“…was arrested shortly thereafter….”

There are some for whom being arrested, spending a night in jail as you arrange a bond, then having your court-appointed attorney negotiate a deal with the DA for which you may serve some short time in jail and a period of probation, or failing a deal, a trial in front of a judge and jury…..

…is not enough of a penalty to preclude such behavior. You and I and every sensible person would not want any part of that sequence. That arrest and conviction will follow you the rest of your life. It will complicate something as simple as an approval to rent an apartment.

I agree….I have grown distrustful of all sorts of people who in years past, I might have ignored. The lovely Mrs. azlib and I were in a fast-food drive-thru the day before yesterday and were carefully watching a couple who were panhandling out in traffic. Maybe they were just down on their luck and were after enough for a night in a motel where they could sleep in a bed and take a shower. But our distrust had us thinking tactically about how to maneuver the car out of that drive-thru should things turn ugly.