Posted: 8/15/2008 2:58:32 PM EDT
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My parents house was broken into sometime today. Some sorry s.o.bs took my grandmothers jewelry, my dad's computer, my dad's tv, the folder that held my parents credit card information, shoved my parents 15 year old Lab in a bathroom. Nothing will be done about it. No fingerprinting b/c no one was murdered. No consequences for the scumbags who did this. My parents have lived in their house for 30 years. My mom gets to come home from work and find her door kicked in. I know it could be worse. I know thank God they weren't home. But it pisses me off. -Mrs.Monk |
.........I hope they(thieves)catch a dirt nap.
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i had a bad day yesterday also. some douchebag threw a rock while i was heading to WM with my mother. smashed our suburbans windshield. all we got was a "sorry it happened, here's your case number". oh well they wouldnt ever catch these f*ckers anyway. sorry to hear that Mrs.Monk. remember karma's a bitch. |
This is what I'm counting on ... Sorry to hear about your day, too. -Mrs.Monk |
Yes, it is Dekalb. Thank you though. Now that I know you patrol near my area of town I'll be wondering if every police car I see is you ! :-) -Mrs.Monk |
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Sorry to hear about the situation(s). As for the police response I hate that you did not receive the level of service you feel you were entitled to and deserved. Many local metro agencies have policies in place that rarely allow a crime scene unit to respond to a property crime, its unfortunate, but as understaffed as most agencies are thats the way it is. I hope somewhere along the way these dirtbags get theirs...good luck, glad the family is safe. |
edit - nevermind |
this speaks volumes about people when they state things like this. |
Really I want to know, I missed it |
I'll say it-that's one of the more retarded statements I think I've read here on ARFCOM. While I will agree that it's a lack of tact that an officer would say that up front, I also acknowledge that there is 2 sides to a story and realize that there are pissed off victims that experience a traumatic event and feel like what happened to them is the crime of the century. Burglaries, stolen cars, property damage crimes are investigated and solved all the time. So you're saying that an always shorthanded detective division or even shorter-handed uniform officer should drop everything that they are doing to investigate your crime with no suspects, no witnesses, no leads of any sort when there are an abundance of cases with any of the above to follow up on? It's not like these units are lacking for work. Unless there is obvious physical evidence like a fingerprint on an ideal surface like a window, glass, etc-the few people in a crime scene unit can't go to every single call to cake someones home with fingerprint dust. In the case of MrsMonk's parents place, burglaries like that get solved when the suspects get stopped as a suspicious vehicle, or nabbed at another burglary, etc. They tend to work the same areas, so it's not difficult to link them when they are caught. Is that harsh-absolutely as it would be idealistic that everybody is served accordingly-but it's just not possible when there are other cases that are more likely to be solved. |
hey Tax, so they didn't ask you to provide the VIN and/or tag number, complete a stolen vehicle report, then have the vehicle entered as stolen on GCIC/NCIC? all of this can take 30-60 minutes and involve multiple personnel during which time no money is made by the reporting jurisdiction. recovery of a stolen vehicle, whether or not with a suspect, also makes no money for the jurisdiction. was your vehicle ever recovered, Tax? for those that have a view of burglary investigation that has been affected by TV CSI programs, fingerprinting is the most that realistically can be done and very seldom produces usable or AFIS quality prints to identify a suspect. as i've said before, victims are justifiably and understandably angry at being violated, but frequently misplace their anger at the responding officer/s or LE in general instead of on the actual criminals. |
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I can't tell you how sorry I am to hear that MrsMonk. I can cetainly relate to your situation. My mother's home was broken into about five years ago and I can understand how violated it can make you feel. To make my modest living, I go after thieves every day. Every now and then I hear about someone who breaks into houses or does whatever else. I will make it a point to ask every crook I catch if they know of any activity in your area. As far as the police thing goes, I just want to say that I hope the bitching coming from the public, which I have done here and on numerous other occasions, will not motivate you officers to have too much of an us vs. them ("badges" vs. "civilians") mindset. Because when that gets to be the case, an officer with that mindset has no business having a badge. Just my two cents. Thank you to all of the officers out there for what you do. I know that you guys often find yourselves in a position that it seems there is no way to win. Just know that most of us appreciate what you do and the risks you take that go with the job. |
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Lucky, I definetely hear what you are saying and don't see it becoming and "us vs. them" thing (which I find retarded anyway). Both sides have valid arguments. The victim wants justice and unfortunately it's not gonna happen in the traditional sense if LE never investigate. LE is always shorthanded and therefore will look into the "sure thing" before cases with no leads at all. It definetely sucks, but it's the way things are done. |
I understand the police cannot roll out a full team of crime scene investigators for every burglary. It is just frustrating. My poor mom didn't want to open the bathroom door where the dog was because she was afraid she would mess up fingerprints  She said the responding officer was nice and he commented this isn't an episode of CSI. I asked my mom if he was being snarky and she said not at all but I am sure there are a lot of folks who think crimes get solved in an hour. Now, I need to start gathering alarm info to pass along to them. -Mrs.Monk |
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I can't speak for every officer out there, so I will just speak for one; me. I have been a police officer or deputy sheriff for 5 years. Not very long, i know, but it's long enough to be familiar with this type of situation. We get blamed a lot for the "us vs. them" attitude, and while there certainly are lots of officers with that attitude, I think there are just as many (if not more) "regular" folks with the same line of thinking. As for the OP and some of the sentiments expressed here, I feel your pain. Most of us do. It's frustrating to go to a home that has been broken into knowing that you probably won't be able to do much besides write a report. I wish I could solve every burglary, every theft and so on. But the truth is, this is not CSI, not by a long shot. Viable fingerprints are few and far between, and even if you can get a print, you really need something to compare it to. AFIS quality prints are rare, and if you do happen to get one of those, the dirtbag has to have been in the system before. You can't just feed the print into the scanner and get mugshot and current location on the offender like Gil Grisham and his bunch do. If i break into your house and steal a bunch of stuff, all while wearing gloves, what evidence is there to be collected? Maybe some shoe prints. Then what? Again, the print by itself means nothing. If there is a suspect, and he happens to still be wearing the same shoes, great, but even that would be a weak case. All I am saying is this; Most officers (I hope) really do want to help you. A lot of times, that's easier said than done though. We need your help. Take pictures of everything you own. If it has a serial number, write it down. Keep this information in a safe place. Get an alarm for your house. Better yet, stay home, stay armed, and when they kick your door in, shoot the shit out of them. I hate thieves. /rant |
It was a wiseass comment that didn't need to be posted. Others have said it better. |
Amen. My folks are not "gun people" - my mom is terrified of them and they wouldn't have mattered yesterday b/c no one was home. However, I think my dad is starting to come around and think differently about being armed at home. This is a good reminder to photograph and catalog what you have. -Mrs.Monk |
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I feel for you Mrs.Monk. I was extremely pissed off to find my house broken into not only once, but three times. I have someone in mind as a suspect, but as I have no concrete evidence, "They'res nothing they can do." First time: S&W 686, Dewalt Drill stolen Second time: PS2 and about 700 dollars worth of games Third time: Replacment Dewalt Drill, Makita Circular Saw, and a box of .45 handloads. Also my door was kicked in. So help me if I ever catch the bastards. |