Self Service
This is the nice version of what happens when the state justice system fails and private individuals must step in to fill the void. There is also a less nice version.
Over at Samizdata, Natalie Solent is pondering this item of crime and policing news. Or rather, non-policing news:
It was no surprise to anyone who knew Nicholas Richards, a career criminal with 25 convictions including 18 for shoplifting, that his motives were not entirely honourable when he walked into Boots. Witnesses described him stealing £170-worth of Gucci perfume; CCTV footage recovered from the chemist’s flagship branch in Piccadilly showed him putting the goods in his bag; and cameras worn by private security officers who detained him recorded him admitting the offence.
So staff at Boots, which loses between £10,000 and £12,000 a week to shoplifting, were upset when police officers arrived on the crime scene, decided the case was a “civil” matter and released Richards, who was already on a suspended sentence for theft. Boots was furious about the failure to dispense justice and decided to take part in what is believed to be the first private prosecution for shoplifting supported by a corporate victim.
The case is being brought by TM Eye. Set up by two former Metropolitan police officers, it is the parent company of My Local Bobby (MLB), which provides neighbourhood policing to residents, firms and shops. Its 30 “bobbies,” who wear red vests and caps, provide 24-hour cover. They are mostly former police officers and soldiers.
In the comments following which, a reader adds,
Anyone with 25 previous convictions should not be on our streets.
Some time ago, I suggested, not entirely flippantly, that a “three-strikes-and-we-put-you-out-to-sea-on-a-fucking-raft” policy might be quite popular. Readers are welcome to use the comments below to share alternatives.
Hi Karl,
Now that it’s warming up, they are buying lots of eggs to plant in hopes that at least some will sprout chickens. 🐓
That’s an element of double jeopardy
Ah, good point. Dammit.
Lady C but don’t the chickens come first?
🙂
but don’t the chickens come first?
No. The trans chickens of color come first.
wet reckless
band name
Bewildering tirade
likewise
and from a few posts back
gritty fudge
it’s practically an entire festival, if we were still permitted to have those.
So…
The entire 6 county SF bay area is under shelter in place order starting midnight tonight.
All non essential businesses to close.
This morning I wrote a number on a piece of paper and sealed it in a dated envelope. My prediction for total US fatalities as of May 15.
Gonna be fun.
The SF city council and mayor press conference almost made my blood pressure spray out of my ears. One wanted after another thanking all the other bankers for their hard work. Gah.
I sure picked a bad time to stop boozing.
Ack. Not “wanted”. Wanker.
Ack. Not “banker”. Wanker!
Wanker, Wanker wanker!
(Why, yes. I’m always like this. Why do you ask?)
Some time ago, I suggested, not entirely flippantly, that a “three-strikes-and-we-put-you-out-to-sea-on-a-fucking-raft” policy might be quite popular.
My policy, as it has been for years, is to gratefully accept the offender’s volunteering for the nation’s nascent space program. Budgets are tight, so strapping them to the side of a ex-Iraqi Scud is the best we can do I’m afraid. God speed you brave heroes!
The Penal Colony by Richard Herley was a pretty good tale of a British “Here’s a tin of Spam, good luck.” justice system.
The film, not so much. Although a mate did make a bundle doing standby props.
My Little Bobby sounds like the British equivalent of New York City’s Guardian Angels, circa 1979.
The stories seem very familiar. Citizens fed up with crime turn to self-policing, out of disgust with the official police’s inability (or unwillingness) to deal with the sheer amount of crime.
In both cases, lenient government policies led to increased amounts of crime, and a lack of interest in the damage done to the community. And in both cases, the community decided to bypass the government, and police itself, much to the disgust of the “real” police.
As a friend remarks, the police aren’t actually there to protect the law-abiding from the guilty, but the guilty from the law-abiding. Because if (or when) the law-abiding feel that they are not protected, they take the law into their own hands, which usually results with a rather high death toll.
Governments ignore that fact at their peril.
“ police officers arrived on the crime scene, decided the case was a “civil” matter”
Is that an attempt at gaming the crime statistics — no arrest so no recorded crime = lower crime rate? Or is it something else?
In the ridiculous scramble of corporate CYA responses to the coronavirus mass hysteria, I’ve received multiple emails from customers, clients, services, and my own company detailing the extreme measures they are taking to dodge frivolous lawsuits. The one that takes the cake, however, came from my subscription car wash service. At the end of the list showing off their compassion and legal agility was this gem:
“Lastly, out of an abundance of caution, we have temporarily suspended our complimentary coffee and popcorn service in our lounges.”
Well, that’s solved then isn’t it? Tea, anyone?
“Is that an attempt at gaming the crime statistics — no arrest so no recorded crime = lower crime rate? Or is it something else?”
I believe another factor is that the police are overworked: thanks to bureaucracy they must spend many hours filling out paperwork for every arrest–many more than used to be required. Thus, they are naturally reluctant to pursue less serious crimes. At least, that is what I read numerous times in the 1990’s in blogs written by anonymous policemen like PC David Copperfield. As I understand it, the endlessly increasing paperwork requirements are due to the depredations of government bureaucrats and elected officials and to and predatory “civil rights” lawyers and activists.
Bit of a vicious circle, innit? Police do poorly at their jobs; public loses respect for police; jurors find against the bumbling bobbies in their lawsuits; bureaucrats create more CYA paperwork to be done on every shift as a legal shield; police spend more time on CYA red tape bad-police insurance and less time on good policing; police do poorly at their jobs…
Can you imagine the city where the police chief defends his good cops and cuts loose the bad cops? Where the Mayor and Council insist that employees entrusted to detain and even kill their neighbors be held to the highest standard? Where the union head insists on no more than a perfunctory show of due process before letting his rotten brother get cut loose?
It’s nothing more than a handful of leaders showing basic leadership and competence, and yet it sounds like some kind of fairy tale. And people wonder why I’m such a misanthrope all the time.
“Three strikes”?
When I were a lad…..
I’m kind of fond of the “You try to steal my stuff and I’ll put a bullet in your head” alternative.