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Bomb Squad Searches House Over Teenager's Chemistry Experiments
McGruber writes: On Wednesday, authorities in the south Fulton County, Georgia town of Hapeville shut down a street for hours and used their bomb squad to search a home. According to the suspect's father, the bomb scare started after his 18-year-old son was arrested for trespassing, entering an abandoned warehouse and salvaging mercury switches, which can be used to detonate explosives. When police searched the teen's home on Virginia Avenue at Rainey Avenue in Hapeville, they said they found chemicals inside. "He's not building bombs. He does do a lot of experiments. A lot of them I don't fully understand, but I'm certain he's not making bombs," said the suspect's father, Allen Mason. Mason says chemistry is his son's hobby and he wants to be a chemical engineer. Mason also said police told him what they found is not illegal to own. One neighbor, who couldn't return home for hours, said he didn't feel the teen was a threat. "I don't see a problem with this, but you have to trust the authorities in they're doing what they think is best," said Curtis Ray. In February 2015, Hapeville authorities evacuated businesses and called out the bomb squad to investigate a pinhole camera that was part of a Georgia University Art Project.
"I don't see a problem with this, but you have to trust the authorities in they're doing what they think is best,"
A ton of Slashdotters typically start railing on about excessive safety/ risk adversion culture bu the reality is that modern day law enforcement frowns very heavily on private labs of any description especially chemical labs. Outside of someone living in a mansion in the middle of nowhere, any and all labs are going to be suspected of drug manufacture and materials will be confiscated under whatever regulations.
Eventually, they'll start doing this to makers and 3D printers as well over gun parts or illicit matériel or whatever. Suburbia is a very conforming place.
"you have to trust the authorities".
To the ovens, gentlemen.
"salvaging mercury switches, which can be used to detonate explosives"
"...switches, which can be used to detonate explosives"
"...switches, which are used to detonate explosives"
"...switches...explosives"
"...explosives"
ARREST HIM!!!
Really? Wires are used to make explosives too. Duct tape is used to make explosives. Solder is used to make explosives.
What's our plan? Arrest all the electricians, day laborers and jewelry craft hobbyists as terrorists?
I think we're well past the point of intellect here and it's long since been illegal to be inquisitive and inventive. Don't ask questions, child. Your role is to consume: You should consume. Now go play with this ball...
If the police knew the community, they could have asked about the kid and found out the background. Unfortunately that sort of intelligence - in both senses - is lacking in police forces these days, so they just charge in and make idiots of themselves. Actually the judge that granted the warrant should be shouted at as well - he should have asked those questions...
"He let police search the house to examine all his materials and chemicals, where they found some things they told him could be used to create explosives."
Well. That's a very broad range of possibilities there. I could (hypothetically speaking) create explosives from wheat flour - all I need do is mix it with the right amount of air and light a match. Granted, not a particularly useful explosive, but it'd be an explosive nonetheless. An LPG tank, of the sort that can be found around many houses, is potentially explosive. Standard agricultural fertiliser is well known to be potentially useful as a precursor to explosives. And on, and on, and on. Chemistry and explosives are so intricately interlinked, it is impossible to separate them - not if you're looking to learn something significant.
"Mercury switches can be used to detonate explosives"? Well, so can a simple battery with a timer. Doesn't mean that that's what was going to happen.
What happened to the benefit of the doubt? Of talking to people, understanding what they're up to, and having a calm, measured response? Oh, that's right, society in general is moving towards a police state, and even if somebody is not up to no good, we have to make society think that they are, so that we can justify these new laws and procedures...
The article cites two excellent examples of why the Hapeville bomb squad needs to be dropped from next year's budget. I'm not sure of the county authorities would be any better, but if the local squad's hapless misjudgment of risk leads to wasted funds on response, wasted funds on defending their mistake, wasted funds on legal restitution (I sincerely hope the kid and his parents sue the city), and general loss of reputation for the city... then the bomb squad is a liability in terms of finance, risk, and reputation. The most obvious response is to take the toys away from the idiots.
Don't fight them, defund 'em.
I think not...(*poof*)
I used to use them all the time. They have (Well, had) many applications other than a bomb. I've probably got half a dozen in the form of floating lights for fishing nets. They were also frequently used in vending machines/pinball tables (Tilt alarm), cars for trunk/hatch lights, hazardous locations (Interrupting the circuit would not emit a spark).
I hate how chemistry is now an "off-limits" hobby. It's like trying to look up anything involving electrical schematics with a computer in a public place, such as a library. I frequently have people I have never met or seen before sneak up behind me and exclaim loudly "IS THAT A BOMB?". No, dipshit. Not everything home made with wires and capacitors is a bomb.
still doesn't give you the right to trespass and steal
I think I can see the picture now ...
In the brave new world we live in the authority can and will break into people's house with a drop of a hat, and they have that "anti-terrorism" thing to fall back on
In the same brave new world nobody is permitted to go anywhere, rummage for anything, or they will be charged with 'trespassing', 'stealing', or any kind of trumped up charge TPTB decides to use
In other words, the people will become timid, self-restricting, and the overlord will get to wield any power they wish
In case you guys still do not see it yet --- living under this type of "brave new world" is not that much different from living inside area controlled by Islamic State or the North Korean regime
If Thomas Edison were to live in our era, there wouldn't be aThomas Edison.
still doesn't give you the right to trespass and steal.
Spoken like one who never had any adventures as all a kid.
I mean, granted, he's 18 so he's legally an adult for most purposes, but the proper response is still a "you have to make sure owner X doesn't mind", not a "you little thief!" Unless they have a major problem with this particular 18 year old or they just won't stop, you solve this with conversation.
Kids break laws every day. Things like trespassing (shortcut through a neighbor's yard), assault & battery (fighting another kid without their consent or other legal defense), defamation (your mom's a ____), and a dozen other things.
It seems these days that there is overreaction by authority to many situations. For instance teachers seem to bring in cops more often than makes sense. This bomb squad thing is the same thing. It's a bit like the overreaction after 9/11. I am of course not trying to minimize 9/11. It was a terrible event and the organisation responsible had to be destroyed. The key aviation change was not, however, the department of homeland security and all the searching. The key change was a locked cockpit door. The creation of a massive surveillance system that seems to pretty much touch everywhere does not appear to be justified when you contrast the actual loss of privacy to the actual gain. Here a restriction on mercury switches might be justified. Mercury is a poison after all and there are other technologies that work. Still, the restriction should not be about stopping a talented individual from learning, although one might require an exam to show basic competency and a background check if one is interested in buying hazardous chemicals.
In a strange contrast we also always under reacts to all violence involving guns. It is so bad that the president basically threw in the towel and gave up any attempts to even try. Even mandating background checks at all sales is an considered essentially to be a blasphemy of the highest order. The sad part is the typical defense argument is weak. If you lock the guns up so they are not apt to be used accidentally or by children/etc, then they would be useless unless you got a several minute warning of a house invader. For a comic's perspective on this consider watching https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jl--YVnni0I. The link contains some crude language.
Local news can be much worse.
You have two morning newscasts, a lunchtime newscast, an afternoon newscast, and an evening newscast. You also have airtime between those newscasts to fill, and a lot of stations are taking to making their news staff run coffeetalk shows or other roundtable type non-news shows on the same sets as the news shows because they're cheaper to produce than it is to license reruns, and new content often gets better ratings. It's now worse worse because there's usually less local stuff to report on, so any little thing has to become very, very important so to keep the audience hooked. Consequently, "high school student trespasses, steals old thermostats from broken-down warehouse," becomes, "man breaks into warehouse to steal materials that could be used in a bomb! Oh mah gawd!"
All I need from my local news is the traffic, the weather, a calendar of upcoming municipal-sized events that could either disrupt traffic or could be fun to go to, and news of patterns of significant crimes taking place outside of parts of town where they're expected. That's really it.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
Its breaking and entering in my neck of the woods if you enter any premises unlawfully or by deception, or coercion with the intention of committing a crime. There is no need to actually break anything physically.
I'm assuming they did talk to the boy. However, would you volunteer information that could further convict you of criminal acts? I sure wouldn't so even if i was building a bomb, i wouldn't admit to it without knowing they already knew. Even then i would likely deny it. The cops probably know i would not be the first person to ever think that way. Their caution was justified even though it turned out to be for nothing.