New york law may change due to recent church break ins.

[Sweetdeath]

www.nytimes.com/1993/06/27/nyregion/church-burglary-on-rise.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm

...for several reasons,
members of the clergy and security
officials say. Places of worship are
usually open round the clock, they
often lie in inner-city areas where
drug use is prevalent, and they are
increasingly using electronic
equipment like tape and compact-
disk players to provide music in
place of the traditional organs. The
equipment is often portable and
easily fenced for money and drugs,
the police say.
Many burglaries go unreported, law-
enforcement officials say, because
the clergy accepts the break-ins as
the price that must be paid to keep
the institutions open to the public,
particularly in the inner-city
neighborhoods.
Some members of the clergy say
they don't report the burglaries
because they fear that the publicity
might give others an idea to do the
same thing. But representatives of
the Catholic, Protestant and Jewish
clergy said their denominations'
local churches or synagogues are
told to to inform the police of all
incidents, no matter how small.

[skwurll]

Stealing from a church... There's a joke in here involving tithes, but I'm not going to make it.

This is actually a pretty common problem, a few years ago someone stole a drumset from the church I attended. The only part is that they forgot the power cord. (It was a new electric drumset, pretty cool if you ask me.) So basically they stole a really expensive paper weight.

[Tank]

In the UK lead on church roofs gets stolen on a regular basis.

[Asmodean]

The e-drums I've worked with used pretty generic power cords... Shouldn't be a problem to find the adapter with more or less right wattage and amperage.

[OldGit]

In the UK lead on church roofs gets stolen on a regular basis.

Indeed, and stealing from inside churches has been rampant for a long time.  Attractive portable antiques like lecterns, crosses and seats are too easy.  As a student of church architecture it annoys me that so many churches have to be kept locked, especially the remote rural ones.

[Sweetdeath]

Seems sad that people steal in general, unless its food to feed their family.
Also, I can understand charging person with felony if they are stealing/damaging irreplacable artifacts. It's like stealing a painting from a museum on a lesser degree.

[Asmodean]

unless its food to feed their family.

No, that's the sadest of all, really...

[philosoraptor]

I suppose there's no real reason churches should be immune to this kind of theft.  If you left your door unlocked in your home in the inner city, you wouldn't be surprised if you got robbed.  Still, it's a little sad to me because I do like the idea of a 24 hour safe house, so to speak, where a person in need could go if they had nowhere else to turn (I'm thinking homeless, transient, etc...).  And while I personally may find it silly, I wouldn't want to deny comfort to someone at 3am after a loved one had died or they were going through something difficult where sitting in a church and praying or meditating might help.  It is what it is I guess, but it is shitty that people just can't be respectful of other people and their property.

[Sweetdeath]

Yeah, it is sad when some people ruin it for everyone.

[Asmodean]

Still, it's a little sad to me because I do like the idea of a 24 hour safe house, so to speak, where a person in need could go if they had nowhere else to turn (I'm thinking homeless, transient, etc...).

Homeless shelters..? About equally lacking in security guards as churches, so pretty much as safe, no?

And while I personally may find it silly, I wouldn't want to deny comfort to someone at 3am after a loved one had died or they were going through something difficult where sitting in a church and praying or meditating might help.

I'd send them to the nearest hospital to look up a psychologist on call.

...No, I don't really have a point beyond that I see churches as useless. Turn them into places that sell overpriced crap to people, like everywhere else!

[Ali]

Still, it's a little sad to me because I do like the idea of a 24 hour safe house, so to speak, where a person in need could go if they had nowhere else to turn (I'm thinking homeless, transient, etc...).

Homeless shelters..? About equally lacking in security guards as churches, so pretty much as safe, no?

And while I personally may find it silly, I wouldn't want to deny comfort to someone at 3am after a loved one had died or they were going through something difficult where sitting in a church and praying or meditating might help.

I'd send them to the nearest hospital to look up a psychologist on call.

...No, I don't really have a point beyond that I see churches as useless. Turn them into places that sell overpriced crap to people, like everywhere else!

I know that unfortunately a lot of homeless shelters have a limited amount of resources and thus have a limited amount of space, and also have rules about when you can come and go.  I do think it's necessary to have some sort of "on demand" place that people can go to get warm if they should find themselves without shelter and unable to enter into a shelter at any time.

[Asmodean]

Hospitals. Usually open 24/7

[philosoraptor]

Open, yes.  Accessible?  Not necessarily.  Hospitals are full of sick people-most of them will not be keen on homeless people crashing the ER waiting room to get warm, especially not if they're packed to capacity.

[Asmodean]

Chest pain. Can buy you quite a lot of hours.

[Ecurb Noselrub]

Chest pain. Can buy you quite a lot of hours.

Plus, in the US, under the EMTALA law, you can't refuse someone who comes into the ER for treatment.