Stopping store robbery - new deterrent and method to ID perpetrators!

IDK about where you live but where I am there seems to be times where there are lots of convenience stores being robbed sometimes with a weapon sometimes without. Amazingly with todays technology the video and pics of the perpetrator often do not offer much in the way of identification other than the basic shape/height and sometimes race/skin color of the offender. Our local paper will show pics or video of the crime asking for help identifying the person often for naught.

I was reading another thread and there was a person with last name Glitter and made me think back to some old days where some friends somehow found themselves with glitter on their face, clothes, body (don't ask how.. ). Anyone who has tried to get this stuff off of them knows it isn't easy and it can show up a week later in hair, back of neck, etc.

So as the store keeper is often an employee and won't pull a gun (may be illegal to defend themselves in some countries), there could be a mechanism above the entrance/exit of the establishment that releases a burst (air powered jet/burst) of glitter on the fleeing offender as the pass through the door (triggered by clerk). I'm sure there could be some kind of adhesive that would allow it to actively stick to skin but not so much to itself (possibly even if just static charge). So now you have a perp who's head & body is covered with glitter that is firmly adhered to every inch of them. This would be a pretty difficult thing to explain to anyone you see and especially if you encounter law enforcement.

Maybe if someone, who will remain nameless - a very large young man from Missouri, had been covered in glitter after committing an offense at a convenience store there would have been less question as to the events leading up to the tragedy that later occurred.

Even if the person doesn't encounter police while covered, they will probably run into someone else before they get it cleaned off and there would be few other reasons to be in such a situation other than have recently perpetrated a robbery - thus making identification much more likely and less false positives. This could greatly increase the probability of being caught after committing such a crime and greatly reduce net economic benefit of such action while being a very inexpensive method of crime deterrence.

I guess this is kind of like a dye-pack for convenience stores but unfortunately it doesn't ruin the proceeds of the crime but it could still be helpful. Does anyone think there would be an issue with using something like this or could the criminal sue the store for glitter bombing them?

We should go a step further and have high powered air guns which fire glitter bombs it will be fabulous.
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We have glitter bomb services but the states have ones that send poop.
I saw one that just sent a potato with a message on it......9 quid!.
Is it illegal to set traps btw?.

double.

originally posted by: testingtesting
We should go a step further and have high powered air guns which fire glitter bombs it will be fabulous.

.
We have glitter bomb services but the states have ones that send poop.
I saw one that just sent a potato with a message on it......9 quid!.
Is it illegal to set traps btw?.

I meant that it would be air actuated. Also, this wouldn't be a trap as a trap is something that is unmanned. This is a marking device triggered by a person. A dye pack would be considered a trap if that were true. In all cases, neither is meant to cause bodily harm.

a reply to: DigginFoTroof

We can't let em off lightly....I know a glitter bat! a bat with glue on dipped in glitter at least we can break a limb or two with that.
Teach the thieving gits.

As a former 7-11 assist. mgr. I can tell you it is best to defend yourself went some one raises a gun. I know, I survived in Santa Montica. Calif.

a reply to: musicismagic

You defended yourself with a glitterbomb? kudos dude.

originally posted by: testingtesting
a reply to: musicismagic

You defended yourself with a glitterbomb? kudos dude.

No, being in Okinawa and learning the martial arts I was to kick the 3 people up against the wall till the Santa Monica police arrived and by the way they were from central America.

a reply to: DigginFoTroof

Security boxes have UV dyes which stain people's skin. Some of it is bright yellow or red and visible to anyone with eyes and other dyes are invisible until a black light is used. It's almost impossible to wash off and wears off after a few days.

Your idea seems reasonable. There'd need to be some way of spraying the robbers like spray nozzles facing customers.

I'm not sure how many storeowners or staff would use the spray in the USA. Robbers tend to have guns and spraying would be apt to piss them off. Best to let the insurance take care of it instead of risking a firearm discharge. Less so in most of Europe where robbers use hammers, large knives and/or bats.

It's maybe have more success in places like banks. As soon as staff hit the shutter buttons the wannabe robbers get drenched in day-glo and UV paint. There'd need to be a back-up plan for bystanders who'd be instantly orange.

...or gun turrets.

a reply to: Kandinsky

Whenever in a bank I check out all the security singing the mission impossible tune in my head and have you noticed the signs saying "smoke protection" etc I think they are big smoke bombs the staff just activate so you can not see when they lock you in.

a reply to: testingtesting

I haven't been in a bank in over a year! Didn't realise till your post. I'll look out for the security devices next time.

Smoke bombs, glitter, dye and (in the US) gun turrets are the way to go. Deterrents, trial and punishment all in one.

a reply to: Kandinsky

We had a mentally ill dude go up to the security man delivering cash to Barclays throw white powder in his face and walk off with the security box, six police cars, forensics ambulance and a fire engine.
They caught him walking up Huddersfield road 20 mins later.
It was very exciting I had a pint in the pub across from the bank and watched it all.

a reply to: testingtesting

That sounds like a cool day. You should have (ahem) confiscated the box for his own safety.

Years ago a group of robbers used scuba kit to break open security boxes in a flooded quarry. One of them said the pressure stopped the dye from staining all the cash. Who knows? It sounded like Ocean's 11 cool stuff, but with a thick Skelmersdale accent instead of Clooney's voiceover smoothness.

a reply to: Kandinsky

You never hear about gentlemen jewel thieves or cat burglars anymore .

originally posted by: testingtesting
a reply to: Kandinsky

You never hear about gentlemen jewel thieves or cat burglars anymore

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8 year old me dreamed of being the world's greatest cat burglar...calling card and everything. Mastermind eh? Get caught for one Crown Jewels theft and get done for everything thanks to the trail of 'it was me' cards.

a reply to: DigginFoTroof

Put glitter on the guy. What stops him from turning around and shooting you?

a reply to: Kandinsky

Me also I blame the pink panther movies .

a reply to: DigginFoTroof

I think the problem with your glitter plan would be exactly the same thing which makes it so effective; it would also get on everyone (and everything) else in the vicinity of where it was deployed, not just the perp. This would make positively identifying the perpetrator uniquely difficult.

On a related note, my sister was a bank teller for many years back in the 70's. She was the victim of an armed robbery of their bank one time, a pretty violent one too. She was not injured physically, but several others were. A masked gunman handed her a note demanding she hand over the money. She did as she had been instructed (by the bank) and handed over all the money in her drawer and several others next to it. Several of the bundles of money contained the dye spray of the day. It was timed so the spray wouldn't detonate for a few minutes.

The perps ran out of the bank and jumped in a waiting car and sped off. Police apprehended them quickly afterwards when they crashed their car, the whole inside of the car and all the occupants were completely covered in bluish purple dye. And no, that stuff does not come off easily at all! The money was inside a bag too, so the device must have some explosive capacity because it ripped through the bag. That, or they had taken the money out of the bag. In any case, it was very effective.

a reply to: DigginFoTroof


Guess you've never been to a strip club, huh? Glitter does not behave properly and oddly ends up on people's clothes who weren't even at the strip club because they told their wife they were going to their friend Gene's house to have a beer and watch the baseball game.

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

Mahahahaha

Did you actually go to the strip club?.