Police suck. GTA!

Allen750

wtf happened with the police? are you frigging kidding me, they just blew him off?

nevergod

@SOUNDBWOY:

I would die without it.

Kimiko

@multimoog:
"And if you're black, even that's open to negotiation."

What is that suppose to mean?

Mikazukinoyaiba

I believe it is called the Tinkerbell effect, for the part in Peter Pan when the fairy is saved by the belief of the audience.

The Tinkerbell effect is meant to describe things that only exist because people believe in them, like the power of the vote or the rule of law.

"Somehow, I'm just not willing to believe this guy called the police about a robbery and was simply hung up on without there being some sort of misunderstanding."

Well, my friend, you simply have not lived enough yet. Trust me, you'll get plenty of opportunity to witness such insanity and far far more egregious abuses.

"These guys are literally risking their lives to try and protect us"

No, they are 'risking their lives' as you say for a paycheque, much like a bouncer does. If you think they're doing it out of the goodness of their hearts you are more naive than your comment indicates. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of good cops, but there are plenty that abuse their power or, like any group of humans, are just plain old lazy. If you want to lionize someone choose soldiers, they get paid dirt and are in far more hazardous enviornments - at least, currently.

The Commissar

Note, the Xbox has been recovered! And I got a look of McPherson and dear gawd in heaven what kind of fool would mess with the guy's stuff!? I mean, besides the magenta hair, his eyes glow RED in the camera flash! And of course his tattoos...seriously, not the kind of guy I would try to bother, at all.

Byakko

@mariogalaxyman:
@SOUNDBWOY:

I don't suppose either of you are familiar with the city of Philadelphia. It isn't exactly Mayberry, and a stolen XBox ($300) doesn't even count as "grand theft".

Here's a link to the Philadelphia police's most wanted list. Maybe this will help you figure out what the Cops were busy with today:

Things I'd rather have the Philly Police worry about

A stolen XBox is only big news for people with nothing bigger to worry about. Be thankful you don't.

SeeOne

@dv8godd: This is why you get the star =D

TruPhan

If real progress is going to be made here, what also needs to happen is Digg or us or whoever, needs to throw the spotlight on Philly's police department to make sure they apprehend whomever did the breaking and entering. Spamming the one idiot is fun and all, but let's make sure that the actual threat to McFearsome is apprehended.

TruPhan

I hate idiots who steal shit. Can't they just stick to what they already have?

Elrinth

Althougth some form of justice prevailed I can't help but to think privacy laws are gonna surface regarding this

Starplate

@dv8godd: Thank you, you were quite eloquent, and I looked like an ass in doing the same thing.

bobtheduck

Who would have guessed that spamming saved the day

Domobran

the internet will tear your shit!

smackthenun

Freaking awesome! Props to the internet!

MetaKz

@TheSmiterer: Technically, "burglarize" is a North American colloquialism. While not the original or possibly accepted term in the UK, it does warrant an entry in my Chambers Dictionary (published in Edinburgh). It is in such common usage that it is the accepted word in the United States, even in legal and formal speech.

To say that it's only used by "idiots without a grasp of the language" is rather pompous and ethnocentric in its own right.

As for being so pissy about Americans ruining "your language"... well... I'd suggest that you research the origins of your tongue before you berate anyone else. From a big picture perspective, Brits really have zero room to talk when it comes to screwing up formal language with the soup that became English. It's one thing to be a purist... but being so possessive and angry about something like this is a bit bizarre.

It was the popularly accepted term in the US long before you got your knickers in a twist about it. No need to insinuate that 300 million people assholes because of something so minor and out of our control. I mean, no one alive today made it the accepted term in the US either.

dv8godd

hhhmmmm, isn't next Tuesday April fools day?

Donutt007

That story doesn't make me feel good at all. In fact it pisses me off that the police just hang up on this guy when he phones in solid evidence to them of a burglar. This stories just proof that there is something seriously wrong with the justice system.

But it warms my heart a little bit knowing that the online community cares enough to help out. I'd have done the same... if I knew how...

Here's to the gaming community.

cheers.

mordennight

@stickfodder: Police are like any other group...some winners, some losers.

Arklop

Two of my friends used to room together in an apartment that was affiliated with our college campus and their apartment got broken into and cleaned out - TWICE. The second time, they got so bold that they even cooked and ate one of their pizzas while they were there.

What did the police do? Absolutely nothing. Took a report and never called back. Didn't check for prints, didn't look for forced entry, they took a report and seemed to have lost the reports each time when they called to follow up.

Anyone familiar with the campus police there will know that the police will pull you over for anything - I got pulled over for dropping friends off in a loading zone, and a friend of mine got pulled for riding his motorcycle between some speed bumps. However, show up with a REAL crime and you're lucky if they even remember your case.

Rhawb

Eff Johnny Law, we handle shit fo' reelz.

pandafresh

Ah, the Philadelphia Police department. Unless you're getting shot at, they don't give a shit.

Strangelove

Doesn't anyone learn?

Don't FUCK with nerds.

We do in fact rule the world much like your slightly more intelligent peers waxed prophetically about. Anger us and we will strike you down with all our might.

Absent Blue

Thats awesome. Good to know that total strangers are willing to help out.

Majpain007

I just checked out every link. Seems like it couldn't have happened to a bigger douche. Glad to see that justice got served to some degree.

GorbyGipper

@Argyle:
Heh, that reminded me of The Big Lebowski when the Dude gets the briefcase stolen.
"Leads, yeah, sure. I'll just check with the boys down at the crime lab, they've got four more detectives working on the case. They got us working in shifts!"

Blah8

I haven't laughed so much in ages..

witchdrash

Behold the power of internetz.

This story made my day.

Cor-Wii

@TheSmiterer: You don't speak the original English language. Just because you live in the area it was created, different dialects exist. Get over it. You Anglocentric language elitists piss me off... Seriously. We have slightly different dialects of English. Its' not a crime nor is it wrong or whatever. It's just different. Language develops differently when people are separated by physical distance... It's not butchering the language at all, it's merely a different evolution.

Get over yourself, seriously.

bobtheduck

@bobtheduck: No. Its not remotely archaic, its English. Plain english. Just because Americans can't get their own language, doesn't mean they have the right to butcher mine. The entire history of the English language has seen words get shorter and shorter, and then you guys come along and turn burgled into burglarized. What? Whats the point? It takes longer to type or say and the literal meaning of the word would be to turn someone who isn't a burglar into a burglar.

TheSmiterer

MOB JUSTICE FTW!

EdwinJ85

This is why I love the internet, and best of all, it's a story even the most illiterate computer users can understand.

Seriously, that guy did something moronic. He deserved the harassment.

Codexx

The internet is like your buff, but somewhat "big boned" nerdy friend who always has your back in a pickle. You do not want to get on the other side of the internet in a fight, especially when gamers are involved.

Nessman

wheres annoymous?

Vaanelo

@TheSmiterer: Hey, dude... Burgled is either an archaic word or it's a brit thing. The proper american term is burglarized. Burgled and burgle and burgling are used to characterize a speaker who is so out of touch with the way people actually speak, they'll use the "proper" words that don't exist in the modern langauge.

[dictionary.reference.com]

Do a bit of research

bobtheduck

@comedy:.......and if vigilanteism goes unchecked i'm sure glad i live in the uk: we're not quite as fucked up as americans.

Yeah, in 'Cool Britannia' not only do the police not bother with investigating burglaries, but if the burglars happen to break into your home while you're there...increasingly common in the UK as having a 'bit of sport' with the occupants adds spice to things...and you defend yourself from them, you go to jail.

Tibeerius

@Article
It's good to hear the punk got caught. And the Internet is indeed a wonderful tool.

What bothers me though, is when the guy actually got evidence on his thief that the law, failed to act.(These guys are paid via taxes, they need to do there dang job)

I know of an old saying "When seconds count, the cops are minutes away" but this was more like.. Eh, "When it's time to count on the cops, they just hang up"

What matters in the end though is that justice was served...

--Core--

Man, that kid is really stupid trying to pull that ransom crap over Xbox Live.

Wubbytoes

@Witzbold: Don't you live in Japan, though? The cops in Japan are like model citizens from what I've been told.

bobtheduck

Cool:he got all his stuff back.
Bad: the MOTHER fucking police hung up on him when he had ACTUAL evidence of the crime

excel_excel

that was pretty awesome. I love that they used google street view and showed the world his house. GG to his privacy

Xer0Ph0kus

@Pezdispenser:

No its not.

Burglarize = Burgle
Burglarized = Burgled
Burglarizing = Burgling

They're not real words and only people without the slightest grasp of English use them. Not only that, its stupid to use them when there are already perfectly good and SHORTER words that mean exactly the same thing.

TheSmiterer

"I'm sorry Mr. McPherson, but we can't help you out no matter what 'evidence' you say you found. What? You know exactly who did it? *hangs phone up*"

"What's amatter there Jones?"

"That kid is on to us Murphy. He's on to us big time. We gotta scoot, or he'll know we killed that girl!"

"He was calling about that?"

"No, but the Internet found who stole his Xbox! Who knows what they can find out!"

JGab

Haha, good stuff.

people can be so stupid sometimes...

silverfox840

This is great news, although it never should of occurred in the first place. In the future there will be no police force, when you call 999 you will hear the old internet dial up tune which has slight resemblances to a sheep running away from Mr Blobby.

Eon.

It's been said already, but I'll say it again...

In my eyes, the case is only half closed. The guy should be charged. He's getting away scott free... and so are the police. I think the kid who got his stuff stolen should have his parent pursue this with the police. Make them do their jobs. Or raise enough stink with the local press.

What's the message they're sending? That it's ok to do your own investigation and go vigilante? That you can steal because the police don't care or are too busy? What if it wasn't some other kid that did the stealing? Coulda been somone a little more dangerous or a bit more crazy, or worse, a bit more armed.

Both the thief and police need to be held accountable here. The loop shouldn't be closed on this one.

VoodooHack

@DaoKaioshin: Unfortunately, all MS (and Sony) will do is take down the information and IF the unit comes in for repair, they will then contact the police and give them the contact information of the person who requested the repair (at least that's how it was explained to me). So if he hadn't got back his 360, he would've been praying to the Console Goddess for the 360 to red ring (which is kind of ironic if you think about).

zhaxra

Totally awesome outcome, glad all ended peacefully. On the other end of the spectrum, such a bummer to see such young kids acting like knuckleheads. When I was 16 I was more worried about sports, school, girls and my super sweet Colecovision.

Put your kids in after school sports to learn some teamwork and pride. Be involved in their education to help them achieve higher learning. By instilling some doses of morality and common sense your child will make better social decisions. It is not the responsibility of the goverment, school system nor an Xbox360 to raise your child.

It's really amazing to see the internet and Digg community come together, but the bigger picture is that what was stolen was material and can be replaced. If I were in McPherson's shoes, first I wouldn't press charges, that would accomplish nothing. What I would do is hock/auction the returned Xbox360 and use the money to send the kid to a music camp or some summer school art classes. I don't know just a thought.

D-Lish

Charles Bronson would've shot the kid and taken that box back!

mergedwarrior

@TheSmiterer: its burgled, right?

GrimaceXL

@Witzbold: Theft must not be a real crime according to policemen.

GrimaceXL

@TheSmiterer:

It is a word. :|

Pezdispenser

That's pretty damn cool. I'm glad McPherson got his goods back!

As a person who had his 360, PS3, and PSP (and a Laptop) stolen recently, hearing tales like this is very good for the soul. In my case it took the police about 40 min. to respond, then the officer had to leave right away due to an accident up the neighborhood.

zhaxra

I thought this story was immense until I actually read the guys blog and it turns out hes one of these idiots who thinks "burglarized" is a word.

TheSmiterer

@Bishmon: The unfortunate reality is that police don't usually spend much time investigating petty theft unless they basically catch them in the act. I had a police officer tacitly admit as much even when my car was broken into. I gave him a description of the car they drove off in, a most of the license plate number, and a description of the occupants, and never heard anything about it. They don't even bother taking finger prints or anything like that because they know they'll never work on the case.

I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and assume there simply are not enough investigators to handle more than the violent crimes, but it still sucks that even when given large amounts of information to work with, some crimes are simply ignored because they're not considered important enough.

Accelerata

You guys have some scummy cops. The ones around where I live will show up within 5 minutes, even if it's a bad neighborhood.

Pezdispenser

I've seen it a million times and as long as net neutrality holds we will all see it a million more. In a world where authority has thrown aside its duty to protect in favor of acting in its own self interests, this is the natural progression of things.

Sometimes shit happens, someone has to deal with it, and who ya gonna call?

Bobby McPresscott

I wish this would have happend to buddy who stole my shit.

boots555

I only see McPherson saying he received his laptop. As far as I can see the 360 and TV are still missing in action..

bluesquareapple

@Argyle: Look on the bright side...

You've got great cheesesteaks. Man, sometimes my friends and I drive from DC up to Philly for a day just for some good cheesesteaks.

dv8godd

@ManjiKengo: That's pretty messed up. (But I still think getting run over by my own car wins.) ;)

Wins what, though, I don't know... and I'm pretty sure I'd rather lose that contest. :D

______________________

@ekkobi: It's never as bad as they "say" it is. Even with that murder rate people were still probably more likely, statistically speaking, to die by electrocution while watching television. I'd guess that a large percentage of the folks who were murdered weren't just random killings anyway. Still, it tends to make police work a lot less desirable.

______________________

@Tiber: Well, there's something to be said about the police angle too... the vast majority of people who'd want to "sue the cops" are probably people who messed up in the first place. Like the kid who got shot when the cops appeared at his doorstep, the "PS3 Shooting"...

[kotaku.com]

I mean... he DID actually steal the PS3. Not that he deserved to be shot... but his chances of being alive today would likely be greatly increased had he not robbed someone. Not to condone the actions of the police in the situation... but young Strickland now has a memorial dedicated to his memory. How is that a message to send to the police? Make a mistake and the consequences are dire... you're fired and the thief gets immortalized.

Whenever a cop does anything except take a piss, liability issues come flying out all over the place. It's a pretty damn stressful job just from the red tape and liability angle. Cops also typically make a LOT less than doctors and are considered public servants in the employ of the state.

I would agree that we need a better way to hold people accountable for their actions or lack thereof, but if people are allowed to sue cops in civil suits in the normal performance of their duties, you'll quickly find a lot fewer cops.

That and, well, the lawsuit happy culture we live in has become the new lotto of the 21st century. Many of the people in these lawsuits are looking for an easy ride, not to improve the system for mankind.
______________________

@天人: That's pretty messed up as well. I've seen some bizarre traffic laws that automatically assume fault based on silly criteria... I've seen people get rear-ended and have it automatically be their fault too. Crazy stuff.

This is the kind of thing you get when you put law ahead of simple common sense. You just know that at some point in time, someone lobbied to have that law put on the books because it made sense for one specific instance or one particularly bizarre intersection. At that point, someone felt strongly enough about the on the spot judgments being made by police or insurance companies to rule out common sense approach and replace it with a hard law to remove "thinking" from the equation.

For as little credit as I give my fellow man for being able to use common sense anymore, I give a lot less credit to the mass of overly specific laws we're saddled with now. Seems to me that 99% of potential problems are covered by 1% of the laws we have (the most basic ones at that) and the rest contains a lot of noise that just gets in the way.

I mean, think of how many laws we could take off the books if people just agreed to not be dicks to each other.

Man, I live in a fantasy world, I know.

dv8godd

This is a case of society out pacing the power of institutions to handle the issue of an individual. This is starting to become very prevalent. Anyone who does home invasion nowadays especially with many devices connecting to the internet is a dumb ass.

Kounji

Police are relatively laid back in their duties. Sure if someone has taken hostages or is on the run for shooting a cop they are all over that. Most petty crime doesn't get a notice, and the hardcore crime like rampant gang violence is wholly ignored because the police aren't trained or equipped or brave enough to face a neighborhood of gang members with assault rifles. I really went off topic here...

Well glad to see things worked themselves out as it seems. I'll be surprised if no one gets in trouble for bringing mob justice to bear, but I'm also realistic and narcissistic.

Sean Grimm

Heck ya, that is awesome! I read the digg story but at that time there was no other information posted. It is nice to see their are still nice people around and in the gamer community.

TheCrimsonOrder

@lordofsword:
Just at a guess but i'm guessing account recovery.

Which is why the thief knew how to message him. He saw the gamertag on the 360. Then when the account was recovered to the victim of the crimes new 360. The criminals "ingenius" plan probably formulated.

As for the his workmates bought him a new 360, probably out of sympathy( wish i had friends like his ) it's a key part of the story as that is when and how the criminal messaged him.

lankygibbon

The internet is a cruel mistress, she can be your best friend one minute and your worst enemy the next.

Spiderbait

@tzaketh: The low likelihood of recovering your stuff is sort of a self-fulfilling prophecy in that case. Of course it's next to impossible to get your stuff back when the authorities refuse to do anything.

Doomstalk

@Jacksci-fi: It's your last comment! YAY!

Amsterdaam - KEEP SMILING

I would have whooped the guys ass right when he comes to my doorstep to hand my goods back.

LeLoi

The police suport the thieves!! i never trusted the duch police but now i know not to trust the US police eighter..

maiky-nisute

@Witzbold:
You would be shocked at the number of people who get off scot-free, and _aren't_ celebrities. My aunt/uncle had their minivan w/ mountain bikes in the back and car phone (back when such things still existed) stolen while on vacation. It was later found, crashed, and with calls having been placed on the car phone. They contacted their phone company and got a list of numbers called, which they turned over to the police. They were promptly informed that they _recognized_ the numbers called, and they knew exactly who took it for a joyride, because the same people were doing this on a very regular basis (like once per week/month/whatever, from the sound of things). Problem? The judge they they go before always let them walk because they're freaking _minors_. And he doesn't believe in sending kids to jail. So, the cops calmly informed my uncle that while they knew exactly who did it and where to find them, they wouldn't even bother to pick them up on the charge because it would be a waste of time on their part, and once they turn 18 all record of their criminal history would be expunged. One can only hope that they were dumb enough to do this again the first time one of them turned 18, or the day after that judge retired.

Purple Dave

I was Born in Philly and I lived there until I was 22. Philly is awesome in many ways but beyond fucked up mostly. It has the single worst violent crime rate per capita of any city in the US. There were were 392 Homicides(keep in mind Homicide means someone was killed not injured) last year. Philly is also the major distribution point for drugs for the entire because of it's convenient location between NYC and Baltimore/Washington D.C. The Philly government is corrupt (the former mayor was under active investigation by the FBI). Poverty rates are high, there isn't much industry/jobs in the city and the young and educated are leaving in droves.

I'm not surprised the police ignored him. When my car was stolen when I was in college in Philly the police took a report, but when I asked what they were going to do they said "if we find it abandoned somewhere we'll report it to your insurance company, but there won't be any investigation".

Philly has serious problems and a stolen xbox is a joke, but thank you internets for justice!

Argyle

If he hand delievered those things back to my house i'd be to tempted to knock his ass out for stealing my stuff.

eric89

I love you, internets. Your ruthlessness gets me all moist and excited.

Asper

Wow, when a horde of internet nerds handles a crime the police refuse to take care of. You either have to wonder about the quality of police these days, or the marvel at the still seemingly untapped power of the interwebs. Sounds like a Nickelodeon movie script.

RidleyTJN

Amazing! People stealing shit from you is the worst feeling though. I bet the guy was embarrassed hand-delivering it too.

thegetupkid

@Kayeliminal Antithesis:

Spoken like a true asshole.

LaserJudas

seriously, somebody needs to send word of this to the tv media (as long as it's respectable.... send it to Fox & I'll kill you in your sleep) that police department deserves to be publicly humiliated on national television... I mean, THEY F***ING HUNG UP ON HIM!

Merik2013

Internet harassment does work!
+1 attack

hrabbit

So is he going to nail this kid with breaking and entering, larceny, criminal mischief, harassment, along with getting his XBLA account hosed for violation of TOS? I'd throw the book at him, then get M$ to pitch in as well.

ludwigk

THat is a "lol" moment

That Girl Hates You

Rock on; not only is it cool to see this turd get his just desserts, but it's always amazing to see the resourcefulness of the denizens of the internets at large.

Norellicus

@comedy: People like you make me fucking laugh. You can talk shit all you want, but everyone place on this entire planet is pretty much fucked. just cause one place gets talked about more, doenst make everywhere else peachey keen.

so shut your pretencious fucking trap.

kommanderk

Ethered...

ph15h

The interwebs...serious business!

But seriously, that's awesome. Good going Diggers!

edb87

I can't stop laughing at this kid! Hopefully this straightens him out . . . or else . . .

mexfreak86

And the cops still aren't getting involved? Your tax dollars at work.

terraform

The Internet is the new batman!

kevinyung89

BEHOLD! The true power of the internet! Nice to see justice done right!

bethel1614

Don't fuck with the internets

FLYBOY611

That has to be one of the greater public's worst nightmares; becoming the target of internet harassment, expesially a community that large and resourceful.

Muffin_Man

Another vote for just merging police forces into the department of revenue, at least then we don't have lie about the fact that they're just tax collectors with guns. If you make them do anything else, odds are they will try to find something to bust you for.

RonJeremy4Pres

one of the best uses of digg ever. This is about as good as the p-p-power book prank on an eBay scam artist over at zug.

Dakito

I love seeing bad things happen to people.

thanks for the story.

lasttimeyouaskedme

dumbass kid never heard of eBay.

DefDealer

I completely agree with what dv8godd has been saying. The police have a profit motive to "not" assist you. Unfortunately, the US police force is seen by city counsels as a profit generator and as political leverage. If as a politician you have the opportunity to use your police force to generate money through traffic infractions, you can have the dual benefit of increased crime. Increased crime leads the politician to run as "strong on crime" so that they can hire more police to ignore crimes and increase revenue. I think that many officers probably go into law enforcement with good intentions, while many others go into it so that they can powertrip on other people. In any case, the people calling the shots are concerned with solving murders and traffic citations. Unsolved murders are bad for the politicians, but unsolved property crimes aren't. In most jurisdictions, there really isn't a lot of violent crime, but there are enormous police forces, all ready to punish the "criminals" driving 38 in a 35 or not making a clean stop at a stop sign where there are clearly no other cars.

The problems with police are widespread in America and almost everyone you talk to has a story about how useless they were in nearly every situation, as long as there wasn't a moving violation involved. It is a broken system and the police are just a part of the bigger picture. Fact is, it is nice to say that the cops are out there looking for murderers, but that is such a small percentage of the police force that it is statistically insignificant. And yes, I will go to police if there is a crime, even if I doubt that they will do anything, because there is no alternative.

@comedy:
Homeowner's insurance sounds great, but it doesn't work like that. Unless they clean you out or torch your house, you are better off not filing a claim. If they do clean out your house, you had better have an accurate inventory, stored somewhere offsite, with photographic evidence; the same goes for torching the house, but at least in that case you could have a fire safe. Anything short of several thousand dollars of loss is not worth it because of the high deductibles and the fact that they will dramatically raise your premiums (possibly those of your neighbors as well, if it looks like a pattern in the neighborhood) and will probably drop you completely if it is your second report, making you uninsurable. Also, hope that if your house is destroyed that it is by fire because earthquake, flood, and wind insurance are all separate and expensive extras. He wasn't specific about how he was broken into, so an alarm may or may not have made a difference, but you are better off protecting yourself through the alarm company than by relying on the police after the fact or by relying on the insurance companies to help you. The alarm company has a profit incentive to assist you, (good referals, etc.) while the police and insurance companies do not.

kingofallcosmos

Hell yeah, Internet > idiot thugz

Seiven

I respect the law.... I just wish more of those who are placed to protect such rights would do their job. A big thumbs up to Digg, and those who helped this guy get his stuff back!

Y0URGOD78

@dv8godd: "In general there is the trend of turning cops into just another political machine that serves the state and not the people..."

I'd say you hit the nail on the head with that statement. More than a year ago I was in a nasty car accident. Long story short, on a dark, extremely snowy night some guy ran a red light and t-boned my car so hard it was totaled beyond repair. I had a green left turn arrow, he had a red light. I would have not gone into the intersection if I could have seen him, but visibility was so poor that I couldn't see him coming until it was too late. He was speeding and driving recklessly (too fast for the snowy road conditions). After I called 911 and the cops came, I got ticketed.

Apparently, the reason is that I was turning left. Supposedly, there's some kind of law in Montana that dictates that if you're turning left you're automatically at fault (or something like that), even though I was breaking no traffic laws and he was violating multiple traffic laws. Perhaps this would make sense in a situation where the person at fault is unclear, but there was no doubt here. Nonetheless, the state dictated that I should be ticketed, even though the tow truck guy, emergency workers, and witnesses (the people) disagreed. I had to take the blame and deal with the consequences. Thankfully, my insurance company didn't jack up my rates since they sided with me.

天人

@lordofsword: I don't have a 360 so I don't know if this is how it would work but I'm guessing that once the kid stole the 360 he signed up a new account. But he figured that since he already knows the guys account name(from being signed on when he stole the 360) he could send a message just incase he ever got a new 360 or used a friends to log on.

Once the message was recieved McPherson just looked at the Gamertag of the person who sent it. Continue the story from there.

Aflack: Likes slushies

@comedy:

"we're not quite as fucked up as americans.
and i don't care what you have to say about that."

I'm sorry, I couldn't hear that, I think your large, ugly teeth got in the way. Hey look, I'm blindly insulting people based on stupid nationalism. Why don't you come live hear before you say our people are fucked up. You'll be surprised at just how unfucked we are.

Voteforme2020

I hope he got a boot to the face if he returned them in person.

Pornosaur

The smiley side of vigilantism shows through here, but there was potential for very bad things to happen.
An entertaining story, nonetheless.

Hazzy

@dv8godd: That's stupid. If you can sue a doctor for incompetence you should be able to sue police. Maybe something good could come out of our lawsuit-happy society.

Okay, so it'd be a huge can of worms, but at least it wouldn't be ineffectual.

@Bishmon: We're talking about the ones who are stupid, not police as a whole. And as for the police in this story, his entire complaint was their LACK of a role. Even if you give the police here the benefit of the doubt, there has to be some stupidity going on on their part if one guy manages to track this idiot down, yet the police whose job is to these things can't be bothered to even try to take the credit for work already done for them.

Tiber

@Witzbold:

He lives in Philadelphia. The cops have a lot worse shit to worry about than $500 in stolen goods, especially considering how little likely you are to actually get shit back from a burglary. Obviously they didn't quite understand how dumb the thief was.

That, and as we don't have a recording of the 911 call, we don't know how this kid phrased it. May well have been "Hey, some kid took my xbox and an old laptop and is trying to hold them ransom". While that does sum up the situation, it also sounds like some kid he KNEW took it while he was in the house and was playing dumbass childish mindgames.

We don't have all the information here.

tzaketh

@dv8godd: Yea. It's not as bad as they say though (news reports about murder and gun crime sell). Murder rates are/were high (it's lower this year)... increased police presence and the new mayor and commish' policies may be helping out.

I'm still not going to be talking walks late at night anytime soon unless I absolutely had to, but I wouldn't do that anyway... there's games to be played. :P

ekkobi

The internet is here!

Smart? Extremely. And the government wants to shut down this mob of the mass ruling of people. Social society evolution at it's best.

huginn - thank you xbla for vgcat pictures!

Owned !!!

miguelcar808

Digg got ahold of all that?

Imagine if it got to /b/.

sean09

Haha, I was checking this out over the weekend on Digg. Good to hear he got his stuff back.

SpishackCola

the cops must be to busy arresting terriost on WoW.... makes me hope that some one goes to the press with this story and that someone loses their job over it...

fawrh

Wow...police/detectives don't really care for robbers.

phalanges

Go go internet justice! Nice of the Philly cops to hang up on someone reporting a crime.

Gouki4u

Read the story, the police hanging up on him was understandable. He didn't just call the police the second time, he tried to call the detective department directly - which was closed. The receptionist told him to call back M-F during working hours. He tried to argue, and the receptionist hung up.

That still doesn't explain the police not showing up to a break-in and burglary, though.

Dreamwriter

This website does not support vigilante justice... unless it gets results... which it will.

Ugh Simpson Movie reference. :<

Neko_Godot

"So you lost a TV, an Apple computer, and an XBox?"
"A 360, yeah."
"Sorry, we don't have time to deal with toys."
"BUT THAT'S A FEW THOUSAND DOLLARS WORTH OF-"
*click*

And the moral of the story is that vigilante justice is the only way to get things done. Wait... that shouldn't be it... uh oh.

fuchikoma

You guys need to read the whole story - this guy apparently just bought the 360 from the robber, he didn't take it himself.

While it certainly does not appear this doofus is contributing much to society anyway, you guys thinking that this is a great day for vigilante justice are off-base.

Heck, you guys are right - this is definitely "internet justice." Fly off the handle and go full speed ahead before knowing all the facts.

KaneRobot

Justice is served.! :D

FullyShadow

I was robbed at knifepoint once at home by an acquaintance of my mother's. The police showed up pretty quickly. We gave them the guy's name, description, what he was wearing, and which way he'd gone on his bike. Couldn't have been too hard to find him that night. They took a statement and as far as they were concerned their job was done.

My cousin and I were robbed at gunpoint at a bus stop. I knew one of the guys involved from school years back. The cops managed to pick him up that night but we never heard another word about it.

Like it or not, most of the time it's just no use calling the cops.

LeChuck

@dv8godd:

couple years back I went to go see Jason X. Of course I probably deserved what happened but still....the cops were fucking useless.

The area that I parked my truck at was over some ghettoish neighborhood. you couldn't really see the cars from the ground too well. Specially where I parked my truck.

After getting out of the movie I get ready to go home my buddy noticed a couple cracks and holes in my passenger window. Fucking window got shot with a pellet or BB gun. The window itself looked pretty shitty.

I call over the midnight guard cops from the local city /county.

Fuckers look at the window, whip out their nightsticks and bash it in. They go down to the neighborhood to the closet house to ask if anyone there owned a bb gun.

Fuckers come back with the dumbest excuse ever and then leave without saying anything else.

ManjiKengo

Anonymous is the Anti-spiral, its all good when you get it running and pwning the end of the universe.

the only problem is stopping it.

hopefully our descendants will survive to pierce heaven, and put the monster back into it's place.

preferably with galaxy size mecha please.

Onizuka-GTO

That's why gamers rule the world!

DFKiller

@ekkobi: Wasn't it this time last year that Philly had already had nearly or over 100 murders? Yeah... something went seriously wrong in the city of brotherly love. Not that Philly has lived up to that name in a long time... but still.

dv8godd

just like witz, i'm more worried that the police hung up on him.

ManjiKengo

@y2julio: Well played!

Witzbold

@Doomstalk: Agreed. Not saying that it shouldn't have been looked into... but I can understand why it might not have. In general there is the trend of turning cops into just another political machine that serves the state and not the people... then specifically there is the soaring crime rate in Philly (not sure if it's still the problem it was last year, tho).

It's sad, but it doesn't seem to be headed toward positive resolution, honestly.

I've had some pretty fucked up situations involving cops in my life: the crowning star of which was getting run over by my own car as some kids were stealing another car and ran into mine to roll it over me... good fun that! The officer at the scene could give two shits about the whole thing. I later heard that they caught the kids and wanted me to appear in court... but they mailed the notice to appear in court 3 days after when i was supposed to be there. Words really fail to describe that kind of dickery.

But if I'm 5 miles over the speed limit or a meter goes over... you can bet they're johnny-on-the-spot.

That said, I seriously doubt that most cops join the force to become involved in the field of traffic law enforcement, despite whatever first-hand evidence we might see.

I'm not bitter for my own experiences... it seems fair to believe there are other factors at play beyond the obvious when crimes like these take a backseat.

dv8godd

the internet is pretty dang cool.

SOUNDBWOY

Like NWA says F*** the police. What the hell do we pay taxes for. The poor guy gave them the evidence... how much easier could their job get.

SOUNDBWOY

I lub you internet.

Sometimes.

CyN1caL

he stole a powerbook? wow, this burglar really is an idiot.

bigman88zz

This is really a great example of "the internet" doing something right. Police didn't pay any attention even after McPherson did their job for them. What was he supposed to do? I agree whole heartedly with the problems created by vigilantism and its dangers, but when confronted by the choice between catching a thief or just letting it go (especially in the face of egregious taunting), I know which one I think should happen.

Seanchaen

Could he have contacted MS/XBL about this at all?

DaoKaioshin

Neat story, but could have done without the one-sided police-bashing. I understand that gets you cred among many 16-year-old gamers, but if you feel the need to bring the police's competence into the story, you could at least have the decency to expand on it and try to provide a fair picture of their role. Somehow, I'm just not willing to believe this guy called the police about a robbery and was simply hung up on without there being some sort of misunderstanding. And the comment about the Philadelphia police's competence was just unnecessary.

These guys are literally risking their lives to try and protect us. Sure, not all of them are great, and some are downright criminal, but that doesn't mean we should be so heavy-handed when talking about them as a whole. They deserve better than that.

Bishmon

Fantastic story. That's all.

Mini-Boss

...Internet Hate Machine?

Hypersteric

the middle of this story makes no sense. why did his workmates give him a replacement 360? and how did the burglar get a message on a 360 his workmates gave him? and if he had a replacement 360 for free, why would he want to pay to get his old one back? and if he was using the same account or a different one, how did the burglar not only know his account name to send the message, but know he'd be getting a replacement 360 to send a message to in the first place?

lordofsword

@comedy: Smile for the cameras, bloke.

SigmundTheSeaMonster

@dv8godd: Yea, I live and work in Philly, and I can honestly say that even if it was me, I'd rather have our cops looking for and policing the fools that are running around shooting people for no damn reason than go out of their way to find a stolen console.

ekkobi

@comedy: Insurance is pretty lame - deductibles typically kill the benefit of having it in smash and grab cases where there's only 500-2000$ worth of things stolen.

awesomerobot

WELCOME TO THE INTERNETS! LMAO

Morphine16

@battra92: in person = woman behind bullet proof glass, at least where I live.

I had my car broken into while I was at the movies, called 911 - and they asked me if I could drive my car to them because they were too busy.

I get there, and file a report with a PERSON WHO DOESN'T EVEN LOOK AT MY CAR, I had to describe damage - when someone could of taken 2 seconds to actually look at it.

So yeah, it's awesome to be in middle-class america where your belongings have no protection whatsoever, so go ahead, break into cars - no one will look into it.

One thing I got out of that was to beef up security as much as possible on all of your belongings; and also, If I ever catch someone in the act of stealing my stuff I'll most likely beat them to near death to make up for past injustices!

awesomerobot

@Bon5ai: Such hate coming from someone with a Bonsai avatar...

This is a great story, though certainly I've seen a few similar ones in the last several years, most often over laptops rather than 360s of course. This doesn't excuse every single negative thing about/on the Internet, but it is a great example of how good people can use the Internet to enforce some basic cultural norms (don't fucking steal!) in extreme cases like this.

Its definitely a slippery slope though, I'd hate to see people start using sites like Digg to "replace" the work of police officers in the vast majority of cases.

DaiMacculate

@dv8godd: It's still a depressing and disturbing state of affairs. While a robbery might not be a big deal, petty crime often begets more serious crime. Someone fences a console for money to buy drugs, which funds gangs and organized crime, etc. Basically not caring about the little stuff is the sort of attitude that got us here in the first place.

Doomstalk

Kids really are idiots when it comes to this kind of stuff.

Youd be surprised how much stolen stuff kids try to sell back to Gamestop.

Altima NEO

And so the inernet smote the wicked!

Donovan

I find it pretty disgusting that he's still logging on to his myspace and XBL accounts. This kid buys stolen goods and (degenerately/mentally) retardedly sends harassing messages to the owner only to get spammed with no other consequences?

I at least hope there's some civil action that can be taken as well as getting the information regarding the person from whom he purchased the 360 to an authority capable of doing something - and I'm hoping breaking and entering, grand theft/larceny, and selling stolen goods (and I'm sure plenty more) is enough for Philadelphia's finest to spring into action instead of just purchasing stolen goods.

Arttemis

*i mean 'don't' (final line, 1st word)

comedy

y2julio

This is so damn heartwarming. The internet triumphs again!

Infradead

@Nekura20x6: true, but i have a solution for what he could do which would not open up such worry in my head:
he could be sure to have home insurance including contents, this way he would be covered for things stolen from him.
AND the digg community (or whoever harassed the perp) could have instead harassed the police, which is totally legitimate.
this case was solved well, and with little help, by the digg'ers and that's commendable, but it just seems to me that it's symbolic for what *could* happen.

i must say i'm distressed that the police just dismiss this stuff, i'm pretty sure they don'e over here in the uk... and for that i'm thankful.

comedy

It's so amazing when social websites unite and make a huge difference. It's really awesome. I wish the mainstream media would do more stories on the power of good people on the internet.

jonathan

I love the internet, people are always so dumb. :P

MidnightScott17

All praise the mighty internet!!!

awesomerobot

It's good to know the internet can help you out, even when the crooked cops can't.
Stick that in your pipe and smoke on it, Parents Against Facebook!.

v-rus

@comedy: While I agree that vigilantism can be a very dangerous thing, in this case what could he do? He had a photo of the person who tried to sell some of his stolen goods and the Live account of a person who claimed to be in possession of others and THEY HUNG UP ON HIM!

In that case, if he did nothing, nothing would get done. I'd love to see his local TV news stations pick this story up and ask the police on camera why they couldn't do what a handful of people on the Internet could.

Also - it's not like someone stole his backpack at a Starbucks. They broke into his house and committed Grand Theft (the combination of the TV, the laptop, and the XBox should have elevated the crime to that level). While I normally cut the police a lot of slack, to hang up on someone with solid evidence in a felony case is just shameful.

Nekura20x6

Reminds me of a thief who stole my shit back in the day. Fucker never did give anything back. Prick.

Fireblast

@Abdar: And then got sued for aggravated assault and battery? Upon closer investigation, McPherson states that the kid who did the ransoming was likely not the same person who stole the stuff initially.

So when life gives you dickholes, be a dickhole too? I don't get it.

Krytha

Stupid little kid. Hopefully he learned something, probably not.

@Gannoc: Does that mean we should all hide under our beds all day?

Wolfers

@Prae7orian: Agree 100%. It's great when a lot of people unite against a common foe.

Nereos

My former place of employment was somewhat of an antique shop. Before we bought anything from a customer there was a check on local stolen items. I would assume the pawn shop calling the police would have pretty good weight as they are probably in contact with police and local authorities fairly regularly.

Maybe he should have filed a complaint in person. It's hard to hang up on someone at the desk.

battra92

@dv8godd: Yeah I hear you on that, I mean hell my uncle used to be a cop so he and I used to talk a lot about this kinda shit when I was still living in the states.

Still yet though, its incidents like these that paint the picture that they are "unreliable" into the minds of folks when they read these stories. Not exactly a good thing I must say. Seeing how much most folks "respect" the law and all that. :x

Witzbold

@Witzbold: agreed.

SAKY

@mpmaley: wouldn't doubt that Fox News spin.

ghnvt

upon returning my stuff I would have curb stomped that punk on principle of invading my house

Abdar

@comedy: Welcome to America.

Witzbold

@comedy: I agree that it could be used in terrible ways, though this didn't happen to be one of them. Please don't stereotype ALL Americans that way, though, I'm sure at least one of us isn't seriously screwed up.

Still, this is pretty cool.

TalKeaton: Game Design Major

@multimoog: because they are more fucked up?

Bon5ai

@Witzbold: I don't think there is any law anywhere that says police are necessarily required to help anyone, actually. "Protect and Serve" is the ideal, but not necessarily the practice.

You could be getting robbed on the street and there is no legally binding requirement that police actually intervene to my knowledge. In fact, I believe there are certain protections in place that allow police to make choices about what they do and do not bother with. Discretionary enforcement or something like that.

Add in quotas, a backlog of other crimes, and all the other bullshit cops likely have to deal with, and you're left with a force that serves to sustain itself more than serve the public, per se, whatever the individual's interest as an officer might be. Last time I had a cop arrive to the scene of a potential robbery... 40 minutes, and they seemed "put out" by bothering to come. Traffic violation? They're all over that, working in shifts. One generates revenue for the municipality, one doesn't. One means more potentially dangerous work, the other gets them paid for relative safety.

Probably comes down more to the politics of their superiors than their own motivations... but yeah, the role of law enforcement anymore seems less about the ideals of serving the public than about serving the political and financial ends of the given municipality.

And, well... it's Philly. Stolen shit in Philly is just another drop in the bucket. I'd hate to be a Philly cop. Their crime rate has been insane lately... murder rate last year was dwarfing NYC.

dv8godd

@comedy: we're not quite as fucked up as americans.
and i don't care what you have to say about that.

Sooo... if you don't care what Americans think, why are you voicing your opinion?

multimoog

At least this is another prime situation where kotakuites can unite over their ignorance of the law. All we need now are people to start proclaiming that they would have blown the guy away with their semi-auto just like the PS3 theif and the ciricle will be complete.

Bon5ai

Nice of the guy to drop a few N-bombs on the xbl msg... and I thought society was evolving... no wait. I was wrong.
Still glad McFearsome got back his 360 and what not back.

Justice prevails... he sure rolls deep!!

ibu

so the police are crap because they were too busy to deal with a stolen 360 and what sounds like a prankster who leaves messages for people to find him. shock horror.
mob justice prevails, that's not so good if you ask me. there are no laws on the internet, just imagine if the guy who claimed his xbox was stolen was lying, then this poor kid would have been harassed for no good reason.
there's a justice system for a reason and when people take it into their own hands the country is in trouble.

why stop there? why not stop people from fox hunting? or from getting abortions? or from wearing symbols of their faith out in the open... frankly i'm upset that so many people are so gung ho about this. yes, this time it was as clear as night and day, and the perp was stupid enough to make it clear he was in the wrong, but it's not always going to be like that and if vigilanteism goes unchecked i'm sure glad i live in the uk: we're not quite as fucked up as americans.
and i don't care what you have to say about that.

comedy

The Cops pretty much blew me off to when my Xbox 360 and stuff was stolen too.

Vash108

That is what he gets for using a Mac!

Bon5ai

Wow that kid sure looks gangsta. I wouldn't want to mess with him! That bling gives him mad street cred yo. I bet he also has tattoos of very tough and scary things.

Krytha

Rock on internet \m/

Zho

I find most of the time its not usually the patrol cops who are the problem, but the operators that take the calls.

Pretty much in all my dealings with law enforcement folks on the street have been rather good, cept for when it was dealing with them over the phone. :x

Then again its the impersonal barrier of the phone like the internet that allows for super dickery to go down eh? :/

Witzbold

i was part of the digg mob!
good to see that mob justice works

Trispzest

Wow that kid's fuckin stupid. Who the hell is he trying to be leaving audio ransom notes? Using his own account no less. I just wish he got a punch for each digg this got.

And what's with the police? There's no excuse for that lack of action.

mariogalaxyman

True story, a burglar here in the Netherlands lost his ID card while doing the theft. Victim found the card, gave it to the police who went to the suspect, a known criminal, who calmly said, I didn't do it. That was that, the ID card not proof enough of any misdeeds and they actually returned it to him at the spot.

Anyway, glad the person got all his stuff back.

JakeDunn

Yes... this is great.

Haha, I love it when thinks work out for people. Nice to see he got all his stuff back too, ya know.

Kaemon

See this is why it's called the motherf**king NET!

Byakko

pretty beautiful.

MyLittlePwny

Internet mob justice. Less violence and more harassment than real mob justice. There is also 90% less chance of a riot/lynching.

(100% of all statistics pulled from the department that is hidden from the sun.)

Ghede

@Witzbold: Same. He delivered the picture of the guy and a way to get his name out of the deal, and the police were silent about it. They just had to double-check the work he already did, how hard is that?

Maldron

The Philadelphia Police is some horrible law enforcement. They wait for rolling stoppers to ticket and fill their quota while gunshots are going off down the street!! No surprise they hung up on McPherson.

Galvatron

Wow.

Does anyone else consider this a really stupid idea?

What if the thief decided to shoot the guy instead of giving back the 360? Think stuff like that never happens?

Gannoc

I would have killed the