Police allow car break-ins to become a Seattle growth industry

[Brian4Liberty]

It's not what you say, it's how you say it:
"My vehicle was broken into tonight, and I had items stolen. I believe I have located the thieves, but I believe they may be armed and they may be dangerous to approach. They appeared to have flashed a weapon at me, or maybe a phone, and are wearing what I think looks like an Eric Frein mask!"

Then, just sit by and watch as the thieves' vehicle gets steamrolled by one of the SWAT vehicles.

An opportunity to draw weapons? Now there's something exciting...

 

[jjdoyle]

That's it. If it doesn't produce revenue or an opportunity to shoot something, it's your problem. Why would these people think that the Police are supposed to help them?

See my post for future solutions to this "problem".

*Edit: You saw my post! Exactly. The police are trigger happy, and like to play Halloween dress up whenever they can. They don't need MUCH of a reason to do so, just knowing what to say will help them be happy doing so, and give you the results you need.

 

[surf]

i'm not going to bash mr. westneat for not woopin' some ass. what he has done, however, is very important. read the comments

Olympiaguy Featured
6 days ago

It makes me wonder what we pay the police for. Mr. Westneat did everything for the police except make the arrest. He did all the investigative work, tracked the phone, followed the thieves, and all to no avail.

One thing I will take issue with though. Mr. Westneat, this isn't on you for leaving your stuff in the car. Smash and grabs are crimes and they are the fault of the perpetrator, not the victim.

Is there any chance the Seattle Times will assign a reporter to this, maybe do a series? Maybe the police will start taking their jobs seriously if they are embarrassed by enough stories like this.

Share
118bernankesanidiotSeattleCondoSales2muchuser868914UnlikeReply

 

[ClydeCoulter]

i'm not going to bash mr. westneat for not woopin' some ass. what he has done, however, is very important. read the comments

Where's the button to submit a +rep on the dialog for it? I wanted to rep you for posting that!

 

[jjdoyle]

i'm not going to bash mr. westneat for not woopin' some ass. what he has done, however, is very important. read the comments

He WROTE harder, and is trying to get some change through this.
Clearly voting harder wouldn't have solved this, as it's spread throughout the system, as evidenced and starting with the 911 dispatcher.

 

[JK/SEA]

north Seattle. This is where i grew up.

When i got my first car, a 65 Mustang, i kept a tire iron under the front seat.

This was way before i got my first gun. A .38 S&W

 

[SeanTX]

It's not what you say, it's how you say it:
"My vehicle was broken into tonight, and I had items stolen. I believe I have located the thieves, but I believe they may be armed and they may be dangerous to approach. They appeared to have flashed a weapon at me, or maybe a phone, and are wearing what I think looks like an Eric Frein mask!"

Then, just sit by and watch as the thieves' vehicle gets steamrolled by one of the SWAT vehicles.

Or you could just say they had a small dog with them, and it growled at you or pooped on your lawn, and the MRAP would soon be on the way, filled with SWAT operators ready to deal out some death and destruction (almost certainly for the dog, and , God willing, for one or more two-legged animals too).

Or, in Fullerton, CA you could be the owner of a bar (like The SlideBar) and lie and claim that some "bum" was out in your parking lot "lifting door handles", and a gang of police would very quickly arrive and happily beat him to death (yes, as we all know, "Kelly Thomas did it to himself.")

 

[thoughtomator]

Solving the problem with a gun is stupid when it is so much safer to just rig the van to explode.

 

[surf]

one of the saddest aspects of this is that it seemingly contradicts claims by the pro-pot-legalization folks (myself included) that resources will be freed up to allow cops to actually go after real criminals....

for the most part, unless your just smoking a bowl, Seattle cops suck

 

[Occam's Banana]

I don't blame this guy for not directly confronting the thieves. That's an entirely subjective "cost-benefit" thing - and mileages will vary.

Seattle police, I get that this is petty crime. It’s on me for leaving stuff in the car.

But I DO blame him for "taking the blame" for making the crime possible in the first place.
By that logic, everyone who is the victim of a crime should blame themselves for it.

But even worse than that, he excuses the failure of the cops to do anything (due to the relative "pettiness" of the crime). If there had been no way of knowing who committed the crime or who was in possession of the stolen property - and no realistic prospect of ever discovering those things (which is often the case in these kinds of "smash and grab" situations) - then the cops could reasonably be excused for not "red balling" the affair.

But that is NOT the case here. They KNEW where (at least some of) the stolen property was and the police STILL refused to do anything about it. This guy cuts the balls off his own story by blaming himself and then making excuses for the cops not doing their (alleged) jobs.

In the face of this little bit of first-hand evidence that police do NOT "protect and serve" (and that they have NO obligation to do so), this guy just says "my bad" and "no big deal." But if that's the attitude he's going to take, then why did he even bother writing the story up in the first place?

my first question is how do the cops benefit from investigating? their primary concern is how to generate revenue and justify their existence. following perps around parking lots at night takes away precious time from collecting income.

Indeed. If Westneat had been able to identify the perps and had discovered that they had delinquent parking tickets, THEN the cops might've done something ...

 

[limequat]

Suppose the purse snatcher has a gun. Then what?

 

[Spikender]

Suppose the purse snatcher has a gun. Then what?

Then he becomes a smart purse snatcher.

 

[jjdoyle]

Suppose the purse snatcher has a gun. Then what?

The 911 dispatcher ordered the civilian to pull over, or they might get themselves shot. So, maybe the 911 dispatcher knew the thieves were simply off duty police officers? There's the saying, "Find a job you love and you'll never work a day again.", or something like that.

So, maybe the thieves' job in real life is being police officers "on the clock"? And that's how the dispatcher simply assumed and knew they might be armed and dangerous?

 

[Mani]

I don't blame this guy for not directly confronting the thieves. That's an entirely subjective "cost-benefit" thing - and mileages will vary.



But I DO blame him for "taking the blame" for making the crime possible in the first place.
By that logic, everyone who is the victim of a crime should blame themselves for it.

But even worse than that, he excuses the failure of the cops to do anything (due to the relative "pettiness" of the crime). If there had been no way of knowing who committed the crime or who was in possession of the stolen property - and no realistic prospect of ever discovering those things (which is often the case in these kinds of "smash and grab" situations) - then the cops could reasonably be excused for not "red balling" the affair.

But that is NOT the case here. They KNEW where (at least some of) the stolen property was and the police STILL refused to do anything about it. This guy cuts the balls off his own story by blaming himself and then making excuses for the cops not doing their (alleged) jobs.

In the face of this little bit of first-hand evidence that police do NOT "protect and serve" (and that they have NO obligation to do so), this guy just says "my bad" and "no big deal." But if that's the attitude he's going to take, then why did he even bother writing the story up in the first place?



Indeed. If Westneat had been able to identify the perps and had discovered that they had delinquent parking tickets, THEN the cops might've done something ...

Officer we noticed their plates are expired.

Officer friendly: "CALL A SWAT TEAM!"

 

[phill4paul]

I'm sorry g̶u̶y̶s̶ gals. I understand this need for subterfuge but if you hold up my stolen property and smirk in my face I'm gonna stomp your ass. I'll deal with the police when they show on scene. If I've not already boogied (more than likely given response times).

 

[Leaning Libertarian]

when he stuck what (may have been) your I-phone out the window at you, you should have called the dispatcher back and said "he just pointed something at me, I think it was a gun." Maybe then they would have responded. Dispatchers are overpaid administrative assistants, they are not cops. Should have told them to do their job. They are not the police, judge, nor jury. They have one job. Dispatch emergency services. There are too many police too lazy or scared to take an affirmative action anyway. So much more simple for them to tell you to chock it up as a loss and call your insurance co. then if you have a deductable, it's not worth the cost of the loss. Even if you don't, a claim will likely increase your rates anyway. Outrageous.

 

[tod evans]

when he stuck what (may have been) your I-phone out the window at you, you should have called the dispatcher back and said....

Apparently you're still operating under the assumption that kops are there to protect and serve?

 

[tangent4ronpaul]

Baltimore city impound lot has a 100% car break in rate. The thieves are cops.

 

[osan]

Limited sympathy because he is a fool with his candy-ass talk of baseball bats.

Didn't anyone ever teach him never to take a knife to a gunfight, and perhaps equally importantly, to always bring a gun to a knife-fight?

 

[osan]

You are all ready to kill some punks for a phone?!?

False premise. FAIL.

You are ready to take the necessary means to stop someone who acts to threaten life and limb in the course of rightfully retrieving one's property from those who possess it without just claim.

I don't care if its right or wrong

This admission indicates a serious problem on your part. You may wish to rethink it, or perhaps reformulate the expression to be more precise in the event you feel I have misinterpreted your intended meaning.

in Wussy America, the typical DA and a jury of your "peers" will string you up for going out of your way to plot your revenge killing over a phone.

Depends on where you are located, for one thing. I would also point out that after having shot the ghosts from the two carcasses, there is no sound reason to remain in the area. You never know whether your adversaries might have friends close by. The best strategy is to remove oneself from the immediate vicinity at once in order to minimize exposure to additional hostiles. Whether you ultimately "turn yourself in" is an issue upon which I shall withhold comment.

My advice; get creative.

Hooboy... I see you have something to learn about combat. Get creative? Not where life and limb are at stake. Under such circumstances the smart man becomes very conservative, which ultimately leads to reducing complexities to the greatest degree that reasonably allows for success. Only a fool gets creative. Complexity, unless it can be employed such that it works ONLY in your favor and never against you, is the pathway to things going sideways, which in turn in the route to grave injury and death.

Keep your piece under your shirt in an IWB holster.

Where you have to fumble with clothing in order to draw your weapon.

Check.

Remove tire iron from trunk as well as a screw driver or perhaps the collapsible knife you should be carrying anyhow.

Yes, because one always wants to engage an enemy at less-than-arm's-length combat intervals.

Check.

Walk up to the perps vehicle and let some air out if the tires.

While wearing your ninja suit to make double-plus sure they never see your approach and what you are doing to the tires on their vehicle.

Check.

If they come out, before, during or after, have them set your property on the ground and get back into the vehicle so you can retrieve. If they don't comply, you have a tire iron to use.

Yes yes, of course... the mighty tire iron will certainly intimidate them into meek compliance with your wishes.

Check.

If they threaten you, now you have cause to use force.

Yes, yes, yes... because their threats will consist solely of pointing their fingers at your with grimaced faces as the sync between their lips and the sounds they make is completely out of phase. At that time, Bruce Lee arrives out of nowhere, howling and kicking and back-fisting until the bad guys are all lying about, bloodied and leaving you free to retrieve your belongings at leisure.

Check.

Or break a window or two.

Yes, that should really scare them. Might upset Bruce Lee though, by denying him his opportunity to kick some ass. Next thing you know, he and Bernie Lau are arguing over the whole ordeal and things get out of hand, so maybe you leave this one out.

Check-minus.

Or, just t-bone their vehicle because your foot slipped from the brake to the gas pedal.

I'm sure you're insurance company will be thrilled about that one. Your next bill will likely reflect just how thrilled.

Check.

Or pull up with your passenger side right up next to their drivers door. Now the driver can't get out

And thank God the vehicle is one of those ubiquitous one-door models.

Check.

Have fun with it! But don't just pull out your gun and waste perfectly good hollow points, unless you're in imminent danger of life or bodily harm.

Sure, have a blast. After all, it's not as if these guys might be dangerous. No way they are two-time losers in a three-strikes state with practically nothing to lose if they shoot your dumb ass deader 'n stone in a desperate move to avoid a mandatory life sentence.

It was not until I arrived at this last line that it became clear that you were joking all the while... you WERE joking, right?

PS: you forgot to mention bringing trunk monkeys. Never forget your trunk monkeys.