Be polite to the miscreant. Speak cheerfully to them. And when their guard is thus disengaged beat the living crap out of them. No? OK, no, that's right. After all we are civilized, aren't we? I have a slightly unkind word to say to JofH. Please use your spell check!

Too much vigilantism these days, at least in attitude, probably the result of 9/11 (or 11/9 for those of you over the water). Maybe the result of overcrowding in our urban areas. Too much noise. Too many lights. Too many people. Makes me think that modern Western man is afraid of silence, afraid of the dark and afraid of being alone.

JofH! Use the constabulary! That is what they are there for. Allow the judicial system to handle the "bad people". If the system seems to bog down on the niceities, CHANGE the system. Never, never, never atempt to insert yourself into a crime in progress (or just committed) because unless you have been trained to do so you can make matters much, much, worse. Had that youth actually stolen your stereo he probably would have trashed YOU in the bargain.

CB