Dangers of public plugging-in (...almost...joke)

[AudubonB]

Fortunately, this does not refer to the Wickenburg Supercharger; it is, however, from the Wickenburg Police Blotter. Caveat utitur!:

Uncooperative man arrested after plugging inPosted: December 02, 2015 - 10:00 am

A man who allegedly stole an estimated $1.58 worth of electricity from the Town of Wickenburg was arrested Nov. 23 due to lack of cooperation with authorities. Timothy Rush, 56, of Prescott, was allegedly seen building a set of shelves in the grassy area of Coffinger Park. Witnesses reported Rush had been seen using a power tool which was plugged in, via an extension cord, to an outlet on Town property. After Rush allegedly failed to comply with the park manager when he requested the extension cord be unplugged, police arrived and didn’t have any better result when they made the same request. In the end, Rush received a handcuffed ride to the police station where he was cited for refusing to give his truthful name, disorderly conduct and theft of services. He was then released

 

[green1]

Nobody should ever be plugging in anywhere without the permission of the owner of the plug, that's just "common sense" (not so common apparently). In many places that permission is implied ie, at an electric vehicle charging station in a parking lot that's available for public parking it's assumed that an EV is allowed to plug in unless signage indicates otherwise. Same with using a block heater plug in one of those locations, it's assumed that if it's legal to park there that it's legal to plug in there absent other signs. But if it's not so clear-cut you should always ask permission.

Of course the real news here (that isn't really news) is that if you refuse to unplug when the owner asks you, it's likely they'll call the police, and if you refuse to unplug when the police ask you, well what did you think would happen???? The dollar value of electricity isn't really relevant, not every rule has anything to do with dollar values.

 

[S'toon]

It's happened before.

Electric car owner arrested for ‘stealing’ 5 cents of electricity

An electric car owner has been arrested and detained for 15 hours for "stealing" around 5 cents worth of electricity from a middle school. Kaveh Kamooneh plugged an extension cable from his Nissan Leaf into an exterior outlet at Chamblee Middle School in Georgia while watching his 11-year-old son play tennis. Minutes later, a Chamblee police officer appeared and warned him that he would be charged for theft for taking electricity from the school. Kamooneh only charged his vehicle for 20 minutes, but he was arrested 11 days later after the initial officer filed a report and sought an arrest warrant.

<snip>

Full article at
http://www.theverge.com/2013/12/5/5177620/electric-car-owner-arrested-for-stealing-electricity


More details at:
http://cleantechnica.com/2013/12/06...electricity-jailed-15-hours-thats-full-story/

 

[kort677]

Nobody should ever be plugging in anywhere without the permission of the owner of the plug, that's just "common sense" (not so common apparently). In many places that permission is implied ie, at an electric vehicle charging station in a parking lot that's available for public parking it's assumed that an EV is allowed to plug in unless signage indicates otherwise. Same with using a block heater plug in one of those locations, it's assumed that if it's legal to park there that it's legal to plug in there absent other signs. But if it's not so clear-cut you should always ask permission.

Of course the real news here (that isn't really news) is that if you refuse to unplug when the owner asks you, it's likely they'll call the police, and if you refuse to unplug when the police ask you, well what did you think would happen???? The dollar value of electricity isn't really relevant, not every rule has anything to do with dollar values.

this is the only correct analysis of what happened

 

[N4HHE]

$1.58 is an awful lot of electricity for power tools to build shelves.

 

[AudubonB]

Let's call APS's peak rates, all in, at 20¢/kWh; comes to 8kWh. If 500W is a fair rating for a skilsaw, drill and such, that would come to 16 hours of the tools running. Must be some magnificent shelves.....

 

[green1]

Cost probably had not much at all to do with it. Nor does it need to. If someone is trespassing on my property, I have the right to tell them to get off, I don't need to prove a certain dollar value of harm first. (I know this wasn't technically trespassing, but it's the same idea)

 

[AudubonB]

You do understand that, as described in the blotter, this occurred in a public park?

I'm not defending his actions, nor passing judgment on the police action. I put this out for the deliciousness of an arrest over $1.58. I could ask around, and find out if the constabulary has had issues with this person in the past, but frankly, I think that would spoil the story.

 

[green1]

You do understand that, as described in the blotter, this occurred in a public park?

I'm not defending his actions, nor passing judgment on the police action. I put this out for the deliciousness of an arrest over $1.58. I could ask around, and find out if the constabulary has had issues with this person in the past, but frankly, I think that would spoil the story.

That's why I said it wasn't exactly trespassing, but that the same theory applied, he was using a resource he was not authorised to use. The dollar value is completely irrelevant.
Public parks are not without any rules, and just because they are public doesn't mean you can do anything you want in them.