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How I Busted a Thief Who Tried to Sell My Camera on Craigslist

petapixel.com

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Re: How I Busted a Thief Who Tried to Sell My Camera on Craigslist

#161

Post by gknoy »

gyardley wrote: post #90
jfim wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Out of curiosity, why does the trunk have a particular legal status?

In America, police only have to show 'reasonable suspicion' rather than probable cause to search a person and his immediate surroundings for weapons - and if they find something else that's illegal while searching for 'weapons', you're out of luck. Since the trunk is out of reach of the driver, it can't be part of this 'reasonable suspicion' search - unlike, say, the glove compartment. For the trunk, police need your…

Sound advice, and a good explanation. I prefer not to own (or use) contraband, but even so I would prefer to exercise my rights and ask for a warrant before a truck search.

Re: How I Busted a Thief Who Tried to Sell My Camera on Craigslist

#162

Post by biff »

weisser wrote: post #157

Is this FB screenshot from the blog the actual person that stole the camera? http://cdn.petapixel.com/assets/uploads/2013/03/facebooksear... Over 22k followers? It seems like this was a fairly petty crime for someone with that strong of an influence. I wonder if the motivation was monetary or for the sheer thrill of stealing and reselling something...

I suspect it isn't. The writer is in the Bay area according to a blurb at the bottom of the article, where the FB account in the screenshot is listed as from New York.

Re: How I Busted a Thief Who Tried to Sell My Camera on Craigslist

#163

Post by JDGM »

My headmaster in primary school once gave a great assembly on keelhauling where he went into all the gory details of this punishment. As an 8 year old boy, I was gripped.

The part which has really stayed with me is that he said the only offense for which keelhauling was the automatic punishment was stealing. The reason he told us was that on a ship everyone has to trust each other and theft ruins that system. Stealing a shipmate's property, no matter how small, puts the whole ship in danger.

I often wonder whether it would be a net improvement to extend that severity for theft beyond a boat. Whenever I lock up my bike it bothers me what this simple act is saying about society. I now live in a country where it feels as though theft carries a far greater level of social unacceptability, a far higher level of shame associated with it. I like that. In the UK where I grew up however, sometimes taking things that are not yours is reframed as a kind of opportunistic cunning and craftiness. I hate that.

Re: How I Busted a Thief Who Tried to Sell My Camera on Craigslist

#164

Post by hncommenter13 »

SomeCallMeTim wrote: post #155
rdl wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know of people who had various robberies and burglaries committed; the police wanted them to file an online police report, rather than sending officers out (I guess you could go to the PD, too). Anything where I wasn't legally required to interact with the Oakland PD (i.e. a shooting or something with serious bodily harm, or filing a report on insured property like GTA), I'd avoid them. Armed robbery would be about…

>Oakland Fire is actually totally fine, which is weird. Remember the Oakland Hills Fire? A direct result of complete incompetence of the Oakland fire department. Hundreds of homes burned in Oakland. Barely any in Berkeley. (For those not familiar with local geography, driving along the ridge it's almost impossible to tell when you've left Oakland an entered Berkeley; the fire certainly wouldn't have been able to tell…

I don't dispute your account, as I don't know the particulars.

One minor quibble, though. Unless you're specifically talking about water tankers sitting unused, most fire engines carry a fairly limited amount of water in their internal tanks (technically, a "truck" has ladders, while, in SF at least, an "engine" has a water tank + a pump + hose lines).

In San Francisco, newer engines have a 500 gallon internal tank. That sounds like a lot, but the rated capacity of the pump is 1500 gallons/min, meaning at full flow (150 psi) you have 20 seconds of water. At best, with a small line at a low pressure, you have a few minutes of water.

Again, not saying you're wrong or repositioning the engines wouldn't have helped. But unless it's a trash can fire, the first order of business at a working fire (structure or wildland) is securing a dependable water supply.

Re: How I Busted a Thief Who Tried to Sell My Camera on Craigslist

#165

Post by starky »

I was reading this story and found myself smiling after every paragraph because I had gone through pretty much the exact same story. Except that it was a Nintendo Wii soon after it came out.

In my case the police officer that got the guys information after I brought it in decided to go meet the guy himself because he recognized the name. Had the console hand delivered to me that night after matching the serial number.

Re: How I Busted a Thief Who Tried to Sell My Camera on Craigslist

#166

Post by ceol »

kelnos wrote: post #108
ceol wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think they're counting the loss of the merchandise. So a chargeback for a $10,000 TV would be like losing $10,000 plus whatever the cost of the TV was for the store.

But it's not. Getting paid $10k and giving it back is net zero.

Like everyone else said, it's not exactly that. It's like getting paid $10k in exchange for a TV, then giving it back but not getting the TV back in return.

Re: How I Busted a Thief Who Tried to Sell My Camera on Craigslist

#167

Post by SomeCallMeTim »

hncommenter13 wrote: post #164
SomeCallMeTim wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Oakland Fire is actually totally fine, which is weird. Remember the Oakland Hills Fire? A direct result of complete incompetence of the Oakland fire department. Hundreds of homes burned in Oakland. Barely any in Berkeley. (For those not familiar with local geography, driving along the ridge it's almost impossible to tell when you've left Oakland an entered Berkeley; the fire certainly wouldn't have been able to tell…

I don't dispute your account, as I don't know the particulars. One minor quibble, though. Unless you're specifically talking about water tankers sitting unused, most fire engines carry a fairly limited amount of water in their internal tanks (technically, a "truck" has ladders, while, in SF at least, an "engine" has a water tank + a pump + hose lines). In San Francisco, newer engines have a 500 gallon internal tank.…

I was led to believe that there were huge water tankers (like gas tankers, but full of water) sitting idle for lack of leadership. But I could have misunderstood.

I agree though that the loss of power (and lack of backup power) to the pumping stations was probably the biggest problem. I remember hearing that a number of people saved the private high school "CPS" from burning down using the water in the pool to keep the fire at bay; I'm not clear how they did this, though (if fire fighters were involved, I'd imagine they would be able to use their trucks to pump the water, but the story as I heard it was a bunch of teachers and/or students fighting the fires back). So yes, if you've got water, it's easier to fight a fire.

Re: How I Busted a Thief Who Tried to Sell My Camera on Craigslist

#168

Post by enjo »

meric wrote: post #60
ISL wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

After having my car stolen, and a bunch of stuff taken, I was surprised to find that ~25% of the folks I talked with about it had the same sentiment; that it's stupid to leave things in a car. Where I grew up, everyone left stuff in cars. Nobody stole things. Worked great. Why is it okay for people to steal stuff in cities, but not in small towns? Do you take your car-fixing tools (~2 BTC, these days) out of your car…

Do you at least hide the valuables in the car so you can't see them through the window?

I certainly do now. I was 22 when my first computer was stolen. Didn't really worry about it then.

Re: How I Busted a Thief Who Tried to Sell My Camera on Craigslist

#169

Post by brc »

mkmk wrote: post #138
brc wrote: post #133

Well, here is my stole and recovered story. I was tending to my front garden one day when I see this massive shirtless guy walking up the road with a huge pot plant. It was a weird scene so stuck with me. Later that day two Thai guys walk up the road and ask me if I had seen anyone with a pot plant. I tell them that I had, they tell me they own the local Thai restaurant down the road, and someone has stolen the big p…

Potted plant or pot plant?

yeah, cultural difference. 'Potted plant' is called a 'pot plant' round my parts. A pot plant is also, I guess, called a 'pot plant' though very few people would use that term. It's all in the context.

Re: How I Busted a Thief Who Tried to Sell My Camera on Craigslist

#170

Post by kelnos »

rmc wrote: post #124
kelnos wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But it's not. Getting paid $10k and giving it back is net zero.

But the merchant is still down a TV. Those things aren't free.

Sure. I objected to the assertion that the merchant lost $17k, which is a gross exaggeration.
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