property crimes
 

A few weeks ago someone broke the back window out of my Jeep and stole (roughly) $2500 in golf equipment. Yesterday I get this in the mail, and I quote....

"DENVER POLICE DEPARTMENT
City and County of Denver

The property crime you reported is inactive and has not been assigned to a detective. .........leaving a bunch of crap out............

..........Prompt action enhanced by citizen-police cooperation is an essential element of successfully prosecuting offenders and recovering stolen property. We thank you for your assistance. PLEASE DO NOT CALL UNLESS YOU HAVE SUSPECT INFORMATION."


This is taken verbatim from the little card. Even the capitalization of the last part. Now I know that my petty little crime isn't worth a lot of time and energy with all that is happening in the world but...

I bet if it was their golf equipment they would have found time to do something.......like in DC they have been arguing crime rate is low..(its not) and their time is better served ticketing and fining commuters rather than deal with crime....well the Chief of police had his car stolen over the weekend....

there are a lot of people who had their cars stolen with no consideration given by the police laughing right now.

Try driving 65 in a 55 on your way home tonight... you'll learn the true definition of "petty crime." The problem is that looking for the punks who broke into your car would cost them money, when they could be out making money instead. Which would you rather do?

Sorry about your loss, and moreso the apathy of those sworn to "serve and protect."

Tom

property crimes
 

Quote: "The property crime you reported is inactive and has not been assigned to a detective. ...Prompt action enhanced by citizen-police cooperation is an essential element of successfully prosecuting offenders and recovering stolen property. We thank you for your assistance. PLEASE DO NOT CALL UNLESS YOU HAVE SUSPECT INFORMATION. Just curious, what response would you like under the circumstances?
You parked your vehicle, Some low life has not only broken your back window but removed a sizeable piece of property. Probably a good chance someone saw it happen. The "community" which is normally the case these days, did not want to get involved. Someone witnessed this. They just watched and let it happen and done nothing to report it. The bottom line is the community gets the Police THEY deserve. The community and the civil libitarians dictate to Government what powers the Police have. It's a pendulum, the Police do their job, ruffle feathers, lock up the scum and upset John CITIZEN sometimes in the process. The public start to complain about their civil liberties being breached and dictate what Police should be able to do. Police Powers are reduced, crime escalates and then the community complains that crime is rampant and the Police should do something. Police Powers are increased and so it goes. You can't put a copper on every street corner. If you did, people would complain. Blame the thieves and your community, don't blame the Police, they can only do what the community allows them to do. About traffic fines, more people are killed by cars than firearms. Why aren't they out catching murderes and rapists? Drag the crumpled remains of someones loved one out of a wreck then see how you feel. Think about how you knocking on a door at 3am to tell a family one of their loved ones won't be coming home. Kill someone with a gun and your a murderer, kill them with a car and that's acceptable. Who's the murderer? The one with the gun or the one behind the wheel? So don't blame the Police, blame who they serve.

property crimes
 

Not sure here, the States is a good 10 years ahead of us in Australia, so I'd say it's in place over in the US as it is here. In an effort to reduce property crime, Pawn shops and similar outlets for stolen property forward pawn dockets/computer printouts of all pawned property to Police. This is checked and when there is a match, they go hunting for the idiot that pawned it. If the pawn shop asks for I.D. (licence, social security numbers) when you sell to them/pawn, then it's a good bet that's to accurately record who the seller was for later investigation. Always handy to engrave your state & licence number on all removable property. If a grub gets turned over and is found with "suspect" property, it doesn't take long to find the owner from the numbers. Just a thought. Normally, most thieves relieve themselves of marked items because it's too dangerous to keep and it's difficult to offload.

I doubt it.....

Ebay has proven itself to be the online version on the "No Tell Motel"

From the Ebay site:

Stolen Property

The sale of stolen property is strictly forbidden on eBay, and violates local and international laws. eBay strongly supports law enforcement efforts to recover stolen property that is listed on its web site, and urges the prosecution of those responsible for knowingly attempting to sell such items on eBay. Stolen property includes items taken from private individuals, as well as property taken without authorisation from companies or governments.

If you see an item on eBay that you believe is stolen, your best course is to contact law enforcement immediately. Under eBay's privacy rules, our lawyers will provide important records about pending and past auctions with an official request from law enforcement officials. Please inform the police officer handling the case that eBay will be pleased to cooperate in the investigation, and ask the officer to contact eBay at the email address we've set aside for law enforcement organisations: SGLeo@eBay.com or by fax at: +85 2 30 17 03 17. It is important that these methods of contact be reserved for law enforcement use only, as it enables us to respond quickly in case of emergencies. Emails/faxes directed to these areas that are not from law enforcement will be routed to the appropriate mailbox or individual accordingly and may cause delays in response time.

From their Paypal site:

Stolen Property Policy
PayPal strictly forbids the use of its service in the sale or advertisement of stolen property. If you suspect that an item being offered or sold is stolen, contact your local law enforcement agency immediately. PayPal strongly supports law enforcement efforts to recover stolen property and urges the prosecution of those responsible for knowingly attempting to sell such items. Stolen property includes items taken from private individuals as well as property taken without authorization from companies or governments.

For federal laws regarding the sale of stolen property, please see U.S. Code, Title 18, Sections 2314 and 641.


Anymore conclusions that we can jump to? :rolleyes:

Okay, I'll go first. I once bid and won a wall clock on Ebay. After payment thru Paypal and waiting a month, the clock was not delivered and there was no response to e-mails to the seller. I intiated a complaint to Ebay and thru the resolution process, Paypal refunded my payment. That is my sole bad exerience on Ebay with nearly 200 transactions as a buyer and seller, so, it worked for me.

BTW, if you check craigslist policies, they appear to be less involved and put more emphasis on sellers knowing what not to sell.

Not knowing the details of the car transaction, one has to wonder what "duty" does an Ebay or Craigslist owe to a buyer (or seller) in a failed "offer/acceptance" contract. What was your theory of duty or breach of K?

In my situation, I didn't go thru Paypal, but went thru Ebay's dispute resolution process and this was before Ebay acquired Paypal.

What is it like 70%-80% of all accidents are facilitated by alcohol or inattentiveness at the wheel? Traffic cops and the populist legislators can suck my acrid, burning tires. Oh and another thing accidents are treated with the same disdain. If they can't fine someone they aren't interested.

It's also about 5 pounds of brain damage to try to sue ebay. There is a safe harbor provision that sheilds them from fraudulent listings.

I appreciate the tips, and I am looking in all of those places (ebay, craigslist) although, I was kinda hoping a cop might check the pawn shops for me.

As for stolen stuff on ebay (etc). I wouldn't care so much about the civil litigation end, but would have to believe that it is against the law to facilitate the sale of stolen goods.

As for homeowners. I made the claim. I've been with this particular company for awhile and if they drop me, they drop me. They are a bunch of cheap bastards anyway.

As for what I thought the cops role might be, hhmmmmm... Maybe look in a couple of pawn shops, check out the area where it happened, see if this is a regular occurance. Meet with the business owners to see how such things can be prevented in the future. AT LEAST GIVE ME A ****** NAME OF SOMEONE TO TALK TO SHOULD I CATCH MY OWN DAMN CRIMINAL.

What is really a bummer about all of this is that (being a golf professional) almost all of it was nearly one of a kind stuff I had attained over the years.

Lao Tsu was right....Obtain precious things and no army in the world can protect them......

If you catch the guy...beat the crap out of him.....but make sure he can't identify you.....sounds like the cops out your way are more friendly with the criminal element than the law aboding citizens.

property crimes
 

laurencekarl]What is it like 70%-80% of all accidents are facilitated by alcohol or inattentiveness at the wheel? Traffic cops and the populist legislators can suck my acrid, burning tires. Oh and another thing accidents are treated with the same disdain. If they can't fine someone they aren't interested.
Maybe when people stop killing themselves and each other due to their inattention and own stupidity on the roads, the Police will back off. Your opinion is traffic cops are not necessary. When things turn pear shaped, I'll bet the first person you call is a cop. If people wern't so inattentaive as you say, they wouldn't get caught in the first place! Your belief is enforcement is a waste of your tax dollars. Fine, it's a voluntary contribution scheme that you obviously regularly contribute! Accidents, no such thing, crashes don't happen by accident and if someone were to total your pride and joy or worse injured someone in your vehicle. You would be the first to start bleating and demanding the party at fault be charged. So don't blame the Police when they are always called by the innocent party, who demands enforcement action. I've never heard of a cop holding someone down, forcing them to drink then force them to drive, same with any other offence. So don't blame them. They are only enforcing your laws. Do the crime, do the time, accept responsibilty for your actions and accept the consequences, don't blame them for your actions, you know the rules and chose to ignore them.