Reporting a stupid theft, your thoughts?

[Long Relief]

I am somewhat torn on this. I live in a pretty nice suburb on a small dead end street off another small dead end street. In other words people very seldom just drive by my place.

I leave the house the other night and notice an Amazon box on my front step. I know that it is the two bags of cat food that I had ordered. Since my garage was going down, I just decided to bring the box in when I got home a few hours later.

Well, I get home and some SOB has stolen the package. As an aside, I bet he felt like a real winner when his "haul" turned out to be two bags of speciality cat food.

My question is do I even bother to make a report? I don't expect the local police to be bothered with investigating the theft of $70 worth of cat food. However, on the other hand, if everybody thought like that, then thefts could be rampant in an area and the cops would have no idea.

Also, if admin uses stats to appeal for more funding, the more "crime" they can show occurs justifies their case better.

So, should I drop by the PD and report the theft or just forget about it?

[ChiTownDet]

Well, if there's a problem in the area with someone stealing packages from front porches and no one reports it, then as far as the PD is concerned, there is no problem.

[BlackCloud]

If you feel strongly about it, report it. Please be sure to look up the non-emergency line for your local county/municipality as 911 calls are discouraged.

[jdthor]

plant a bag of crap.put up a trail camera in the bushes or somewhere and take that to the police.guy will never know what hit him.Of you may find a neighbors kid also.

[RR_Security]

Thor got me laffin' again, visualizing a dummy package that looks like something good, and rigged to one of those C.A.P.S.S. alarms from Brite-Strike. (Company started by two cops who wanted to make good tactical flashlights.)

Pin gets pulled out, alarm starts screaming, and thief falls all over himself getting away. If you get that on video, please share it here.

I'd report it, just in case there is some mope who's been cruising the neighborhood to nick packages off doorsteps. Sometimes he might get cat food, but other times he might have gotten more valuable goods. (I'd be torqued about a theft of $7, let alone $70. I bet the cat wasn't too pleased, either.*)

Especially if your PD is seeing a pattern there, maybe they'll help set the trap for the thief.

*
funny-lol-letsseehowyoulikethisreddot-machine-gun-cats-humor-joke-meme-photo-picture.jpg

[Long Relief]

Thanks for the advice! I called today and made a telephone report. As a credit to Amazon, they replaced the order free and sent it out next day air. Nice touch. As soon as I saw the package out there I brought it inside.

[RR_Security]

That was good of them; glad you got a replacement package.

But I'll bet the cat was hoping to waylay the thief this time.

[Amigo1342]

Generally people will make reports if the can get reimbursed by the company (as you stated). Otherwise, unless there is a pattern or video evidence, there unfortunately is not much that can be done.

[mdrdep]

In my neck of the woods, I'd be more afraid a bear made off with it than an actual thief

[Shush]

I think you should do the dummy package idea only with a bright pink exploding dye pack.


As a side note, when I searched google for "exploding dye pack", I got a ton of results for tannerite. I found that to be an interesting alternative.

[RR_Security]

"He took the bait box! Should I push the button now?"
"No, wait until he brings it inside his house. We'll redecorate his place for him." devil.gif

[Viking042900]

We recently caught someone just after they had stolen a package off a front porch. We checked through recent reports in the area and because other victims had filed reports about similar incidents, we were able question the POS about those incidents and ultimately put several more several charges on her. So I say file away!

[Zeitgeist]

It's your tax dollars. If you want a report, then by all means file one. It may seem 'petty' but $70.00 is a nice bit of money.

If you don't feel a report is necessary, It's at least worth an extra patrol through your neighborhood. Here you can call the nearest precinct and request an extra patrol due to recent thefts. You're probably not the only one.

[BNWS]

The more information the cops have about any crime in your area the better they can deploy their resources. Chances are you weren't the only one hit that day.

[RR_Security]

^^^ That. (Posts #12, 13, and 14.) Much of law enforcement work is after the fact. PDs can be proactive if they're made aware of problems. It's hard to pinpoint the problems and allocate resources if citizens don't report crimes.

Somebody could be furnishing their house or apartment with items stolen from their neighbors (or maybe they're coming from another part of town), or making money off of selling "like new" stolen property. Yeah, it's like new, because the purchaser didn't even get to open the package! Somebody needs a trip to jail, and a chance to contemplate the error of their ways. "Here, try on this Justice Jewelry. We just got 'em from the online catalog."
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