Anti-Theft Device: Balls of Orange Paint

By John Farrier in Crime & Law, Society & Culture on Sep 2, 2010 at 7:39 am


(Video Link)

If you go into some Japanese stores, the clerks have fist-sized orange balls behind the counter. No, the are not for sale. They’re balls of paint that clerks throw at robbers so that police can more easily identify them:

The orange orbs you observed are called bohan yo kara boru (anticrime color balls). Basically, they’re paint balls — plastic spheres filled with brightly colored liquid pigment. But unlike the fun-and-games variety, these balls are kept on hand in case of a stickup. The idea is to lob one after a robber and mark him to improve the chance of an arrest.

Link via Urlesque


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  1. shinyinfo
    Sep 2nd, 2010 at 8:13 am

    That sounds like a good way to get shot. I like the “don’t be a hero, just give them what they want” company policy better.

  2. archibot
    Sep 2nd, 2010 at 8:41 am

    It does seem like a good way to get shot, but then I wouldn’t want to shoot anybody after I was covered in orange paint.

  3. john kenpun
    Sep 2nd, 2010 at 9:10 am

    guns are almost never used in robberies in Japan. http://www.guncite.com/journals/dkjgc.html

  4. Factoidial
    Sep 2nd, 2010 at 10:21 am

    How about robbing a bank using the orange balls.

    “Give me the money or I’ll make you look a guy trying to rob this bank.”

  5. Foreigner1
    Sep 2nd, 2010 at 11:17 am

    Heey make the humiliation for the tough robberers even bigger by using pink paint with sparkles…! :-P

  6. Brock_Lee
    Sep 2nd, 2010 at 12:25 pm

    @shinyinfo. I think it works more as a deterrent.

    Put yourself in the shoes of the robber. If you see one of these sitting around in the target store, you don’t know if the person is going to throw it. You pull a gun. the clerk does throw it. You shoot the clerk and are quickly apprehended b/c everyone (including the cops) knows what that color means. Thus you either choose another store or don’t shoot (why add murder to robbery charge?).

  7. vonskippy
    Sep 2nd, 2010 at 12:38 pm

    As long as the robber doesn’t ride a bicycle with a broken lamp, he’s safe from all Japanese police (they make Chief Wiggum look like Dirty Harry).


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