Posted on 08/25/2009 8:08:27 AM PDT by Charlespg
Police are removing valuables from unlocked cars to shock motorists into being more careful.
Officers in London are taking everything from handbags to satnavs, and leaving a note telling drivers their property is at a local police station.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Looks like police theft to me...
> Obviously, the subjects of the Queen are not allowed to live their lives as they see fit.
Point-of-order. We aren’t “Subjects of the Queen” any more than you are a “Subject of Obama”.
We are British Citizens.
And what if they find some sort of “contraband” while snooping around?
The British Nanny State.
It is theft. If I choose to leave my car unlocked, that’s none of their business. And the people of London should be seriously wondering if it’s time to cut the police budget if they’ve got enough time to go around and check and make sure people locked their cars, confiscate personal property, and log them into the local police station. Sounds like someone’s begging to become unemployed.
My bag had $30,000 in it (or some large sum). The bag was taken, and this police letter was left behind. I reclaimed my stolen bag .... where's my cash!!! Where's my diamond ring that was in the bag? Where's my Star Wars collector's decoder watch? Where's my camcorder?
Then sue for theft. When they take your possessions, don't they assume liability for those possessions?
If you left your workstation unlocked, he'd send rude emails to various people (usually other managers) from your workstation, then leave you to explain the consequences.
He also insisted that your laptop be chained to your desk (like a bicycle chain, and about as effective). He'd steal your computer if he saw it unlocked.
It was one of the more childish, degrading, and insulting things that I've ever put up with as an employee. I left at the first opportunity. Turning my notice into this guy was a pleasure.
I was the first to quit, the rest of the team followed shortly after. The guy got sacked for "High Turnover". Hope that he found a job more his speed in the roadside maintenance, or custodial professions.
Well really people ought to be more careful. People in my town have had things stolen and doing stupid things like this is why. Never leave your purse in the care is stupid mistake number one. Then they leave the car unlocked. Stupid mistake number two. They also leave other valuable stuff in the car....CDs, Headphones, whatever and people do steal this stuff! It is best to leave NOTHING in the car!!! Also lock the car when you go inside. I have a lock on my gas cap as well. One neighborhood was wanting to put a gate on their community because of the break-ins. Well stupid, if you had locked your car door and taken in your purses and other valuables in the house no one would have stolen them!!! SHEESE!
You said — If I choose to leave my car unlocked, that’s none of their business.
—
Those bobbies would probably agree with you, as long as you never called them in the case your car was stolen and/or anything was stolen in it... LOL...
I’m sure they would be agreeable... :-)
The last time Americans were “Subjects” they dealt to that situation resolutely.
You said — And what if they find some sort of “contraband” while snooping around?
—
Ummm..., they’ll probably stick around until you come back and ask you if the stuff is yours. If you say no, they’ll thank you and take it off your hands. If you say yes, well..., you’re on your way to the station... LOL...
That would just be begging for a response. Pick up a beater 386 laptop for $10 on eBay and put a trigger to a very, very loud alarm underneath it. A speaker yelling "Stop thief" at 120 dB will get him second guessing his decisions.
Some people would rather blame those bobbies for taking stuff out of their car and down to the station, instead of the common sense method of taking things out and locking up the car...
Oh..., and somebody will say something stupid like, “What if those bobbies steal some of the stuff?!”... :-) (of course, common sense tells you that a thief walking by will steal stuff, too... LOL...).
Now that is the boss from hell. I would have put a bear trap around my computer for him to fall in. Hey, if he wants to be mean, I can be meaner. Yea he got it in the end, but still I would have made sure he fell in it while I was there.
Why on earth did he want you to lock your computer? Did any other manager require this? What I would have done would have put up a secret video camera and recorded him stealing it, then called the police and turned him in and pressed charges. Oh yes, I can be meaner.
http://www.brickhousesecurity.com/
go to this site and check out their video cameras...you would never know you were being watched!
The next logical step is to gang assault drunk women leaving the pubs, to illustrate to them the dangers of drink.
Well, let's be honest here. If my car was locked or unlocked, and property was stolen from it, the entire effort involved would be taking a report and filing it. Maybe, perhaps, they just MIGHT take the effort to talk to the yobs down the street who are having some trouble selling the new laptop they just got, but that's about the extent any effort will reach.
Personally, I'd much rather they stop agreeing with me, sneering at people who don't lock their cars for some reason, and instead focus on catching the criminals who are committing these crimes and take the profit out of doing it. I know, I know, I'm showing my age, thinking that the job of the police is to harass the criminal, not the potential victim.
Oh I understand with the older cars, I had a 72 Galaxie once....damn thing and its lock....but these people were not driving older cars....these people were driving “them new fangled cars with the remote controlled locking system” How hard would it have been for them to lock the door? SHEESE?! Then on top of that they leave the purse and other stuff in the car and cry and whine when junkies and others steal from their cars?? Now they are wanting to put up a gate? Oh brother! Stupid stupid stupid.
Easy. Because he could.
If he could have gotten away with making us wear clown suits while singing praises to his name...he'd have done that, too.
Still and all, it was an excellent lesson for me...Never give a small person (mentally small, not physically) any authority whatsoever. They'll abuse it until something stops them.
BTW, a bear trap would have been a BRILLIANT idea. ker-SNAP "Ooop, sounds like Stupid was in my cube again. I'll go let him out. But first, lets take a long lunch."
There was also http://www.brickhousesecurity.com/ If you caught him stealing your computer you could press charges you know.
Go to this page...and look around....http://www.brickhousesecurity.com/covert-hidden-video-spy-cameras.html
most get the clock radio...but the tissue box, electrial outlet, smoke alarm, face clock, Air Ionizer and more are cool and what is more....stupid people like your boss would never know he is on camera. What is more...if he is doing that, as in stealing your computer, what else is he doing? Find out!!! tee hee tee hee!!! Turn him in!!
We are British Citizens.
Point taken, although some on this board would argue that Obama acts as if we were his subjects.
Also, it appears being a British Citizen does not confer many rights...
Hell, in Denver, the cops will ticket you for warming up your car in your own driveway. You see, thieves would spot these running cars and steal them. So now the owner gets punished for warming up his car.
I know what you mean...my 99 Ranger is one of those....I hate it!!!
“Where’s my Star Wars collector’s decoder watch? “
Do you really want to admit you had it in the first place????
You said — I know, I know, I’m showing my age, thinking that the job of the police is to harass the criminal, not the potential victim.
—
Well, I’m probably just as far up there as you are... :-)
BUT, what I do know is that there is only so much you can do in catching the criminals, and many times, you *never* can catch them, because they’re long gone and so is the stuff.
So, in that sense (let’s say, like an iPod sitting on the seat of a car, for example).... one would have to be stupid to think the police are going to chase down an iPod (”long after the fact of it being stolen” with millions of them out there in the public) and that they are going to stop someone from selling it at a bus stop or at a park or wherever for about $20... and be gone...
Therefore, what you do is look on the “other side” of the equation... with theft (and using this example again), you don’t leave the car unlocked, and the owner makes it a harder target (not impossible but harder) and the second thing that should be *obvious* to all, is that you don’t leave things there to be seen so an “opportunity” is perceived by the criminal.
No opportunity seen or perceived, means nothing is going to happen....
That’s where the police are “coming from” these days, because some people make it so that there are *ample opportunities* “just for the taking” for any criminal to see and take advantage of — and there’s *nothing* that *anyone* is going to be *able* to do about it once it’s done...
we try to educate the public but they still do it, and valuable resources are spent on a very avoidable felony. we would never do this, but i can see it. that's all i'm saying.
Wow .. open season on bobbies ... coming soon.
Aren’t these the same folks who are saying don’t lock your shed, because thieves might damage the door breaking in?
WTF is right!!!!
*************
Council advises homeowners to leave sheds open for thieves
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2095634/posts
A council is urging allotment holders not to lock their sheds in case thieves damage the structures while breaking in.
Tenants have been warned that padlocks can lead to thieves forcing their way through doors and windows of the council-owned sheds to steal garden equipment.
Bristol City Council claims its ‘Don’t Use a Padlock’ initiative will save taxpayers’ money because fewer sheds will have to be repaired or replaced.
Its guide reads: “Don’t padlock your shed; it can save the shed being damaged if someone does try to get into it.....
*****************
Article: Use your head, lock your shed!
http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-180270839.html
Leigh people are being warned to make sure their sheds, garages and gardens are secure this summer.
Police are urging householders to check their outdoor and outbuildings security to try to thwart opportunistic thieves who might target their home. And crime reduction experts have come up with some security tips to help.
Following a long and cold winter hibernation, the garden blooms into colour and out from the shed, garage or store comes the barbeque, the lawn mower, patio table and chairs and a whole host of gardening tools that everyone uses to keep gardens ship-shape and enable them to enjoy their outdoor space once more!
However, while people bask in the sun ...
> Also, it appears being a British Citizen does not confer many rights...
Exactly! That is precisely what the British Common Law is all about. Everything is lawful unless it is specifically prohibited.
This is in direct contrast to the French Common Law: everything is unlawful unless it is specifically permitted.
You Yanks have something somewhere in-between.
Heh — I’ll bet the regular (i.e. non-taxpayer-supported) thieves are printing up a bunch of the “fetch your stuff at the police station” notes at this very moment....
That wasn't really the point, the point, and the article, was about how police were entering private property, vehicles, without permission, and confiscating private property in some, as a press release wants us to believe it, gallant act to help private property owners from losing their property and raise awareness of the issue, rather than perform normal police actions which might actually reduce crime.
I'm unclear where anyone would think this is a great policy - I don't invite police officers into my car, and apparently, now one doesn't just have to lock one’s car doors to prevent thieves from entering, but also police as well.
Stop wasting the public’s time with this inane policy and get back to what they're paid to do. This isn't a crime fighting technique - what other preventative thefts will they come up with in the future? Dip into your savings account as you're eventually going to owe taxes on it anyway, so why not take it now? Perhaps they'll start assessing a fine, and you can pay to get your own property back from the police which stole it in the first place?
This isn't just a dumb idea, it's a criminal abuse of power, and really, I sincerely hope the British public rises up against this and tells the Bobbies to get their noses out of their cars.
Well..., if anyone can open the door and lift things out of that car... (which they obviously can...), then I think it’s a great idea for a good *wake-up call* for the police to grab stuff out of their car...
I think they will have made a “convert” that very day... LOL...
This lines up with police logic. Have you ever had something stolen and filed a police report? I have....too many times to count. Invariably, the cops spend more time telling me what I did that led to the theft, and have very little worry about finding the culprit.
You said — Invariably, the cops spend more time telling me what I did that led to the theft, and have very little worry about finding the culprit.
—
You and I and the public would not want to “pay the bill” for the police to investigate and follow through with every report of a theft, no matter what it was... LOL...
The police would not be doing *anything else* if the public demanded (and got) that result from them... :-)
And the bill for it would be huge!
You'd blame the victim and not the culprit? Strange.
Yeah... I do blame some people for being *idiots*... LOL...
Do they walk around with signs on their backs, too that say, “Kick me!”... :-)
Nope, that wouldn't be realistic. I just ask that they divert some of their time that they spend harassing skateboarders and revenue collecting (just two of many examples) and investigate a crime or two.
Says Star Traveler of the "short skirts cause rape" crowd.
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