6 ms·

The article mentions that he built this in the first place because the police told him that there was nothing they could do even with footage

izzydata 8y ago
They couldn't do anything with the footage of them taking it from the front porch. But with close up footage of their face and GPS coordinates of some of their houses it seems like a different story.
- weberc2 8y ago
  Not to mention license plates that are caught in the video.
- SlowRobotAhead 8y ago
  I’m not trying to be cynical “at you” but my time with police has taught me they are there to document crime always and stop it directly almost never. TV and Movies mislead.
  - logfromblammo 8y ago
    My time with police has taught me that they will make you do your own documentation by filling out the crime reports yourself, and then just rubber-stamp them for the benefit of your insurance company. Vigilante justice is the only kind there is for misdemeanor property crimes. You could track the thief down, talk him into giving your property back and turning himself in, and drive him to the police station yourself, and the cops would still tell you both to get lost and stop wasting their time. Petty thieves and burglars are pretty low priority for US cops, as long as it's poor people stealing from poor people. Thus you can have an entire class of people that can routinely steal anything they come across that isn't nailed down, yet never get caught. Because no one tries to catch them. And then they get jobs that give them access to things that are only lightly nailed down, because they have no criminal records. The cops aren't really there to protect you or your property. They will if it's convenient, but if you need real protection, you'll have to pay someone and have a contract in place. Or just do what most people do: get insurance with a reasonable deductible and keep all your stuff locked up or nailed down.
    - learc83 8y ago
      I sat on a jury for a misdemeanor shoplifting trial. We voted to convict and he got jail time, and when I worked retail during college, misdemeanor shoplifters were almost always arrested and prosecuted when there was good evidence. I also know people working in the my county solicitor's office and a large amount of their caseload is prosecuting misdemeanor property crimes. I'm sure this varies by location, but I don't think prosecuting misdemeanor property crime is as rare as you think. Additional, In most states the bar for felony theft is pretty low, and the way that the value is calculated makes it very easy to go over that limit. For example, I knew a girl who stole some lip balm in high school, but several other girls she was in the store with stole items with a higher value. The DA lumped all of the items together and charged them all with felonies.
      - logfromblammo 8y ago
        The cops may care when someone steals from a retail business. They don't care when the same person steals from you, an individual. The reason why I know this should be self-evident. I might also mention that if you know someone in the prosecutors' office, your experience will be very different from the majority of theft victims. Cases that never get referred to the prosecutor due to lack of evidence, due to lack of looking for evidence--or lack of taking the evidence when handed in on a silver platter--are not included in the prosecutors' caseloads.
        learc83 8y ago
        Cops don't treat retail businesses that much different from individuals in my experience. If you have video evidence plus a person in custody, a license plate, or an address, there's a good chance of an arrest. If all you have is a picture, then they will blow you off. >Cases that never get referred to the prosecutor due to lack of evidence That's most cases of misdemeanor property theft though. No evidence, video and no idea who the person is, or a he said she said between neighbors that's probably better dealt with through a civil case. In the vast majority of these cases the problem isn't that the police/prosecutors are being wilfully ignorant, it's that there's nothing they can realistically do.
- tomcam 8y ago
  Here in Seattle the police and DA explicitly do not give a shit about property crimes. Awesome at parking enforcement though.
  - Pfhreak 8y ago
    [Citation Needed] 'Explicit' means something. I'd love to see the reference where the DA explicitly says they do not give a shit about property crimes.

izzydata 8y ago

They couldn't do anything with the footage of them taking it from the front porch. But with close up footage of their face and GPS coordinates of some of their houses it seems like a different story.

weberc2 8y ago
Not to mention license plates that are caught in the video.
SlowRobotAhead 8y ago
I’m not trying to be cynical “at you” but my time with police has taught me they are there to document crime always and stop it directly almost never. TV and Movies mislead.
- logfromblammo 8y ago
  My time with police has taught me that they will make you do your own documentation by filling out the crime reports yourself, and then just rubber-stamp them for the benefit of your insurance company. Vigilante justice is the only kind there is for misdemeanor property crimes. You could track the thief down, talk him into giving your property back and turning himself in, and drive him to the police station yourself, and the cops would still tell you both to get lost and stop wasting their time. Petty thieves and burglars are pretty low priority for US cops, as long as it's poor people stealing from poor people. Thus you can have an entire class of people that can routinely steal anything they come across that isn't nailed down, yet never get caught. Because no one tries to catch them. And then they get jobs that give them access to things that are only lightly nailed down, because they have no criminal records. The cops aren't really there to protect you or your property. They will if it's convenient, but if you need real protection, you'll have to pay someone and have a contract in place. Or just do what most people do: get insurance with a reasonable deductible and keep all your stuff locked up or nailed down.
  - learc83 8y ago
    I sat on a jury for a misdemeanor shoplifting trial. We voted to convict and he got jail time, and when I worked retail during college, misdemeanor shoplifters were almost always arrested and prosecuted when there was good evidence. I also know people working in the my county solicitor's office and a large amount of their caseload is prosecuting misdemeanor property crimes. I'm sure this varies by location, but I don't think prosecuting misdemeanor property crime is as rare as you think. Additional, In most states the bar for felony theft is pretty low, and the way that the value is calculated makes it very easy to go over that limit. For example, I knew a girl who stole some lip balm in high school, but several other girls she was in the store with stole items with a higher value. The DA lumped all of the items together and charged them all with felonies.
    - logfromblammo 8y ago
      The cops may care when someone steals from a retail business. They don't care when the same person steals from you, an individual. The reason why I know this should be self-evident. I might also mention that if you know someone in the prosecutors' office, your experience will be very different from the majority of theft victims. Cases that never get referred to the prosecutor due to lack of evidence, due to lack of looking for evidence--or lack of taking the evidence when handed in on a silver platter--are not included in the prosecutors' caseloads.
      - learc83 8y ago
        Cops don't treat retail businesses that much different from individuals in my experience. If you have video evidence plus a person in custody, a license plate, or an address, there's a good chance of an arrest. If all you have is a picture, then they will blow you off. >Cases that never get referred to the prosecutor due to lack of evidence That's most cases of misdemeanor property theft though. No evidence, video and no idea who the person is, or a he said she said between neighbors that's probably better dealt with through a civil case. In the vast majority of these cases the problem isn't that the police/prosecutors are being wilfully ignorant, it's that there's nothing they can realistically do.
tomcam 8y ago
Here in Seattle the police and DA explicitly do not give a shit about property crimes. Awesome at parking enforcement though.
- Pfhreak 8y ago
  [Citation Needed] 'Explicit' means something. I'd love to see the reference where the DA explicitly says they do not give a shit about property crimes.