Burglary

[Bnathanb1982]

Last night my neighbor's car got broke into. A digital camera was the only thing he ended up getting. My neighbor just happen to walk out and catch the guy leaned over in the car and the guy just looked at her like he was daring her to come out there. Well she didn't go out there, she went and called the police and they made it out here in about 4-5 min at the most. This is what I don't understand....when the cop pulled up, he acted like he didn't give a crap about what happened and pulled up and proceeded to write his report. My neighbor got a really good look at the guy and told the cop but he didn't seem to care, he just continued to write his report. Why wouldn't the cop have drove around the neighborhood and tried to find this guy being that he was on a bike and rode it down into the neighborhood(all of this was told to the cop). I know he didn't look around before he came b/c there is one street into the neighborhood and I watched the cop come in.
I was just wondering why the cop wouldn't try to catch the guy first and then worry about the report instead of the oppisite way around.

Thanks
Nathan

[jeffIL]

Could be a lot of reasons. Don't know how busy the agency is, but could it have been he wanted to get a description so other officers could check the area?

[Centurion44]

It's not that we don't care... it's just that... I don't know how to finish this sentence.

Seriously, though- I don't mean any disrespect, but if someone leaves a digital camera in plain view in a vehicle then what do you expect to happen? Your friend's insurance should cover it.

THe cop will take the report. Depending on how busy they were, he may or may not have looked for the suspect. The cop will take the report and the case will be assigned to an investigator.

You want more? Pay more than 30k a year and issue us a red cape.

[Bnathanb1982]

Burglary

I understand your point and a digital camera shouldn't be left out in plain view. I'm not worried about her camera, I'm worried about the fact that I live right next to her and if the guy gets off b/c the cop doesn't take the time to look for him for whatever reason, that he will come back and break into my car and steal something. When the cop got done writing the report about 15 min later he said he would drive around to see if he saw anything and obviously the guy was long gone by then. I just wanted some opinions on if any other cops would have handled it different, i.e. drive around the neighborhood when he gets there being that the guy has only been gone for a max of 5 min, then come back and make a report. Oh and by the way as far as dispatching to other cops to look, he might have but they didn't come in the neighborhood b/c there is only one street in and we live right by the entrance and was standing out there from the time it happened until the cop left. I'm not trying to put yall cops down or anything, I just want too see if maybe if all of you would have handled it the same or differently.

Nathan

[tony.o]

It's just like any other job, you have people who work and those who only do enough to get by. Work habits vary, just like personalities. Yes, he should of at least drove around the block, to at least give the appearance that he gave a damn, wether he did or not, especially when, in this case, information was given in a timely manner. I have many people who complain about response times for report type calls, even though I got the call five minutes ago. If we are busy answering higher priority calls, I'll be up front and explain, most understand, some won't, but I'll still make the effort. Theft calls can be frustrating for all involved, especially when a woman has her purse stolen and has 15 credit cards in it, that each have to be listed seperately on a report.

[Centurion44]

Sorry bud, but an armed robbery, suicidide, person down/dead, auto accident with injuries/fatalities, and a host of other things take priority over your next-door neighbor's digital camera. How do you know they didn't have another officer out patroling the area? How do you know the investigator won't find the camera in a pawn shop next week (which in my state if you sell something to a pawnshop you're required to show valid state ID and have your picture taken on the spot) and the culprit found? The fact is you don't. And I doubt very seriously the guy's going to turn around that same night and break into your car and steal a digital camera, and quite frankly, if after this incident your still dumb enough to leave something like that in plain sight to invite theft, don't look at it as theft, just think of it as paying a stupidity tax.

I have a general rule when comes to crimes like these: You can only be a victim once, after that, your just an idiot. I delveloped this rule after my umpteenth stolen vehicle report where the "victim" left the vehicle unlocked with the keys still inside. If I was chief I wouldn't even require my officer to write a report after that. (Not, really, but I'd love to see the look on their faces if I could just tell them "Sorry, sir, can't do a report- you're too much of a friggin idiot.")

Oh- and as a side note... unless your friend lives out of her car, it's not even a burglary.

[curlyblue]

Could be there were two (or more) officers that responded. One to take the information and the other(s) to search the area. This is an optimistic answer.

[Bnathanb1982]

Burglary

Centurion, I understand your point about the higher priority calls and I totally agree, but if there higher priority calls then why did he respond so quickly to my neighbor's call? It wasn't the fact that the cop didn't respond in a timely manner, it was the way he handled it when he got here. You seem like you are think I am just trying to bash cops or whatever, but I just wanted to understand their reasoning behind doing things the way yall do, whether it's right or wrong. Oh and by the way what's it considered when you get something stolen out of your car? auto theft? Oh and one more thing, the cop had to have an approximate value of what was stolen, does that have an affect on the degree of the crime or was that just for insurance purposes?

Nathan

[Centurion44]

In the state of Georgia it's two crimes: Entering An Auto and Theft by Taking.

Theft by Taking would be a felony if the value of the item taken was greater than $500. If not, a misdemeanor. Entering An Auto is a felony regardless.

Maybe they didn't have any 'hot calls' when he got there, but he did when he left. Maybe he didn't. THe point is I don't know and neither do you.

[Bnathanb1982]

Burglary

Thanks Centurion