WHAT is it about some people that they do not seem to think stealing is wrong? Even most criminals acknowledge that what they do is illegal and know there are consequences to their actions.
But what is it that drives supposedly ‘normal’ citizens to take things that are not theirs? What motivates these characters who may even be your neighbours?
Such anti-social behaviour was very much in evidence when a thief was caught red-handed on CCTV taking his pick of a neighbour’s delivery parcels. An irate TikTok user @ikuone had been wondering why his parcels kept going missing and decided to install CCTV to get to the bottom of the mystery.
What he saw shocked him and many other netizens. CCTV footage shows a neighbour from the same building nonchalantly taking the parcels. The thief even had the gall to open and check if the items were to his liking, even “returning” unwanted parcels after pilfering it through the locked grille!
“You opened the parcel and threw it back to my house because it was not to your liking.
“Three times my parcel went missing. This was the fourth time and I’m not sure about who stole them in the (three times) before that. The building’s management has checked the CCTV recording in the lift and identified the tenant. #Busted,” complained @ikuone who had also lodged a police report on the matter.
Netizens who saw the video were shocked at the casual attitude of the parcel thief.
Social media user @ezul_helmi wrote: “Surely he has been doing that always because he didn’t look hesitant at all when stealing the parcel.”
Another user @eyahunny wrote: “Don’t you feel guilty for doing such a thing?”
It could be argued that such attitudes stem from lack of guidance during a person’s formative years.
A concerned parent recounted online how she was shocked that her son’s bag was stolen from under her son’s nose during school hours. The bag was later found discarded in the toilet with the belongings scattered across the floor with nothing taken.
Mind you, this was at an international school populated with well-to-do students who were not lacking spending power.
It beggars belief that students in such a privileged environment would resort to thieving. It would very much appear the perpetrators took the bag for their personal kicks rather than as a means to obtain ill-gotten gains.
But it is stealing nonetheless and it is shocking that the perpetrators thought nothing of committing this offence which could well have resulted in their expulsion if caught.
This episode highlights that children are not being equipped with moral compasses that tell them that stealing is wrong and unacceptable. They grow up with the attitude that anything is fair game and there for their taking.
These are precisely the sort that see nothing wrong in embezzling funds or taking a neighbour’s parcels to satisfy their own needs. It is a complete lack of respect for private property or the rights of other individuals.
It is certainly hoped that the authorities throw the book at the CCTV culprit above. Make an example of him and others who have such tendencies so they know that the law and wider society frowns upon such behaviour.
Meanwhile, parents need to probably do more to reinforce the idea in their young ones that stealing is not just anti-social but is a crime with serious consequences. – Sept 25, 2023
Main pic credit: Post & Parcel
