Are You Afraid of Flashmobs?

Flashmobs used to be so quaint. A bunch of nerds get together online and make a plan to meet up in some public place for a spontaneous dance or arty action that surprises, delights and makes your day just a little bit less boring.

But like all cool Internet memes that are eventually hijacked by jerks (thanks naked guys on Chatroulette, spammers on Twitter and Weezer music videos) or become so instantly ubiquitous we're over them before they start (see planking, owling and horsemaning), even flashmobs have been ruined by the masses.

Last week, I wrote about how social media was being usurped by hooligans intent on looting London and gate-crashing Lollapalooza. But what seemed like a flare-up is now a full-on trend, and not the good kind like trucker hats and cowboy boots with shorts in the summer.

According to CNN, cops in Germantown, Maryland were confounded this week when a flashmob of teens took less than a minute to swarm a 7-Eleven and make off with hundreds of dollars worth of goodies in a so-called "flashrob." See, cops in Montgomery County thought this was a big city trend and now they're not even sure how to prevent another outbreak of mob rules.

"We had always thought flash mobs happen in big cities. We are unprepared. We don't have anyone who has social-media expertise," said police spokeswoman Janelle Smith. "Even if we did, our budget looks like every other law enforcement agency in the country. It's not pretty."

They're not alone, as police forces across the nation are scrambling to fight this new, darkly whimsical crime wave that has resulted in "flash robs" in Minneapolis, Chicago, Cleveland, New York and Washington. In most cases, teens organized online to coordinate looting of stores. In others they assaulted pedestrians and ran off before they could be caught.

If these incidents scare you -- picture browsing at the Gap when a dozen teens burst in and ransack the joint, knocking people down as they grab jeans -- imagine how older police officers who are out of the social media loop feel. Because, for years, they looked at flash mobs as harmless events that were a crowd-control nuisance at best, but nothing to worry about.

So, what is fueling this grim turn? A California psychologist told CNN it could be tied to bored, discontented jobless teens who feel like their options are dwindling, if not gone and are trying to grab back a sense of power.