June 15, 2018

Teenage girls help police catch pickpockets in Rotterdam

Filed under: General by Orangemaster @ 4:24 pm

Two teenage girls in Rotterdam have quite the hobby: they hang out in the main shopping area, track pickpockets, film them on their phones, and report them to the police.

Both girls, who want to become police officers when they grow up, say that they can easily spot pickpockets because their clothes are usually ‘one year out of style’. The dynamic duo work together with a police officer who goes through their footage and presents them to colleagues.

Not only do the girls want to become police officers later on, but they say that their dream would be to set up a livestream to follow the activities of pickpockets.

(Link: nu.nl, Photo by Facemepls, some rights reserved)

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September 4, 2008

Smart crooks in Haarlem make off with car seats

Filed under: Automobiles by Orangemaster @ 10:20 am
Renault Espace

Stealing hub caps and car badges is passé. Stealing entire wheels is daring, but hey, every baddy in town’s doin’ it and so it’s not cool anymore. Time to think out-of-the-box: stealing Renault Espace seats.

Some smart crooks decided to steal a large number of seats from a car dealer. All the cars just happened to have pierced radiators and ended up in the same place for repairs. Five seats fit in an Espace and they usually come with three. The police in Haarlem said that second hand seats go for 300 euro a piece. You do the math.

(Link: rtl.nl)

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November 16, 2007

Boy arrested for “stealing” virtual furniture

Filed under: Dutch first,Online by Branko Collin @ 1:00 am

The police in Amsterdam have arrested a 17-year-old boy at an undisclosed date for removing virtual furniture from other people’s accounts in the virtual community Habbo Hotel. According to the police of Amsterdam-Amstelland (Dutch) the suspect hails from Breda. Four more suspects, all 15 years old and from Gennep, have been questioned. The police are charging the five with computer trespass, theft, destruction of data and buying stolen properties, although the article sums up the case as one of fraud. This is the first time people have been arrested in the Netherlands for stealing virtual goods. The police received reports from five victims.

Habbo Hotel is a commercial online community for teens. Members can go to chatrooms and buy furniture, called “furni” according to Wikipedia. The furniture can then be placed in so-called guest rooms, or traded with other members.

(Link: ananova.com)

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March 16, 2007

Stolen bike found seven years later

Filed under: Bicycles by Orangemaster @ 4:22 pm
fiets1.jpg

On Monday 12 March, the police in Dordrecht found a bicycle that had been reported stolen seven years ago. The current 17-year-old owner was brought to the police station and claimed she didn’t know the bicycle was stolen. She thought it belonged to her mother. The bicycle was spotted near a school without its original bike lock (these locks are usually part of Dutch bikes). The police’s computer system had the bicycle down as having been stolen in 2000.

In Amsterdam, some 80,000 bikes are stolen every year.

(Link)

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