Thieves steal priceless German jewels, as guards watch and there's nothing they can do

Thieves stole jeweled diamond treasures of "incalculable value" from the Green Vault collection in Dresden, Germany. The jeweled items consist of diamonds, pearls, and rubies, with some estimates of the value of stolen treasures being as high as the equivalent of 1 billion dollars.

Guards watched the thieves stealing the jewels in real time, but they were helpless to stop the robbery. Due to state laws the guards were unable to carry guns.
Apparently the guards "could not be expected to risk their lives" and, acting under museum employee policy, did not intervene in the heist.
Police were called, but by the time they arrived the thieves had already gotten away.


https://www.npr.org/2019/11/25/7826...monds-in-heist-at-dresdens-green-vault-museum

Video of the robbery can be seen here:


The collection is of immense cultural value to the German state of Saxony. The Jewels were amassed between 1723-1730 by August the Strong, the Saxon elector, who later became king of Poland.

Police in Dresden say that the heist took just minutes and that the thieves targeted three display cases.

The stolen items include a diamond-laden breast star of the Polish Order of the White Eagle; a hat clasp containing a 16-carat diamond and 14 other large stones, along with 103 smaller diamonds; a diamond-studded sword hilt that contains nine large and 770 smaller diamonds, along with a matching scabbard; and an epaulet bearing 20 large and 216 small diamonds, one of which includes a massive 31.5-carat diamond.

It is feared the thieves may disassemble the stolen artifacts to make them easier to sell and less obviously conspicuous, since the items are very unique. The precious metals could be melted down and the stones recut to make them unrecognizable. Breaking apart the artifacts into separate components would also destroy the majority of the value of the items.

German states have some strict weapons laws. I'm not sure what the exact legal situation is, but apparently the laws there made it too difficult or impractical for the museum to be able to have armed guards.

Hmm, you would think that for protecting such a valuable collection, the guards would be allowed to have guns. Well I guess the people of Saxony have to learn lessons the hard way.

 

If the guards can't carry weapons. Then i say. Finders keepers

 

You realize there are many members in this very forum who don't believe private guards should be allowed to have guns, or that it should be very impossibly difficult and impractical for them to do so. So difficult a museum would think it too troublesome, difficult, legally risky and expensive to hire armed guards.

From what I've seen, the majority of Conservatives are very naive, very naive about the insane attitudes and beliefs held by the other side. It's been their downfall in battle after battle, because they didn't see something coming. They couldn't believe it was coming, or that any rational person would support that.
Well have a look in Europe if you want to be able to glean some idea of what's coming around the corner.

 

An unarmed guard is utterly worthless.

In this day and age the best defense against bad guys. Is not better education, it is not better regulation, it is not signs banning weapons.
The best, and only good protection against bad guys. Is a goid guy who is better equipped and trained than the bad guys..

Guns are good!

 

A progressive will tell you to wait until the police come. That a life is always worth more than property. Even a criminal life versus $1 billion in priceless jewels of immense historical and national cultural value.

A progressive will tell you gun laws will disarm criminals, and then the guards won't need to have guns.

A progressive will tell you there are other ways to protect your property. More armor, stronger walls, more alarm systems, more locks.

I'm just telling you how they will respond to your argument in their heads.

 

Progressives have been proven wrong on Just about everything.

 

The most striking thing here is that the guards did not make any attempt to stop the thieves. They did not know if the thieves were armed, but they did not want to take that risk.

And the guards followed museum policy by not intervening, and just calling police.

The guards couldn't be expected to have to take on risk to their persons by physically trying to stop the criminals.
That comes from a statement from the head of the museum.

 

Yup too bad they didn't have Ar 15s. Nothing wrong with stopping a thief by killing them in the act.

 

You do realize that in Europe, people who have used even pepper spray or stun guns against criminals invading their home have been arrested or sued by the criminal.

(by Europe, mainly referring to the UK, Germany, and France)

A burglar can come into your home and start carting off your possessions, and you're not allowed to get into a physical altercation with them to stop them.
Even if they've broken down the door and refused to leave, there's a legal expectation for YOU to leave your own house, if you can do so.
You have to wait for police to arrive to do the dirty work.

In the UK, if a homeowner shoots a belligerent intruder, even in a case that is completely justified as self-defense, they will almost always (or at least very commonly, if you're in a more conservative rural area) arrest that homeowner in handcuffs and bring him down to the station as a routine matter of course. Arrest the shooter first and then start asking questions and sorting through the facts later.

In Denmark there was a recently a case where a woman walking in public pepper-sprayed her would-be rapist who was attacking her, and when she went to the police to report it, she received a heavy fine because she was not allowed to have pepper spray.

 

see this thread to get some idea of the rights of criminals in some of these European cities:
Returning from vacation, Amsterdam businessman found property occupied by 40 migrants

 

We're not naive, we're just tired of waiting for them to make their move.

 

Good.

We need more examples of failed leftism.

 

The example in this story is only one of the most extreme examples.

 

Within 5 years the roving gangs of machete wielders will be openly mass killing people in Europe.

 

don't need to Europe is governed by a bunch of dumbasses

 

That's where a lot of conservatives make a mistake. They don't care what's happening in other places, not realizing that those places are a vision of what's going to happen in their own future.

Many of these places were as conservative as where you are, long, or not so long, ago.

You really need to take a look at what changed, and how that change took place.

 

interesting, this particular detail wasn't mentioned on the news this am.

it should have been.

edit: the link did not mention the guards at all, is there an additional source with that info?

 

I heard it on the radio. I think NPR. I looked on their site and couldn't find any audio podcost.
They did an interview with a German woman and she brought up the museum guards, and due to something about the laws they were not armed.
I didn't catch it exactly, whether the law prevented them from being armed or just made it too inconvenient and difficult, but the way she stated it there was some sort of connection.

Very few of the other media outlets covering this story are even mentioning the guards, which I suppose is not surprising.

 

not surprised at all either, it's an embarrassment having security people there who's job description = watch it happen.

 

Thats what most security is: observe and report.

 

The thieves disabled the power in the area, blacking out all the street lights, and then they burned the getaway car in a nearby parking garage to make it difficult for the police to trace them.

 

Some are suggesting the government offer to issue immunity from prosecution and just pay the robbers to get the jewels back, since the treasures are of such immense cultural and historical value to the nation. And their worth is far more than the amount of money the criminals would get if they broke the jewelry into pieces, melted down the metals and recut the stones.

Paying 100 million to get the jewels back would be a bargain, considering what they are considered to be worth intact.

 

ya, at the condo pool maybe, but royal jewels? oh well, maybe they recover them. I wish them luck in the investigation.

 

By the time they apprehend the thieves, the treasures may already be permanently destroyed.

Those are very unique jewels, and art experts consider them to be "unsellable", because whoever would buy them will have an obvious idea that they were from this theft. You can't steal something this famous and then just easily sell it.

 

that would only encourage more thefts...