How many people do you know who complain about noisy neighbors or somebody illegally blocking their parking space or annoying stray dogs or whatever? Lots of daydreams about taking revenge, but who follows up on them? That’s why I love the guy in this China Post story from two days ago.
A graduate student named Chen had two cell phones and NT$400 stolen from his motorcycle last week. So he parked his bike at the same place on Sunday, leaving two NT$100 bills in it, and went to a cafe across the street with his video camera.
Sure enough, two thieves took the money and took off, but Chen and his friends caught them. When the police came, not only did they have the thieves on camera, but Chen had also written down the serial numbers on the two bills.
Great stuff.
But I’m curious as to what is the law in terms of “setting up” criminals.
I don’t think that newspaper article should have used the word “caught” because the only evidence Mr. Chen has of the identity of the two thieves is the video of them which was taken from across the street. Do you know how hard it is to identify people just from a videotape? And how often do people look at the serial numbers on NT$100 bills? By the time someone notices the serial numbers (if ever), the bills would probably have passed through dozens of hands.
And anyway even if the police could identify the thieves (which is highly unlikely), there is only evidence that they stole NT$200. How much do you think the fine would be for stealing only NT$200? Probably not much more than NT$200! There is no evidence whatsoever that these are the same guys that stole Mr. Chen’s two cell phones one week earlier.
And do you really think Taiwanese police would spend hours and hours trying to figure out the identify two people who only stole NT$200? Last Chinese New Year, my wife and I called the police when we noticed that someone had broken into my wife’s bushiban and trashed the place, throwing furniture all over the place and empying the contents of all the drawers, in addition to breaking a window and a door handle, but they didn’t steal anything.
When the police came, they only wanted to know what was stolen. They didn’t even care about the dirty shoe prints that we found on the floor, which were probably the shoe prints of whoever busted into the bushiban. When we told them that nothing was stolen, they said they only needed to know the value of the broken window and the broken door handle. We told them we guessed about NT$1000 total. Then the police said that they wouldn’t even bother trying to look for the person(s) who did it because nothing was stolen and only about NT$1000 of damage was done, and it would be too difficult to track down someone based only on their shoe prints.
I don’t think that newspaper article should have used the word “caught” because the only evidence Mr. Chen has of the identity of the two thieves is the video of them which was taken from across the street. Do you know how hard it is to identify people just from a videotape? And how often do people look at the serial numbers on NT$100 bills? By the time someone notices the serial numbers (if ever), the bills would probably have passed through dozens of hands.[/quote]
I’m not sure what you mean about the bills probably having passed through dozens of hands. The student wrote down the serial numbers, put the bills in his scooter, which were then taken and found in the pocket of one of the two thieves he had videotaped. Sounds like very few hands to me.
Don’t know, but I admire this students spirit.
From the article: “The burglars, surnamed Tsai and Wang, resisted police and reiterated their innocence until Chen showed police his videotape. The two NT$100 bills in Tsai’s [one of the men accused of theft] pocket were found to be same ones that Chen put in his motorcycle. Tsai, 42, and Wang, 76, were left speechless when being moved to the police precinct.”
Sorry, when I posted my remarks above, I hadn’t read the whole article, so I didn’t know that the thiefs were actually aprehended and arrested.
But I still think Mr. Chen should have left more than NT$200 as “bait”. I’m sure the severity of the crime depends on how much was stolen, so stealing only NT$200 is a very minor crime.
[quote=“Mark Nagel”]Sorry, when I posted my remarks above, I hadn’t read the whole article, so I didn’t know that the thiefs were actually aprehended and arrested.
But I still think Mr. Chen should have left more than NT$200 as “bait”. I’m sure the severity of the crime depends on how much was stolen, so stealing only NT$200 is a very minor crime.[/quote]
You’re right. Those two thieves probably would barely have been able to buy to coffees from the cafe where Chen was filming them.
Mr Nagel, Wow, that break in at your wife’s bushiban was terrible. It sounds and looks like someone was mad at her or you, and that gangsters did it. Did you ever have trouble with gangsters where you live and did they threaten you with phone calls too.? Why on Earth would somone trash yr wife’s bushie? Can you explain more? it’s a great story for here.
I think they were just looking for money. But I don’t know why they trashed the place. Maybe they did it because they were angry that they couldn’t find any money. Or maybe actually the “thief” was someone hired by another bushiban (the competition) to trash my wife’s bushiban.
But if that was the case, then they didn’t achieve anything because it only took about an hour to put all of the chairs and desks right-side up and put all the drawers back in the desks. And then it took about another hour to sweep up the contents of the drawers and then put all that back in the drawers, and sweep up the pieces of broken glass.
Luckily, they didn’t cause any real damage other than breaking the window and the doorknob, which were easily replaced. I mean, if they really wanted to cause damage to the place, they could have spray-painted the walls, poured cement down the sinks, etc.
It only happened once, and we never got any threatening phone calls or anything, so I think it was just an isolated incident, and they were probably just looking for money.
But I was really shocked that the police didn’t care at all and actually told us that they definitely would not try to find the person(s) who broke into the place.
Can just see it now: “You see officer, we can prove those two dead guys stole our money because we filmed ourselves putting anthrax on those two NT$100 bills in their hands. Look, we’ve got the serial numbers to prove it.”
Along the lines of broken glass on top off walls, if you want to protect a car stereo or other such items, I suggest affixing razor blades in some way that the would be thief tears his hands to shreds when he tries to make off with the goods.
When I lived in Vancouver, my camper van must have been broken into over a dozen times. I used to be very new age about it. For example, the first time they stole my favourite dress shirt…so I offered a wee blessing with it in the hope that they would use it to get a job and leave the life of petty crime behind.
But after 6 or 7 more break-ins, I finally just put a note on the window saying that everything inside had already been stolen and the doors were open. Then they tried stealing the whole van…I actually interupted a GTA in progress…they had the ignition off and were using a spider coil to find the hotpoints to start ol Van Morrison up…the rest of that summer I had to hotwire Morrison to go anywhere. Kind of scary when the contacts come out as you are going over Lion’s Gate Bridge, re-hotwiring while rolling down into North Van…what a hoot…
I know it is really aggravating to be ripped off and you want blood…but it could be much, much worse…you could live in Vancouver where they break your window if you leave an empty pack of smokes on the dash.
I really like the “set up the thief” idea…I often thought about hiding a tracking transmitter on a nice mountain bike in Whistler and breaking the ring of bike thieves that frequent the valley…even suggested it to a couple of mounties I played hockey with…to no avail of course…
Can just see it now: “You see officer, we can prove those two dead guys stole our money because we filmed ourselves putting anthrax on those two NT$100 bills in their hands. Look, we’ve got the serial numbers to prove it.”[/quote]
By the time they got sick, they would’ve spent the money, and some poor 7-11 cashier would get it too. And the customer who bought a soda with an NT$500 bill, and the clerk at the love hotel where he took his mistress that afternoon, and. . . .
This is why I favor the use of explosives in such situations.
Explosives have their place, but in this case the student probably would’ve lost his bike, too. I’m thinking the pit bull mentioned earlier is the best idea. But you’d need a really small one.
Superglue is really the best option here, people. Just sit back and wait for the police to show up, and have fun with the excuses the thieves have made up for having their hands stuck to your scooter.
Should have put anthrax on the bills and let God sort them out. 