International Law and Order

“Help! Our cat steals!”

Margrit Geiger, Owner of Speedy, the cat burglar

Image courtesy VintageHolidayCrafts.com

It’s time to take a little trip across the pond to see what our small town European neighbors are up to. This week I came across a handful of law and order articles I thought you might enjoy.


Cat Burglar
A crime wave has hit the village of Wiesendangen, Switzerland (population 4,805), and it comes in a small, furry package. For the last three years, Speedy the cat has been stealing into neighbors’ homes and hauling off booty: badminton shuttlecocks, gloves, scarves, shirts, socks, and even a woman’s bra. Speedy’s owners are desperate to return the burgled bounty. They’ve posted signs around town alerting people to their klepto-kitty and inviting anyone who thinks they might’ve been hit by the cat burglar to come sift through Speedy’s spoils.
Read the article ® Swiss town hit by serial cat burglar—literally


Candid Camera
Officials in a small town in England are camera buffs. They’ve equipped every street around Royston (population 14,570) with hidden cameras to snap photos of all cars, and their license plates, as they enter the town. The cameras are connected to a national police database, and in the blink of an eye the “bobbies” will know if you’re driving a stolen car, been involved in a crime, or simply failed to insure your car. It’s not just town officials who are keeping an eye on visitors; local businesses ponied up to help buy the cameras. They say they’re doing it to keep everyone safe; they’re even throwing around the T word—“terrorism.” Citizens are not pleased with the cameras and are more concerned with the P word—“privacy.”
Read the article ® Big Brother watching every car passing through English town


Butt-less Beach
This story is set on a Mediterranean beach in France, but no, it’s not about bottom-less sunbathers. It’s about the first nonsmoking beach in France—in fact, the only nonsmoking beach in Europe—and the folks around La Ciotat (population 33,790) are loving it. In a country that has traditionally held a laissez-faire attitude to smoking, smoking bans are popping up in more and more places. And a poll shows that three-fourths of the French people support a nonsmoking beach, even the smokers. But as one woman smoking a cigarette just beyond the beach boundary opined, one smokefree beach is fine, as long as it remains the only smokefree beach.
Read the article ® French beach goes butt-less with smoking ban