Thieves, cops and catalytic converters

[sk270]

According to this news story, the cops have had this license plate reported before. They have a clear video of the theft but will do nothing. https://edmonton.ctvnews.ca/these-gu...nton-1.4728236

Can anyone explain why the police do not do their duty and arrest this thief?

I understand that the judges will let him go very shortly and he probably has a long record of criminal activity. If he somehow does end up in jail, they will let him go when he has served only part of his sentence if he doesn't actually attack a Corrections Officer or kill another inmate.

Are the cops just frustrated with the revolving door "justice" system and therefore ignoring this type of theft?

End of rant but I would like to hear an explanation from a peace officer or a judge.

[Kurt505]

Originally Posted by sk270

According to this news story, the cops have had this license plate reported before. They have a clear video of the theft but will do nothing.

Can anyone explain why the police do not do their duty and arrest this thief?

I understand that the judges will let him go very shortly and he probably has a long record of criminal activity. If he somehow does end up in jail, they will let him go when he has served only part of his sentence if he doesn't actually attack a Corrections Officer or kill another inmate.

Are the cops just frustrated with the revolving door "justice" system and therefore ignoring this type of theft?

End of rant but I would like to hear an explanation from a peace officer or a judge.

Cops feel the same way you do. Judge and thief should have their right hand cut off.

[ghostguy6]

Unless it makes them money they wont care. If they pull an officer off traffic duty they would loose thousands in lost revenue a day. Even if they catch the guy now there is no PR in it. If they wait and say this person is suspected of several thousand thefts then they look good enough to likely do something about it.

[bobtodrick]

Originally Posted by ghostguy6

Unless it makes them money they wont care. If they pull an officer off traffic duty they would loose thousands in lost revenue a day. Even if they catch the guy now there is no PR in it. If they wait and say this person is suspected of several thousand thefts then they look good enough to likely do something about it.

Another person who has no idea how the police dept works and the constraints of the judicial system and their current budget restraints.
Think about it. 300 convertors in three months. Out of a total of 600000 registered vehicle in Edmonton.
What are they going to do...station a cop in every parking lot in Edmonton.
We'd need to triple the police force just for that.

[JB_AOL]

Originally Posted by bobtodrick

Another person who has no idea how the police dept works and the constraints of the judicial system and their current budget restraints.

Not to mention, there can be higher priority calls they need to attend to. Theft and traffic are low on the priority list. From the LEO's I know, most of their time is spent dealing with Domestic Abuse. Although this definitely comes back to the underfunded/staffed thing.

[58thecat]

Originally Posted by sk270

According to this news story, the cops have had this license plate reported before. They have a clear video of the theft but will do nothing. https://edmonton.ctvnews.ca/these-gu...nton-1.4728236

Can anyone explain why the police do not do their duty and arrest this thief?

I understand that the judges will let him go very shortly and he probably has a long record of criminal activity. If he somehow does end up in jail, they will let him go when he has served only part of his sentence if he doesn't actually attack a Corrections Officer or kill another inmate.

Are the cops just frustrated with the revolving door "justice" system and therefore ignoring this type of theft?

End of rant but I would like to hear an explanation from a peace officer or a judge.

well march your butt to the local LEO office and ask....post the response.

[elkhunter11]

Originally Posted by bobtodrick

Another person who has no idea how the police dept works and the constraints of the judicial system and their current budget restraints.
Think about it. 300 convertors in three months. Out of a total of 600000 registered vehicle in Edmonton.
What are they going to do...station a cop in every parking lot in Edmonton.
We'd need to triple the police force just for that.

I don't see the OP complaining why the police weren't present to prevent the theft, he is asking why the police refuse to follow up on this given the video evidence of the crime.

[CaberTosser]

..

[bobtodrick]

Originally Posted by CaberTosser

..

I'm not addressing this to the OP. It's to Ghostguy who seems to think that most LE is out there just waiting to ticket you from speeding, which is not the case at all.

[CaberTosser]

I had made a comment on the scrap metal industry procedures in Calgary prior to reading the linked article which I then edited out after realizing the criminal would have been selling the cats intact to repair shops who may or may not be aware of the origins of the parts.

I had noted in my deleted post that here in Calgary when I take in my annual load of scrap copper and brass that my ID is checked & recorded by city bylaw. My (incorrect) suggestion in the deleted post was to check the scrapyards rather than parking lots, then I realized my error upon actually reading the article. My default thought process went the scrap metal value rather than parts value.

[sk270]

Originally Posted by 58thecat

well march your butt to the local LEO office and ask....post the response.

I'll try to be more polite than 58thecat. Of course, the officer at the desk would have more pressing things to do than to discuss the matter at that time. I am not currently friends with any peace officers with whom to raise the issues.

However, a friend of mine who is a retired Corrections Officer believes the justice system is too lenient. If he had his way, a first offense would be dealt with according to current policy. A second offense would lead to a stay in some sort of holding and counselling facility. A third offense would result in a jail sentence with no parole. A fourth offense would result in a jail sentence twice the length, and so on.

This would be expensive but would protect the rest of us from people who show no interest in changing their ways.

Of course, the root causes of criminal behaviour should be addressed as well. Again, this will be very expensive.

I gather from the responses that most of you think that there are simply not enough officers to respond to crimes of theft. I don't think the victims would agree that handing out a speeding ticket is more important than apprehending the thief who took their property.

[ATF]

That a Saskatchewan plate on a Saturn?

[harv3589]

Maybe that plate info is being used in a bigger operation and they don’t want to act on it just yet. More things go on behind the scenes, but that doesn’t make good news

[Cappy]

Could be as simple as the license plate being stolen......

[KGB]

The guy on a news yesterday was actually filming two thieves under his car. He even poked one with a stick... I would poke him with a baseball bat if found like that.... poke him a few times and then call the cops saying I found a body...

[curtz]

Originally Posted by KGB

The guy on a news yesterday was actually filming two thieves under his car. He even poked one with a stick... I would poke him with a baseball bat if found like that.... poke him a few times and then call the cops saying I found a body...

He should have jumped in his car drove away, honest officer I never seen them.

[rem338win]

Originally Posted by elkhunter11

I don't see the OP complaining why the police weren't present to prevent the theft, he is asking why the police refuse to follow up on this given the video evidence of the crime.

Last I checked a license plate isn't a human being, and there is a lot more to laying a charge.

And the obvious has ready been stated: people don't go around committing crime in vehicles registered to them often......

[NCC]

Those guys are wanking about having to spend $600. The replacement cost was over $11 000 for the exhaust that was hacked off our F350 at a hotel in Leduc.

Copper thieves clean out a drilling rig that was working for us and racked in a fenced yard in town for spring break. They got a couple hundred dollars worth of copper and we spent over $100 000 re-wiring the rig.

Cracking down on the scrap metal buyers might slow down the copper and converter thieves.

[rem338win]

Having a justice system that gives incentive to quit crime vs our legal system hijacked by defence lawyers and fantasy world justices...

[fordtruckin]

Originally Posted by elkhunter11

I don't see the OP complaining why the police weren't present to prevent the theft, he is asking why the police refuse to follow up on this given the video evidence of the crime.

Try again

I don’t see the OP saying law enforcement is refusing to follow up, if you read the post again the OP is asking why the police are refusing to do their duty and arrest the suspect. No evidence the police didn’t follow up other than they apparently didn’t do what the OP desired, sorry law enforcement isn’t Burger King and you don’t always get things your way! Nor is it Ncis or CSI where you can be involved in a murder investigation, 2 shootings and get all the results back from the crime lab in 60 mins.

Given the apparent increase in thefts throughout the city, I would assume they are working it on a larger scale than an isolated incident. Too many people think they are the only ones that matter and be dammed if it happens to someone else! In the grand scheme of things you could nab a guy for one incident and he’s out pays a fine goes on probation or whatever. Link that same guy to a string of incidents and you can get compounding charges with larger fines and more jail time and take more than one criminal off the street. Of course there is also the possibility this is some sort of organized crime with multiple players throughout the city and or province and they are letting a little fish stay out so they can nab the big fish, but of course given your law enforcement expertise you already considered that possibility.

[WSMLEO]

I think either the guy in that article either misunderstood the officer or some of you are making some pretty absurd assumptions. I can tell you that last year when this suspect was active I was personally involved in investigating and arresting him and a lot of resources were put into arresting him. I can guarantee you that no officer responded to this complainant and told him that Police were not going to investigate his complaint or that the suspect will not be charged. If anything, I assume when he said "there's nothing we can do", he was referring to the justice system and the fact that despite arresting the same people over and over for doing the same things, they continue to get released and so "there's nothing we can do" about them getting back out and re offending. That's beyond the scope of Police responsibility and should be blamed on the courts. I can promise you that catalytic convertor thefts are a priority for the Police right now and a lot of resources are being poured into catching the people responsible.

And as far as comments of not pulling people off of "traffic duty" to respond to these calls..... the EPS has about 1800 members..... about 50 of those are assigned to some sort of "traffic" unit, be it either an enforcement unit or Major Collisions. Traffic cops do traffic enforcement and don't respond to calls for service. A vast majority of Police have nothing to do with traffic enforcement and are focused on criminal investigations.

[Talking moose]

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[does it ALL outdoors]

Originally Posted by ATF

That a Saskatchewan plate on a Saturn?

Kinda hard to tell, looks a little BC'ish to me? I think it's safe to say they already ran the plate and and are investigating from there, if the plate or whole vehicle are not stolen.

I wish we got to vote judges in & out like they do stateside. That alone would add a lot of responsibility to the judge to get it right, no more of this catch and release nonsense.

If we get this frustrated with judges imagine how frustrated cops must get when they put a lot of time into an investigation, get an arrest and a soft judge let's him off with a slap on the wrist, and that's if a crapbag Lawyer dosent get the scumbag off altogether on a technicality. I could see that being VERY discouraging to police.

I believe we are on a path to where people will be taking the law into their own hands soon knowing if the perp does see a jail cell it's likely just long enough until bail arrives. Repeat offenders should get no bail, stay in the can until your court date. Of coarse that could get a little spendy but they waste a TON of taxpayers money on a lot worse things than holding criminals responsible.

Agree these buyers need to play an intrical role in stopping this but that's a pipe dream I believe, as long as they get what they want they could care less where it came from. When someone is selling more than one matching pair or a few single mismatches the chances of them being stolen have to be astronomical. Hopefully someone steals their cats so they can feel what all these victims feel.

An awful lot of frustration all around. Damn do I HATE thieves!

[elkhunter11]

Originally Posted by does it ALL outdoors

Kinda hard to tell, looks a little BC'ish to me? I think it's safe to say they already ran the plate and and are investigating from there, if the plate or whole vehicle are not stolen.

I wish we got to vote judges in & out like they do stateside. That alone would add a lot of responsibility to the judge to get it right, no more of this catch and release nonsense.

If we get this frustrated with judges imagine how frustrated cops must get when they put a lot of time into an investigation, get an arrest and a soft judge let's him off with a slap on the wrist, and that's if a crapbag Lawyer dosent get the scumbag off altogether on a technicality. I could see that being VERY discouraging to police.

I believe we are on a path to where people will be taking the law into their own hands soon knowing if the perp does see a jail cell it's likely just long enough until bail arrives. Repeat offenders should get no bail, stay in the can until your court date. Of coarse that could get a little spendy but they waste a TON of taxpayers money on a lot worse things than holding criminals responsible.

Agree these buyers need to play an intrical role in stopping this but that's a pipe dream I believe, as long as they get what they want they could care less where it came from. When someone is selling more than one matching pair or a few single mismatches the chances of them being stolen have to be astronomical. Hopefully someone steals their cats so they can feel what all these victims feel.

An awful lot of frustration all around. Damn do I HATE thieves!

I have no doubt that the police are frustrated with the courts, just as the public is, the courts priority seems to be protecting the criminals. The criminals get a slap on the wrist, but if the homeowner dares to try and protect his property, the homeowner is seen as the criminal, and the criminal is made out to be the victim. Now if the prosecutors started refusing to press charges against the property owners, and the thieves started getting beaten up by property owners, that would probably discourage the thieves more than our legal system. But of course that won't happen, as our courts and our governments will never allow this to happen, our federal government and our courts seem to care more about criminals and terrorists, than they do about us law abiding citizens. The mandatory sentences for crimes committed involving firearms were struck down, and our PM continues to be working to reduce sentences for criminals and terrorists. And of course in return, the criminals and terrorists support the PM and his government at the polls come election time.