17 ms·

Wouldn’t your friends then end up in jail? Or is that the type of crime that is not prosecuted unless “charges are pressed”?

calderarrow 6y ago
If somehow the IRS found out that you and your buddies were doing this elaborate stealing-to-borrow plan, they could slap down tax evasion charges on you since that's definitely breaking the spirit of the law. But that's a pretty big if ;)
- alien_ 6y ago
  Yeah, the way I read it this allows them to prosecute tax evasion in addition to theft for all property stolen in the previous years that wasn't declared to IRS as income from illegal activities. Is that a common practice?
  - vimax 6y ago
    It has been used several times against organized crime, most famously against Al Capone. You can't prove they did anything illegal to profit, but the IRS can audit them and prove they have not paid taxes on all their assets.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
gh-throw 6y ago
I’ve never known cops to investigate theft unless you basically hand them the culprit yourself. You just get your police report and hand it to insurance, if relevant. That’s their whole and entire role in the process. Even where there’s a 99% chance there’s, say, a gas station with video of the thief and their car (=license plate). They don’t even bother to check it out. You really do have to give them everything yourself to get them to maybe do anything.
- therein 6y ago
  > Even where there’s a 99% chance there’s, say, a gas station with video of the thief and their car (=license plate). They don’t even bother to check it out. You really do have to give them everything yourself to get them to maybe do anything. You might as well have declared your location to be San Francisco Bay Area.
  - baumy 6y ago
    True in Seattle as well, and Portland too from what friends tell me but I don't have first hand knowledge of that one. Had my wallet stolen at a community rec center in the Northgate area (a few miles north of downtown Seattle for those unfamiliar). There was video of the thief taking it. I was able to find out from regulars his name + phone number + address, from which I found his facebook account with several public pictures of him that made it clear he was the same man from the security video. Also was able to find some public police reports of prior arrests of the same man on various counts of theft/larceny, although no convictions that I could find. Gave all of that information to the "detective" assigned to my case. Nothing ever came of it. As best I can tell, nobody did anything beyond write down some of the information I gave them.
    - 13of40 6y ago
      It's not even an urban thing. I used to live in Woodinville, across the lake from Seattle, which for the uninitiated is one of those vast suburban sprawls with a Starbucks and a Mongolian Grill in the middle. Someone broke into my car and stole my wife's purse, and we tried contacting the police for hours to file a report. Their office was closed in the middle of the day, the person who answered their phone wouldn't connect us to anyone, and we finally ended up following a cop car to a sandwich shop and flagging the driver down when he got out. Someone did eventually take it seriously when the thief stole thousands of dollars from a series of banks with my wife's checkbook. I guess cash is king.
  - adflux 6y ago
    Also anywhere in the Netherlands

calderarrow 6y ago

If somehow the IRS found out that you and your buddies were doing this elaborate stealing-to-borrow plan, they could slap down tax evasion charges on you since that's definitely breaking the spirit of the law. But that's a pretty big if ;)

alien_ 6y ago
Yeah, the way I read it this allows them to prosecute tax evasion in addition to theft for all property stolen in the previous years that wasn't declared to IRS as income from illegal activities. Is that a common practice?
- vimax 6y ago
  It has been used several times against organized crime, most famously against Al Capone. You can't prove they did anything illegal to profit, but the IRS can audit them and prove they have not paid taxes on all their assets.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

gh-throw 6y ago

I’ve never known cops to investigate theft unless you basically hand them the culprit yourself. You just get your police report and hand it to insurance, if relevant. That’s their whole and entire role in the process. Even where there’s a 99% chance there’s, say, a gas station with video of the thief and their car (=license plate). They don’t even bother to check it out. You really do have to give them everything yourself to get them to maybe do anything.

therein 6y ago
> Even where there’s a 99% chance there’s, say, a gas station with video of the thief and their car (=license plate). They don’t even bother to check it out. You really do have to give them everything yourself to get them to maybe do anything. You might as well have declared your location to be San Francisco Bay Area.
- baumy 6y ago
  True in Seattle as well, and Portland too from what friends tell me but I don't have first hand knowledge of that one. Had my wallet stolen at a community rec center in the Northgate area (a few miles north of downtown Seattle for those unfamiliar). There was video of the thief taking it. I was able to find out from regulars his name + phone number + address, from which I found his facebook account with several public pictures of him that made it clear he was the same man from the security video. Also was able to find some public police reports of prior arrests of the same man on various counts of theft/larceny, although no convictions that I could find. Gave all of that information to the "detective" assigned to my case. Nothing ever came of it. As best I can tell, nobody did anything beyond write down some of the information I gave them.
  - 13of40 6y ago
    It's not even an urban thing. I used to live in Woodinville, across the lake from Seattle, which for the uninitiated is one of those vast suburban sprawls with a Starbucks and a Mongolian Grill in the middle. Someone broke into my car and stole my wife's purse, and we tried contacting the police for hours to file a report. Their office was closed in the middle of the day, the person who answered their phone wouldn't connect us to anyone, and we finally ended up following a cop car to a sandwich shop and flagging the driver down when he got out. Someone did eventually take it seriously when the thief stole thousands of dollars from a series of banks with my wife's checkbook. I guess cash is king.
- adflux 6y ago
  Also anywhere in the Netherlands