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Glitter bomb tricks parcel thieves

bbc.com

31–40 of 940 posts

Re: Glitter bomb tricks parcel thieves

#31
post #13

Anyone else found it unsatisfactory that there was nothing about forwarding the footage of the thieves to the police?

In the video, Rober mentions that he previously brought his security camera footage to police (the camera monitoring his house, not the camera in the prank box), but that they said it wasn't worth their time to pursue such cases.

True, but with additional footage and in some cases, the location of the perpetrators homes, I would hope they would be able to do more.

Re: Glitter bomb tricks parcel thieves

#32
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While all we can do to revenge is sometimes a fantasy, I'd say be rational when you turn your fantasies to reality, you might end up paying the hospitalization for the package thieves.

Nah... that's not the way the law works. I would love to see a thief try and bring that case... EDIT: NAL but... It's my understanding that the likelihood such a case is brought is small 1. Because it pretty much guarantees the alleged perpetrator will have charges brought against them and 2. Contributory negligence would make that case very hard to win. It is my understanding that yes there have been cases where suc…

IANAL but my understanding is that it's generally illegal to have any kind of "booby trap". The concern (and also legal test) is whether or not it would be likely to spring on a first responder. If you have your house fill with knockout gas whenever someone enters and a fireman needs to kick in your front door, you're going to jail. Someone entering illegally such a burglar still can bring a suit around a booby trap (but could also still liable for prosecution for their illegal entry, etc).

Re: Glitter bomb tricks parcel thieves

#33
post #17
post #9

Do you think the bomb maker could be held liable if the package were to be opened in a moving car that subsequently crashed because of glitter getting in the driver's eyes? I'd be a little nervous about doing this myself.

IANAL, but is that seriously a legal risk? The guy would have to explain he stole it.

Here in the USA, everyone is litigation crazy, so an enterprising lawyer would probably happily file a suit against the maker if someone was injured because of it.

Re: Glitter bomb tricks parcel thieves

#34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While all we can do to revenge is sometimes a fantasy, I'd say be rational when you turn your fantasies to reality, you might end up paying the hospitalization for the package thieves.

I know "theft traps" are not legal (even ultimately harmless ones, like the paintball idea mentioned above), but for some reason it feels bizarrely backwards (or ironic?) that a proportionately harmless response to a thief (caught in the act) would be more likely to see prosecution than the act of theft itself.

not exactly harmless if it gets you in the eye..

Re: Glitter bomb tricks parcel thieves

#36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While all we can do to revenge is sometimes a fantasy, I'd say be rational when you turn your fantasies to reality, you might end up paying the hospitalization for the package thieves.

I know "theft traps" are not legal (even ultimately harmless ones, like the paintball idea mentioned above), but for some reason it feels bizarrely backwards (or ironic?) that a proportionately harmless response to a thief (caught in the act) would be more likely to see prosecution than the act of theft itself.

> it seems oddly ironic that a proportionately harmless response to a thief (caught in the act) would be more likely to see prosecution than the act of theft itself.

In certain jurisdictions the ideological pendulum (closely followed by official public policy) has swung a little too far toward idea that criminals have no agency and are victims of an unfair system that forces them to commit crime to get by and that prosecuting minor crimes is a path to further criminality.

The idea is that by not prosecuting certain crimes we can prevent people from becoming criminals at the ground floor which will prevent them getting stuck in a loop where they can't get a real job and have to commit crime to survive and become a career criminal. While this is not totally baseless and is something I generally agree with there's a categorical difference between applying this thinking to victimless crimes and crimes with a victim (a trap which pretty much all real world implementations fall into).

In the case of petty victimless crimes where there's disagreement over whether or not the crime should be a crime at all (e.g. weed possession) having a don't prosecute by default policy is fine IMO. For petty crime with a victim that pretty much everyone agrees should be a crime (like petty theft) having a don't prosecute by default is stupid because it increases crime in order to score political virtue points for the people who implement it at the expense of the community as a whole (I'm looking at your SF and your failure to prosecute minor property crimes, yes I'm fully aware this will not be a popular opinion circa 9am and 12pm West Coast time).

Re: Glitter bomb tricks parcel thieves

#37
post #30
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes but that's because the security footage didn't provide any actual information on the thief. Whereabouts, identity, etc. The GPS location of the thief, clear footage of the face, should be a slam-dunk case for a DA.

> Yes but that's because the security footage didn't provide any actual information on the thief. No, as he stated in the video, the police said it just wasn't worth their time.

Yes - not worth their time to investigate and try to track down that information. In this instance - the police spend 0 time investigating, and 2 hours arresting, booking, and forwarding criminal charges.

Re: Glitter bomb tricks parcel thieves

#38
post #18

it's surprising and sad how 'average' the thieves all seem to be; i expected to see somebody down on their luck, not a guy in a lexus or with a $2000 bike in his room. im trying not to jump to conclusions about humanity. please help.

That bike most likely is also stolen.

Re: Glitter bomb tricks parcel thieves

#40
post #5

Nice work, but I think I am not alone in hoping we get to see photos of the skunk-glittered thieves soon! Oh -- and to the engineer who made that: you've got a billion dollar idea on your hands if you include a camera that takes video from inside the device when it's opened. I can think of at least 14 people to whom I would send one of these for Christmas, birthday, etc.

You should probably watch the video before commenting.
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