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Journal FortKnox's Journal: Freaky... 22

Journal by FortKnox
Its kinda spooky when you look at a local news story to read about a serial burglar in your township... then read the places he's gotten and you see the road next to yours... another road next to yours... and then your road (I live on a small 2 block road). Why the hell hasn't the cops at least told me about this and/or given me some paper or letter with the suspect (who was last scene on a road next to mine)? Why must I find this out on my own through a local news station days after the events have happened?

I have no deadbolt on my door (going to install one tonight, though), but I do have a very protective, loud dog. Hopefully, that'll be enough...

Looks like I may have to buy some fake home security stickers and signs....
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  • When you already had home security and signs- your car got broken into less than a month before- and the police don't reveal the pattern until after they've arrested the guy.

    My reaction was to fix the garage door and clean out the garage- and I'm almost ready to install a shock strip, hooked into an infrared beam detector, across the 100' gap in the fence on the front of my property. Either that- or install a fence with two gates, but I think the infrared beam will be cheaper.
    • The police wanted to arrest this guy. If they'd have tipped their hand by informing people, he might have gotten the idea to lay low for a while, move to a different area, break up his pattern, or stop completely. Probably not with petty thieves, but there's a decent probability.

      Sadly, that means if the police have to let a few more houses or cars be broken into before they catch the crook in action, they'll do it. I think they're out to catch people breaking the law, not necessarily to protect us.

      • not necessarily to protect us

        I think that's the real key. My neighborhood is aging- small families just starting out and retired people too poor to move away. We're not high priority enough to protect- but if a few more of us get robbed, they'll stop the guy before he gets to a richer area of town, thus protecting their real constituents.
      • Woah there... that impies (if I understand you correctly) that you think the police have a short term goal. The Police should have a long term goal. If there were no police and everyone had a guard dog to scare away buglars, then that would be a short term solution. The long term solution is to hire a police force to remove the criminals from the equation, not to scare them away.

        Now there are occasions where prevention and awareness are obviously of top concern. One is rape. I lived in a neighborhood
        • The police certainly have short term goals, to remove criminals as they crop up. I have no doubt that they also have long term goals, like reducing crime in an area by X%, fewer violent crimes, etc. I would bet quite a few officers join hoping they can rid the world of crime. A nice sentiment, but unlikely unless we're made into a police state. I'd also bet that social efforts and education of the populace on how to avoid being a victim go further towards long term prevention than the police cracking down o
  • What is the job description of a police officer? What do their duties entail? I don't think I've ever really seen a list. I've generally gone on assuming that it's to enforce laws, regardless of how just they are.

    I think cops are on their own side, and it's just that they're the enemies of lawbreakers, which are generally our enemies. Like most realpolitick, assuming that because they're our enemy's enemy makes them our friend may be simplifying things too far. I don't think anything anywhere states they ne

    • Neither of those sound remotely like a desire to be subsrevient to public interest.

      Ahhh but the public interest might not be legal. What then? A police office is sworn to uphold and protect the Constitution first, the State laws second, and other laws as well as protect the public. Here is a sample oath... [maryland.gov]

      I do solemnly swear that I will bear true faith and allegiance to The United States of America and to The State of Maryland; that I will serve honestly and faithfully to uphold and defend The Const
      • I thought, for some reason, that police were sworn to serve the public, as well as upholding the laws. My bit is based on serving the public being a broad term, and really they're out to arrest people for breaking laws, which is their primary service. That it isn't to do much more than that.

        And by public interest I meant more of a public good, like somebody who's there to answer your beck and call, to inform you of what's going on around you and get your cat out of the tree every week. Not the sort of exten

  • Sounds like you should set up a couple of webcams to catch the action.
  • But I don't think it's the responsibility of the cops to inform everybody who might be affected of every crime that ever happens. They'd never get any work done. Besides, you should be careful even if there isn't a pattern of crime in your area- somebody had to be the first.
    • On the one hand, the point you make is correct. On the other hand, something almost identical to this happened to a friend of mine. I'm not sure which hand carries more weight.

      In his neighborhood, houses kept getting broken in to. Finally, the newspaper broke the story when not one, but two women reported the burglar in their house (he ran away each time). Not only did they call the cops, but when at an association meeting, they discovered that two of them were victims, they called the newspaper. That prom

  • Its not their job to spread panic.

    We used to live by a high school. We had crime, shootings, and a string of local thefts. We would have rapes and car jacks in the middle of the DAY. ?! (Thats why I called it "Ghettoburg." Thats why we moved.) You found out about a lot of this stuff much later in the papers. As in WEEKS to MONTHS later. You mean you found out from the news just afterwards? Lucky you!

    I'd regularly see 5 cop cars making a stop and no mention of it in the paper the next day...
    • Its not their job to spread panic.

      That is a good point. There is a balance, and the chief or mayors are responsible for setting the department policy regarding the two. I HIGHLY suggest just contacting the local police station and asking around for info.

      Most police stations publish yearly reports for statistics on all kinds of crime. For example, the Boise Police Department [cityofboise.org] publishes the stats for each type of crime for each year since they started keeping computer records. Very slick. They even sho

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