this post was submitted on 12 May 2026
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Don't post pictures of yourself online doing illegal shit.

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[–] Insekticus@aussie.zone 78 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (13 children)

What a gross waste of tax-payer money and police time. Fuck the scientologist hucksters.

Just a bunch of lawyers invoicing the rich to allow them to do immoral things and write it off as a charity donation.

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[–] Stern@lemmy.world 49 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

god forbid kids have fun anymore

[–] EarlOfSam@quokk.au 19 points 1 week ago

Y'know people like this complain when kids don't go out, and complain when they do

Smh can't win with these people

[–] hayvan@piefed.world 39 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Teenagers learning what ACAB means.

[–] remon@ani.social 36 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Nah, if you're stupid enough to film yourself while doing crimes you deserve everything you get. And I say that fully condoning these scientology runs.

[–] Tiresia@slrpnk.net 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)

"If you go for a walk, you're still running laps around everybody who stayed home on the couch"

Kids have got to learn how to not make stupid mistakes through practice. In the moment there are way too many things to re-examine and it's natural default habits come back.

At my first action I parked my bike 50m away and had to pass as an innocent bystander and no-sell the cops to get my bike back. That was stupid of me, but there were dozens of other things I did for the first time that I did a passable job at.

It's toxic to let mistakes outweigh everything.

[–] remon@ani.social -1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

We are talking about a 15-19 year olds here, not little kids. And they are not on death-row, they're probably get fine and/or some community service. Seems quite appropirate as a punishment for being an absolute idiot. I'm standing by it, they deserve that.

[–] JillyB@beehaw.org -3 points 1 week ago (2 children)
[–] NOPper@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 1 week ago (1 children)

They're victims because they filmed themselves doing something they know is illegal and are now being processed with the evidence they themselves collected? I'm all for these shenanigans, just seems like a silly take to me.

[–] JillyB@beehaw.org 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I understand chastising them for bad opsec. But I draw the line at saying they deserve it. A person not doing anything wrong doesn't deserve to be punished. That makes it seem like the police response is justified and it isn't.

[–] FreedomAdvocate 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

They did do something wrong though lol

[–] athatet@lemmy.zip 0 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Did they tho? Did they really?

[–] FreedomAdvocate -1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Yes. You can't get in a police car unless a police officer puts you in one.

[–] remon@ani.social 1 points 1 week ago

I'm not quite creative enough to imagine a fantasy world in which they are the victims, sorry.

[–] psud@aussie.zone 1 points 1 week ago

They need to leave their phones at home

[–] Echinoderm@aussie.zone 27 points 1 week ago (1 children)

What's the likelihood that the "climbed over and into police vehicles" is 90% of the reason the police care enough to put any resources into a serious investigation?

[–] FreedomAdvocate -4 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Yeah the police tend to care when people do illegal things. Crazy right?

[–] Echinoderm@aussie.zone 5 points 1 week ago (1 children)

You missed the point. The police have some discretion in how they prioritise their resources. They tend to place at the top of that list anyone who messes with their shit. What I was suggesting was that messing with the police cars potentially elevated this from "yep, we'll totally look into this thing, pop it on that pile over there" to "alright kids, you want to FAFO with us?"

[–] FreedomAdvocate -1 points 1 week ago

Yes, police tend to give more priority to crimes against their property. That's to be expected. That's reasonable. If someone stole a police car and equipment do you not think that deserves priority over a random stolen hyundai getz? It absolutely does because it's a police car. If a police car gets damaged that's less police resources that can be out there catching other criminals.

[–] dan@upvote.au 16 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Don't post pictures of yourself online

Also don't bring your phone with you, or at least turn it off or put it in plane mode.

[–] Yeller_king@reddthat.com 5 points 1 week ago

But isn't the whole point to get Internet clout?

Kids ate alright, just got to protect themselves

[–] the_riviera_kid@lemmy.world 8 points 1 week ago

It's "clout culture" combined with poor parenting. They see other people doing it and they want to be part of the in crowd. Because they were never taught critical thinking skills they never stop to think "If my dumbfuck buddy Kyle can see this so can the cops".

When I was growing up I learned to assume everyone is a cop, as a result I made sure no one was looking (even my dipshit peers) before I did something potentially ruinous.

[–] arbilp3@aussie.zone 8 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Sure, but best not to do illegal shit. However, if you are doing performative illegal shit because you feel angry with some aspects of an institution(s) you find questionable, perhaps find someone to give the reasons for your speedrunning or whatever you're performing otherwise you might end up with a criminal record and that's going to stuff up your life choices a bit.

[–] Soapbox@lemmy.zip 10 points 1 week ago (2 children)

If you are going to have a criminal record, "tormenting the church of scientology" is a pretty respectable thing to have on it. I would be more inclined to hire someone who did that.

[–] arbilp3@aussie.zone 4 points 1 week ago

Personally I agree with you but not everyone thinks the same. There are also other matters to consider like whether you are a repeat offender, the age the offence was committed, etc. In the current authoritarian climate we need to warn kids not to stop protesting and pranking but to think how they're doing it so it doesn't become self-harming.

true, as would it, however there are regulatory bullshits to consider. if somehow the financial industry makes tormenting the church of scientology a crime they can't tolerate for, i don't know, reasons that have absolutely positively nothing to do with shelley miscavige's conspicuously missing skull, maybe you don't want to work in the financial industry.

[–] MalReynolds@slrpnk.net 8 points 1 week ago (1 children)

The reason is (mostly?) lolz.

Which is far from evil here. At least mask up or whatever to the point of not being (facial recognition + legally) identifiable before posting to your social media about someone who isn't me (SWIM). As per OP, opsec, learn to love it or learn regrets.

[–] arbilp3@aussie.zone 3 points 1 week ago

Yes, i agree it's not evil. They're kids. It's the melding of cyber reality with physical reality together with the illegal action that makes me a bit nervous.

[–] RampantParanoia2365@lemmy.world 6 points 1 week ago (2 children)

...trend? So other teens have stormed scientology churches?

[–] Flying_Penguin@lemmy.zip 8 points 1 week ago

Sorry, seen this in my 'All' feed. Didn't know scientology had a place down there.

But yeah "trend". I think the building here in California took the door knobs off their entrances because it kept happening.

[–] psud@aussie.zone 1 points 1 week ago

If they're referring to the Anonymous stuff from a decade (two?) ago it doesn't seem a very hot trend

[–] auzy1@lemmy.world 5 points 1 week ago

It's a religion. Why would they be closing their doors at all?

[–] hanrahan@slrpnk.net 4 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

mmmm ordinary people learn from their mistakes, smart people learn from the mistakes of others (not this group or they'd not have posted b soc media), stupid people never kearn

They literally did this to put it on social media so it seems odd to suggest they don't then put it on social media

[–] Psiczar@aussie.zone 3 points 1 week ago

This isn’t the most well written article, it makes it sound like there are police vehicles parked on the grounds of the church of Scientology.

[–] eestileib@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 1 week ago

True life lessons often hurt at the time.

[–] null@lemmy.org 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

It's good to know that protesting the Cult of Scientology hasn't gone out of fashion.

[–] taygaloocat@leminal.space 1 points 1 week ago

I don't think they're protesting. They're just following a trend which I guess at least draws attention to it.

Where is all the footage from those 200 teens?

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