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Glitter bomb tricks parcel thieves

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341–350 of 940 posts

Re: Glitter bomb tricks parcel thieves

#341

Earlier quoted context omitted.

homeless are generally not thieves as if they could steal they wouldn't be homeless in the first place

What are they gonna do, steal a house ?

In some states, once you get a renter, it is very hard to evict them. Many abuse this.

Re: Glitter bomb tricks parcel thieves

#342
post #256

If you're concerned about package thieves, just buy an outdoor cabinet and put it next to your door with a note asking that packages be placed in it. I use an Ikea Josef: https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/products/storage-furniture/outdoo... You don't even need a lock for it. If you can get the deliverymen to consistently place packages in it, the thieves will have no idea if there's actually a package at your door to steal…

In the video we see many people stealing from porches with video cameras, and the author mentions that the police didn't take action even with video evidence.

While I think your suggestion would reduce the chance of theft, I think you overestimate the accuracy of the risk-benefit analysis happening in the thieves' minds, as well as the actual risk involved.

I mean, the activity is already dumb from a risk analysis point of view.

But if they don't know of a package, they won't try to steal it. That is the area that I do think would do well.

Re: Glitter bomb tricks parcel thieves

#343

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where is it a felony to have a CCTV?

In California, New York and Rhode Island it's illegal to place a hidden video camera in a place where people have a reasonable expectation of privacy. These would be considered hidden video cameras. Not sure the severity of the charges in those states, but in other jurisdictions recording audio of conversations without all-party consent violates wiretapping laws and is a felony.

There might be a technicality here, though. The camera is 'hidden' in a place with no expectation of privacy -- his porch. It's the thief who places the camera in a place where privacy might be violated.

Re: Glitter bomb tricks parcel thieves

#344

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe with ubiquitous accurate facial recognition we could name and shame these individuals. You could then be walking around and identifying criminals as you go, denying them service, food, shelter, or water. We could create isolated communities of criminals, wall off the rest of the world, and deliver ourselves from evil.

Better yet, we could wall in the criminals and declare the inside of their "cells" to be the outside, thus walling them out.

Nah, to do that you need to curtail people’s freedom. What I’m proposing is simply that we privatize large parts of society and exclude people from the private areas based on their tendency to be bad actors.

It’s not about restricting freedom. It’s about enabling free safe association for everyone who opts in. Like a massive HOA.

Re: Glitter bomb tricks parcel thieves

#345
Nice, I posted a link to the video yesterday (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18704553)

I really like the reactions of all the folks who picked up the package. The 'fart spray' was a really nice touch. I was also thinking that if you could aerosolize some cyanoacrylate when throwing that glitter bomb, it could make for some good times. But there is a line you don't want to cross or you'll get people into revenge mode. Glitter and farts seems pretty harmless.

Re: Glitter bomb tricks parcel thieves

#346
post #256

If you're concerned about package thieves, just buy an outdoor cabinet and put it next to your door with a note asking that packages be placed in it. I use an Ikea Josef: https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/products/storage-furniture/outdoo... You don't even need a lock for it. If you can get the deliverymen to consistently place packages in it, the thieves will have no idea if there's actually a package at your door to steal…

Full disclosure: I work on this: https://www.getboxlock.com/

Re: Glitter bomb tricks parcel thieves

#347

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is a real shame. If the police are not going to mediate property disputes between people, they take a lot of risk those disputes will escalate into violence. Perhaps really-good passive defense is enough (e.g. package lock boxes) but I also hope the police understand the deeper reasoning around their position and role.

Having lived in a "3rd world" country, I know the police there is useless, but it's interesting how things like resource issues (not enough manpower) is slowly turning living standards of rich countries like the US and UK towards "3rd world" levels.

Itst not really a lack of manpower. It's that most of the time, evidence is grainy security camera footage. What are they going to do with that?

Re: Glitter bomb tricks parcel thieves

#348

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well that's quite different from putting a CCTV on your front porch... which isn't a felony.

If your intention is for someone to take the CCTV into their private car or residence, that is also very different from putting a CCTV on your porch. I'm not saying the thieves are in the right here. Just that crimes don't usually cancel each other out.

Considering thieves aren't being prosecuted for theft, I wouldn't worry much about it.

Re: Glitter bomb tricks parcel thieves

#350

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One fun psychological hack for this - paint an eye above or on said locker. This is backed by research. For example: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-tyne-22270052

@jdb here on HN had, at one time, installed a very conspicuous camera housing on his house although it had no camera in it. Psychological deterrence.

It would be fun to have it do motion tracking (could use directional audio to track). It always freaks people out when a camera like device is following their movement.
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