[Outcast_Searcher]

One simple way to help stop this, but which will be another expense, will be heavy duty doors that can only be locked/unlocked from a button that some store employee pushes.

They basically look at you, decide if they "like" you, an allow you to come in OR go out -- or not.

I've seen this in places like downtown philadelphia, working just fine, as much as 25 years ago. It's a bit weird until you get used to it, an a business has to pay someone (or have the owner) do that -- so the cost is meaningful.

Unless you think the police can routinely and effectively handle this enough to stop it -- I see no other good solution. Certainly our permissive society will never place severe enough penalties on such crime to deter it.

...

I noticed a local bank branch (Chase) had started doing this a few months back. BIG HEAVY SECURE doors with status lights -- separate doors for ingress and egress and a full time armed guard who watches things. There are actually two doors, so you end up in a glass box both going in and out -- if they decide to keep you there (assuming the glass is bullet and shatterproof) -- you are there until the authorities arrive.

For a bank - to send a message to any would-be robbers (go away) AND their customers (reassurance) that they're not putting up with any such foolishnes in understandable. This won't exactly incent banks to lower their fees though.

Apparently these people ARE serious. As a customer, I was trying to help a little old lady out of the heavy outer door -- no dice -- the guard insisted we leave one at a time and wouldn't let the door open until I had exited the "egress box" back into the bank lobby. Yeah, scary scrawny middle aged me having cashed a check -- and a little old lady who could hardly seem to walk -- and they act this strictly. Interesting.

[Serial_Worrier]

A local bank branch near my work recently had to put in the bulletproof glass for the tellers after a string of robberies. Mind you, this is a "good" area of town. Scary times getting scarier by the minute.

[Sixstrings]

Getting back on topic..

Germany has banned "facebook parties." Apparently violence was breaking out, hundreds of kids showing up whenever somebody posts "PARTY."

It's an interesting phenomenon. If you put paper signs up around town, you're not going to get an overwhelming response. Yet post it online and hundreds show up.

Long term, this could be helpful for getting power back to the people.. maybe one day Americans will protest, and organize online. Of course the government can always just flip the internet kill switch, or censor it..

[AgentR11]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Sixstrings', 'O')f course the government can always just flip the internet kill switch, or censor it..

[Ferretlover]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Pretorian', 'A')ll due respect, are you suggesting that all of the flash mobsters having the same race, in all occasions across the country, has no relation or interest to the topic--- Flash Mobs?

[GoIllini]

Update:

I visited Hyde Park this weekend. Hyde Park is on the south side of Chicago and used to be a fairly shady neighborhood back in the '80s and '90s. I saw kids walking out of the university's middle school, skipping across the Midway. Five motorcycles, including an Aprilia, were parked on city streets unchained, unwatched, unprotected. I asked one guy if he was worried about motorcycles getting stolen and he said "that doesn't happen here."

Wandered through Grant Park. Young middle-class-looking ladies were walking around alone at dusk. No flash mobs, just people enjoying life.

Calm down folks. Crime does tend to rise during economic downturns, but there's no sign of craziness in Chicago. Heck, if I wind up going to school in Hyde Park, I may even park my motorcycle (Lo-Jacked) on the street, too.

[Sixstrings]

There has been more flash mob violence in the news, I haven't been posting it but this Wisconsin fair attack seems unusually bad:

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '[')img]http://therealrevo.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/1877542090_1094917876001_file-4759777-0574b196334e599d5a1e21b54bff8d75-360x202.jpg[/img]
Then around the closing time of 11 p.m., witnesses told the Journal Sentinel, dozens to hundreds of black youths attacked white people as they left the fair, punching and kicking people and shaking and pounding on their vehicles.

(snip)

Police from three jurisdictions - West Allis, Milwaukee and Wisconsin State Fair - spent Friday trying to piece together what happened. But they could not say what started the situation.

Witnesses, though, told the Journal Sentinel that the attacks appeared to be unprovoked and racially motivated.

"You could just tell they were after white people. That was the main thing. If you were white, they were coming after you," said Jon Stikl of Oak Creek.

He said he was stuck in traffic as a group of young people blocked cars near the fair gate on S. 84th St. near I-94 after he picked up family members attending the fair.

"We noticed a group of five to 10 young black males run up and jump a young white male for no other reason then him being white," Stikl said.

They knocked him to the ground, and then a group of 15 black men kicked and stomped on him, Stikl said.

"My wife's brother jumped out of the car - his natural reaction was to try to break it up. Before you knew it, five or 10 guys were on him and started punching at him. My wife was able to pull him back in the car. So now they surrounded my car and just started punching through the windows, kicking and shaking the car, screaming racial things."

(snip)

Andrew J. Coleman, a recent University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee graduate, said he and a friend were attacked about 10:30 p.m. after they left the fair through the gate off S. 84th near the Pettit National Ice Center.

"I just heard footsteps behind me and I turned around and I got hit in the face. There were six or seven just beating on me," said Coleman, who has a sore jaw from the punches.

His friend was stomped on and his sneakers stolen, said Coleman, of Milwaukee.

A concession worker who works near the midway area told the Journal Sentinel that earlier Thursday night, large groups of African-American youths ran through the midway, knocking over young children and adults, disrupting midway amusement rides and tearing signs up. The midway is east of the Pettit National Ice Center and adjacent to the Hank Aaron State Trail.

"I have never seen anything like it," the worker said. "It was mob mentality."

The worker said there was police presence, including officers on horseback, but it was not enough.

A 34-year-old Muskego man said he was riding on the Ferris wheel in the midway with one of his children when he heard shouts of "fight" sometime after 7 p.m. He saw a big group of people, perhaps 200 to 300, gathered around a brawl.

"I've never seen anything like this in my life. . . . There were so many people you couldn't see who was fighting. There was just this big group that kept growing and chanting, 'Fight, fight, fight,' " he said. "That lasted for one to two minutes. Then when security showed up blowing some whistles, all of this mob started running. It was like a herd of cattle."

Milwaukee Common Council President Willie Hines said he was at the fair Thursday night and witnessed blacks fighting each other, but did not see any blacks attack whites.

He said that if it happened, those individuals should be charged with the crime as well as a hate crime.
http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/126828998.html

[Pops]

Six, I thought you were going to Costso to stock up on TP, pinto beans and corn meal?

[Sixstrings]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Pops', 'S')ix, I thought you were going to Costso to stock up on TP, pinto beans and corn meal?

[Pretorian]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Sixstrings', 'T')here has been more flash mob violence in the news, I haven't been posting it but this Wisconsin fair attack seems unusually bad:

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '[')img]http://therealrevo.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/1877542090_1094917876001_file-4759777-0574b196334e599d5a1e21b54bff8d75-360x202.jpg[/img]
Then around the closing time of 11 p.m., witnesses told the Journal Sentinel, dozens to hundreds of black youths attacked white people as they left the fair, punching and kicking people and shaking and pounding on their vehicles.

(snip)

Police from three jurisdictions - West Allis, Milwaukee and Wisconsin State Fair - spent Friday trying to piece together what happened. But they could not say what started the situation.

Witnesses, though, told the Journal Sentinel that the attacks appeared to be unprovoked and racially motivated.

"You could just tell they were after white people. That was the main thing. If you were white, they were coming after you," said Jon Stikl of Oak Creek.

He said he was stuck in traffic as a group of young people blocked cars near the fair gate on S. 84th St. near I-94 after he picked up family members attending the fair.

"We noticed a group of five to 10 young black males run up and jump a young white male for no other reason then him being white," Stikl said.

They knocked him to the ground, and then a group of 15 black men kicked and stomped on him, Stikl said.

"My wife's brother jumped out of the car - his natural reaction was to try to break it up. Before you knew it, five or 10 guys were on him and started punching at him. My wife was able to pull him back in the car. So now they surrounded my car and just started punching through the windows, kicking and shaking the car, screaming racial things."

(snip)

Andrew J. Coleman, a recent University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee graduate, said he and a friend were attacked about 10:30 p.m. after they left the fair through the gate off S. 84th near the Pettit National Ice Center.

"I just heard footsteps behind me and I turned around and I got hit in the face. There were six or seven just beating on me," said Coleman, who has a sore jaw from the punches.

His friend was stomped on and his sneakers stolen, said Coleman, of Milwaukee.

A concession worker who works near the midway area told the Journal Sentinel that earlier Thursday night, large groups of African-American youths ran through the midway, knocking over young children and adults, disrupting midway amusement rides and tearing signs up. The midway is east of the Pettit National Ice Center and adjacent to the Hank Aaron State Trail.

"I have never seen anything like it," the worker said. "It was mob mentality."

The worker said there was police presence, including officers on horseback, but it was not enough.

A 34-year-old Muskego man said he was riding on the Ferris wheel in the midway with one of his children when he heard shouts of "fight" sometime after 7 p.m. He saw a big group of people, perhaps 200 to 300, gathered around a brawl.

"I've never seen anything like this in my life. . . . There were so many people you couldn't see who was fighting. There was just this big group that kept growing and chanting, 'Fight, fight, fight,' " he said. "That lasted for one to two minutes. Then when security showed up blowing some whistles, all of this mob started running. It was like a herd of cattle."

Milwaukee Common Council President Willie Hines said he was at the fair Thursday night and witnessed blacks fighting each other, but did not see any blacks attack whites.

He said that if it happened, those individuals should be charged with the crime as well as a hate crime.
http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/126828998.html

[Sixstrings]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Pretorian', 'A')gain, nothing to do with the race. They were simply young gentlemen that happened to be dark-skinned. I'm amazed of what these race-mongers at jsonline.com allow themselves. Are they a chapter of KKK or something?

[AgentR11]

None of this stuff makes much sense, neither the way its reported, nor the way its reacted too. So much information is left out, yet so many emotional heart string tuggers included. Enough is included to induce racially tinged feelings, easy enough for the rational person to dismiss; but not all are rational. Enough is left out to prevent coming to a firm conclusion that it was just some rowdy kids, and a couple bad actors within the group committed some assaults or thefts.

The more I think about these stories, the more I get disturbed about their writers....

[Sixstrings]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('AgentR11', 'T')he more I think about these stories, the more I get disturbed about their writers....

[Cloud9]

Florida has extended the castle doctrine to automobiles. Anyone thinking of dragging someone from their automobile and giving them a whipping faces the serious threat of lawful deadly force in the Sun Shine State.

[Pretorian]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Cloud9', 'F')lorida has extended the castle doctrine to automobiles. Anyone thinking of dragging someone from their automobile and giving them a whipping faces the serious threat of lawful deadly force in the Sun Shine State.

[Tanada]

Here is a case where the community pulled together to identify the mobbers instead of sheltering their theft behavior. Video at link.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'H')ARTFORD -- A community is coming together to identify teens involved in a flash mob robbery at a Hartford gas station over the weekend.

Families are voluntarily surrendering kids, according to Hartford Police Deputy Chief Brian Foley. Schools and CTfastrak busing system are also helping to identify the teens. According to Foley, some of the kids took a Fastrak bus to New Britain after the looting.

At least two parents came over to turn their kids in and help identify other children. More than 80 percent of the teens had been identified by Wednesday afternoon.

They're expected to be referred for juvenile offenses, specifically of larceny in the sixth degree.

The incident was caught on camera Saturday night. Dozens of juveniles looted a gas station Saturday night. Around 10 p.m., police say 30 to 40 teens entered the Shell at 335 Capital Avenue after going to a party in the area.

Police say the teens destroyed property and looted items, mostly candy and snacks. When they left the store, the owner was forced to close for the night to clean up the mess. The damage was valued at $4,000, police said.

Later, a 21-year-old man and a juvenile entered the store, took items and damaged property. When officers arrived, the store owner identified the pair.

The man, identified as Travon Shirly, 20, of Hartford, fought with officers before he was arrested, police said. One officer received minor injuries. The juvenile was processed and later released from the scene.

Anyone with information is asked to call Hartford police.

[KaiserJeep]

One of the problems is that there is a gang component in most flash mob crimes, and the media will not report the crimes in detail because the criminals most often are of a single and non-white ethnicity.

Here in the SF Bay Area, we have Black juvenile flash mobs in Oakland, Hispanic flash mobs in San Jose, and Asian juvenile flash mobs in the tonier parts of San Francisco. The targets are sometimes packaged foods and drinks, but increasingly are high dollar electronic merchandise such as cell phones, tablets, and especially Apple branded products.

Now believe me, one has to be especially dense when one steals an electronic device that contains either a traceable SIM card (for cell networks) or a unique MAC address (for WiFi networks), or a Bluetooth transceiver with a unique serial number. When you do so, you are carrying around a device which broadcasts a unique identifier. As long as the store registered these numbers in a database, you can be tracked down and arrested.

It seems also that this is one of those gateway crimes - stolen tablets and high-end cell phones can cross over the magic border between a misdemeanor and a felony, which means hard time in one of those institutions where juveniles learn about more advanced crimes.

[Newfie]

I had someone steal my cc number. She ordered enough dog trimming equipment to open a three person shop. I had the orders and address. After calling Visa I reported it to the police. The officer came and duly filled out a complaint form.

I asked if he was going to go to the delivery address. Well that stunned him. Never crossed his mind to do THAT! Nope, he had filed the report, he was done with it.

[Plantagenet]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Outcast_Searcher', 'O')ne simple way to help stop this, but which will be another expense, will be heavy duty doors that can only be locked/unlocked from a button that some store employee pushes.

They basically look at you, decide if they "like" you, an allow you to come in OR go out -- or not.

[KaiserJeep]

It really is a simple choice. One can resist crime, or knuckle under to it. The first alternative discourages additional crimes, and the second encourages repeat offenders and flashier, more violent crimes.

I believe that we must resist, apprehend, and prosecute these offenders. They display a pattern of behavior that amounts to an escalation into bigger, flashier, and more lucrative thefts, with escalating violence.

If we end up with a new crop of inmates for Juvie Hall, so be it. If one wishes to alleviate the societal conditions that result in such crimes, be my guest - and don't take any more time than absolutely necessary, because we'll have most of the offenders doing hard time soon.