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Tea Stop

So wrong, but strangely satisfying

by hawkinspeter
Sat, Jan 11, 2020 09:59
15

I can't condone this kind of behaviour, but I find it strangely uplifting.

 

https://abc7.com/visalia-couple-baited-thieves-recorded-beating-them-with-bat-police-say/5832671/?utm_source=fark&utm_medium=website&utm_content=link&ICID=ref_fark

 

Quote:

FRESNO, Calif. -- A Visalia couple is accused of planting bikes in front of their home to lure thieves - and then beating them with aluminum bats, police say.

The couple allegedly bragged about their escapades to neighbors and posted videos to YouTube, officials say.

"They would run out, chase down that subject, assault that subject and recover their bike, but they would never call us," said Visalia police Lt. Ron Epp said.

Investigators say Corey Curnutt, 25, and Savannah Grillot, 29, had been victims of car break-ins themselves. That's when they decided to take the law into their own hands.

They left unattended bikes in front of their home.

In one video, a man takes a bike from in front of the home - and then another man, believed to be Curnutt, emerges from the home shirtless, carrying a bat and chasing after the thief.

"They're running down the street, yelling, getting into a fight in the middle of the night, which would obviously wake the neighbors up," Epp said.

If you're new please join in and if you have questions pop them below and the forum regulars will answer as best we can.

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15 comments

Avatar
mdavidford | 5 years ago
4 likes

For punishment to be effective it needs to be meaningfully impactful and meaningfully likely.

The problem with punishment for motoring offences is that they generally fall short on both criteria - enforcement is poor, and even when they are enforced, the impact on the offender is often not meaningful. In that situation, it makes sense to call for both tougher penalties and better enforcement.

In the case of these thieves, meaningfully impactful punishments short of using physical violence are available. Escalating the impact of the punishment isn't going to do much reduce the behaviour. Increasing the likelihood of punishment (through better enforcement) is much more likely to be effective.

Avatar
ktache | 5 years ago
3 likes

The law and vigilantism differ though.

What if a few motorists felt they should "enforce" their idiot belief that cyclists HAVE to use cycle lanes/paths.

Avatar
Dingaling | 5 years ago
0 likes

I agree with you all about the risks of escalation but I don't think doing nothing or being soft is an option. Not fighting back hard is like saying we mustn't punish bad motorists more severely for close passes etc because they will only retaliate by getting bigger vehicles and behave more dangerously. That, to me, is implicit in your comments yet virtually everybody on this forum wants tougher penalties on motorists for all the bad things we read about or see on videos here.

Avatar
CygnusX1 replied to Dingaling | 5 years ago
4 likes

Dingaling wrote:

That, to me, is implicit in your comments yet virtually everybody on this forum wants tougher penalties on motorists for all the bad things we read about or see on videos here.

Whilst tougher penalties would be welcome, right now I would settle for the existing penalties actually being applied.

Avatar
vonhelmet replied to Dingaling | 5 years ago
0 likes
Dingaling wrote:

I agree with you all about the risks of escalation but I don't think doing nothing or being soft is an option. Not fighting back hard is like saying we mustn't punish bad motorists more severely for close passes etc because they will only retaliate by getting bigger vehicles and behave more dangerously. That, to me, is implicit in your comments yet virtually everybody on this forum wants tougher penalties on motorists for all the bad things we read about or see on videos here.

It's not really fighting back if you've enticed someone to commit the crime in the first place.

Avatar
Dingaling | 5 years ago
0 likes

.

It ends when you've beaten the shit out of them often enough for them to get the message. Does soft sentencing on motorists do anything, e.g. reduce close passes? I'll take the hard line over the soft any day.

Avatar
hawkinspeter replied to Dingaling | 5 years ago
1 like

Dingaling wrote:

.

It ends when you've beaten the shit out of them often enough for them to get the message. Does soft sentencing on motorists do anything, e.g. reduce close passes? I'll take the hard line over the soft any day.

Unfortunately increased penalties does little to deter criminal behaviour as most people don't consider that they will get caught. Increasing the chances of getting caught has a bigger effect so honey-bikes with trackers sounds like the way forwards to me.

Avatar
FluffyKittenofT... | 5 years ago
1 like

Been watching Netflix recently.  Seems like more than half the content on there can be summed up as 'guy with a  gun and an extremely limited-range of facial-expressions engages in rightous vigilante justice when the law fails them'.

It's so easy to emotionally sympathise with that stuff (I  daydream about blowing up badly-behaved motorists with a rocket-launcher), but, honestly, it just adds up to a very depressing world, and it's never going to solve anything in reality.

 

Avatar
Dingaling | 5 years ago
0 likes

If the police did there job properly in tackling theft and burglary people probably wouldn't feel the need to take matters into their own hands. I think baseball bats being used on thieves is quite a good idea. I bet if there was more of it there would be less thieving but then, no doubt, the police would tackle the vigilantes in order to protect the rights of the criminals. 

Avatar
FluffyKittenofT... replied to Dingaling | 5 years ago
0 likes

Dingaling wrote:

If the police did there job properly in tackling theft and burglary people probably wouldn't feel the need to take matters into their own hands. I think baseball bats being used on thieves is quite a good idea. I bet if there was more of it there would be less thieving but then, no doubt, the police would tackle the vigilantes in order to protect the rights of the criminals. 

 

Or the thieves would just get bigger bats.  Where does it end?

Avatar
vonhelmet replied to FluffyKittenofTindalos | 5 years ago
3 likes
FluffyKittenofTindalos wrote:

Dingaling wrote:

If the police did there job properly in tackling theft and burglary people probably wouldn't feel the need to take matters into their own hands. I think baseball bats being used on thieves is quite a good idea. I bet if there was more of it there would be less thieving but then, no doubt, the police would tackle the vigilantes in order to protect the rights of the criminals. 

 

Or the thieves would just get bigger bats.  Where does it end?

Given its America, I think the thieves would actually get fairly small metal bats that fire tiny metal bats at high speed... but I take your point.

Avatar
Miller | 5 years ago
4 likes

Pretty risky to confront a gang of lads at 04.30.

Avatar
Sriracha | 5 years ago
0 likes

So what are kids doing out and about at 4:30am in the first place? Maybe if the causes of dysfunctional families were addressed these things would not be happening.

Avatar
hawkinspeter replied to Sriracha | 5 years ago
1 like

Sriracha wrote:

So what are kids doing out and about at 4:30am in the first place? Maybe if the causes of dysfunctional families were addressed these things would not be happening.

They were 17, so not really "kids".

A quick list of causes for dysfunctional families: alcohol, drugs, poverty, illness, deprived areas, homelessness, lack of affordable housing...

Avatar
hawkinspeter | 5 years ago
1 like

...and just found this which is a much better way of dealing with bike thieves:

https://www.portsmouth.co.uk/news/crime/vigilante-uses-bait-bike-with-gps-tracker-and-catches-portsmouth-thieves-in-the-act-1-9192521

Quote:

Unsuspecting teenagers cut through a £5.99 Halfords lock on Richard’s bike, which was fitted with a £25 tracker, outside McDonald’s in Commercial Road, Portsmouth, on Friday evening.

Engineer Richard had only put the cheap bike there eight hours before the 17-year-old boys struck - taking Richard’s bait bike on a ride to Stamshaw, through Buckland and stopping at North End.

But they were dumbstruck when dad-of-one Richard, 34, arrived in his car at around 4.30am and challenged two boys on bikes - one of which was his - and a lad sitting in an open doorway.

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