4 ms·

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 rel

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
- leephillips 6y ago
  It also describes the New York City I grew up in. Total apathy on the part of the police to most crime, and definitely toward property crime.
- gh-throw 6y ago
  Hahaha, nope. Not in any of the major tech hubs. I think it’s true in most cities.
vgeek 6y ago
https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2017/crime-in-the-u.s.-2017/topic-pages/clearance-browse-by/national-data https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2017/crime-in-the-u.s.-... Property crimes typically have a 10-20% clearance rate. Police are too preoccupied writing traffic tickets and/or harassing poor people. If anything, reported property crimes track against unemployment/economic prosperity-- probably much stronger than police payroll. The FBI's UCR is even more accessible at https://crime-data-explorer.app.cloud.gov/ https://crime-data-explorer.app.cloud.gov/ -- where you can look at crime rates, clearance rates, types of crime all the way down to the municipality level.
heavyset_go 6y ago
I've lived in places where cops don't even show up for theft and burglary. If you want a police report, you're visiting the station where they begrudging take your report and roll their eyes at any implication that they should investigate the crime or look for whoever committed it. What were the biggest line items on those municipalities' budgets? Police salaries, benefits, pensions and the purchasing and maintenance of law enforcement equipment and assets. If you visit the police departments' Facebook pages, they frequently celebrate months long investigations on literal children who sell pot to their friends. There's apparently no time to solve potentially difficult-to-investigate crime when there are easy targets out there like kids smoking pot and people speeding.

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
leephillips 6y ago
It also describes the New York City I grew up in. Total apathy on the part of the police to most crime, and definitely toward property crime.
gh-throw 6y ago
Hahaha, nope. Not in any of the major tech hubs. I think it’s true in most cities.

vgeek 6y ago

https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2017/crime-in-the-u.s.-2017/topic-pages/clearance-browse-by/national-data https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2017/crime-in-the-u.s.-... Property crimes typically have a 10-20% clearance rate. Police are too preoccupied writing traffic tickets and/or harassing poor people. If anything, reported property crimes track against unemployment/economic prosperity-- probably much stronger than police payroll. The FBI's UCR is even more accessible at https://crime-data-explorer.app.cloud.gov/ https://crime-data-explorer.app.cloud.gov/ -- where you can look at crime rates, clearance rates, types of crime all the way down to the municipality level.

heavyset_go 6y ago

I've lived in places where cops don't even show up for theft and burglary. If you want a police report, you're visiting the station where they begrudging take your report and roll their eyes at any implication that they should investigate the crime or look for whoever committed it. What were the biggest line items on those municipalities' budgets? Police salaries, benefits, pensions and the purchasing and maintenance of law enforcement equipment and assets. If you visit the police departments' Facebook pages, they frequently celebrate months long investigations on literal children who sell pot to their friends. There's apparently no time to solve potentially difficult-to-investigate crime when there are easy targets out there like kids smoking pot and people speeding.