So... the next time there are six or so calls from all over reporting suspicious boxes that all sound similar, say in various shopping malls, they should just blow it off? Just tell the caller to kick one of the boxes and see what happens?
Yeah... we'd respect that decision here. I'm sure Freepers would be first in line to say "well, at least they didn't overreact". No... we'd be calling them idiots.
That's not what I said and you know it.
They should absolutely go check it out.
But they shouldn't go shut down the city without making some educated evaluation of the suspicious item(s). Especially ones that were in plain sight including its internals for more than a week.
Sounds like these people would want a cop who has a gun pointed at him to ask questions first before deciding to fire his weapon.
I like to shoplift electronic equipment from malls while smoking.