>Unable to get the cops to come and lend a hand, they decided to just use their own van key and take it back themselves.
At least they were able to get help from the LAPD the next day which, frankly, is still the most unbelievable part of the story. I'm curious how they got anyone to agree to show up to help retrieve 5.5k of stolen property. Does being a famous twitch streamer help? As another resident of California who had previously gotten zero help from the police retrieving a stolen laptop I could GPS trace to a specific address, I would appreciate knowing the tips & tricks.
> As another resident of California who had previously gotten zero help from the police retrieving a stolen laptop I could GPS trace to a specific address, I would appreciate knowing the tips & tricks.
I would guess that with cars, it is a bit more clear-cut of a job compared to laptops, because every car is registered with the state, has insurance paid on it, and has a unique VIN number. All plain and clear-cut, easy for the government officials to understand.
How would you go about it with a laptop? There is no state-level registry, the perpetrator can easily conceal the laptop elsewhere or swap it for another one, etc. Basically, I bet it boils down to LAPS just not having a simple and easy way to truly verify laptop ownership.
Not trying to justify that behavior btw, imo it should be persecuted and investigated just the same. Just trying to think of a more pragmatic reason for why it is this way.
And I appreciate it! It helps me be less of a consternated citizen to know whatever extent of a reasonable explanation there is. Someone else pointed out vehicle theft is automatically a felony as well, unlike swiping someone's electronics.
In this case, it was a Macbook Pro registered to my AppleID, which I guess isn't quite as ironclad as a state registery but seems like reasonable proof of ownership. It was almost more frustrating to know they couldn't even get any use out of the device unless they tried to part it out, since it was iCloud locked. In hindsight, I should have checked that building's dumpster...
Each police department has its own policies for what incidents they will show up to or not.
One technique is to round your description of the situation up to a level that requires the police to be on the scene. Once on the scene, police are often proactive in resolving the situation. If resolving the situation is returning the items, the police will often facilitate that.
It's extremely easy to prove ownership of a car. It's relatively difficult to prove ownership of a laptop.
Also, theft of a vehicle is always a felony, while laptop theft is usually a misdemeanor, which is a much less serious level of crime and which correspondingly receive less attention from the LAPD.
Not even that, just saying you are on the way to taking it back will trigger a response, as they know they will have to deal with the altercation or other bullshittery that will inevitably happen
It's a legal system that ensures thieves don't get beaten, not one that ensures that your property will be protected and culprits will be caught, tried and punished.
The comfort & bodily integrity of car thieves is a far higher priority than your property in anglophone law today.
Officers were following up a burglary in the 1700 block of West Second Street that occurred about 5:30 p.m. Brown said they were given a description of a black male wearing a black hoodie, jacket and skull cap and leaving on a black bicycle.
They also were informed that the burglary victim’s smart watch had been stolen. That person was able to track the GPS on the watch to nearby Hardee Street. About an hour later officers saw the bicycle matching the description and learned from a family member that the suspect owned it and was living in his car.
They located the vehicle, and the five officers noticed a handgun on top of the car and a man sleeping in the back. They decided to move the gun from the roof and open both doors at the same time, which is seen in the video.
The lead officer can be heard telling the man to wake up as they surrounded the car and kept flashlights shined on him. They repeatedly tell him to put his hands up and to step out of the car. He repeatedly responds "what's going on" and to get the lights out of his face. The officers begin to get a little impatient and one tells him, "Leon, step out, step out or we're going to pull you out." And within seconds for unknown reasons, the man fires a shot grazing the lead officer in the face, and all five returned fire killing him.
If somebody hasn’t come off the high of tracking down criminals and wants a bigger challenge, the guardian football weekly’s Max Rushden has had his car stolen in Australia [0]. A bit less recognizable though, from what i hear.
That seems like it would still be a deterrent to theft, or at least increase the likelihood the car would be quickly abandoned out of fear of being located too easily.
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[ 0.83 ms ] story [ 68.8 ms ] threadAt least they were able to get help from the LAPD the next day which, frankly, is still the most unbelievable part of the story. I'm curious how they got anyone to agree to show up to help retrieve 5.5k of stolen property. Does being a famous twitch streamer help? As another resident of California who had previously gotten zero help from the police retrieving a stolen laptop I could GPS trace to a specific address, I would appreciate knowing the tips & tricks.
I would guess that with cars, it is a bit more clear-cut of a job compared to laptops, because every car is registered with the state, has insurance paid on it, and has a unique VIN number. All plain and clear-cut, easy for the government officials to understand.
How would you go about it with a laptop? There is no state-level registry, the perpetrator can easily conceal the laptop elsewhere or swap it for another one, etc. Basically, I bet it boils down to LAPS just not having a simple and easy way to truly verify laptop ownership.
Not trying to justify that behavior btw, imo it should be persecuted and investigated just the same. Just trying to think of a more pragmatic reason for why it is this way.
In this case, it was a Macbook Pro registered to my AppleID, which I guess isn't quite as ironclad as a state registery but seems like reasonable proof of ownership. It was almost more frustrating to know they couldn't even get any use out of the device unless they tried to part it out, since it was iCloud locked. In hindsight, I should have checked that building's dumpster...
One technique is to round your description of the situation up to a level that requires the police to be on the scene. Once on the scene, police are often proactive in resolving the situation. If resolving the situation is returning the items, the police will often facilitate that.
Also, theft of a vehicle is always a felony, while laptop theft is usually a misdemeanor, which is a much less serious level of crime and which correspondingly receive less attention from the LAPD.
No, but saying "i'll just go home to get my gun and do it myself" surely does.
The comfort & bodily integrity of car thieves is a far higher priority than your property in anglophone law today.
Please don't
Officers were following up a burglary in the 1700 block of West Second Street that occurred about 5:30 p.m. Brown said they were given a description of a black male wearing a black hoodie, jacket and skull cap and leaving on a black bicycle.
They also were informed that the burglary victim’s smart watch had been stolen. That person was able to track the GPS on the watch to nearby Hardee Street. About an hour later officers saw the bicycle matching the description and learned from a family member that the suspect owned it and was living in his car.
They located the vehicle, and the five officers noticed a handgun on top of the car and a man sleeping in the back. They decided to move the gun from the roof and open both doors at the same time, which is seen in the video.
The lead officer can be heard telling the man to wake up as they surrounded the car and kept flashlights shined on him. They repeatedly tell him to put his hands up and to step out of the car. He repeatedly responds "what's going on" and to get the lights out of his face. The officers begin to get a little impatient and one tells him, "Leon, step out, step out or we're going to pull you out." And within seconds for unknown reasons, the man fires a shot grazing the lead officer in the face, and all five returned fire killing him.
[0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Rushden