"Leave phony overcoat button at scene" — Read this 1950s burglar's notebook of advice

[RickMycroft]

I think he’s moved on to other things.

[jaded]

I read a story where an assailant carried a spray bottle of “Soccer Stadium” and spread the DNA of 50,000 random people around the crime scene. I’ve never looked at DNA forensics the same way since.

The book never mentioned how the DNA was collected, or where he obtained it. I suppose a couple of crooked hospital lab workers would have daily access to thousands of samples, and a criminal enterprise would be able to quickly PCR up a vat full. You probably wouldn’t want to be caught with a bottle of it, though.

[PsiPhiGrrrl]

I’m wondering if screenwriters mine advice like this for ideas. As @VeronicaConnor pointed out, the problem with evidence is that most cops don’t bother with that. This movie used a button as a plot point - and showed how easy it is for the cops to reach an incorrect conclusion:

The Next Three Days (2010) - IMDb

[Mister44]

Up to his neck in Ruskies!

[anon52120741]

@frauenfelder

On the day a criminal decides he is smarter than the police, he moves that much closer to the moment of his capture. Don’t belong to the egocentric class of criminals. Thieves who are so egotistical as to think that they can’t be caught are the ones who get caught.

Without the police/crime focus this bit of advice applies to just about everything in life

[ludd]

But. . . but. . . all my overcoats are real.

I think they’re talking about something like a fake Burberry…to make 'em think they are dealing with some low class criminal.

[L0ki]

@VeronicaConnor

A lot of that is shockingly bad advice.

But at least I now know where all the rich people live.

[westcarleton]

Found a perfect hand print on a just-washed window after we were robbed. Cops weren’t interested.

[simonize]

@dpease

I’m trying to understand how sneeze powder would foil capture. Attack the cops with it? Attack yourself with it? “Holy smokes, that potential perp is sneezing uncontrollably! Let’s get out of here!”

I was guessing that it is intended to throw off dogs sniffing for the perp.

[tcg550]

@simonize

I was guessing that it is intended to throw off dogs sniffing for the perp.

Cool Hand Luke(1967) - Luke Escapes Again

[PPK]

Charlie Stross covered this in ‘Halting State’. Get on one or more buses, use a handheld vacuum cleaner to pick up lots of dust from the seats. Then spray that all over the crime scene once you’re done.

[jhbadger]

Er, do high tech modern toilets not have those any more? My apartment (granted maybe a bit out of date) uses one just like every toilet I’ve had to take the top off growing up.

[beauwillamson]

@dpease

I’m trying to understand how sneeze powder would foil capture.

Metsubushi (Japanese: 目潰し, lit. “eye closers”) or gantsubushi [1] are a variety of implements and techniques that were used in feudal Japan by samurai police and other individuals to temporarily or permanently blind or disorient an opponent.

[KingGhidorah]

To be fair, he jotted that one down after watching Bugs Bunny

[FGD135]

Leave the gun. Take the cannoli.