More Stories Of Police Handing Over Xboxes To Stop Crime

from the video-games-against-crime dept

Thu, Apr 12th 2007 8:55pm — Mike Masnick

First it was Mexico City police offering Xboxes to people who agreed to hand over guns, and now Engadget notes that police in North Carolina are offering gaming consoles to anyone providing info on a local graffiti spree. Of course, in this case, the police are offering a choice between an Xbox, a PS3, a Nintendo Wii or... they'll just hand over $500 in cash ($1000 if you're an adult). It's not clear why adult snitches get more money than the kids, but that's how it works apparently. While it may seem silly to offer a choice between cash or a video game, it might not be that crazy an idea. If it were just a cash reward, it wouldn't get nearly the same attention as offering a gaming console -- even if (depending on the console) it may be a better deal to take the cash. If the graffiti artist were clever, he should start changing his graffiti to reflect the bounty -- perhaps suggesting which prize any informant should take.

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6 Comments

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Kyles Mom, 12 Apr 2007 @ 10:01pm

Trade my MP7A1.. NEVER!!!!
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DSM, 12 Apr 2007 @ 10:29pm

I was gonna say--just hand him a spray can and a bottle of tequila and he's putty in your hands.

Or, just take the Mexican government's official approach and send him over the border.
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The Swiss Cheese Monster, 12 Apr 2007 @ 10:40pm

I wonder how many of those guns are stolen just so that the person can get a free x-box?
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Chris, 12 Apr 2007 @ 11:58pm

Re: Swiss
If I lived in Mexico City I'd buy stolen guns for $150 and resell the ps3's for $250 on ebay. I'd make a killing, figuratively speaking of course.
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Jess, 13 Apr 2007 @ 1:27am

Re: Re: Swiss
Mexico City only gives away X-Boxes, but otherwise a brilliant idea.
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ghostwriter, 13 Apr 2007 @ 4:18am

RTFA, the police are offering a game console AND $1,000 cash. They really must dislike the word ghost...
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