'Theft of power' lands electric-car driver in jail

[cal3thousand]

I think that this will set a precedence for future proceedings. And I also believe that he will be let off and that legislation will require a posted sign if an openly accessible power plug is only available for certain people.

It should be similar to parking spots and water fountains. (And yes, these are items people pay money for in some instances)

If there are no signs preventing public consumption, a person should be free to assume it is for public consumption. If there are 40 parking spots in your lot and 10 have restriction signs, the 30 other ones are fair game. And if a person wishes to levy a fee for using such an outlet, they should also provide a means of collection.

 

[liveforphysics]

I think the etiquette is established. Unless otherwise informed, it's not your plug.

I pose the question to you my friend, who's plug is it if it doesn't belong equally to any and every member of the public, installed at a public facility who's purpose for existing is public use/benefit?

Who owns public facilities in your world? Who's use are they for in your world?

If we say the outlet is collectively owned by society (as I think you're suggesting), then I reckon it's ok for an individual to use (take temporary ownership of) a socket, provided he has the collective permission of society. I think this should be done in the same was as public will is established when electing a government - national voting for each use of the socket.

Would you propose the same voting for drinking fountains?

What about a parking spot in a park? The land-rent costs for just a few hours costs more than the leafs electricity consumption by orders of magnitude. Should each park visitor be charged to arrive and park? If kids use the baseball field, I'm sure its at minimum $10's of dollars of upkeep costs per hour, do you charge the kids playing baseball? Do you propose a public vote to approve each use of the baseball field?

Or do you take the sane approach and recognize it as public domain for public use?

 

[FeralDog]

i bet the outcome has nothing to do with any of this.
what if there was never an explicit demand that he not use the tennis courts or not use the plug? no one ever talked to him. just made it up because he was iranian.
what if it is discovered that the reason he was cited was because the policeman either made up this detail about how the school told him not to use the courts or plug and included it in his report or if the school officials never told him not to use the courts but told the policeman that because they wanted him to stay away so they made it up after the fact when they felt they could use the policeman to harass him because they did not like him because he is iranian?
this is what i would have expected from a parochial small town in georgia. xenophobia plays it's willing hand.
think about how they leave all the lights burning 24/7 and how much that costs. the lights for the football and baseball fields cost about $25-50/hour but they leave them on willy nilly.

Facts: The thief was argumentative, accusatory, and even defiant to the officer. He even went as far as to accuse the officer of damaging his car, to which the officer offered his dash camera as evidence to the contrary.

Ouh ohhh, before some ES members put on the "Free Kaveh Kamooneh" t-shirts and start showing this real estate developer (and investment bankers') childhood pictures, and holding candlelight rallies with some marching Reverends complaining about some non-existent "parochial small town in georgia. xenophobia" NOTE the dash camera evidence and highly credible school employee witnesses. :wink:

@cal3thousand : legal precedence in this type of unauthorized usage has been long established. Example: the Recreational Motorhomes (RV) unauthorized use of 'public outlets'.
Just because something doesn't say "NO'' does NOT mean you are "free to assume it is for public consumption". To the contrary, most American law assumes that you bear some reasonable burden of finding out whether your "taking" of public goods is permissible, or legal. Ignorance Of The Law is seldom a good defense (and this perp was not ignorant, and he was TOLD on prior occasions to ask permission). His "intent" to be defiant, belligerent, and falsely accusatory to the school and law enforcement clearly show that he was asking for trouble. He could have simply said he was sorry, or even offered a small compensatory offering to pay for his "takings". He made no "gesture of good faith" to do so.

@liveforphysics --- Yes, yes things can be nominally defined. A Public Restroom may be a "public toilet" but you may not prefer to have the public sitting with you on your lap in the "private" stall.

To those from other countries observing what is happening here in the interpretation of American Law. What you are seeing is mostly what we pride ourselves in , media bias. We here had many years of far-right wing nuts on media such as Faux News and AM radio inventing bias to favor their "law by pulpit and microphone". What you see now is the swing of the pendulum too far to the kook-left and the deliberate omissions of pertinent facts in favor of knee-jerk socialist-leftist emotions. It is a cyclical "Pied Piper" syndrome.

American judge's and juries can exhibit a parochial bias for awarding money in lawsuits. In this case, I would strongly wager this asshat will not prevail in a Georgia Court of Law. His case will have "no merit".

This thief is simply ,and very intelligently, "playing the system". He is adept at making strong mitigating excuses for his arrogant actions. He is a what we M'ericans have come to know as a media whore hoping to get his way by telling ONLY his one-sided -story to the media's bobble-headed TV anchors.

He will set back advocacy for generous usage of public outlets and will trigger what is known as "Public Facility Use Permits" and serious liability discussions.

As dogman wisely said: "If you really want free charge points available in your community, we just saw an example of a bad strategy to make it happen."

 

[veloman]

As for public outlets, I think LFP has a good point.

Private is a different story, but public - should be open to be used, unless otherwise posted.

EV charging stations are quite expensive, and we already have public outlets ready to charge from. The few pennies in electricity the public pays for an ev's use should be considered a very fair cost to keep the air in that very town that much cleaner. You can only pull about 1.5kwh from these, it's not like you can pull 6+kw which would add up a 4x faster.

I have no issue with paying an appropriate fee to use any outlet, as well.

I also think this Leaf owner who got arrested is going to set back EV charging advocacy.

 

[liveforphysics]

Private is a different story, but public - should be open to be used, unless otherwise posted.

+1
Absolutely right.

Good to see an occasional island of sanity appear in a ocean of authoritarian concept brainwashed/disillusioned masses minds stuck firmly in tiny opaque boxes.

 

[Hillhater]

Private is a different story, but public - should be open to be used, unless otherwise posted.

+1
Absolutely right. .

So, how can we get this concept applied to public Toll roads , bridges, parking meter charges on public roads, Charging for entry into public museums, etc etc ??
..at some parks here, they even make you pay ( buy a license !) ..to exercise in the public spaces.

 

[Spacey]

We had a local Police Officer who was sacked due to parking his caravan outside his Police Station and powering his TV whilst he slept overnight after duty in it.

Abstracting of electricity.

A person who dishonestly uses without due authority, or dishonestly causes to be wasted or diverted, any electricity shall on conviction on indictment be liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years.

If you illegally use someones telephone then you get done with this law.

 

[veloman]

Private is a different story, but public - should be open to be used, unless otherwise posted.

+1
Absolutely right. .

So, how can we get this concept applied to public Toll roads , bridges, parking meter charges on public roads, Charging for entry into public museums, etc etc ??
..at some parks here, they even make you pay ( buy a license !) ..to exercise in the public spaces.

Building a toll road or bridge is a bit more work and costly then letting an ev user plug in to an outlet that is there regardless of the ev using it. It is not apples to apples.

You could put a coin machine on said outlets, but it would not be worth the cost, compared to how much electricity is - in reality- going to be pulled from it from an ev.

EV users aren't going to suddenly fill up all public charging outlets 24 hours a day. I can't even think of any outlets that are that close to a place you can legally park. It will more for ebikes and motorcycles, if anything. So, even less of a charge rate.

Why are there public water fountains? Why do they not have a coin machine on them for use? Do you have to ask permission to drink water from it?

In this case of 110v outlets, they are even ALREADY there. Installing a water fountain costs money.

Parking spaces have meters because parking is SCARCE. Parking is 'free' for the user when space is not scarce, almost always.

Is electricity from a public building, or access to 110v outlets scarce? No. If a janitor unplugged my charger for 10 minutes to use a power tool at the public building, I would not mind (assuming he plugged it back in after he was done using the outlet).

 

[liveforphysics]

Private is a different story, but public - should be open to be used, unless otherwise posted.

+1
Absolutely right. .

So, how can we get this concept applied to public Toll roads , bridges, parking meter charges on public roads, Charging for entry into public museums, etc etc ??
..at some parks here, they even make you pay ( buy a license !) ..to exercise in the public spaces.

Had they made the outlet a toll-outlet, or put a coin-operated slot to turn it on, or simply made a sign that said, "to use this outlet you must stand on one foot and rub your belly while patting your head", then that service would have some terms of use. However, much like a sidewalk or the public tennis court etc, this outlet doesn't have any of those terms of use. Unless you have some inside info to share about this outlet having some toll/fee system established, I don't see how your comment is relevant to this situation.

I'm pretty sure this is a case of a guy (who may be a dick and/or liar, not that it matters), who enjoyed use of a public facility in a perfectly appropriate way causing no harm (the greatest harm would be to not use a public facility obviously, as then it's wasted). A cop then searched in his car, and later came into his home and captured and caged him due to police ignorance/confusion.

 

[flathill]

"The officer spent some time trying to determine whose vehicle it was. It was unlocked and he eventually began looking through the interior after verifying it did not belong to the school system."

Gee wonder why the guy was mad! The cop should be arrested. You would be OK with him searching your unlocked bag, car, or house if he had probably cause (I heard something, I smelled something)

Many what a bunch of fools. Can't you see where your pettiness will lead us? There is already a push to mandate all future electrical outlets be smart outlets. Many of the fools here would cheer this change on. Oh man now when my friends come over to my house and charge their Tesla I can charge them....Can't you see all the other benefits? Fcuk greenie freeloaders and bums! Remember what I said about oil. It is all about control. If these lose control of the economy from oil price manipulation, they will target electricity next. Too bad they can't stop us (although there is even a push to restrict the size of battery backup systems for off grid houses in certain locales if you can believe that, they don't want you going off grid in the city).

Authentication type outlet:
cover story = allows you to pay for charging your laptop while at starbucks
real story = allows outlets to be restricted. "This outlet can be used for blahblahblach, but electric vehicles are not allowed to charge here" (get that load on my system man). SAME BULLSHIT AS A TIERED INTERNET. Also note this means all electronic devices will have IDs and will be tracked. Even if you computer is not connected to wifi or the ethernet you will be ON THE INTERNET over the power wires (undetectable as they use slight timing variation to communicate)! Can't you see who would love this (NSA)

"Tiered Internet is a proposed Internet architecture that would allow telecommunications providers to divide traffic over their lines into different tiers. High speed tiers can be dedicated for websites with large broadband applications such as voice and streaming video."

SONY ANNOUNCEMENT COMPUTER TRANSLATION:

In recent years, the circumstances surrounding the power and energy is changing greatly, public concern about the impact on our lives and the global environment is a growing.
On the other hand, in the smart grid concept of current, consider HEMS (Home Energy Management System) / BEMS, such as (Building and Energy Management System) has been carried out in the position of the power supply side primarily. Then, the main features in the user side perspective of these, such as the confirmation of operation status of the equipment and usage of power, stimulate energy conservation has become mainstream.

Within this context, it is paying attention is the infrastructure through all means when you use electricity to "outlet", Sony developed available user while the power control and power management actively "authentication type outlet" have. Specifically, making electrical device authentication by applying non-contact IC card technology NFC / FeliCa "authenticated Outlet: FeliCa type" with new technology the "power line overlapping communication technology", the electric device authentication via a power cable It has developed a: "power line communication superimposed type authentication type outlet" to perform.

On the basis of this technology development, Sony will work to practical use for the equipment and systems necessary to achieve optimal power usage for each user in the future.
In addition, we will promote along with the operators with the aim to create new services that are not limited to energy-saving, was available for support and validation trials and a variety of services, the development of technology and service specification related to products and services these.

Future, "authentication type outlet" became popular, authentication of the owner (such as electric vehicles and household appliances) electrical equipment, power management and use of each device, allow the power use, the user power usage history of the past anew I will be able to record or, and power billing and settlement in combination with electronic money.!!!!!!!!!!!

Technology development to build a new relationship and equipment and human power, through the promotion of the business of Sony, we will propose a contribution to society through energy conservation, a new value using electrical equipment.

card technology proven and electronic money as traffic ticket "Authentication Type Outlet" have.

The "authenticated outlet", and that it is equipped with a contactless IC chip to plug the device side and incorporate the controller and the non-contact IC card reader / writer, a communication interface or the like on the outlet side, when the electrical device is connected to the outlet in, it is intended to determine the user or electric equipment, authenticate, to allow association with the power. By applying the encryption of communication technology FeliCa, to authenticate the device speed and accuracy while preventing spoofing.
This will enable the construction of a new control system that can be from the power-use management of electrical equipment for each, also manage (usage history and the amount of power) power usage of the user through the device you want to use.
In addition, I can expect the deployment of new services utilizing the power usage data in the future.

"Authentication type outlet: FeliCa type" and the built-in IC chip, which is connected to the antenna plug of the equipment, will achieve the above by incorporating the controller and reader / writer, which is connected to the antenna to the outlet side.

In addition: it is a combination of a non-contact IC card technology from conventional newly developed "power line superimposed communication technology", "authentication type outlet power line superimposed communication type" will expand the use of a range of "authentication type outlet."
For "power line communication technology superimposed"
It is a technology that put the authentication data to the power line, to enable mutual authentication with the power supply side and electrical equipment.
This is done wirelessly through an antenna communication reader / writer between the IC chip is a non-contact IC card technology, but in the present technology, can be done via the power line physical it.
Specifically, the input and output terminals of the reader / writer built in power supply, such as a wall outlet is connected to the power line, the read signal is superimposed on the power line.
As well as non-contact IC card technology of conventional equipment side, which corresponds to the card side communicates passive unnecessary power. Therefore, power line communication: Conventional different PLC and (Power Line Communication), regardless of the presence or absence of the power supply to the equipment side, by just plug in the power cord plug, it will perform authentication devices which are connected.

 

[calab]

$0.05 theft with jail time (15 hrs)
how sad, power tripping cop!!!!

If convicted, in the US, means you are F'D for the rest of your life,
loss of travel freedoms outside the US, possibly loss of current job, loss of future contracts
and definately very limited future employment opportunities.
On a $0.05 theft, but characteristic is characterisitc, he steals 5 cents who says he hasnt stolen before,
or will he steal again..... that is what the employer probably thinks in their mind.
It doesnt say on the criminal record "Theft of $0.05 worth of electricity...it says THEFT UNDER $5k

 

[Hillhater]

Building a toll road or bridge is a bit more work and costly then letting an ev user plug in to an outlet that is there regardless of the ev using it. It is not apples to apples..

You are overlooking the building that the outlet is attached to . ..that is all part of the "facility" you are using..it could even be the same public funded toll bridge. Me driving over the bridge doesnt cost the facility anything,...but you charging your car results in a cost to the "facility" . So why should i pay to use the facility and you not be charged ?

...In this case of 110v outlets, they are even ALREADY there. Installing a water fountain costs money.

Parking spaces have meters because parking is SCARCE. Parking is 'free' for the user when space is not scarce, almost always. .

Maybe in your country.
Sydney Olympic park ( public facility, miles from the City center), has huge acreage of parking lots ( Think Disneyland), that only ever get used maybe 2-3 times a year.. BUT it will cost you $4 /hr to park there any time day or night.!

The (street side) parking spaces have always been there, its only in recent times that charges have been applied. It is accepted as being a simple "revenue raising" opportunity for local authorities.
Using your logic re the "public power outlets,..This is a public road my taxes have helped pay for, so why should i have to pay to park on it ?? ...answer ...because they have the "Authority" to charge.

 

[Arlo1]

Private is a different story, but public - should be open to be used, unless otherwise posted.

+1
Absolutely right.

Good to see an occasional island of sanity appear in a ocean of authoritarian concept brainwashed/disillusioned masses minds stuck firmly in tiny opaque boxes.

+2

If its not allowed to be used by public then it needs to be locked up. I mean if a gas station is closed does the fuel pump work and where I live you have to pre pay!

 

[liveforphysics]

Curious for the folks in cold climates. Have you ever seen pay engine heating outlets? At government buildings in cold enough areas to need engine heaters for vehicles to start again, do they arrest the folks who plug into them not even to get anywhere with the energy, but just to retain the ability for there fuel guzzler to guzzle more fuel?

 

[dogman dan]

Excellent point Luke. It illustrates what I have been trying to say. What's free and public in one place, may not be in another.

Local rules apply, and in this case the school seems to have called in the cop. Apparently, school property in that town is not available for the use of every person. Or, perhaps it's just not available for the use of a person who has pissed off the school in the past. Either way, he was not welcome.

If where you live, the school says it's ok to plug in, then do so. The point is, it would be wise to find out if what you do is a crime locally or not. Chances are, far enough north there are free and public plugs all over the place. This one happened in the south where nobody needs to plug in a block heater. Different rules there.

If plugging in at the school is a crime in that town, such as trespassing, then there is your basis for the search.

 

[Ykick]

Curious for the folks in cold climates. Have you ever seen pay engine heating outlets? At government buildings in cold enough areas to need engine heaters for vehicles to start again, do they arrest the folks who plug into them not even to get anywhere with the energy, but just to retain the ability for there fuel guzzler to guzzle more fuel?

This, something our friends in Canada know very well.

If building management doesn't want people to use their AC outlets they should turn 'em off and/or use a sign forbidding use.

Otherwise, it's just another opportunity for "petty tyrants" like this cop and his ilk to cage citizens.

 

[Sancho's Horse]

It is ok because it is such a small amount and...

He was stealing from children.
They can't defend themslves, so lets do it. I mean more than we already are. If their little fingers get smashed on the chain link fence as they helplessly watch the errant balls of some hairy opportunist...it is just a good life lesson. The school asked him to please stop using the tennis court. If he refused that just means he passed the psychopath test. He deserves to be among the ranks of the pantheon of politicians and ilk stealing from children. Falsely claiming the police officer damaged his car just means he should advance further and faster. If some nice ebiker had plugged in and then was asked to stop, and politely did it, the children would never learn the proper order. You children deserve the death of a thousand cuts, because certain types of people deserve theirs more, people who feel like they deserve their small cut of the pie and are willing to take it and reject your right to use the public space closest to being a home away from home for your


impressionable mind

 

[xenodius]

Curious for the folks in cold climates. Have you ever seen pay engine heating outlets? At government buildings in cold enough areas to need engine heaters for vehicles to start again, do they arrest the folks who plug into them not even to get anywhere with the energy, but just to retain the ability for there fuel guzzler to guzzle more fuel?

Oh my God, just read through the new posts. Lot of opinions here but this is the nail in the coffin. In fact, didn't the article say that's what the outlet was for? Not sure how many watts the heaters use but I'm sure it's plenty. I think either use is perfectly acceptable.

We are in "new territory" with EV's according to most of the public... these things will be established in time.

-mobile

 

[Arlo1]

Curious for the folks in cold climates. Have you ever seen pay engine heating outlets? At government buildings in cold enough areas to need engine heaters for vehicles to start again, do they arrest the folks who plug into them not even to get anywhere with the energy, but just to retain the ability for there fuel guzzler to guzzle more fuel?

No dude those which are even at schools are free to use and for any one who needs them.

 

[Sancho's Horse]

I was speaking in jest, but my point is this:

Respect is given. Small amounts of electricity are given as a token of respect. We need more of these informal relationships built on respect.

As soon as we begin claiming things as a right, it needs objectively evaluated. This is the royal road away from giving social norms - to more and more laws. The truth of law is that it is often not written by the people we would choose.

In the US, there are not for profit corporate groups who give states whole laws already written and vetted to their interest. The Koch brothers interests are not ours. Some guy, who can so easily be painted as a terrible disrespectful opportunist, not to mention the race angle, claiming rights and forcing the issue, easily gets under administrators skin and is written into a few more lines put in ALEC legislation, and the wrong headed actions of some a*&hole cop becomes formalized and written into law to badger the rest of us. Then respect can't be given, electricity can't be given, the answer is no, just following law, following policy.

 

[Punx0r]

If I see a Leaf charging at a public outlet I'm going to unplug it and plug in my ghetto-boom-box-blaster to the soundtrak from TV adverts for high-end luxury ICE cars. It's my right, apparently

 

[veloman]

Building a toll road or bridge is a bit more work and costly then letting an ev user plug in to an outlet that is there regardless of the ev using it. It is not apples to apples..

You are overlooking the building that the outlet is attached to . ..that is all part of the "facility" you are using..it could even be the same public funded toll bridge. Me driving over the bridge doesnt cost the facility anything,...but you charging your car results in a cost to the "facility" . So why should i pay to use the facility and you not be charged ?

...In this case of 110v outlets, they are even ALREADY there. Installing a water fountain costs money.

Parking spaces have meters because parking is SCARCE. Parking is 'free' for the user when space is not scarce, almost always. .

Maybe in your country.
Sydney Olympic park ( public facility, miles from the City center), has huge acreage of parking lots ( Think Disneyland), that only ever get used maybe 2-3 times a year.. BUT it will cost you $4 /hr to park there any time day or night.!


The (street side) parking spaces have always been there, its only in recent times that charges have been applied. It is accepted as being a simple "revenue raising" opportunity for local authorities.
Using your logic re the "public power outlets,..This is a public road my taxes have helped pay for, so why should i have to pay to park on it ?? ...answer ...because they have the "Authority" to charge.

I'm not even arguing that public outlets need to be free, they just need to be legal to use. If there is no coin machine on them, then that doesn't mean they should be off limits unless posted.

Should public street parking be off limits because there isn't a meter? Why should it go unused? Sometimes it is off limits, IF posted. Yes, some places with plenty of parking still charge a fee. But no retailer in their right mind would charge for parking out in the suburbs where parking is not scarce. (I am aware that ultimately, customers as a whole, do pay for the parking through the prices of goods. Maybe a dirt lot out in the country - that might be a case where parking is essentially zero cost for everyone.)

An unused public power outlet is sort of like a tollway with no one it. A waste. I'm okay with paying. But would you build a public highway and not let anyone other than police and state personal use it?

 

[veloman]

However, much like a sidewalk or the public tennis court etc, this outlet doesn't have any of those terms of use.

This is the bottom line, IMO.


$0.05 to $0.30 / hour is the maximum rate of cost that an outlet may cost the building. We could split hairs on it. We could also split hairs on a million other issues in society. Is it worth it?

How many EV users are going to spend so much of their time at an outlet that it amounts to any sort of cost worth discussing? If someone needs to charge for a few hours, it's likely because they desperately need it, and more importantly are not using that outlet because it's their BEST choice, but because it's their ONLY choice, in order to get home or similar.

So you say, what about in a parking garage, maybe there is an outlet next to a parking space? An EV user could be pulling a $1 a day from that, that could add up. But let's not forget how many organizations are promoting alternative, low impact transportation nowadays. Moreover, they could simply label that parking spot as "Mr. MVP of the month" or whatever. It's not like there are outlets available at every parking space (though that would be forward thinking, with a coin machine on them if they wanted to charge for the electricity).

Last summer I was at the Palmer Events center (a public property here in Austin) with my ebike and needed a few minutes of charge to get home. There are outlets on the outside of the building. While charging I noticed they had the massive ceiling fans running (at least 20 of these, likely pulling 500w each), for no reason. I wrote an email to the building manager and they shut them. So by me stopping to charge at the outlet, I saved the public many kwh of electricity. EV users notice these things, and appreciate electricity more than the average person.

 

[liveforphysics]

It's not like there are outlets available at every parking space (though that would be forward thinking, with a coin machine on them if they wanted to charge for the electricity).

Happening to have outlets at a very large number of parking spaces as support for gas vehicle block-heaters is part of what enabled Norway to be one of the first countries in the world who has had the electric revolution reach critical mass. What a fantastic improvement to a country it is too!

Less of there people's money is bleed into oil companies in exchange for a toxic carcinogen to burn, waste 3/4 of the energy as heat, and spew deadly disease causing toxic combustion byproducts for people to breath.

Hooray for Norway and the lack of oil-lobbyist fueled corruption to make open free public charging and fast charge stations available at a level that makes EV's work for the population!

http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1088856_electric-cars-12-percent-of-all-new-car-sales-in-norway-last-month


Meanwhile in the USA... Cops illegally search your car to later trap you in a cage in exchange for doing what's best for community/country/all-human-beings etc.

I'm just glad at this point it seems even some of the most authoritarian brainwashed members slowly seem to be seeing the light. Some of the early posts in this thread... wow...

 

[FeralDog]

errrr ... Some folks here are as morally clueless as a Lance Armstrong tour bus, and lot more dense than my Lipo battery packs.
No offense intended , and no prior reference to Lance intimated in my following rants ----

@ flat hill --- "Gee wonder why the guy was mad! The cop should be arrested. You would be OK with him searching your unlocked bag, car, or house if he had probably cause (I heard something, I smelled something)"
The cop was doing his job. The "probable cause" was that a report was filed and there was an unattended, unlocked vehicle on school property with unknown cords attached to school building.
Please , please DO NOT go to a local school and leave "unlocked bag"(s) of wires, cords or batteries : then wander away. ESPECIALLY anywhere near the following schools --- Sandy Hook Elementary , Columbine High School, West Nickel Mines Amish School , Virginia Tech, Oikos University, Sparks Middle School, or Santa Monica College.
You would likely be questioned and searched.
Also @flathill, I tried to translate your "Authentication type outlet" post into a graphic ? ---->http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l7gqn6YHS91qb25dg.jpg

@ykick---"Otherwise, it's just another opportunity for "petty tyrants" like this cop and his ilk to cage citizens." . The cop showed remarkable restraint.
I don't see where he was in anyway a "petty tyrant".
Protecting and serving those people at the USA schools has cost a few cops their lives, and even saved a few kids theirs.

@calab --- "$0.05 theft with jail time (15 hrs) how sad, power tripping cop!!!!
If convicted, in the US, means you are F'D for the rest of your life,
loss of travel freedoms outside the US, possibly loss of current job, loss of future contracts
and definately very limited future employment opportunities"
You are possibly watching too many USA television programs. Your scholarly pursuit of U.S jurisprudence is severely limited. Perhaps, think it over before attempting to practice U.S law without a license?

@veloman --- "Should public street parking be off limits because there isn't a meter? ". Good question and interesting logic!
Thus should speed limits be construed as unlimited because they are not posted? If you are living and enjoying the freedoms and rights in the USA it does help to know what those rights are. The Law does burden us with knowing some of its' rules before we automatically assume, or draw our own conclusions.

To those of the "Me Generation", or the peaceful fun folks in the hacky-sack-tournament-drum-circle ... I sadly break the news to you that There Is No Such Thing As A Free Lunch. Somebody has to pay for your "free ride".
If you want all of us to chip-in our "hard earned" money and donate a free-ride for you, perhaps you can at least ask first? If advocating free-use-electricity please think that there will be a "cost $$$" that must be paid by someone.
I must say, there will be a $$$ responsibility for infrastructure installation, and $$$ upkeep... and of course there must be liability insurance $$$$$ ... and adequate safety protections $$$$ ... and rules for usage .....

When it comes to public enjoyment of a public facility, the sad facts-o'-life is that there is always some asshat turd-in-the punchbowl who will screw it up for everybody by his destructive and selfish actions.

@Punx0r --- "If I see a Leaf charging at a public outlet I'm going to unplug it and plug in my ghetto-boom-box-blaster to the soundtrak from TV adverts for high-end luxury ICE cars. It's my right, apparently .
Nope, me and cousin Eddie saw it first and we is puttin our "rebel flag" to lay claim in the name of Jethro and Granny. "Squatters rights" for our RV (that's a caravan to you English race folks).

@Sancho & horse ---- Fluck it dude, lets go bowling.

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