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This is absurd. Another reason not to trust police to have your interest as their primary concern... If you were presently witnessing the car being broken into

by lhnn 15y ago

This is absurd. Another reason not to trust police to have your interest as their primary concern... If you were presently witnessing the car being broken into, then that would be 911 level. EDIT: There is a correlation between my use of the word "absurd" and downvotes.

scelerat 15y ago
If you were presently witnessing the car being broken into, then that would be 911 level. Agreed, and for clarification, this was not the case for me: I discovered the break-in later; I did not witness it. More irksome was the operator's suggestion (after telling her my laptop was stolen from the car) that I use a computer at the public library... which didn't open for another ten hours. If I had been robbed on a Saturday night instead of a Friday, I would have had to wait until Tuesday to report (worst case obviously... smartphones and friends, etc. but what if you don't have those?). Not saying the policy is a good one, but I use it as an illustration of how people are coming to see internet access as universally available and constructing policy against that notion.
rdl 15y ago
Oakland has had huge budget cuts, directly affecting police. The irony is that (perceived or real) high crime in Oakland is one of the main reasons few businesses move there (here, sadly); Pandora and Oaksterdam are the only new ventures I've really seen. Other than that, it's mostly legacy companies like some big insurers, the Port, etc. I'm sure if you were actively watching a crime, 911 would be accepted, but trying to move everything else to an online report seems like a reasonable cost cutting step. If it were possible to take the report online and keep 1-2 cops out for an extra hour, it's probably worthwhile. There should be an exception process for "come in to the station and file on paper", and for in-progress crimes, and for more serious/life threatening crimes, but as a step, this isn't that unreasonable. Of course, if someone broke into my house here, I'd probably be calling my attorney before I called the Oakland PD.
iuguy 15y ago
> This is absurd. Another reason not to trust police to have your interest as their primary concern In most countries the police are not there to serve your interests, but to protect law and order. This corresponds to your interests only when the law does so. When the law is against your interest, so are the police.

by lhnn 15y ago

scelerat 15y ago

If you were presently witnessing the car being broken into, then that would be 911 level. Agreed, and for clarification, this was not the case for me: I discovered the break-in later; I did not witness it. More irksome was the operator's suggestion (after telling her my laptop was stolen from the car) that I use a computer at the public library... which didn't open for another ten hours. If I had been robbed on a Saturday night instead of a Friday, I would have had to wait until Tuesday to report (worst case obviously... smartphones and friends, etc. but what if you don't have those?). Not saying the policy is a good one, but I use it as an illustration of how people are coming to see internet access as universally available and constructing policy against that notion.

rdl 15y ago

Oakland has had huge budget cuts, directly affecting police. The irony is that (perceived or real) high crime in Oakland is one of the main reasons few businesses move there (here, sadly); Pandora and Oaksterdam are the only new ventures I've really seen. Other than that, it's mostly legacy companies like some big insurers, the Port, etc. I'm sure if you were actively watching a crime, 911 would be accepted, but trying to move everything else to an online report seems like a reasonable cost cutting step. If it were possible to take the report online and keep 1-2 cops out for an extra hour, it's probably worthwhile. There should be an exception process for "come in to the station and file on paper", and for in-progress crimes, and for more serious/life threatening crimes, but as a step, this isn't that unreasonable. Of course, if someone broke into my house here, I'd probably be calling my attorney before I called the Oakland PD.

iuguy 15y ago

> This is absurd. Another reason not to trust police to have your interest as their primary concern In most countries the police are not there to serve your interests, but to protect law and order. This corresponds to your interests only when the law does so. When the law is against your interest, so are the police.