New laws likely to be proposed to ban dumpster diving

[k4kyv]

Mark my words that we are about to witness a rash of newly proposed legislation to make it illegal to pick stuff out of a dumpster or off kerbside on trash pick-up day.

A "sensitive" counterterrorism document belonging to the New York Police Department was found in a trash can outside a police station by a passerby who has drawn attention for posting it online. The document was stamped as "law enforcement sensitive" and said it "may not be distributed to members outside the NYPD" and that "all copies must be destroyed upon completion."

"The paper was just sitting in the can", according to the finder, who took it home, read it over "to check it wasn't a threat," and then posted it on his blog Friday afternoon.

"Granted, we would have preferred it was disposed of more discreetly, but its discovery by a dumpster-diver posed no threat to the public or anyone else," according to a NYPD spokesman.

Everyone involved seems to agree that the document posed no real threat. However, the most likely over-reaction to the publicity caused by this incident will be to "protect" the public from snoopers by passing laws around the country against dumpster-diving.

http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=news/local/new_york&id=8130299

[KA2DZT]

Some people will lose their livelihood.

[flintstone mop]

Soon there will be legislation when we are allowed to use the bathroom and cameras installed to watch you SH^T

[AJ1G]

The root cause of this problem was not the dumpster diver.  It appears that sensitive documentation was improperly disposed of.   I would be very surprised if the NYPD does not have policy and procedures for controlled disposal of sensitive documents such as holding in burn bags for later controlled disposal, or shredding.  Sounds like someone got sloppy.  You can't legislate protection against stupid.

[Detroit47]

 Sounds like someone got sloppy.  You can't legislate protection against stupid.

How do you explain Roe v. Wade.

[W1UJR]

Chris nailed it.


"You can't legislate protection against stupid."
To which I add...
Yes, but we can stop them from breeding...esp while on the public dole.

The root cause of this problem was not the dumpster diver.  It appears that sensitive documentation was improperly disposed of.   I would be very surprised if the NYPD does not have policy and procedures for controlled disposal of sensitive documents such as holding in burn bags for later controlled disposal, or shredding.  Sounds like someone got sloppy.  You can't legislate protection against stupid.

[Opcom]

Chris nailed it.


"You can't legislate protection against stupid."
To which I add...
Yes, but we can stop them from breeding...esp while on the public dole.

How to keep them from breeding while on the dole?
Can't even keep them from using illegal drugs..

as for the paper, it ought to be traceable back to whomever had it but I bet no one knows a thing.

[k4kyv]

I have already read of anti-trashpicking laws being enacted, dating back at least several years, allegedly to protect the public from identity theft. This would make it a crime to pick a 75A-4 off the street on trash day because some idiot might have discarded his bank statements or other sensitive personal data into the household rubbish without shredding them first.

[W2PFY]

Around here when people want to give stuff away they list it on Craig s list and also put a sign on the stuff on the street indicating that you can take it. It probably does not preempt town or state laws but I would feel safer picking something off the curb if there was a sign there.

[K9PNP]

I can remember troops being threatened with time at beautiful Ft. Leavenworth "correctional barracks" if they pulled a stunt like NYPD did.  Some take security seriously, some don't.  It is interesting to see notes on what has been found in the waste baskets at the White House and the hall of Congress.

Just can't legislate stupid.  I agree.

[KB2WIG]

" Just can't legislate stupid.  I agree. "

don't think you have to legislate it..... plenty of it to go around fer fre.

klc

[N0WVA]

Some may not care to worry about legislation as it becomes law. But what they had better be worried about is WHEN the time comes to implement all of it.

[W5COA]

Which reminds me, just this week I saw some Dish Network dishes and cables being thrown OUT of a dumpster. As I watched, a guy tried to climb out, but couldn't make it up and over. He finally scrounged enough stuff to climb up on and made it out.

It was kind of amusing, wondering if he would have to wait for the dumpster truck to pour him out, or if he would call 911.

JW

[WQ9E]

Which reminds me, just this week I saw some Dish Network dishes and cables being thrown OUT of a dumpster. As I watched, a guy tried to climb out, but couldn't make it up and over. He finally scrounged enough stuff to climb up on and made it out.

See link for someone who didn't make it out:  http://www.sunherald.com/2011/05/14/3111222/police-homeless-ohio-man-dies.html

[Ed/KB1HYS]

First, if you toss sensitive personal material into the trash with out shredding or at least tearing it up quite a bit you're asking for trouble.  Personally I like to shredd and mix it in with the remains of the cat box... 

Second, I believe that law enforcement types actually need to have the laws the way they are now, that way they can swing by you're place disguised as the local trash patrol, pick up your refuse, and go through it with out a warrant since it's no longer your property when it hit the curb.  I think there is at least one case on the books that had evidence gathered this way. 

Probably another reason to own a shredder & messy pets

[Detroit47]

I burn anything that has my name on it. That includes junk mail anything.

N8QPC

[WA3VJB]

Sure wish we could learn the messages passed in "internal" memos among NYPD management at this point regarding proper disposal compliance.

Recently in Maryland a motorcyclist was prosecuted for "illegally" recording video and audio of an encounter with a man who claimed he was a police officer, pulled a weapon, but failed to display identification.  Yes, eventually the defendant learned the man was a bona fide officer, but law enforcement chose to go after the motorcyclist rather than the procedural failures recorded in the traffic stop.  In contrast, police routinely do their own recording of fully-identified traffic stops.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHjjF55M8JQ

The counts alleging an illegal recording were dismissed.
http://www.aclu-md.org/aPress/Press2010/Court_Opinion_092710.pdf


So comes now the discarded NYPD memo, if it indeed was found in the trash, and law enforcement would again find the tables turned on them if they try to prosecute the poor devil. The U.S. Supreme Court, in 1988, ruled there is NO expectation of privacy, or need for a warrant, if police pick through a subject's trash looking for evidence of criminal activity.

Since respondents voluntarily left their trash for collection in an area particularly suited for public inspection, their claimed expectation of privacy in the inculpatory items they discarded was not objectively reasonable. It is common knowledge that plastic garbage bags left along a public street are readily accessible to animals, children, scavengers, snoops, and other members of the public.

Interesting case reading:

http://www.fightidentitytheft.com/shred_supreme_court.html

[Ed/KB1HYS]

I burn anything that has my name on it. That includes junk mail anything.

N8QPC

If I was more motivated I could heat my house with junk mail!!  Now THERE'S an Idea.

[Opcom]

The cat litter and the shreds go out in the same container.

[Bill, KD0HG]

I burn anything that has my name on it. That includes junk mail anything.

N8QPC

If the junk includes pre-paid return postage, tape it to a brick and mail it back.

[WBear2GCR]

"...the sky is falling, the sky is falling..." - Chicken Little

The typical over response to everything these days, especially from the so-called elected representatives in the local, county and state governments where they seem bored and want to pass legislation about every little thing is quite frankly beyond annoying.

Anyhow according to ABC news:

The NYPD released the following response:

The document involved the deployment of 20 highly visible uniformed officers whose assignments were obvious to anyone with eyes in their head. The assignment sheet was tossed out the day after the assignments were completed. Granted, we would have preferred it was disposed of more discreetly, but its discovery by a dumpster-diver posed no threat to the public or anyone else.


At least someone there seems to have some sense in their head(s).


                        _-_-bear

[kg8lb]

 This is what governments are made for. After all these years we are at last getting more government than we pay for ! What a bargain.
When trash picking is outlawed, only outlaws will trash pick.

[k4kyv]

It was even difficult to dumpster-dive at Dayton this year.  As soon as any "stuff" was discarded on the flea market pavement, the trash collectors were right there to collect it and haul it away.  You had to make great haste for the opportunity to pick through it before it was gone.  I saw a few items in passing rubbish trailers that I would have picked through if I had beat them to it, but nothing worth trying to retrieve as they went by.  Might have been different if I had seen one hauling away a R-390 or VM-5 or box of 833As.