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Re:Glitter bomb tricks parcel thieves by netsharc on Tuesday December 18, 2018 @12:36PM (#18708557)
Having lived in a "3rd world" country, I know the police there is useless, but it's interesting how things like resource issues (not enough manpower) is slowly turning living standards of rich countries like the US and UK towards "3rd world" levels.
Re:Glitter bomb tricks parcel thieves by rootusrootus on Tuesday December 18, 2018 @12:49PM (#18708686)
In some areas perhaps. In my neighborhood the police respond to any property crime, and pretty fast at that. But ... maybe we are just boring.

Perhaps there are some areas in the US where this is a problem, but I don't know if it's safe to generalize that the US is degrading to third-world status just yet.

Re:Glitter bomb tricks parcel thieves by raverbashing on Tuesday December 18, 2018 @01:12PM (#18708927)
Well given the police in the US works at city level, if you are in a suburb that's not "the capital city" your police might be bored enough to go for every call, things like "suspicious person walking on street"
Re:Glitter bomb tricks parcel thieves by iamdave on Tuesday December 18, 2018 @01:57PM (#18709408)
"suspicious person walking on street"

My dad used to say "there's few things more dangerous in the suburbs than a bored cop".

Been involved in some of those interactions while walking home in my own neighborhood. They're not pleasant. One involved handcuffs and a 30 minute sit on the curb while my backpack was searched. Yes I'm referring to these past incidents in plural for a reason. No, the complaints to the city and precinct didn't do anything.

Re:Glitter bomb tricks parcel thieves by rootusrootus on Tuesday December 18, 2018 @01:58PM (#18709434)
Ha, that's probably true. Though the last time I was walking down the street when a city cop rolled past, he waved. I waved.

I have lived some places where the police culture was more toxic, definitely.

Re:Glitter bomb tricks parcel thieves by iamdave on Tuesday December 18, 2018 @02:05PM (#18709498)
It's definitely a YMMV kind of thing.

I'm not going to go on some kind of "all cops are bastards" bend here, cause that's not the case and this isn't the forum for it, but I've had more bad experiences with the police than good ones.

None of them resulted in an arrest or charges filed (this is excluding moving violations because death, taxes and speeding tickets; I was a 23 year old driving a Mustang lol) since none of the interactions involved me doing anything illegal. After a few experiences like that you learn to keep an eye on a police officer when you see one, but there's no urge to make your presence overtly known to them either.

Re:Glitter bomb tricks parcel thieves by swebs on Tuesday December 18, 2018 @03:59PM (#18710506)
Conversely, I grew up in a pretty rough area of Philadelphia and had nothing but good experiences with police. They're usually pretty cool and active in the community. If you're not selling crack or in the middle of stabbing some guy, you're already better than 99% of the people they have to deal with on a daily basis.
Re:Glitter bomb tricks parcel thieves by omegaham on Tuesday December 18, 2018 @06:52PM (#18711728)
Yep. I live in Hillsboro, a pretty quiet suburb of Portland. Police here are so bored that when a bunch of drunk teenagers were acting a fool on our street, they sent three cop cars to grab the kiddos and drive them back to their parents' houses.

Head over to Portland, and the cops are so overloaded with dealing with more serious crimes that they won't even respond to auto theft.

I would definitely call the police for package theft in my town, and I'd have a good expectation that they'd assign an officer to watch for crime patterns and get the guys.

In Portland, I'd be duplicating this guy's glitter bomb.

Re:Glitter bomb tricks parcel thieves by crankylinuxuser on Tuesday December 18, 2018 @01:31PM (#18709141)
What kind of neighborhood do you live in? What's the average house price there? What's the racial demographic look like?
Re:Glitter bomb tricks parcel thieves by learc83 on Tuesday December 18, 2018 @01:05PM (#18708853)
Itst not really a lack of manpower. It's that most of the time, evidence is grainy security camera footage. What are they going to do with that?
Re:Glitter bomb tricks parcel thieves by jiveturkey on Tuesday December 18, 2018 @04:33PM (#18710798)
there's enough manpower. there isn't enough budget.
Re:Glitter bomb tricks parcel thieves by Jyaif on Tuesday December 18, 2018 @12:48PM (#18708682)
Robbers and burglers basically have immunity now because the police is busy with... I'm not sure what.
Re:Glitter bomb tricks parcel thieves by roseburg on Tuesday December 18, 2018 @01:01PM (#18708810)
Most departments are understaffed. Turns out all the negative press against police is having long term impacts on how many kids want to grow up and become a police officer.

Also property crimes always take a backseat to more violent crimes.

Re:Glitter bomb tricks parcel thieves by chrisdhoover on Tuesday December 18, 2018 @01:18PM (#18708999)
In many cases the police and sheriffs themselves are not hiring because they are faced with choice of keeping high pension payouts or hiring more people
Re:Glitter bomb tricks parcel thieves by omegaham on Tuesday December 18, 2018 @06:54PM (#18711740)
Also, the background check process is intense, (and deals with the exact same understaffing problems) and it turns out that most people aren't willing to wait for nine months to get vetted for an entry-level job.
Re:Glitter bomb tricks parcel thieves by kristofferR on Tuesday December 18, 2018 @08:41PM (#18712342)
It's insane that police officer is an entry level job, no wonder you have so many issues with the police in the US.
Re:Glitter bomb tricks parcel thieves by netsharc on Wednesday December 19, 2018 @03:48AM (#18714198)
Not sure if you're blaming the press for doing their jobs...
Re:Glitter bomb tricks parcel thieves by dragonwriter on Tuesday December 18, 2018 @02:55PM (#18709941)
> Robbers and burglers basically have immunity now because the police is busy with... I'm not sure what.

Robbers and burglars usually get attention.

Petty theft that does not involve robbery or burglary doesn't, but there is a world of difference between the three crimes.

Re:Glitter bomb tricks parcel thieves by 0xfeba on Tuesday December 18, 2018 @02:54PM (#18709922)
Depends wildly on the area, but property crimes rarely go about a 20% clear rate. That is, 80% of the time criminals get away with it.

Some areas even murder is 60%.

A healthy society keeps people from committing crimes, not a giant police force.