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>Unable to get the cops to come and lend a hand, they decided to just use their own van key and take it back themselves. At least they were able to get help fr

>Unable to get the cops to come and lend a hand, they decided to just use their own van key and take it back themselves. At least they were able to get help from the LAPD the next day which, frankly, is still the most unbelievable part of the story. I'm curious how they got anyone to agree to show up to help retrieve 5.5k of stolen property. Does being a famous twitch streamer help? As another resident of California who had previously gotten zero help from the police retrieving a stolen laptop I could GPS trace to a specific address, I would appreciate knowing the tips & tricks.

filoleg 4y ago
> As another resident of California who had previously gotten zero help from the police retrieving a stolen laptop I could GPS trace to a specific address, I would appreciate knowing the tips & tricks. I would guess that with cars, it is a bit more clear-cut of a job compared to laptops, because every car is registered with the state, has insurance paid on it, and has a unique VIN number. All plain and clear-cut, easy for the government officials to understand. How would you go about it with a laptop? There is no state-level registry, the perpetrator can easily conceal the laptop elsewhere or swap it for another one, etc. Basically, I bet it boils down to LAPS just not having a simple and easy way to truly verify laptop ownership. Not trying to justify that behavior btw, imo it should be persecuted and investigated just the same. Just trying to think of a more pragmatic reason for why it is this way.
- mustacheemperor 4y ago
  And I appreciate it! It helps me be less of a consternated citizen to know whatever extent of a reasonable explanation there is. Someone else pointed out vehicle theft is automatically a felony as well, unlike swiping someone's electronics. In this case, it was a Macbook Pro registered to my AppleID, which I guess isn't quite as ironclad as a state registery but seems like reasonable proof of ownership. It was almost more frustrating to know they couldn't even get any use out of the device unless they tried to part it out, since it was iCloud locked. In hindsight, I should have checked that building's dumpster...
- filoleg 4y ago
  *typod, but too late to edit, I meant LAPD (not LAPS, not even sure it is a real abbreviation for something else).
throwaway933424 4y ago
Each police department has its own policies for what incidents they will show up to or not. One technique is to round your description of the situation up to a level that requires the police to be on the scene. Once on the scene, police are often proactive in resolving the situation. If resolving the situation is returning the items, the police will often facilitate that.
gamblor956 4y ago
It's extremely easy to prove ownership of a car. It's relatively difficult to prove ownership of a laptop. Also, theft of a vehicle is always a felony, while laptop theft is usually a misdemeanor, which is a much less serious level of crime and which correspondingly receive less attention from the LAPD.
dmitrygr 4y ago
> Does being a famous twitch streamer help? No, but saying "i'll just go home to get my gun and do it myself" surely does.
- tomatotomato37 4y ago
  Not even that, just saying you are on the way to taking it back will trigger a response, as they know they will have to deal with the altercation or other bullshittery that will inevitably happen

filoleg 4y ago

> As another resident of California who had previously gotten zero help from the police retrieving a stolen laptop I could GPS trace to a specific address, I would appreciate knowing the tips & tricks. I would guess that with cars, it is a bit more clear-cut of a job compared to laptops, because every car is registered with the state, has insurance paid on it, and has a unique VIN number. All plain and clear-cut, easy for the government officials to understand. How would you go about it with a laptop? There is no state-level registry, the perpetrator can easily conceal the laptop elsewhere or swap it for another one, etc. Basically, I bet it boils down to LAPS just not having a simple and easy way to truly verify laptop ownership. Not trying to justify that behavior btw, imo it should be persecuted and investigated just the same. Just trying to think of a more pragmatic reason for why it is this way.

mustacheemperor 4y ago
And I appreciate it! It helps me be less of a consternated citizen to know whatever extent of a reasonable explanation there is. Someone else pointed out vehicle theft is automatically a felony as well, unlike swiping someone's electronics. In this case, it was a Macbook Pro registered to my AppleID, which I guess isn't quite as ironclad as a state registery but seems like reasonable proof of ownership. It was almost more frustrating to know they couldn't even get any use out of the device unless they tried to part it out, since it was iCloud locked. In hindsight, I should have checked that building's dumpster...
filoleg 4y ago
*typod, but too late to edit, I meant LAPD (not LAPS, not even sure it is a real abbreviation for something else).

throwaway933424 4y ago

Each police department has its own policies for what incidents they will show up to or not. One technique is to round your description of the situation up to a level that requires the police to be on the scene. Once on the scene, police are often proactive in resolving the situation. If resolving the situation is returning the items, the police will often facilitate that.

gamblor956 4y ago

It's extremely easy to prove ownership of a car. It's relatively difficult to prove ownership of a laptop. Also, theft of a vehicle is always a felony, while laptop theft is usually a misdemeanor, which is a much less serious level of crime and which correspondingly receive less attention from the LAPD.

dmitrygr 4y ago

> Does being a famous twitch streamer help? No, but saying "i'll just go home to get my gun and do it myself" surely does.

tomatotomato37 4y ago
Not even that, just saying you are on the way to taking it back will trigger a response, as they know they will have to deal with the altercation or other bullshittery that will inevitably happen