhoods, so I guess the insurers don't mind in my case. My current policy also covers theft of items stored outside the house - bikes, ladders, furniture, etc.

Sometimes it's not always cheaper to live in bad areas, when you add up the total cost of living.

Re: My relentless pursuit of the guy who robbed me

#122

Post by jacobolus »

T_S_ wrote: post #78
brc wrote: post #32

I did some amateur sleuthing as well, but unfortunately the most high tech thing I used was a zoom lens on a digital camera. You see, my neighbourhood thief was knocking off pot plants and outdoor furniture. I saw him walking up the road several times with these items, but the guy looked like a 'roid rager so I wasn't about to start asking questions and figued he might be moving house locally. But then he made the mi…

How civilized to live in a country where criminals enjoy gardening as much as everyone else. I'm guessing that you live in England.

An architect/sculptor friend in Mexico was burglarized once, and when he came home ran gleefully from room to room to find out which sculpture the thieves had preferred. When he found out they’d only taken a couple radios and a TV, he was crestfallen.

Re: My relentless pursuit of the guy who robbed me

#123

Post by T_S_ »

brc wrote: post #118
T_S_ wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How civilized to live in a country where criminals enjoy gardening as much as everyone else. I'm guessing that you live in England.

Close, but think more southern hemisphere but still with a love of cricket. Believe it or not but plant theft is a problem. Easy to sell at a market, no markings, no trace, and people aren't suspicious.

Got it. Good on ya mate.

Re: My relentless pursuit of the guy who robbed me

#124

Post by zaphar »

_delirium wrote: post #106
davidw wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So we should just let him romp around, stealing what he feels like? I'm all for improving jails (and not filling them with people busted for drugs), but this guy sounds like he ought to be spending some time in a facility where he is not at liberty to steal people's things, however it's run. Like others have noted, he was already on probation for some other crime, which is likely what got him locked up, not simply st…

Distinguishing those cases is the trick, I suppose. Especially for first-time offenders, there are people who might be deterred from future offenses by being put on probation, once they've realized that they got caught and had better knock it off, who would instead turn into more hardened criminals if they're put in jail (and, with the current state of U.S. jails, likely end up joining a prison gang). But there are o…

I've always thought that a policy of repayment would be both the fairest and most deterrent policy. Jail time should be dependent not on time spent but on time to repayment. Theft should be considered a debt. Repayment of that debt should be worked off.

If thieves could count on having to do real work to repay debt that would both reduce the incentive to steal and possibly reduce sentence lengths for some cases. Spend several months working off a debt for a petty theft and room and board at the prison and that job at McDonalds starts looking a little better. Maybe even that GED.

The goal should be lower incentives for theft, raise incentives for real work and a clear demonstration to the thieves that their sentence is tied to the value of the stolen item.

This obviously doesn't apply in cases of physical violence or murder but for the cases you seem to be focusing on in your discussion I think it's superior to straight time based term.

Re: My relentless pursuit of the guy who robbed me

#125

Post by JeffL »

zaphar wrote: post #124
_delirium wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Distinguishing those cases is the trick, I suppose. Especially for first-time offenders, there are people who might be deterred from future offenses by being put on probation, once they've realized that they got caught and had better knock it off, who would instead turn into more hardened criminals if they're put in jail (and, with the current state of U.S. jails, likely end up joining a prison gang). But there are o…

I've always thought that a policy of repayment would be both the fairest and most deterrent policy. Jail time should be dependent not on time spent but on time to repayment. Theft should be considered a debt. Repayment of that debt should be worked off. If thieves could count on having to do real work to repay debt that would both reduce the incentive to steal and possibly reduce sentence lengths for some cases. Spen…

I do like the idea of repayment, but in practice, can most people in jails really earn any money with which to repay? Seems like there aren't that many unskilled jobs around anymore, especially ones that can take place inside of jail.

Re: My relentless pursuit of the guy who robbed me

#126

Post by Confusion »

bdigital wrote: post #38
Confusion wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He should have stolen the entire car before you would have him sent to prison? If someone were to pickpocket a single $1 bill from my pocket, I'd want him to be punished, to try and deter him from doing it again.

Well there are different theories of justice. Deterrence is certainly one, but rehabilitation is another theory that should be considered. I'm not sure what the correct response is, but the article conveyed an attitude that this was a clear cut narrative on the triumph of good over evil, casting herself as the heroine. Another perspective is that a common thief, desperate to make ends meet, becomes the victim of a vi…

Well, I certainly don't agree with you being downvoted into oblivion. It's a valid opinion and one that I may subscribe to if I had any reason to believe that you were right about the personal situation off the thief. But without the personal history of this thief, I have no reason to suppose he differs from most criminals, who often haven't really tried to make a regular living.

Re: My relentless pursuit of the guy who robbed me

#127

Post by zaphar »

JeffL wrote: post #125
zaphar wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've always thought that a policy of repayment would be both the fairest and most deterrent policy. Jail time should be dependent not on time spent but on time to repayment. Theft should be considered a debt. Repayment of that debt should be worked off. If thieves could count on having to do real work to repay debt that would both reduce the incentive to steal and possibly reduce sentence lengths for some cases. Spen…

I do like the idea of repayment, but in practice, can most people in jails really earn any money with which to repay? Seems like there aren't that many unskilled jobs around anymore, especially ones that can take place inside of jail.

Just because there aren't now doesn't mean there can't be. Even if it's make work it might still fill the bill.

Re: My relentless pursuit of the guy who robbed me

#128

Post by shoover »

jakevoytko wrote: post #56

This highlights the value of contingency planning and tenacity. With the suspect's photo in the McDonald's, the police might have been able to find him, and convict him for possession of stolen property, especially with his criminal history. But the author wasn't done! She turned his email address into his complete online identity. This provided an extra link to the crime, the stolen GPS, and some extra supporting in…

Oh, she was lucky, all right. She didn't have to go to the BMV to replace her driver license.

Re: My relentless pursuit of the guy who robbed me

#129

Post by brianmwang »

suprgeek wrote: post #5

Tucked into this tale is also a cautionary warning: be careful about what you post online. In this particular case I applaud the victim on her tenacity and the thief was a not-very-tech-savvy person. However if the roles were reversed and the offender was the tech savvy one, imagine the havoc that could be wrought on someones life.

See: 4chan

Re: My relentless pursuit of the guy who robbed me

#130

Post by nw »

OtherMichael wrote: post #61
brc wrote: post #32

I did some amateur sleuthing as well, but unfortunately the most high tech thing I used was a zoom lens on a digital camera. You see, my neighbourhood thief was knocking off pot plants and outdoor furniture. I saw him walking up the road several times with these items, but the guy looked like a 'roid rager so I wasn't about to start asking questions and figued he might be moving house locally. But then he made the mi…

Given that you gave a photo of your "pot plant" to the police, I'm going to assume that it was not what I first thought it was....

It's a British usage
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