Have you ever been to the US Ali, or are you an outsider trying to tell me how it really is over here?

lol...nope and nope. Just saying how it is over here. Srsly!

Oh... damn.

:lol:

Jinx: I'm sure I'll say something you can jump me on some other time. I do have a habit of letting my fingers do the talking a bit too much sometimes. :)

Cicero: Whether you intend to be or not, some of your comments are insulting, demeaning and quite simply rude. Good for you. As long as you're happy that's all that matters right?

I just wanted to say, now that this thread is winding down, thanks all, it has been mighty entertaining :corn: .
I've been lurking but not posting because I've said my piece (which is much the same as Dana's - inside your house is private, and cameras are bad; on the street is public, and cameras are ok there).
And especially, it was great to see a civil discussion - a few claws came out but comparing to some other threads there was a near-complete absence of name calling, abuse and personal attacks. :grouphug: Wow, grown-ups.
I can't help but notice that Y-chromosomes were rather scarce in this thread. Coincidence? Unlikely.

Two anecdotes:
CCTV: I used to live on campus where there was a slowly growing network of cameras. Almost everyone was clamouring for new cameras because there was constant petty crime. They came slowly for budget reasons. The only inconvenience to me was when I wanted to meet my dealer, we had to be a little careful and discrete about handovers. Easy to manage.
DNA: My brother's house was burgled. The ransacked his house, pinched his beer, stole his Commodore (manly V8-engine car) kicked his dog and left. Ali will understand this is a bloody outrage in Australia. But they also left a cigarette butt in the garden ... He found it weeks later, turned it in ...DNA database ... ding! Only people convicted of a crime get sampled. Only samples related to a crime can be checked against the database. With these safeguards, I am okay with DNA databases.
But! I am watching to make sure these safeguards remain.

Ding? Some schmo finds a cigarette butt in his yard weeks after his house is burgled - and ding? If ding is anything more than a fine for littering, that's pretty fucked up.
:headshake

Sorry, "ding" was intended to mean a match on the database with a person with a record of similar crimes, and lead (via a warrant, search, discovery of stolen property) to a conviction for burglary.

Yeah...that's an offence almost worth bringing the death penalty back for.

You don't think it's fair that the person who stole stuff should be caught through an act of his own stupidity (other than stealing someone else's stuff of course)?

If the guy hadn't been convicted of a crime before, his DNA would not have been available, but because he had, it was and I'm betting the crime was similar and that's what gave them probable cause for a warrant and I'll bet from there they found Zen's mates' stuff.

If that wasn't your issue with the post, please disregard this post. :)

Just as an aside, I was looking across the street last night (at an internet cafe - I was trying to work out what their hourly rate was) and saw a young teenage girl rip the cardboard top from the packaging on a Halloween wig and just drop it on the ground. She was about five steps from a bin. Then she pulled it out and dropped the plastic on the ground NEXT to the bin. If I was on her side of the road I'd at least have made a comment (and picked it up if necessary). I was on the other side of the BUSY road though.

I'd be happy for a speaker to shout at her. Or for her to get a fine through the post after being seen on CCTV (okay, creepy, but I was SO angry). Or for me to morph into the thing that has scared her since childhood and fall on her like all the fallen angels in hell until she realises the enormity of her crime and weeps for forgiveness. Ahem, sorry - I HATE littering.

I'm with you on that SG. There's simply no need for it. It's purely and simply laziness.

Ah, I see, that makes sense.... I thought ding meant meant the thief was convicted because a cigarette butt with his dna was found weeks later in the vicinity of a crime scene.

Ok, I was too vague in my "ding" comment. And I'm with you about this - if I'm on the jury, the prosecution is going to need more than a single matching DNA sample. For me, it just tells the police who they should be looking at; a clue, rather than complete evidence.

At the risk of digging up what should be perhaps left buried:

Cic, sorry if I was a little harsh/aggressive mate. You're entitled to your opinion just as anyone else is and just because I get frustrated at times doesn't mean I don't like discussing things with you.

Well....maybe I should have read this before I got drunk enough to be mad at you last night, along with the entire universe, in a ridiculous stupor. I am providing proof that I am silly....to the core. Just don't listen.

See: What do you look like RFN. I really should never drink...ever. "This is what I look like when I am mad at DanaC." Plbbbt.
:D