The Whimsical Charm of Incompetent Crime

With school shootings, threats of missiles from Korea, law enforcement agencies claiming to be
“above the law”, and no major sport to watch in February, it’s reassuring to know that the inept
criminal, idiosyncratic in the object or method of crime or in his chosen means of escape can still
offer a reprieve from the banal rhythms of daily life.

Take today’s news about a man whose meatballs were stolen, for instance. He looked up to find
a suspiciously guilty looking bystander whose face and clothes were covered with tomato sauce,
looking at him from the sidewalk. Then there’s the chef at the Bellagio caught stealing lobster
tails mentioned in this news clipping.

Finally, embodying the plight of the incompetent wherever and whenever they appear, there’s
the fugitive from a domestic violence charge who thought he could ride an ice floe down a river
to freedom noted here.

It’s hard to think the world is really going to hell when there’s so much to smile about.

© 2/28/2018 Lawrence B. Hunt of Hunt & Associates, P.C. All rights reserved.