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"Police generally are a net good." I'm not so sure. The few encounters I've had with the police have made me wonder. I live in a medium crime city and every

by pmorici 12y ago

"Police generally are a net good." I'm not so sure. The few encounters I've had with the police have made me wonder. I live in a medium crime city and every time I have to call the police for something they never really do anything except write a report and then I never hear from them again. In one instance when my car was stolen I was victimized more by the police than the car thief. The cops when they found my stolen car towed it to a lot and then told me they had found it via registered mail at which point I had to go pay several hundred dollars to get my car back that was only worth several hundred dollars to begin with. Also couldn't just write it off and leave it because they would still come after me for the towing and storage fee which was $50 per day. On top of that when I went to get the car the employees at the police station were _literally_ illiterate and made so many errors in transcribing my name and VIN number onto the vehicle release form that the towing company questioned whether it was actually my car! In another instance when my car was the victim of a hit and run it took the police 4+ months to get the police report to the insurance company so that that they would pay for the repairs. I mean if you can't take reports and return stolen property efficiently what the heck are you there to do?!

at-fates-hands 12y ago
I had a buddy who worked at Pizza Hut in a rural town most of his life. Did a great job and when he went to college in Minneapolis, Pizza Hut offered him his own shop, in the middle of what would be considered "the ghetto". First night he's managing, a group of kids come in and rob the store of a large bank of small vending machines. You know the kind. They have stickers and gumballs and such. It was like six of them, all bolted together. He freaks out, calls the cops and you know what their response was? "Uh yeah, our officers have far more important things to do then petty theft. We'll send an officer out when he has a chance." It took two weeks before he saw a cop who took the report and he never heard back after that. Sure he was pissed, but I had to explain that in bigger cities, there's always something more important than what happened to you. Got mugged? Yeah, well someone just got murdered. Your car got stolen? Yeah, well a gang member just shot up a McDonald's because his fires were cold and shot three people. So for all the people who complain that "Isn't there something more important you could be doing?" Well, yeah, but don't get pissed then if they blow off whatever petty incident you were involved in to go catch a real criminal.
- Retric 12y ago
  That sounds reasonable as a high level explination. However, the real reason police blow off 'small' crime is they have quotas. So, if there not going to actually catch anyone so it's a 'waste' of there time. Get someone's license plate and the police are all over a hit and run have a vague description and you just became more paperwork. Which is why drug crime is so heavily inforced. It's easy to get a steady stream of people. As a side note, I once had a cop show up and say someone found your cellphone come to the impound if you want it. 'wasteful' sure, except the odds where vary good I would be there so it's worth a little effort.
- Zigurd 12y ago
  The problem with that explanation is that minor drug busts and Stingray training are the more important things.

by pmorici 12y ago

at-fates-hands 12y ago

I had a buddy who worked at Pizza Hut in a rural town most of his life. Did a great job and when he went to college in Minneapolis, Pizza Hut offered him his own shop, in the middle of what would be considered "the ghetto". First night he's managing, a group of kids come in and rob the store of a large bank of small vending machines. You know the kind. They have stickers and gumballs and such. It was like six of them, all bolted together. He freaks out, calls the cops and you know what their response was? "Uh yeah, our officers have far more important things to do then petty theft. We'll send an officer out when he has a chance." It took two weeks before he saw a cop who took the report and he never heard back after that. Sure he was pissed, but I had to explain that in bigger cities, there's always something more important than what happened to you. Got mugged? Yeah, well someone just got murdered. Your car got stolen? Yeah, well a gang member just shot up a McDonald's because his fires were cold and shot three people. So for all the people who complain that "Isn't there something more important you could be doing?" Well, yeah, but don't get pissed then if they blow off whatever petty incident you were involved in to go catch a real criminal.

Retric 12y ago
That sounds reasonable as a high level explination. However, the real reason police blow off 'small' crime is they have quotas. So, if there not going to actually catch anyone so it's a 'waste' of there time. Get someone's license plate and the police are all over a hit and run have a vague description and you just became more paperwork. Which is why drug crime is so heavily inforced. It's easy to get a steady stream of people. As a side note, I once had a cop show up and say someone found your cellphone come to the impound if you want it. 'wasteful' sure, except the odds where vary good I would be there so it's worth a little effort.
Zigurd 12y ago
The problem with that explanation is that minor drug busts and Stingray training are the more important things.