Comment by amiga386

> The police's job is not to recover ypur stolen lawnmower, it's to maintain order in general.

But here's the thing: it's often the case that the theft rate in an area is down to a handful a prolific thieves... who act with impunity because they reckon that any one act of theft won't be followed up.

I'd hope that in most jurisdictions, police keep track of who the prolific thieves/shoplifters/burglars/muggers are, and are also willing to look into individual thefts, etc., because even when it's the thief's first crime, there can often be an organised crime link - the newbie thief's drug dealer has asked them to do a "favour" to clear a debt, or such.

So it can be really useful to track down your lawnmower. Sometimes. And the police don't know if it's worth it or not until they do the work. I can see the parallels in this analogy to tax audits.