We’re #1! We’re #1!
Most of the first-person accounts I read of local thefts on nextdoor are people who leave their cars running or with the keys in them. I don’t see the point of blaming police: they can’t be everywhere; I don’t want them to be everywhere.
That’s common up here in the frigid north because getting into a car that’s -20 inside sucks, but why would you leave it running down there? The weather’s nice!
Sad.
“Unless we know that driver has committed an act of violence or is in a car that was used in an act of violence, then we shouldn’t chase it just because it’s stolen,” Flynn said.
Congrats to your city for being #1!. My state and region are close to the top for obesity and prescription drug abuse, so I guess we both have something to be proud of. (insert frowny face emoji)
A couple of observations:
For those that invite theft, if I was a police department, I wouldn’t prioritize their cases. As individuals, we have responsibility to use reasonable measures to protect our stuff. Leaving your keys in the ignition or leaving it running is simply a dumb practice.
Anyone that steals a car of today without a key should be required to get formal training in auto repair - if they can figure out how to do that in today’s vehicles, they’ve got some talent!
Because we’re stupid - what you would expect from our school system.
They don’t tell the cops that.
I would never expect the school system to tell kids not to leave the keys in their cars. That is the parent’s job. Apparently you are short on parents or the parents are short on common sense. Either way, it isn’t the school’s fault.
The WRONG kind of talent
I’ve actually worked with some mechanics who I KNOW have criminal records for various kinds of theft
And many of them were also stealing as mechanics . . . same as when they were thieves
Just because somebody has some kind of skills . . . doesn’t mean they also have a sense of right and wrong
I sure hope your comment was meant to be a joke
Yes, it was meant as a joke. It’s a shame that someone who could steal a car without having the key is probably smart enough to use their intelligence in a productive way - making a legitimate living and actually helping people instead of stealing from them.
Why is that sad? Do you really think it’s a good idea to put the public at risk from a high speed chase over a nonviolent crime?
Lives are more valuable than possessions.
Person left vehicle running and someone drove off with it .
Sorry, but your vehicle was not stolen . You gave it away .
Person left valuables in an unlocked vehicle and they were gone the next morning.
Sorry, but your vehicle was not broken into . You made a donation to unknown person.
It seems that if offenders have no consequences why should they care, as they are not going to get busted for criminal conduct.
I wouldn’t assume there will be no consequences just because the officer doesn’t engage in a high speed chase.
Getting a good description and doing police work often leads to consequences without endangering innocent civilians.
Getting to see a criminal get what he deserves isn’t worth the cost of an innocent life of a bystander.
I agree with you that endangering innocent lives is a bad thing, but stealing cars is a common fun, and to be treated like taking a piece of candy from a penny candy store ie: ignored seems like sending the wrong message.
You get my meaning backwards. We witness our stupidity by choosing poorly-performing schools. People who choose to do this are stupid enough to choose to leave their keys in their cars.
Nobody is suggesting car thieves be ignored or treated like they’ve committed a lesser crime. That’s a lovely straw man you’ve got there.
My late uncle John was a small town police officer, and he used to tell me that, if someone fled when he tried to pull them over, it was much safer to get a license plate number, do some police work, and arrest the culprit later than it was to engage in a high speed chase over a mere traffic violation or nonviolent crime.
In other words, be smart about your police work and you can catch criminals without endangering innocent civilians. To pretend you have a mutually exclusive choice of engaging in a high speed chase or letting the criminal go unpunished is just silly.
If an insurance company can prove that keys were left in the car, or doors unlocked, etc., then coverage should be null and void.
Here in Connecticut, we’ve had news stories about “rashes of auto thefts/break-ins” due to owners not locking cars or leaving keys in them.
Sometimes the TV media will interview the “victims” who will state that “we haven’t locked our doors in years- it’s a nice neighborhood; nothing ever happens here”.
And then we wonder why insurance costs a fortune.
Ditto in my area of Florida. People leave guns in their cars - which is perfectly legal, CCW permit or not - and then don’t lock them!
speaking of firearms and vehicles . . .
A few years ago, one of our fleet’s other craftsmen . . . might have been been an electrican, ac guy, plumber, I forget . . . had the work truck stolen, at his jobsite
Apparently, he came back from lunch, to discover the truck gone
All fine . . . until he mentioned that he had a firearm in the truck
Our fleet does not permit us to carry firearms at our jobsites, in fleet vehicles, or during work hours
he was instantly fired
If he hadn’t secretly had the firearm in the truck, it would have been a simple matter of filling out a bunch of paperwork
And he mentioned the firearm after the fact, because he didn’t want to be blamed for any crimes being committed with that firearm after it was stolen
But even if he didn’t mention it, if the truck had shown up later, perhaps with the firearm still squirreled away under the seat, or wherever it was, there’s a good chance it would have been discovered at that point, and soon enough it would have been established who the owner was . . . and he would have been fired