4 ms·

Exactly this. Since there's less crime in affluent areas, the police actually have time to investigate what get's ignored in other areas. By also solving the

Exactly this. Since there's less crime in affluent areas, the police actually have time to investigate what get's ignored in other areas. By also solving these crimes, it tells the criminals to avoid those areas, it's kind of a feedback loop.

deadbabe 2y ago
Is there a map of police response times somewhere? Sounds like this would make a good proxy for a map of affluent areas and would be useful for getting directions and stuff that avoid bad areas when you’re in unfamiliar places.
- juliushuijnk 2y ago
  Useful for criminals too. Come to think of it, a serious large sized criminal org would probably have such a map internally. And since there are more orgs like that, there is probably such a map-as-a-service somewhere for those in the know.
- ForOldHack 2y ago
  Just think of it: I say a car getting a parking ticket, while thieves were removing its catalytic converter. The dystopian future of having to pay cash for police services is closer than you consider, or even think. The "Community liaison" who showed up simply said "That is not their job."
  - Gibbon1 2y ago
    I over use the word but the idea that property crimes are merely a matter for the insurance company is the most neoliberal thing ever. You can imagine an alternative system where if someone steals your cat the government has to pay for that.
kbos87 2y ago
I'll offer a counterpoint - I live in a nice building in a bit of a rougher part of a major city. I've learned that the police do show up thankfully, but it takes a very long time unless there's literally a life on the line. (Which, I know, is better than some other major cities.) The couple of times I've interacted with them, it's been painfully obvious to me that they feel like they need to put on a performance for me, even if it's clear that it's an unsolvable crime. (In both cases, it was a property crime worth reporting, but also one with literally no evidence to follow up on.) I honestly wonder if some of the less well resourced people in my neighborhood even get a similar time of day from the police - my impression is that they probably don't.
- hcknwscommenter 2y ago
  Given that 99% of the crimes are committed by repeat offenders, a simple dusting for fingerprints (costs pennies) could likely identify the culprit. But they don't bother. And they act like we've seen too many movies/tv shows. But when an "interesting" crime happens they do in fact dust for fingerprints (cheap!) and do all sorts of swabbing and testing (expensive). The police are lazy in CA especially. And yet they are also extremely well paid in CA. Someday, hopefully, this will change.
  - mcny 2y ago
    I’m not holding my breath. Things won’t change until there’s a price to pay for corruption. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurie_Smith https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurie_Smith
    - ForOldHack 2y ago
      There is so much more: https://www.kqed.org/news/11988510/case-of-former-san-jose-police-union-official-charged-with-attempting-to-import-illegal-drugs-could-resolve-by-august https://www.kqed.org/news/11988510/case-of-former-san-jose-p...
  - Angostura 2y ago
    The dust isn’t the expensive bit
  - Spooky23 2y ago
    Remember the DA is part of the equation. For low priority crime, there’s a lot of risk with using fingerprints. They won’t take a case they may not win.
  - sokoloff 2y ago
    > simple dusting for fingerprints (costs pennies) If a cop is making $30/hr, and we allow "pennies" to be as much as $0.25, they would have to complete the entire dusting for fingerprints process in 30 seconds.
- 2y ago
xeromal 2y ago
It's also this way in smaller towns. I live in a small north GA town and you can ask the cops to come by your house during the holidays to see if anyone has broke in. Cops here are much more useful than when I'm in SoCal where I could even get cops to show up within an hour when a hit and run caused me to crash into someones back yard and total my car.
- alsetmusic 2y ago
  Oakland has non-emergency 911 calls redirect to file online. It’s certainly a problem when crime outstrips resources.
- Fatnino 2y ago
  When I was in SoCal some vandals broke into the construction site next door. We saw them. Breaking things and spraying graffiti etc. Called the cops. They responded by sending a helicopter over 15 minutes later. It shined it's spotlight around for a moment and then flew away. "job well done" - LAPD probably.
seanmcdirmid 2y ago
It helps if there are less affluent areas nearby where police are more overworked, as it easily shifts the problem to those areas instead. For example, King county in the Seattle area is notorious for not locking criminals up, but as long as Bellevue police send a bunch of cops to each incident, no longer how small, detain people and even send them to jail (even if they are quickly released), it’s enough of a disincentive to send the problem back to Seattle or to southern suburbs where police don’t have time for that.
luma 2y ago
Are we still talking about the police in the OP? Who needed someone to give them GPS coordinates to find the stolen goods after at least 14,999 previous tool thefts went unsolved? Not exactly batman level detective work here, this case was cracked because it was handed to them on a silver platter.
- Workaccount2 2y ago
  I guess you haven't dealt much with the police before...
  - luma 2y ago
    Oh I have which I why I'm surprised that everyone is reading this as the police doing a good job. This is a story of the police failing to do their job 14,999 times and only getting it right on try 15,000 because one of the victims solved the case for them.

deadbabe 2y ago

Is there a map of police response times somewhere? Sounds like this would make a good proxy for a map of affluent areas and would be useful for getting directions and stuff that avoid bad areas when you’re in unfamiliar places.

juliushuijnk 2y ago
Useful for criminals too. Come to think of it, a serious large sized criminal org would probably have such a map internally. And since there are more orgs like that, there is probably such a map-as-a-service somewhere for those in the know.
ForOldHack 2y ago
Just think of it: I say a car getting a parking ticket, while thieves were removing its catalytic converter. The dystopian future of having to pay cash for police services is closer than you consider, or even think. The "Community liaison" who showed up simply said "That is not their job."
- Gibbon1 2y ago
  I over use the word but the idea that property crimes are merely a matter for the insurance company is the most neoliberal thing ever. You can imagine an alternative system where if someone steals your cat the government has to pay for that.

kbos87 2y ago

I'll offer a counterpoint - I live in a nice building in a bit of a rougher part of a major city. I've learned that the police do show up thankfully, but it takes a very long time unless there's literally a life on the line. (Which, I know, is better than some other major cities.) The couple of times I've interacted with them, it's been painfully obvious to me that they feel like they need to put on a performance for me, even if it's clear that it's an unsolvable crime. (In both cases, it was a property crime worth reporting, but also one with literally no evidence to follow up on.) I honestly wonder if some of the less well resourced people in my neighborhood even get a similar time of day from the police - my impression is that they probably don't.

hcknwscommenter 2y ago
Given that 99% of the crimes are committed by repeat offenders, a simple dusting for fingerprints (costs pennies) could likely identify the culprit. But they don't bother. And they act like we've seen too many movies/tv shows. But when an "interesting" crime happens they do in fact dust for fingerprints (cheap!) and do all sorts of swabbing and testing (expensive). The police are lazy in CA especially. And yet they are also extremely well paid in CA. Someday, hopefully, this will change.
- mcny 2y ago
  I’m not holding my breath. Things won’t change until there’s a price to pay for corruption. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurie_Smith https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurie_Smith
  - ForOldHack 2y ago
    There is so much more: https://www.kqed.org/news/11988510/case-of-former-san-jose-police-union-official-charged-with-attempting-to-import-illegal-drugs-could-resolve-by-august https://www.kqed.org/news/11988510/case-of-former-san-jose-p...
- Angostura 2y ago
  The dust isn’t the expensive bit
- Spooky23 2y ago
  Remember the DA is part of the equation. For low priority crime, there’s a lot of risk with using fingerprints. They won’t take a case they may not win.
- sokoloff 2y ago
  > simple dusting for fingerprints (costs pennies) If a cop is making $30/hr, and we allow "pennies" to be as much as $0.25, they would have to complete the entire dusting for fingerprints process in 30 seconds.
2y ago

xeromal 2y ago

It's also this way in smaller towns. I live in a small north GA town and you can ask the cops to come by your house during the holidays to see if anyone has broke in. Cops here are much more useful than when I'm in SoCal where I could even get cops to show up within an hour when a hit and run caused me to crash into someones back yard and total my car.

alsetmusic 2y ago
Oakland has non-emergency 911 calls redirect to file online. It’s certainly a problem when crime outstrips resources.
Fatnino 2y ago
When I was in SoCal some vandals broke into the construction site next door. We saw them. Breaking things and spraying graffiti etc. Called the cops. They responded by sending a helicopter over 15 minutes later. It shined it's spotlight around for a moment and then flew away. "job well done" - LAPD probably.

seanmcdirmid 2y ago

It helps if there are less affluent areas nearby where police are more overworked, as it easily shifts the problem to those areas instead. For example, King county in the Seattle area is notorious for not locking criminals up, but as long as Bellevue police send a bunch of cops to each incident, no longer how small, detain people and even send them to jail (even if they are quickly released), it’s enough of a disincentive to send the problem back to Seattle or to southern suburbs where police don’t have time for that.

luma 2y ago

Are we still talking about the police in the OP? Who needed someone to give them GPS coordinates to find the stolen goods after at least 14,999 previous tool thefts went unsolved? Not exactly batman level detective work here, this case was cracked because it was handed to them on a silver platter.

Workaccount2 2y ago
I guess you haven't dealt much with the police before...
- luma 2y ago
  Oh I have which I why I'm surprised that everyone is reading this as the police doing a good job. This is a story of the police failing to do their job 14,999 times and only getting it right on try 15,000 because one of the victims solved the case for them.