Comment by seanmcdirmid
1 day ago
Thankfully you were in Switzerland rather than the states, I just never see American police caring about that.
1 day ago
Thankfully you were in Switzerland rather than the states, I just never see American police caring about that.
My friend/colleague had her phone stolen while she was napping in the hospital room of her terminally ill husband. Fortunately it had MDM. Called Palo Alto PD, I sat with them and tracked it from the hotel and it was already in San Jose. They worked with SJPD live and walked them into the guy who happened to be in a parking garage peering into cars. Caught him with a backpack full of stolen phones.
The stereotype of US cops not caring isn't always true.
Unfortunate fact for the perp was the ill husband was a US Attorney and stealing his phone made it a big boy federal felony that was not looked kindly upon by the colleagues of a dying AUSA in the Northern District. I wonder if he's still in FCI Lompoc.
Oh yeah, justice in the free and best country in the world. Prisons are hell on earth, so after his release, he will murder first person on sight and he will be back in no time.
So smart.
> Prisons are hell on earth, so after his release, he will murder first person on sight and he will be back in no time
> So smart
What should have been done instead?
blink You OK there bud?
So? Let him roam freely, consequences free? What about we execute him on the third strike if you think prison is not good enough?
Switzerland is the Singapore of Europe (I mean this in a good way!) - the state just functions in a way that other European countries can only dream of
I spent a couple of years in Lausanne so am aware. Swiss police don't mess around, you need to follow the rules if you want to live there.
Can confirm. Things just work in Switzerland. It’s a tough change to live/go back elsewhere.
I grew up in the US, live in Italy now, and just spent a few weeks in Switzerland. It felt constricting. I missed a bit of the chaos - particularly while driving.
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> the state just functions in a way that other European countries can only dream of affording being able to
I have fixed that for you.
That affordability is closely related with fiscal policy...
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I was robbed at a gas station in Jersey City and the police retrieved the airtagged backpack in 20 minutes. The police was fantastic.
Depends on the jurisdiction.
One time I was driving down a twoo-lane road with a police car a few hundred feet behind me. An oncoming pickup truck veered several feet over the center line and almost hit me. I flagged the police down to tell them and they were nonplussed even though they literally saw it happen. Drunk driving, a greater threat than property theft, was of little consequence to them.
On the other side of the country my motorcycle got stolen and the police found it the next day. I picked it up from the tow yard shortly thereafter.
YMMV.
America is weirdly nonplussed by destruction and deaths caused by a car.
checkmate, Airtag on my bicycle.
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My car got broken into in Oakland, California. Multiple pieces of luggage stolen (yes, my fault for leaving it in the car in the first place). Luckily I had an AirTag that showed the exact location of the stolen items. I called the police but they said they couldn't do anything. Apparently, even if I had the location the thief would have to invite them in. Regardless, I was put on a waiting list, they finally called me back 3 days later. I promptly left the state a few months later.
It's not your fault for leaving your property in your car. Wild to say that.
Ahem. There are neighborhoods in the US where you leave nothing in your car because otherwise your car will become a target. It's often "the rule" in these places that you also leave the doors unlocked because that way "they" won't break your window trying to get in. They open the door, see there's nothing of value to steal and move on. In other places in the US it's (still but fading) normal to leave your car doors unlocked because "everybody knows everybody and no one would steal from each other." Code switching is knowing which of the neighborhoods you are in and how to adapt.
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Outside of some bad areas of some cities, in New England leaving property in cars is perfectly normal.
Fault doesn’t necessarily imply guilty. People need to understand that. “I should have known better” means while I am not guilty of what happened to me, I could have avoided it by not doing X. So, the real world is messy, and next time I will ac accordingly for my own good.
It is not smart to die or have your things subtracted just because you want to make a point of how things should be, a point that nobody will care about.
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Lived in the Bay Area for over two decades. Yeah, leaving a visible item in your car is just bait for the smash-and-grab crowd.
It sucks but once you know it, it would be like thinking you can just leave your wallet sitting on a counter.
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not "fault" in the sense of legal or ethical blame, but "fault" in the sense of stupid vs. smart thing to do
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I grew up in a small city in the US and was taught early on to never leave any property in view in your car. The US also has a worse issue than other parts of the world because people often leaves guns in their cars.
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I imagine they see it the way I do: the SF Bay Area has thieves like this because it's part of local native culture. You get the good with the bad. Sort of like going to the elephant graveyard and being eaten by hyena pack. Sure, it's not your fault for walking around graveyard and getting eaten by hyena. But this is where hyena is. I have lost (and sometimes recovered) many items to these hyena. Ultimately, they are not people or anything. They're like hyena. You don't say it is fault of hyena. It is animal and local culture is animal lover. Why stress about it? Like many, GP decided that he leave hyena here and go elsewhere where it is people and not animal.
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It 100% is if you live in or operate in a high crime area known for vehicle break-ins. Like OP of the comment.
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>the thief would have to invite them in
it wasn't your mistake calling them, but be thankful you escaped: those police were apparently vampires.
I'm sure if you were to "take your gun" to where the AirTag is located, the police would care a ton more.
I generally believe it is not a crime victim's fault for being a victim of a crime, and the police services need to stop saying things that perpetrate this mindset.
> (yes, my fault for leaving it in the car in the first place).
It's not your fault. It's California's fault for tolerating a culture of criminality.
>Apparently, even if I had the location the thief would have to invite them in.
I mean, isn't that good? 4th amendment, warrants from a judge, and all that.
Presumably they could easily get a warrant with that information, if they cared to ask.
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I don’t deal with Oakland Police specifically but Oakland itself is a sanctuary city.
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Unrelated to airtags but last year a couple wheels were stolen off my brand new car. My city in California falls under county sheriff jurisdiction and they actually assigned a detective to the case.
Sadly even once he got the subpoena and other paperwork to track down the criminals through Facebook (they had listed my wheels two weeks later on Marketplace) he couldn't find them since they were using VPNs.
The police in Spain will also not care, in my experience. They acted completely helpless regardless of how much information I gave them.
My solution now is to travel very light.