4 ms·

I need to applaud the efficiency and moxie of the Zurich / Swiss police service. In America, the UK, Canada, etc they'd tell you to fill out a report that nobo

I need to applaud the efficiency and moxie of the Zurich / Swiss police service. In America, the UK, Canada, etc they'd tell you to fill out a report that nobody would ever read, and also advise you it's probably unsafe to go pick it up yourself.

rangestransform 9mo ago
[flagged]
- GoatInGrey 9mo ago
  I believe there to be some merit to the notion that it is better for society if many of the generational cycles which lead to crime are broken. Sometimes that involves off-ramps from the road to incarceration. That said, the policy can be, and certainly is, applied in imbalanced ways when justice is pursued over pragmatism.
  - zdc1 9mo ago
    I'm sure at some point it's cheaper to pay people to do nothing and have laws enforced, rather than indirectly paying people to do crime by letting stuff get stolen without consequences. Politically it sounds insane, but it would make for a more trusting society.
- nirvdrum 9mo ago
  My experience with small police departments in the US is that they either don’t have the time or the inclination to deal with small property claims. If you’re a business they’ll be there in 10 minutes, but individuals aren’t afforded the same courtesy. Eventually, citizens realize it’s just not worth the cost or the hassle to report a crime unless it helps with an insurance claim.
  - tdb7893 9mo ago
    My experience with large police departments in the US is that they either don’t have the time or the inclination to deal with small property claims. Some people tried to steal cars (including mine) in my neighborhood in Chicago, we had them on video and they were still in the area and the police didn't do anything. Large police departments also generally won't really do much. Though my friend in Houston did have the police investigate car break ins at his apartment complex but that might be because multiple guns were stolen from cars (so at least there are certain things that will get their attention).
    - catskull 9mo ago
      Sounds like the solution in the US is to keep an AirTag and a gun in your suitcase so the police will be bothered to track it down.
    - djoldman 9mo ago
      Next time, try reporting that a crime is currently in progress. Emphasize that it is happening as you speak. Also say that you're thinking of intervening personally. That usually gets them going.
      - thomc 9mo ago
        My one and only experience of dealing with the police in the US was when I was visiting NYC. A tourist was being attacked on the subway because he was taking pictures and since we were still at the platform I jumped out and told 2 officers further down the platform what was going on. I expected them to sprint into action, but they could not have cared less and casually strolled along towards the carriage! In a similar vain I was the first on the scene of a car crash in the UK, where the driver had exited the vehicle through the window (no seat belt) and was bleeding in the road. When the police turned up they casually and slowly walked up the road towards the scene. It made me wonder if there was a good reason for this, like to control adrenaline, make better decisions, have time to assess the situation. Or if they were just jaded from seeing it a lot.
        9mo ago
- fuzzer371 9mo ago
  That belief is not shared by law enforcement. But all the same, they'll refuse to help you anyway.
- JasonADrury 9mo ago
  I don't think this is true. It's probably true that there's a pervasive belief that a hungry person probably shouldn't be punished for stealing food. Other kinds of property crime? The costs of enforcement are high compared to the losses caused by individual cases, prioritization is understandably a difficult problem to solve.
  - mikkupikku 9mo ago
    It goes far beyond hungry people stealing bread. Look at one of those academic fraud discussions had here on HN over the past week and you'll find people saying that using AI to hallucinate an academic paper isn't a good thing but instead of judging the people who do this we should blame society itself while being understanding of the frauds. The mentality spoken above is pervasive and insidious.
    - JasonADrury 9mo ago
      I saw that, it was bizarre enough to be seared into my memory. I think you're underestimating just how weird that particular conversation was. The pervasive problems you see in places like SF or much of the UK are just far more boring.
      - mikkupikku 9mo ago
        I think those commenters were just on cruise control, applying a pattern of thought with which they are well accustomed, to a scenario which is even more clear cut than usual crime. If it were instead teenagers stealing cars to joyride, we'd get the same cohort pleading for leniency because it was social circumstance that made them do it. It's not just hungry people stealing bread, there's an automatic reflex to defend any criminal as being a victim of society and this only becomes as bizarre as you experienced when the criminals involved are in particularly privileged and trusted positions.
  - squokko 9mo ago
    It's not a hard problem to solve, you scale the punishment for the cases you prosecute so high that it makes the expected value of stealing a suitcase negative
- mock-possum 9mo ago
  Bullshit.
nozzlegear 9mo ago
In certain places in America. My county sheriff's office would be more than happy to have something to do that isn't picking up somebody's stray dog. I'm sure this is true for the UK and Canada too.
- repeekad 9mo ago
  I called the non-emergency line for the local police department when someone went home with my wallet after I left it on a plane, tracked with an AirTag. 2 hours later an officer said they didn't have probable cause but could knock on the door and ask anyway. I think he basically offered for there to be no trouble if they gave it back, thief claimed they were "going to return it to lost and found", and sure enough I was able to go show my passport at the station and collect it the next day.
- tonyedgecombe 9mo ago
  >I'm sure this is true for the UK No, it isn't. The police in the UK are stretched extremely thin.
  - akimbostrawman 9mo ago
    Just claim they have been mean on twitter and they will send a squad
    - tonyedgecombe 9mo ago
      Not any more, they have been rowing back from that.
- elzbardico 9mo ago
  UK police is more interested in combating wrong thought
  - nindalf 9mo ago
    Absolutely not the case. This is just what overly online people think.
dmitrygr 9mo ago
Saying "i am getting my gun and going to retrieve my stuff" guarantees that 6-8 police cars will converge on the location within minutes. Once there, they will apprehend the thief since they are there already.
- QuantumNomad_ 9mo ago
  Sounds like a great way to get charged with making false statements to the police or something along those lines. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Making_false_statements https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Making_false_statements
  - dmitrygr 9mo ago
    Not at all. I had intent to do so, which is what I said, then thought about it, realized it was dangerous, and didn't.
    - tybstar 9mo ago
      Legal genius.
    - throw20251220 9mo ago
      Sounds like a great way to end up with criminal charges. Try it, try your luck.
- elzbardico 9mo ago
  Then you’re fucking comically unlucky, there’s a shooting and some old enemy offs someone at the same address and flee, minutes before the police gets there. Some pissed off riff-raff family member decides that you look like the killer. You’d better have a top notch lawyer in your family or prepare to spend lots of money hiring one.
  - wongarsu 9mo ago
    If you're really concerned about that you could go to a local bar and call from there. Make sure you have the attention of the bartender while making the call. Easy alibi, the bartender won't forget something like that
Foobar8568 9mo ago
That's not a common occurrence, police in Switzerland is highly passive, and the judiciary system is highly complicit with criminals (drug dealers,thieves, white collar crimes etc), and against women (rape victims can be told to close their legs better by judges).
- kakacik 9mo ago
  Care to back up your outlandish claims? I live here for 15 years and all you write is completely untrue for everything I ever experienced, saw, heard or read. Or you mean some case from early 70s?
  - Foobar8568 9mo ago
    Just in the last few years https://www.blick.ch/fr/suisse/proces-pour-viol-dans-les-grisons-la-question-du-juge-fait-scandale-pourquoi-navez-vous-pas-serre-les-jambes-id20302954.html https://www.blick.ch/fr/suisse/proces-pour-viol-dans-les-gri... https://www.rts.ch/info/suisse/14523420-polemique-autour-dun-arret-du-tf-qui-parle-dun-viol-de-courte-duree.html https://www.rts.ch/info/suisse/14523420-polemique-autour-dun... And when you take the train, have a baby, and land on this fucked up article https://www.20min.ch/fr/story/sodomie-infantile-un-film-choc-circule-dans-le-preau-174497154077 https://www.20min.ch/fr/story/sodomie-infantile-un-film-choc... you know the country is fucked up. https://www.rts.ch/info/regions/vaud/2025/article/comedien-vaudois-condamne-a-4-ans-de-prison-pour-abus-sexuels-sur-mineurs-28974751.html https://www.rts.ch/info/regions/vaud/2025/article/comedien-v... 4years for a teacher raping his teens students. Should I start talking about the different train stations and all the drug dealers or drug users ?
Salgat 9mo ago
If they had said this happened in the US I would absolutely not believe them.
btucker 9mo ago
Last year here in Chicago my wife's bike was stolen overnight. It has an airtag hidden in a bell on the handlebars. When we woke up and noticed it was missing, we traced it to a park not too far away. We ran over there and called the Chicago PD who showed up in <10min. We told them a description of the bike and showed where FindMy said it was. They went and retrieved it. Surprisingly happy ending & I was impressed the Chicago PD were so helpful!

rangestransform 9mo ago

[flagged]

GoatInGrey 9mo ago
I believe there to be some merit to the notion that it is better for society if many of the generational cycles which lead to crime are broken. Sometimes that involves off-ramps from the road to incarceration. That said, the policy can be, and certainly is, applied in imbalanced ways when justice is pursued over pragmatism.
- zdc1 9mo ago
  I'm sure at some point it's cheaper to pay people to do nothing and have laws enforced, rather than indirectly paying people to do crime by letting stuff get stolen without consequences. Politically it sounds insane, but it would make for a more trusting society.
nirvdrum 9mo ago
My experience with small police departments in the US is that they either don’t have the time or the inclination to deal with small property claims. If you’re a business they’ll be there in 10 minutes, but individuals aren’t afforded the same courtesy. Eventually, citizens realize it’s just not worth the cost or the hassle to report a crime unless it helps with an insurance claim.
- tdb7893 9mo ago
  My experience with large police departments in the US is that they either don’t have the time or the inclination to deal with small property claims. Some people tried to steal cars (including mine) in my neighborhood in Chicago, we had them on video and they were still in the area and the police didn't do anything. Large police departments also generally won't really do much. Though my friend in Houston did have the police investigate car break ins at his apartment complex but that might be because multiple guns were stolen from cars (so at least there are certain things that will get their attention).
  - catskull 9mo ago
    Sounds like the solution in the US is to keep an AirTag and a gun in your suitcase so the police will be bothered to track it down.
  - djoldman 9mo ago
    Next time, try reporting that a crime is currently in progress. Emphasize that it is happening as you speak. Also say that you're thinking of intervening personally. That usually gets them going.
    - thomc 9mo ago
      My one and only experience of dealing with the police in the US was when I was visiting NYC. A tourist was being attacked on the subway because he was taking pictures and since we were still at the platform I jumped out and told 2 officers further down the platform what was going on. I expected them to sprint into action, but they could not have cared less and casually strolled along towards the carriage! In a similar vain I was the first on the scene of a car crash in the UK, where the driver had exited the vehicle through the window (no seat belt) and was bleeding in the road. When the police turned up they casually and slowly walked up the road towards the scene. It made me wonder if there was a good reason for this, like to control adrenaline, make better decisions, have time to assess the situation. Or if they were just jaded from seeing it a lot.
      - 9mo ago
fuzzer371 9mo ago
That belief is not shared by law enforcement. But all the same, they'll refuse to help you anyway.
JasonADrury 9mo ago
I don't think this is true. It's probably true that there's a pervasive belief that a hungry person probably shouldn't be punished for stealing food. Other kinds of property crime? The costs of enforcement are high compared to the losses caused by individual cases, prioritization is understandably a difficult problem to solve.
- mikkupikku 9mo ago
  It goes far beyond hungry people stealing bread. Look at one of those academic fraud discussions had here on HN over the past week and you'll find people saying that using AI to hallucinate an academic paper isn't a good thing but instead of judging the people who do this we should blame society itself while being understanding of the frauds. The mentality spoken above is pervasive and insidious.
  - JasonADrury 9mo ago
    I saw that, it was bizarre enough to be seared into my memory. I think you're underestimating just how weird that particular conversation was. The pervasive problems you see in places like SF or much of the UK are just far more boring.
    - mikkupikku 9mo ago
      I think those commenters were just on cruise control, applying a pattern of thought with which they are well accustomed, to a scenario which is even more clear cut than usual crime. If it were instead teenagers stealing cars to joyride, we'd get the same cohort pleading for leniency because it was social circumstance that made them do it. It's not just hungry people stealing bread, there's an automatic reflex to defend any criminal as being a victim of society and this only becomes as bizarre as you experienced when the criminals involved are in particularly privileged and trusted positions.
- squokko 9mo ago
  It's not a hard problem to solve, you scale the punishment for the cases you prosecute so high that it makes the expected value of stealing a suitcase negative
mock-possum 9mo ago
Bullshit.

nozzlegear 9mo ago

In certain places in America. My county sheriff's office would be more than happy to have something to do that isn't picking up somebody's stray dog. I'm sure this is true for the UK and Canada too.

repeekad 9mo ago
I called the non-emergency line for the local police department when someone went home with my wallet after I left it on a plane, tracked with an AirTag. 2 hours later an officer said they didn't have probable cause but could knock on the door and ask anyway. I think he basically offered for there to be no trouble if they gave it back, thief claimed they were "going to return it to lost and found", and sure enough I was able to go show my passport at the station and collect it the next day.
tonyedgecombe 9mo ago
>I'm sure this is true for the UK No, it isn't. The police in the UK are stretched extremely thin.
- akimbostrawman 9mo ago
  Just claim they have been mean on twitter and they will send a squad
  - tonyedgecombe 9mo ago
    Not any more, they have been rowing back from that.
elzbardico 9mo ago
UK police is more interested in combating wrong thought
- nindalf 9mo ago
  Absolutely not the case. This is just what overly online people think.

dmitrygr 9mo ago

Saying "i am getting my gun and going to retrieve my stuff" guarantees that 6-8 police cars will converge on the location within minutes. Once there, they will apprehend the thief since they are there already.

QuantumNomad_ 9mo ago
Sounds like a great way to get charged with making false statements to the police or something along those lines. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Making_false_statements https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Making_false_statements
- dmitrygr 9mo ago
  Not at all. I had intent to do so, which is what I said, then thought about it, realized it was dangerous, and didn't.
  - tybstar 9mo ago
    Legal genius.
  - throw20251220 9mo ago
    Sounds like a great way to end up with criminal charges. Try it, try your luck.
elzbardico 9mo ago
Then you’re fucking comically unlucky, there’s a shooting and some old enemy offs someone at the same address and flee, minutes before the police gets there. Some pissed off riff-raff family member decides that you look like the killer. You’d better have a top notch lawyer in your family or prepare to spend lots of money hiring one.
- wongarsu 9mo ago
  If you're really concerned about that you could go to a local bar and call from there. Make sure you have the attention of the bartender while making the call. Easy alibi, the bartender won't forget something like that

Foobar8568 9mo ago

That's not a common occurrence, police in Switzerland is highly passive, and the judiciary system is highly complicit with criminals (drug dealers,thieves, white collar crimes etc), and against women (rape victims can be told to close their legs better by judges).

kakacik 9mo ago
Care to back up your outlandish claims? I live here for 15 years and all you write is completely untrue for everything I ever experienced, saw, heard or read. Or you mean some case from early 70s?
- Foobar8568 9mo ago
  Just in the last few years https://www.blick.ch/fr/suisse/proces-pour-viol-dans-les-grisons-la-question-du-juge-fait-scandale-pourquoi-navez-vous-pas-serre-les-jambes-id20302954.html https://www.blick.ch/fr/suisse/proces-pour-viol-dans-les-gri... https://www.rts.ch/info/suisse/14523420-polemique-autour-dun-arret-du-tf-qui-parle-dun-viol-de-courte-duree.html https://www.rts.ch/info/suisse/14523420-polemique-autour-dun... And when you take the train, have a baby, and land on this fucked up article https://www.20min.ch/fr/story/sodomie-infantile-un-film-choc-circule-dans-le-preau-174497154077 https://www.20min.ch/fr/story/sodomie-infantile-un-film-choc... you know the country is fucked up. https://www.rts.ch/info/regions/vaud/2025/article/comedien-vaudois-condamne-a-4-ans-de-prison-pour-abus-sexuels-sur-mineurs-28974751.html https://www.rts.ch/info/regions/vaud/2025/article/comedien-v... 4years for a teacher raping his teens students. Should I start talking about the different train stations and all the drug dealers or drug users ?

Salgat 9mo ago

If they had said this happened in the US I would absolutely not believe them.

btucker 9mo ago

Last year here in Chicago my wife's bike was stolen overnight. It has an airtag hidden in a bell on the handlebars. When we woke up and noticed it was missing, we traced it to a park not too far away. We ran over there and called the Chicago PD who showed up in <10min. We told them a description of the bike and showed where FindMy said it was. They went and retrieved it. Surprisingly happy ending & I was impressed the Chicago PD were so helpful!