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Don't Covet Your Neighbor's Ass, Report Him for It
Since
2006, parts of the U.K. have participated in a public relations effort that
encourages citizens to anonymously report neighbors who they feel
are living beyond their means—for possible criminal
investigation.
In partnership with regional chapters of the charity group Crimestoppers U.K., multiple local police forces have launched a program called "Too Much Bling? Give Us a Ring." The object of the program is to encourage people who suspect that a neighbor or acquaintance is living off the proceeds of crime to anonymously provide information about that person to the police...
A key component of the "Too Much Bling?" program is its effort to tap into any resentment and anger members of the public may feel toward suspected criminals.
In a release issued by the Sussex Police Department, which used the program to help seize more than £1.5 million between April and December of last year, Detective Sergeant Mick Richards said, "Members of the public are sick and tired of seeing people with no legitimate income living a lavish lifestyle. We are working hard towards taking the cash out of crime making use of all the powers granted to us under the Proceeds of Crime Act and other legislation.
"I am very aware that in these difficult times how disheartening it is to see people 'flashing the cash' when you know that it has come from a life of crime and that they appear to be 'getting away with it,'" he said.
|5.20.09 @ 1:43PM|#
Who's going to be the first to report the royal family? Can anyone cite a better example of a lavish lifestyle with no legitimate income?
|5.20.09 @ 1:47PM|#
What a fantastic tool for the rapid improvement of social
lubrication.
I'm going to report you for lavish use of multisyllabic words. Your
language bling is out of control.
anon|5.20.09 @ 1:49PM|#
John with the win...
man. slanging drugs involves a lot of work. and it's providing an
obviously desired good.
|5.20.09 @ 1:50PM|#
The guy in the poster looks so much like Episiarch that they would be mistaken for brothers.
|5.20.09 @ 2:00PM|#
Who's going to be the first to report the royal family? Can
anyone cite a better example of a lavish lifestyle with no
legitimate income?
Nicholas Cage?
Kyle Jordan|5.20.09 @ 2:02PM|#
"That's...terrifying."
This my friend, is the understatement of the day.
|5.20.09 @ 2:04PM|#
TAO,
I decided that he wasn't worth the attention. When you get dogshit
on your shoe, you could obsessively hunt down the owner to make him
pay or you can scrape it off and get on with your life. I
scraped.
Suki and John Tagliaferro are hosting the novel bits heir. They
are young and have more energy. I do encourage everyone to keep up
with it. It's a very nice collaborative novel. And I'm still
willing to do the heavy lifting on the editing.
JB|5.20.09 @ 2:04PM|#
WTF!!!
Sheesh. Orwell was only off by 25 years.
The British must be pussies if they stand for this shit.
|5.20.09 @ 2:06PM|#
So criminals still haven't figured out how to launder their
money to make it appear legit?
Or is this something else, such as providing a reason to arrest
your druggie neighbors when you haven't actually seen any evidence
of drugs?
|5.20.09 @ 2:08PM|#
What a horror show Britian has become. I guess we should get used to it. It is on its way here. I have a British friend who looks at BO as karmic revenge for America loving Blair so much. He says BO is nothing but America's Tony Blair. That prospect is too scary for me to comtemplate. +
|5.20.09 @ 2:26PM|#
This kind of nannying happens when people don't have guns. In America, you don't report your neighbors for anything other than loud partying and that's probably only because you were too much of a douche to get invited to the party.
|5.20.09 @ 2:27PM|#
The guy in the poster looks so much like Episiarch that they
would be mistaken for brothers.
Jesus, Sug, don't give Epi's neighbors any more reasons to report
him to the authorities. I'd use the phrase "den of iniquity" if I
wasn't so concerned with avoiding the appearance of gratuitous
vocabulary consumption.
|5.20.09 @ 2:33PM|#
You'd think a guy named Mick Richards would appreciate a little bling and lavish lifestyles.
|5.20.09 @ 2:37PM|#
Dag,
"Den of iniquity" fits rather well, even if it is a bit insulting
to the notion of dens. And Epi'd be fine if he didn't insist on
wearing three watches when he left the house. It's just excessive,
I say. And he just ignores me.
And where is he, anyway? Probably sleeping off another night of
depravity.
BakedPenguin|5.20.09 @ 2:45PM|#
...that's probably only because you were too much of a douche to get invited to the party.
*sniff* Damn, Nick. I would have brought my own booze.
Robert|5.20.09 @ 2:46PM|#
Oh. I thought it was going to be a story about neighbors complaining of livestock being kept illegally.
|5.20.09 @ 2:48PM|#
BakedPenguin,
You can come be a douche at my parties anytime. I mean, I'm already
there... how much more douchey could it get?
|5.20.09 @ 2:51PM|#
It's just excessive, I say. And he just ignores
me.
Good taste and common decency are on your side. And yet, it's tough
to argue with the results.
And where is he, anyway? Probably sleeping off another night of
depravity.
One can only hope. Something to do with neighbors and asses, is
what I heard. (Spotted: Is E continuing his wildchild ways?)
Brandon|5.20.09 @ 2:51PM|#
Clicking the poster takes you to the site of a company devoted to helping law enforcement confiscate civilians' property. As a free marketeer I have to applaud the entrepreneurship, but damn...
|5.20.09 @ 2:53PM|#
(Spotted: Is E continuing his wildchild ways?)
No spoilers, I'm still three episodes behind.
And in other off-topic TV news... Dollhouse renewed,
Terminator confirmed canceled.
BakedPenguin|5.20.09 @ 2:57PM|#
...how much more douchey could it get?
SugarFree - apparently you don't read my posts.
On the plus side, I've invented a new type of SkittleBrau - only I
substitute prescription drugs for Skittles, and use Canadian cough
syrup instead of beer.
|5.20.09 @ 2:59PM|#
No spoilers, I'm still three episodes behind.
Dude, you have to catch up! You can buy whole episodes on Amazon
for cheap if they're not on the main site fast enough.
I'm hugely relieved that there will be more Dollhouse. The
last episode was way too awesome.
|5.20.09 @ 3:01PM|#
only I substitute prescription drugs for Skittles, and use
Canadian cough syrup instead of beer.
Woo-hoo!
By the way, on vacation this week I made my famous Vicodin and Red
Bull cocktails.
No Name Guy|5.20.09 @ 3:02PM|#
"The British must be pussies if they stand for this shit."
The Brits have been pussies since the 50's. Look at all the
bullshit they put up with - anti social orders, gun confiscation,
going to jail for daring to sell produce by the pound, not kilo,
more 'security' cameras than you can shake a stick at, that the
Govt would even propose to tap EVERY phone call and e-mail and on,
and on, and on.
Churchill is rolling in his grave realizing they lost the war to
facism.
Yellow bellied cowards - every last English"man".
|5.20.09 @ 3:03PM|#
I wonder when the snitches will receive their "Hero of Socialist Service" awards?
|5.20.09 @ 3:03PM|#
Dag,
They are sitting on the TiVo, I've just been out of town and trying
to catch up on everything else.
By the way, I had been watching Fringe all year and liking
it fairly well, but the season finale was so fucking awesome I
cannot wait for next year.
Xeones|5.20.09 @ 3:14PM|#
Conspicuous consumption is the first warning sign of NIGHTMARE GREEN infection. Do YOU want your brain to get eaten?
|5.20.09 @ 3:16PM|#
Sug,
Ah, of course I am the only one sans TiVo. Hey, isn't that
awfully "lavish"? (eyes Sug suspiciously)
I haven't seen Fringe, but I suppose I should give the kid
from Kits another chance. It's not his fault that our hometown had
such crappy weather this weekend.
Elemenope|5.20.09 @ 3:17PM|#
Terminator confirmed canceled.
This annoyed me, because the story was just about to go from merely
very intriguing to quite cool.
And it also seems like an epically bad decision from a pragmatic
POV seeing as how it would probably have picked up viewers due to
the new movie (assuming not total suckage).
Elemenope|5.20.09 @ 3:18PM|#
Fringe gets props for identifying Providence, RI as just one of those places where reality is thin and frayed about the edges.
|5.20.09 @ 3:28PM|#
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles was very good and getting better. Moving it midseason was dumb, especially when the network admitted losing 1/3 of the viewers upon moving it. And Prisonbreak is now over, so there is no more reason to watch Fox at all. I hope some other network picks up Terminator like ABC picked up Scrubs.
|5.20.09 @ 3:49PM|#
Sadly, this is just another in a long string of losses to civil
liberty that are going on in the UK. Recently, they banned several
people from entry into the United Korruptdom for inciting hate.
Granted I'm no Michael Savage fan, nor that of the vile Fred
Phelps, but here, we have a right to freedom of speech. There, it's
obviously gone. In addition, recently a law was passed that
requires anyone using a camera to stop photographing or taking
video, if an officer of the law orders them to do so. How chilling
is that? The very thing we may need the press to see and report is
police behavior, and yet, in England, there is no freedom of the
press, anymore. Additionally, it's been recently reported that the
police in London have used their vast array of cameras to track
individuals without what we would call "probable cause."
All of these sorts of things happen when you are "subjects" of the
crown, instead of citizens with a Bill of Rights.
I used to like going to London. I shall not ever go there again,
until such time that these indecencies are revoked.
alan|5.20.09 @ 4:16PM|#
If I were a drugdealer in Britain, I would preemptively report all my neighbors as kusacks before they could turn me in. In fact, everyone should do that to keep the system tied up.
|5.20.09 @ 4:26PM|#
"The Brits have been pussies since the 50's. Look at all the
bullshit they put up with - anti social orders, gun confiscation,
going to jail for daring to sell produce by the pound, not kilo,
more 'security' cameras than you can shake a stick at, that the
Govt would even propose to tap EVERY phone call and e-mail and on,
and on, and on."
Britian's love of liberty and will to fight for it died on the
fields of the Somme and the beaches of Normandy. It is pretty
apparent that only the weak survived the war. Sad, just sad.
JD|5.20.09 @ 4:47PM|#
People with no legitimate income living a lavish lifestyle?
What, like these people?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1184948/Ive-SEVEN-kids-I-15-says-mother-24-raking-24-000-year-benefits.html
Oh wait, that's the British government at work. (Money quote: "As
neither of the couple works, they enjoy child tax credits and child
benefits of L24,000 a year to support their ever-increasing
brood.") Britain just sounds disgustingly rotten these days.
Jordan|5.20.09 @ 5:05PM|#
I hope some other network picks up Terminator like ABC picked up Scrubs.
If Sci-Fi had any brains at all, they'd pick it up to replace
BSG.
Rick Sincere|5.20.09 @ 10:01PM|#
I remember when the UK was a free country. Seems like it was in another century.
|5.20.09 @ 11:29PM|#
"""Who's going to be the first to report the royal family? Can
anyone cite a better example of a lavish lifestyle with no
legitimate income?"""
John, report to the dungeon.
Is the British government in some reality show called How
Ridiculous Can You Get?
It will be interesting to see where the British citizenry draws the
line, if they do. Orwell may be right about that too, they just
give in. Those who rebel will be retrained and promoted.
|5.21.09 @ 2:56PM|#
This is rather comical after they just came out about all the
FUCKING POLITICIANS in the UK SPENDING everyone elses money on
extravagant beyond their means lifestyles.
Anytime government comes up with something for the citizens to do
that involves citizens ratting out citizens it should first be
implemented within government itself. If is is such a grand idea
for the masses certainly it must be just as good an idea for
government and the politicians that came up with it to begin
with.
|5.22.09 @ 9:04AM|#
Remember kids, people with money are evil ... far better for everyone to be poor, a far more pure and virtuous state. Always report anyone who appears to be becoming ... (shiver) ... "successful"! A dollop of Marxism, methinks.
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