Last spring the security office in our overly-large school district cooked up a program to reduce the theft of equipment in classrooms and offices.
One part of their plan involved books of these colorful Post-It Notes, which they hoped tech support people, administrators, and our tech trainers would place as gentle warnings on unattended equipment, both personal property and stuff owned by the district.
Not exactly subtle. Or warmly embraced by most people around here.
However, the police in a section of London are taking this concept one step farther.
Instead of just warning people, they are actually taking property from unlocked cars.
Of course, their actions are only taken with the very best of intentions according to a police spokesperson.
“Technically we are entering the vehicle but we are not committing a crime. It’s a common law duty to protect (people’s) property.
“We don’t want to take people’s property as it is an awful lot of bureaucracy and hassle for us but we are doing this to make sure people take responsibility of their valuables.”
Ok. So, whatever happened to the concept of people taking responsibility for – and accepting the consequences of – their decisions?