I recovered a stolen camera today!

[PhotoMat]

Good for you, Chris!

A couple of years ago, some dirtbag stole some items from my car. Among those was my lightmeter. On my way home from the police department (after filing a report), I stopped by a couple of pawn shops to see if someone had tried to fence my meter. It turns out that the not-so-bright crook had been to the pawn shop a day earlier with the meter. Not knowing what he had stolen (it was in a nylon case), he asked the proprietor of the pawn shop "What is this and how much is it worth?" I immediately returned to the police department and relayed the information to the reporting officer.

A couple of days later, I received a call from the police informing me that my property had been recovered. What makes this tale interesting, however, is that it led to the arrests of a number of individuals who had been participating in a string of thefts that had been plaguing the community for over a year. The petty criminals copped a plea and agreed to testify against the ringleader, who is now spending some quality time in the state pen for this and numerous other deeds.

While probably many of us have been victims of theft, it's not often that you get to see justice meted out to those who have committed these crimes.

 

[aad]

Good job, Chris. I would have done the same thing.

 

[Jamie123]

Just a question: In Switzerland when you file a report and the police catches the 'criminal' he has the right to know the name and address of whoever reported him. Is this different in other countries (e.g. US, Uk)?

Personally, I find this quite disturbing. A friend of mine once received an apology letter straight out of prison from the guy that robbed him. Needless to say he wasn't that thrilled.

 

[Plasmat]

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." (Edmund Burke)

A noble sentiment, and a fine quote.

However, the men who can do the most to "fight evil" are the ones who survive the test of Darwinism and end up the living specimens.

 

[Stephen23]

And you survive the test by what - looking the other way?

 

[Jamie123]

However, the men who can do the most to "fight evil" are the ones who survive the test of Darwinism and end up the living specimens.

Social Darwinism?

 

[Dfin]

On Ya Chris, nice one. If he is a repeat offender, hopefully he`ll get more than a slap on the wrist.

 

[PhotoMat]

Just a question: In Switzerland when you file a report and the police catches the 'criminal' he has the right to know the name and address of whoever reported him. Is this different in other countries (e.g. US, Uk)?

Personally, I find this quite disturbing. A friend of mine once received an apology letter straight out of prison from the guy that robbed him. Needless to say he wasn't that thrilled.

I'm not quite sure how it works here in the U.S.

I'd be more concerned about the telemarketing call centers that use inmate labor. The vacuum sales rep that you tell to F#%$ Off may be doing 25 to life in the state penitentiary.

 

[Stephen23]

Being a member of this forum (for me) is more than F Stops and Shutter Speeds. The cameras we use are by nature and design made to capture life and humanity in its many and varied ways. In order to do this honestly you need to have a deep rooted humanity of your own or the work has no meaning.
I am sure that Plasmat would be a very interesting man to chat with over a coffee, but I cannot see any humanity in his opinions.

 

[aad]

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." (Edmund Burke)

A noble sentiment, and a fine quote.

However, the men who can do the most to "fight evil" are the ones who survive the test of Darwinism and end up the living specimens.

Life is about more than surviving.

My last comment.

 

[joey]

Yep.. I guess he should have thought of it before he tried to sell stolen property. He said he was on probation for forged documents. So yea. He was familiar with the criminal justice system! He said he has 2 years hanging over his head and the cop told him his luck wasn't looking too good then. I feel kinda bad someone has to go to jail, but that isn't my fault. He should have thought about it first.

A thief should be locked in jail!!! That's how I see it.
It’s good to know there are people out there who are not negligent when they see crime. If every person was not negligent towards crime like Chris, the world will be a better place. Good work!

 

[Rodinal Addict]

Nice job Chris. Definitely "above and beyond the call of duty" and all. Please be careful in the future though, deals like this can get violent quickly. The people on the counter at my store are instructed NOT to try detain a potential thief, unless it appears very easy. We'd rather have the dirtbag get away than see you hurt.

Robin

 

[BrianShaw]

I am sure that Plasmat would be a very interesting man to chat with over a coffee, but I cannot see any humanity in his opinions.

Are we sure Plasmat is a man? There hasn't been much of an idicator of gender. Please don't tell me that a woman would be more "sensitive"... I work with some rather cold-hearted women. 😱

 

[RdEoSg]

Thanks everyone. I would be lying if I said I wasn't nervous as hell the entire time the guy was in the store. He had his hand in his pocket the entire time so I watched him constantly to make sure of what was going on. I also have about 13 years of martial arts training to fall back and he wasn't any bigger than me. Besides. I went and put a nice big zoom lens on the camera too. I figured if push came to shove it would do nicely as a sledge hammer to the head! Though quite frankly I'm not interested in being a Rambo so I'd probably have just given the guy what he wanted.

I'm no stranger to crime. My father has a hole in his ankle from an Ak 47 after some jackass at his work decided he didn't like being fired after being caught stealing equipment and selling it. He decided to come back with a machine gun and killed 4 of my dads co-workers including a close family friend that we all miss dearly. It was running through my head every second last night but I've seen enough jerks come through with their stolen cameras and I couldn't do anything about it. I wanted to finally get one recovered for someone and I didn't feel that I was in too much danger this time.

The fact is I am just as likely to get hit by a car on the way to the bank tomorrow so you can't live your life worrying about everything.

 

[FrankS]

Exactly, you can live in fear or you can live in honour.

 

[jonfuss]

If that was my SD card, I would be ecstatic! Way to go!

 

[FrankS]

Welcome, Jon!

 

[lmd91343]

Chris,

You should be proud.

What camera store do you work in? If it is close, I should shop there. You guys deserve my business

 

[RdEoSg]

Fullerton Cameras.. In Fullerton 😛

We have a bit of everything, though we don't get a lot of rangefinder gear in unfortunately. The occasional Leica. We have a beat up M3 SS at the moment with a collapsible 50.

On a side note, anyone else notice that both Leica and Rangefinder end up being singled out by the spell check! 😛

 

[Plasmat]

I'm glad we have so many brave mall-ninjas and vigilantes here.

Stephen is all pumped up because I gave him excellent, non-partisan advice on how to handle an eBay problem in another thread, but due to paranoia he somehow developed the fantasy that I had something to do with his deal. An overly self-righteous negative-feedback leaver.

He now surmises that due to my obviously dishonorable, cowardly and insane opinion, my photographs must be terrible and suffer from degrading inherent lack of humanity. Probably out of focus too.

I am a male.

There's that famous internet adage that any thread is at it's philosophical end when someone is called a Nazi, or it's stated that "if it wasn't for us, you'd all be speaking German now".

So I guess this thread is at an end, except for the sermons.

Godwin's Law

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin's_law


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