I recently became a crime victim for one of the few times in my life. My car was burgled while I was up in the Bay Area on my weekly sojourn to the Peoples Republic of Berkeley. I say ‘burgled’ rather than ‘broken into,’ because there was no smashed window, or picked lock, nor did I leave the car unlocked. Rather, I was the victim of a clever gang of
Yes, next question… Is California Starting to Circle the Drain? | Power Line
Read the whole thing, it’s unbelievable. Run don’t walk.
I’ve been following cases of stolen cars on NextDoor.com for a neighborhood near me, and the experience is similar. Victims of car theft tell of thieves calmly taking cars from their driveways, and then slowly cruising through town. In one case, the theft victim followed their stolen car, with the BPD on the phone. They sent out 3 vehicles to follow him and the stolen vehicle. They advised him to break off pursuit for his own safety. He did, but then found out the police broke off pursuit as well, once the stolen vehicle sped up, and got away from them. They didn’t try to get police dept’s from neighboring towns to pursue, either. They just let it go, though they did report the vehicle as stolen, and notified neighboring departments of that, at least. The vehicle was eventually found in a neighboring town at a convenience store. The interior was totally trashed. I asked if the police combed the vehicle for evidence, to find out who the thieves were. The response I got back was, “What do you think?…”
So, it’s basically the same story here. If your vehicle gets stolen, you’re on your own, and the thieves know it.
I heard of one case of the Boulder police pursuing a car thief, but it was only because they were able to confirm that the thief was armed. They were worried about public safety. They don’t care about property. If it’s gone, as far as they’re concerned, it’s gone. Get over it.
Sounds like a moral hazard created by insurance. Since law enforcement really doesn’t care, why do they support the “puffer” laws? Just to write tickets? I guess “serve and protect” doesn’t apply to one’s automobiles. What a racket.
In general, my cars are old enough that they aren’t on a thief’s “shopping list.”
On, as a matter of fact, Sunday afternoon I overheard part of a conversation at BJ’s. It was something to the effect the gang stole and stripped the car, THEN they bought the car back at auction, refurbished it and sold it! You can’t make this stuff up.