We fought the law and the law... won't do anything.
January 12, 2011 5:30 PM Subscribe
Help! We know who broke into our house and stole our computers (we intercepted a laptop), but the detective is either totally incompetent or totally disinterested in helping us. What do we do?
We have fingerprints, vehicle descriptions from a witness, names, and telephone numbers for the burglar/accomplice.
These people aren't very careful about covering their tracks and we connected the loose ends through 5 minutes of google-fu. The detective apparently didn't know any of this information, which is concerning.
We have screencaps of their online ads for our stuff (as well as other stuff which is obviously stolen. Who sells a new macbook pro for $500?) and therefore know their user accounts as well.
They made off with thousands of dollars of electronics as well as stolen IDs (which incidentally cost one roommate his job.)
For two weeks we called the detective daily and left assertive, but friendly messages. We never heard back, so we called the sheriff and told him our concern. We requested a new detective.
Within an hour the detective called us, yelling about how we shouldn't tell him how to do his job and definitely shouldn't call his boss if we aren't happy about his work.
Instinctually we want to bring legal justice to them by ourselves, but it's foolish without the fuzz on our team.
This is so disheartening. What do we do?
We have fingerprints, vehicle descriptions from a witness, names, and telephone numbers for the burglar/accomplice.
These people aren't very careful about covering their tracks and we connected the loose ends through 5 minutes of google-fu. The detective apparently didn't know any of this information, which is concerning.
We have screencaps of their online ads for our stuff (as well as other stuff which is obviously stolen. Who sells a new macbook pro for $500?) and therefore know their user accounts as well.
They made off with thousands of dollars of electronics as well as stolen IDs (which incidentally cost one roommate his job.)
For two weeks we called the detective daily and left assertive, but friendly messages. We never heard back, so we called the sheriff and told him our concern. We requested a new detective.
Within an hour the detective called us, yelling about how we shouldn't tell him how to do his job and definitely shouldn't call his boss if we aren't happy about his work.
Instinctually we want to bring legal justice to them by ourselves, but it's foolish without the fuzz on our team.
This is so disheartening. What do we do?
IANAL. Just thinking aloud here - have you thought of filing a suit directly against them through your lawyer? Your lawyer should be able to make use of all the evidence (ofcourse, after verifying them to see if it will stand up in court).
The detective will have filed a report somewhere, which can also be accessed by your lawyer to see if the PD is interested in prosecuting them. This might make the detective defensive, but hey, its your money!
posted by theobserver at 5:41 PM on January 12, 2011 [1 favorite]
The detective will have filed a report somewhere, which can also be accessed by your lawyer to see if the PD is interested in prosecuting them. This might make the detective defensive, but hey, its your money!
posted by theobserver at 5:41 PM on January 12, 2011 [1 favorite]
Best answer: If the detective yelled at you, why wouldn't you call his supervisor again to report the lack of action and the yelling?
posted by Houstonian at 5:41 PM on January 12, 2011 [22 favorites]
posted by Houstonian at 5:41 PM on January 12, 2011 [22 favorites]
Best answer: Now's about when I would start calling the local TV news stations, if this were happening to me. At least one of my local TV stations has a guy in their news department who acts as a consumer advocate/community advocate -- he does stories about people being scammed by local businesses and helps them get restitution, among other types of "help I have been wronged by someone in power" stories.
I'll bet you one of your local TV stations would love to do a story about the police being unwilling to solve a crime and the victim of the crime actually having done all the detective work already.
Also, I like what theobserver said about filing suit directly against them. That's definitely something to consider.
posted by palomar at 5:47 PM on January 12, 2011 [3 favorites]
I'll bet you one of your local TV stations would love to do a story about the police being unwilling to solve a crime and the victim of the crime actually having done all the detective work already.
Also, I like what theobserver said about filing suit directly against them. That's definitely something to consider.
posted by palomar at 5:47 PM on January 12, 2011 [3 favorites]
I have bad news for you: many police departments/detectives don't care. We have a client that recently had a laptop go missing. Since we manage their infrastructure, we had one of our remote monitoring agents on it. Once it checked back in after the theft, we were able to work with the ISP to get them to pinpoint the address. They wouldn't release the information to us, only to law enforcement.
Here's the sad part: the detective on the case never responded to the calls from the ISP, nor did the police department follow up on the information that was faxed, emailed and snail-mailed to them by the ISP. When we followed up we were told to inform our client "it's a lost cause".
After the fact we found out that the police never followed up. At all.
To make matters worse - the equipment was stolen from a church. To make matters doubly-worse...this is the third time we've had this kind of interaction with law enforcement. It's sad.
posted by tgrundke at 6:31 PM on January 12, 2011 [1 favorite]
Here's the sad part: the detective on the case never responded to the calls from the ISP, nor did the police department follow up on the information that was faxed, emailed and snail-mailed to them by the ISP. When we followed up we were told to inform our client "it's a lost cause".
After the fact we found out that the police never followed up. At all.
To make matters worse - the equipment was stolen from a church. To make matters doubly-worse...this is the third time we've had this kind of interaction with law enforcement. It's sad.
posted by tgrundke at 6:31 PM on January 12, 2011 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Call the mayor's office and any city representatives you may have (city council, etc.).
posted by rhizome at 7:23 PM on January 12, 2011 [5 favorites]
posted by rhizome at 7:23 PM on January 12, 2011 [5 favorites]
Best answer: Must be frustrating.
I had a similar situation in which my car was stolen. The guy drove right by me while I was in the parking lot. I called the cops. They didn't come. I saw two more kids with gloves on going through more cars. I called the cops again. 30 minutes later a tired cop comes by and told me it was very suspicious that I saw the person drive by in my car (?). I told him there were still kids in the parking lot around the cars and he said he would check them out. He drove right by and left. Three cars were broken into that night. Mine was the only one stolen.
Next day there was a massive fire in an apartment complex. It was my car that was torched.
Someone from the fire department or something like that called me.
I called and asked to speak to the Sheriff to complain and the man I spoke to (second in command?) told me he had more important things to worry about and told me to call back when I was in a good mood. It was not a high crime city at all. But apparently grand-theft and arson aren't priorities.
So. Nothing came out of that. I'm still pissed about it.
Uh, as for advice, I guess if I were to do it all over again, I would have made sure I spoke with the actual sheriff. And, well. Not much else I could have done.
If I was in your position, I would email the local TV and newspapers, though. Your situation is worse than mine was.
posted by KogeLiz at 7:26 PM on January 12, 2011
I had a similar situation in which my car was stolen. The guy drove right by me while I was in the parking lot. I called the cops. They didn't come. I saw two more kids with gloves on going through more cars. I called the cops again. 30 minutes later a tired cop comes by and told me it was very suspicious that I saw the person drive by in my car (?). I told him there were still kids in the parking lot around the cars and he said he would check them out. He drove right by and left. Three cars were broken into that night. Mine was the only one stolen.
Next day there was a massive fire in an apartment complex. It was my car that was torched.
Someone from the fire department or something like that called me.
I called and asked to speak to the Sheriff to complain and the man I spoke to (second in command?) told me he had more important things to worry about and told me to call back when I was in a good mood. It was not a high crime city at all. But apparently grand-theft and arson aren't priorities.
So. Nothing came out of that. I'm still pissed about it.
Uh, as for advice, I guess if I were to do it all over again, I would have made sure I spoke with the actual sheriff. And, well. Not much else I could have done.
If I was in your position, I would email the local TV and newspapers, though. Your situation is worse than mine was.
posted by KogeLiz at 7:26 PM on January 12, 2011
Go into the station in person with ALL of your documentation. See the boss.
Also, is there a Community Liaison Officer in your precinct? See that person, too.
posted by jbenben at 7:27 PM on January 12, 2011 [2 favorites]
Also, is there a Community Liaison Officer in your precinct? See that person, too.
posted by jbenben at 7:27 PM on January 12, 2011 [2 favorites]
Best answer: Local news will be interested also because they love "figured it out using the Internet" stories.
posted by vitabellosi at 7:31 PM on January 12, 2011 [4 favorites]
posted by vitabellosi at 7:31 PM on January 12, 2011 [4 favorites]
Yeah, my house was broken into and the police never even came and made sure it actually WAS a burglary. They ripped an entire window out with burglar bars attached.
Do you have renters insurance?
You can file a claim with renters insurance and use all the evidence you have plus any documentation to get some money back, but I kind of doubt you'll see your stuff again. But maybe go to the local weekly instead of the news, or a small, b cable station or newspaper writer? I'm guessing the TV station will be busier and you might have better luck with a print writer or online blogger, depending on where you live.
and sorry everyone else, these stories are terrible.
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 8:20 PM on January 12, 2011
Do you have renters insurance?
You can file a claim with renters insurance and use all the evidence you have plus any documentation to get some money back, but I kind of doubt you'll see your stuff again. But maybe go to the local weekly instead of the news, or a small, b cable station or newspaper writer? I'm guessing the TV station will be busier and you might have better luck with a print writer or online blogger, depending on where you live.
and sorry everyone else, these stories are terrible.
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 8:20 PM on January 12, 2011
I'd go to the media and also try to get your insurance company involved. Also try the local DA office, they usually have someone who works on identify theft issues. Your roommate lost his job, that's terrible, that deserves some follow up.
posted by fshgrl at 9:17 PM on January 12, 2011
posted by fshgrl at 9:17 PM on January 12, 2011
Hrmm. It might be that they have taken your info and are watching your suspects to see who they interact with, trying to build additional cases againt those they associate with, or just to get additional charges against them. I could see them getting permission to send undercover cops in to buy the stuff back to add on selling stolen goods charges, for example.
It's also likely that your case is one of many, and the detective in question may be under pressure to work on some that he has been told are higher priority.
However, there's no good excuse I can see for him calling you up angry and telling you not to report your frustration to his boss. I'd continue to do exactly that (contacting his supervisors every two days or so to ask for progress updates) until they explain why they are delaying or tell you your case is closed or inactive. At that point no one will be working it, so you might as well go to the press if you are still unsatisfied at that time.
posted by Menthol at 1:56 AM on January 13, 2011
It's also likely that your case is one of many, and the detective in question may be under pressure to work on some that he has been told are higher priority.
However, there's no good excuse I can see for him calling you up angry and telling you not to report your frustration to his boss. I'd continue to do exactly that (contacting his supervisors every two days or so to ask for progress updates) until they explain why they are delaying or tell you your case is closed or inactive. At that point no one will be working it, so you might as well go to the press if you are still unsatisfied at that time.
posted by Menthol at 1:56 AM on January 13, 2011
DEFINITELY contact the local news, and particularly the local alt-weekly if you have one...they live for stories like this. Write it all down just as you have here -- believe me, I found that having our alt-weekly and congressman's office calling with questions every five minutes made a big deal towards getting a similar entity to behave.
posted by bitter-girl.com at 6:31 AM on January 13, 2011
posted by bitter-girl.com at 6:31 AM on January 13, 2011
And if you happen to actually get coverage for this, don't be all happy that you got your stuff back. All of this extra effort was only necessary because law enforcement refused, actually *refused* to do their fucking job.
posted by rhizome at 10:15 AM on January 13, 2011
posted by rhizome at 10:15 AM on January 13, 2011
Sheriffs are elected officials, there really isn't anyone above a Sheriff, the only thing you could do is try to get people not to vote for him in the next election. Every Sheriff's Office should have a way to file a complaint against an employee, which would be my next course of action with this detective and I would ask again to have him removed from my case in light of the recent phone call.
posted by heatherly at 11:14 AM on January 13, 2011
posted by heatherly at 11:14 AM on January 13, 2011
Let us know how this turns out, too.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 4:38 PM on January 13, 2011
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 4:38 PM on January 13, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Paragon at 5:33 PM on January 12, 2011 [9 favorites]