[Ram Air IV Jack]

Originally Posted by Cliff R

Ya, it's a shame and I've got them on camera doing it. PERFECT pics in the act.

So let's say I go the KSO and file a report, they upload from my disc and find them.

Now I get summoned to Court, sit their most of the day while they wade thru the case load to get to mine, just to have them plead not-guilty and they'll schedule another hearing. Then at the next hearing they'll just get some sort of minor slap on the hand, probation, and right back on the street.

That'll be nearly two days out of the shop and part of my life I'll never get back for a lousy $40 lock box, a couple dozen ears of corn and less than $100 in cash......NONE of which I'll get any restitution for, not to mention the $1000 in income for the time out of the shop.
Chit, I woln't even get paid back for the fuel I had to put in my vehicle to attend both hears..........it's just not worth it.........

Cliff, I worked in law enforcement for over 30yrs and can tell you that most likely what would happen in this case is a citation would be issued for an ordinance violation because of the little amount of money/property value stolen. The bad guys would probably not pay the fine and the court would default them and find the guy(s) guilty. Bad guys mostly liked wouldn't pay the fine and depending on the laws of your state, several actions could be taken, including suspending drivers' licenses, etc.

I can see your frustration because I've handled these cases many times in the past. Things have really changed recently, and property crimes have risen because of the poor state of the economy and other social reasons that would bore you to death. It is sad that you can't trust many people today. When I attend car shows now with my ride, I NEVER leave it alone like I used to when looking at other cars in the show. Too many things' people can take right of my car quickly, so I stay with it. Very sad but that is the world we live in at the movement and I don't see it changing anytime soon!!!

[hurryinhoosier62]

Originally Posted by OCMDGTO

Drug addicts

More than likely. One of our neighbors had their home broken into by what turned out to be “meth heads” looking for an easy “score”. The problem was their kids were due home from school at any minute. We live in a rural area here, where breaking into any house could cost you your life. Guess these “meth heads” were desperate.

[hurryinhoosier62]

Originally Posted by Cliff R

Every year far back as I can remember we put up a sweet corn stand down at the road. My brother puts one out at his place. We plant and grow about 1.25 acres of sweet corn which is a LOT if you figure we set the planter at 22,000 seeds per acre and about 90 percent make it and at least 50 percent of those have two ears per stock.

It's always went well. We don't sit down there at the stand, it has a plastic ice cream bucket with a slot cut in the lid to drop the money in. The lid comes off if you need to make change and I typically leave about $10-14 in $1 bills down there for that purpose. I check it 3-4 times a day, and put more corn out and have never had an issue.......until this year.

From the second day I set up the stand the math isn't working out. I've went down multiple times and noticed corn missing, money pale is empty or a LOT less in it than their should be.

My brother is experiencing the same thing. Since we advertise on Facebook and put up signs at the end of the road we get a lot of customers. In all previous years we've not only never had any issues folks typically leave a little more money than what we're asking so we make out pretty good with it.

Well this year we are being targeted by theives. Corn missing when there is no money in the bucket and money missing from the bucket. So I bought a lock box and attached it to my table with 3" long construction screws figuring that would help.

Nope, went down last night and the lid was pried off the box and all the money gone. Lovely! I guess in these post-COVID times we're going to have to take more drastic measures.........

Cliff, it’s happening here as well. We drive up to Jackson Co., where some of the best watermelons and cantaloupes in the U.S. are grown. Nearly every melon farm used to keep an “honor” box beside the melon fields once they had finished their commercial harvest for the year. Melon farms grow far more melons than they can ship in a reasonable amount of time, so they put the”honor” boxes out for the public. I was up there two weeks ago; not an “honor” box in sight. I know the orange groves in central FL had started installing cameras in the groves because people were stealing them blind; it wasn’t just the “gator” oranges( oranges that have fallen to the ground), but entire trees were being stripped of their fruit.

[Shiny]

Originally Posted by nas t eh

....

As posted above the only way the courts work at all, is if victims can participate in the process.

This issue is sad on so many levels....

To Cliff's point, having to appear in court makes no sense and IMO is part of the reason the system doesn't work.

For a criminal charge with clear evidence, the police should be able to handle it without dragging the "victim" into a long, drawn-out mess.

Why can't the court accept the video evidence, issue a warrant, and arrest the perpetrator? The need for the "victim" to tie up the courts simply to say, "yes, that's my money, yes that's the video, yes, I want him prosecuted" makes no sense to me when it's obvious a crime was committed, and the thief can be positively identified. The thief's rights will not be violated in my opinion. Evidence is clear, crime was committed, move on....

I hate to be cynical, but I feel the courts prefer to leave the deterrents in place. Not about politics please, but I personally would pay more taxes if I was confident it would actually get laws enforced. Like it or not, and for whatever reason, it appears there are more criminals than there are police and courts.

[dataway]

I worked part time, 3 nights a week as a bartender in the same college town bar for 40 years. I saw the the changing trends in morality real time for decades.

First mistake is thinking that people actually comprehend that they are doing wrong. The basic moral lessons that most of us learned as children are for the most part ... no longer taught, certainly not in schools, and more often than not the parents are not doing it either. And so few children go to church these days ... there is just no one teaching them basic moral lessons.

Yes they know something is against the law, but to them doesn't equate to a moral concept ... it's just a law, same as speed limits, reporting out of state internet purchases on your tax forms etc. They do not differentiate between a "law" and a moral imperative. They know stealing is against the law, but they do not process the fact that it's morally wrong, they have no moral foundation to embrace, were never taught real self respect, the concept of honor, duty, honesty is totally alien to them ... bear in mind many/most of them have no father figure to teach these lessons.

Getting to know literally tens of thousands of college kids (supposedly the "good" kids) over the years I saw this happening slowly but surely. No it's not all kids by any means, but the core moral values of the "average" young person these days is astonishingly undeveloped.

I quit the bartending thing during Covid, about a year before that I had a clean cut, intelligent college kid (had to be 21 to get in the bar) say to me with a smile .."Do you spit in the drinks of people you don't like? I would." .. I was floored, gave him a ten minutes lecture about being a man, confronting someone face to face if you have a problem with them, and not be a sneaky low life d-bag that would do something like that.

It made me realize I was no longer in my element, it was time to leave that job, I no longer had anything in common with these people. They grow up with social media providing their moral compass, a space completely devoid of the qualities that produce a good person.

Let's hope it's a reversible trend .. I'm not betting on it.

PS. I'm not "kid bashing" here, there are still millions of good kids raised by good parents. And for the most part I don't even condemn these kids without a moral compass, in the vast majority of cases it's not their fault, they had no one to teach them these things.

[West Coast GTO]

A few lessons ( that I listened to) that my father taught to me:
1. Always look a man( or woman) in the eye when talking to him.
2. Shake someone's hand like you mean it.
3. Your word is your bond.
4. If you say you are going to do a thing, you better damn well do it.
5. Your honor is something you wear all the time.

I don't see alot of these anymore and when I do, it is really refreshing.

[Cammer-6]

A few yrs ago while doing a daily drive in the country
I see a 5x8 trailer loaded with windows
and a big cardboard sign"free windows".
Next day I go by and trailer is gone.
day after is a sign"Please bring back my trailer"
Sad that we have so much riff raff today.

[Sirrotica]

Back in the early 80s when I had my garage/service station, I had one of my employees happend to drive by in the middle of the night, and he spotts a U Haul truck in my lot that shouldn't be there. He whips around and shines his lights on the truck, and spots 2 people siphoning gas from a customers vehicle. they see they've been found out and bolt into the truck, and drive away.

He calls me, and the police from the phone in the gas station (1980, no cell phones). I rush over there and the police have already arrived. When I get there he's recounting the events for the police to write up an incident report. As he's doing this that same U haul truck passes by the gas station. The employees yells "there's the truck". Cops chase the truck down, open the back of the truck up, and there's a gas can, and hose, GOTCHA.

Story is they're moving, and have no money for gas, so they employ the five finger discount. Cops arrest them, but they're let go the next day. Court hearing comes up, they do appear, found guilty, and are assessed fines, costs, and $50 restitution to me. They leave paying the court, but have 30 days to make restitution to me, which they ignore. They are residents out of my state so of course it's gong to cost me hundreds of dollars to get $50 restitution.

Years later I get a call from an employee of the fedral goernment asking me about the incident that was uncovered from court records when the guy is applying for a government job. First of all he lied on the application about a police record, second he never made court ordered restitution to me, I asked the guy doing the investigation if his disqualifies him from employment. He says that he will strongly suggest the man NOT be hired as he lied on his app, then avoided the court restitution ordered to me. That says he's not honest, and should be disqualified from US gov't employment. Sometimes the system does work, as it did that time............

The guy told me he really screwed up, as the job paid a very lucrative salary. Had he followed through, and made the restitutiom, he probably would have still been considered for the job.

So even when most people could be trusted back in the early 80s, this guy was the exception to the rule, and justice extended it's long arm to him...... Best $50 I ever got beaten out of.

[sdbob]

I have no experience with the different laws. In this day I'd be very leary of posting pictures.the perps may somehow find a 'law statute ' they can sue you with. The liberal govt. Let go and let god.

[69FIREBIRD76MM]

Sounds like you are in a liberal state, like my state California.. our state is trash.

[Greg Reid]

Originally Posted by Sirrotica

That says he's not honest, and should be disqualified from US gov't employment. .

There's a joke in there somewhere but I'm going to bite my tongue.

[Sirrotica]

Originally Posted by Greg Reid

There's a joke in there somewhere but I'm going to bite my tongue.

Greg, it was decades ago too, not last week.........

Today, I have to agree, it would be a huge joke. The main thing that made it all worth while was he wasn't going to get a good, cushy, federal gov't job, because he wasn't honest.

The guy I talked to was tasked with investigating his background, even back decades ago I was surprised that he did that much due diuligence to uncover that fairly minor offense. I hope it cost him thosands of dollars over the years.

[Half-Inch Stud]

"Next Door" can be a fine local site to post the camera results, and what theft occurred.

[ScumOne]

There is no honor in most of the younger Gen X, Z, Y, whatever alphabetical character is used, in my experience. Pretty sad.

[433lemans]

Some of the sweet corn sellers around here will park an older locked vehicle with one window rolled down about one or two inches for the honest buyer to drop his payment through. A little messy for you to collect after opening the door but maybe a little more secure for your money. Doesn't protect you from a break-in or stealing your product but might be an alternative to try. Thanks for being trustworthy and honorable.

[Lightfoot]

Originally Posted by 63 Pontiac

Post the pics and back story on Facebook. Public shaming might have some effect.

I was going to say something similar.
How much would it cost to take out an ad with the photo published in the local newspaper?

[Cliff R]

Update. Yesterday the young man who's been stealing my money and corn cruised by twice, but both times I was busy with customers making change or waiting for the kids to get off the bus so I didn't do anything.

I'm sure he went by later in the evening and saw the sign. I pulled the money box and corn right at dark and will put it back here in a few minutes. No way I'm leaving it down there all night like I used to do.....

[TAKerry]

Maybe a large sign saying something to the effect of 'The driver of the such n such vehicle, I know you are stealing from me, stay away'. May shame him away to look for another target.

[chuckies76ta]

These people don't give a *hit about honor. It's happening everywhere. Just be thankful nobody has been hurt in the process.

[61-63]

Cliff you need to take what you have to law enforcement. It may be a pita but that's what needs to happen. Who knows this guy may be on probation for something and this act of his may put him away. He is a scumbag and doesn't need a free pass on this.