# Don't worry, the vigilantes can identify criminals by how they look **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 4, 2019, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-worry-the-vigilantes-can-identify-criminals-by-how-they-look/844338 "2019-12-04T00:40:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2019, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-worry-the-vigilantes-can-identify-criminals-by-how-they-look/844338/1 "2019-12-04T00:40:33Z")
Cave Junction, one of the small towns in southern Oregon that hasn’t figured out how to replace timber funds in the last 30 years, can’t afford police patrols after 5:00 pm or on weekends. So they have a vigilante group that patrols the city at night. These volunteers receive no training and don’t undergo any background checks. Now the city is installing security cameras for the volunteers to keep tabs on any riff-raff. But it’s fine, according to the city recorder, because they can tell the “hardcore criminals” just by their looks. > [@city recorder Rebecca Patton](#): > > They can identify them by the way that they dress, because they have a certain apparel that they wear all the time, or the way they walk. Sometimes they carry things all the time, it could be something as simple as a skateboard. They have learned how to identify these people very, very quickly, then they know how to respond. That’s right, just look for someone who is sometimes carrying things all the time. [Sixty percent of the time, this approach works every time.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8djas5pIvk) Informal sundown laws are still alive and well. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2019, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-worry-the-vigilantes-can-identify-criminals-by-how-they-look/844338/2 "2019-12-04T00:42:55Z")
I assume they’re going to have a lot of ‘skateboarding is not a crime’ stickers showing up all over town. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2019, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-worry-the-vigilantes-can-identify-criminals-by-how-they-look/844338/3 "2019-12-04T00:44:36Z")
Oregon. Where they won’t let you pump your own gas. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2019, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-worry-the-vigilantes-can-identify-criminals-by-how-they-look/844338/4 "2019-12-04T00:54:00Z")
Forgot the link to the story: [Cave Junction To Conduct Nighttime Policing With Security Cameras, Volunteers | Jefferson Public Radio](https://www.ijpr.org/post/cave-junction-conduct-nighttime-policing-security-cameras-volunteers). ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2019, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-worry-the-vigilantes-can-identify-criminals-by-how-they-look/844338/5 "2019-12-04T21:06:27Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > Oregon. Where they won’t let you pump your own gas. :smack: That’s not entirely true now. They now allow you to pump your own gas in certain areas (smaller towns without 24-hour full service stations). The story posted in the OP is still ridiculous! ---
**Author:** ![Sterling\_Archer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Sterling\_Archer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sterling_Archer)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2019, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-worry-the-vigilantes-can-identify-criminals-by-how-they-look/844338/6 "2019-12-05T02:23:44Z")
I assume what they’re saying is “it’s a small town and we know everyone and we know who to watch out for”. So it’s not “skateboard carriers are criminals” but rather “there’s this one criminal in this town who usually carries a skateboard” ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2019, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-worry-the-vigilantes-can-identify-criminals-by-how-they-look/844338/7 "2019-12-05T02:50:28Z")
So if it’s a visitor from out of town carrying a skateboard, do they arrest him, since they don’t know him? ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2019, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-worry-the-vigilantes-can-identify-criminals-by-how-they-look/844338/8 "2019-12-05T04:16:30Z")
Most places just call the county sheriff or the state police in this scenario. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2019, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-worry-the-vigilantes-can-identify-criminals-by-how-they-look/844338/9 "2019-12-05T04:23:01Z")
The “[vigilantes]… know how to respond” how? A light beating? (I mean, they may not legitimately arrest someone for the crime of not doing anything actually illegal, can they?) Anyway, it’s not so bad: any punk worthy of the name will know to vandalize the cameras first. ---
**Author:** ![RioRico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@RioRico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RioRico)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2019, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-worry-the-vigilantes-can-identify-criminals-by-how-they-look/844338/10 "2019-12-05T08:18:41Z")
My relatives ran a store in Cave Junction long ago. Small town, yes. But it’s on a significant highway and has many tourists heading for the Oregon Caves, so LOTS of furriners roll through. To recognize desperadoes, volunteer cops should be trained in physiography and phrenology at least. Look, criminal lumps on that skull! Book-im, Danno! ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2019, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-worry-the-vigilantes-can-identify-criminals-by-how-they-look/844338/11 "2019-12-05T13:13:42Z")
> [@Sterling\_Archer](#): > > I assume what they’re saying is “it’s a small town and we know everyone and we know who to watch out for”. So it’s not “skateboard carriers are criminals” but rather “there’s this one criminal in this town who usually carries a skateboard” Even if that is the case, you still can’t go rough up the kid every time you see him. Just like the police can’t arrest someone they know is a criminal, on the assumption that they’re probably about to go and do some criminal-y stuff. Being that this appears to be, at least on it’s face, sanctioned by the city, I assume they’re going to see some major state or federal backlash the first time they do something stupid, which likely won’t take long. And, being that these are civilians, they’re not going to have any protection by a union or even a ‘we protect our own’ mentality/brotherhood. If they go beat someone up, I’m assuming the troopers will arrest them and treat them like any other civilian that beat someone up. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2019, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-worry-the-vigilantes-can-identify-criminals-by-how-they-look/844338/12 "2019-12-05T15:48:18Z")
It won’t even take them beating someone up to cause problems. If these volunteers call the state police a few times because they see “suspicious” looking black men or kids in hoodies, the lawsuits will quickly follow.