My Way News - Police: Pair stole up to 1k bags at Ariz. airport
My Way News reports: "Police first arrested King on a misdemeanor theft charge about three weeks ago when an officer saw him park at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, take a piece of luggage from one of the baggage claim carousels and get back into his car. He was released, and police began conducting surveillance on him. Holmes said police followed King to the airport Monday and watched him take a piece of luggage that wasn't his and return to his home with it. They found the hundreds of other bags after searching the house Tuesday. [...] She said airport officials and airlines are working together to assess security at the airport and are talking about checking passengers' bag tags again."

Comment: I don't know why this bothers me as much as it does. It's not a violent crime, no one was physically harmed, but it forces our society to become darker and less free. Rather than being an open place in which you can feel confident that most people are decent and won't steal a thing (unattended luggage) even if it would be easy to do, it reminds us that rules and procedures have to be created (checking passenger bag tags) based on the notion that the few bad apples will spoil it for everyone. It builds a society that assumes wickedness is the norm instead of decency.