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Date: July 21 2012
AS WE reported yesterday, three people alleged to have been trying to snatch a purse were arrested after a bystander whacked their car with a rolling pin. This is heartening news on several fronts. We make no comment on the case itself, of course. But it is most gratifying in a large, impersonal city such as Sydney that bystanders are still willing to help strangers in an incident of this type.
More than that, it hints at a welcome return of traditional batterie de cuisine to the field of law enforcement. Police claim the dent made by the rolling pin in the roof of the car was enough to identify the vehicle later, after a chase.
Knives aside, kitchenware is rarely seen during arrests these days. In the Herald's online database, for example, which covers content from 1987 onwards, the words "saucepan" and "perp" do not appear together in a single report. Yet how useful would a decent-sized saucepan be to a householder suddenly confronted by intruders. We can only guess that the slow demise of home cooking, and the public's preference for takeaway foods are to blame.
One wonders, in this age of high tech, how the same householder would fare armed with a microwave oven or a sandwich maker. Poorly, we suspect. For some things, the old ways are still the best.
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