The ambiguity of theft and failure of enforcement

[blueridge]

Not a lawyer and not a legal opinion, but chasing the dude down is an utterly stupid move. I mean top level stupid.

I knew that without the license plate number the police would have no ability to identify the person. That’s why I tried to find him. He did not see my truck at my house so I also knew that he would not know it was me. When moving I stayed just close enough to maintain a visual to relay to dispatch on the phone except when they asked for the license plate. Pls explain the “top level stupid.” I have often resembled this remark, but I do not think so in this case.

 

[noharleyyet]

About 15 years ago got a call from Police dispatch at 2 in the morning. Said officers were heading to my warehouse/office for an ingress alarm, advised me to meet them there but not to arrive before them. They're (2 officers) already there when I arrive. They told me to leave a firearm in my vehicle and I could walk with them. Gate locked, door locked. They cleared every space and looked everything over...all good & I was appreciative and impressed.

A couple years later we get a break in...some lowlifes shattered a glass entry sidelight & walked in. They looked thru the files and desks but we keep no valuables there. Nothing taken but there's a wallet lying in the glass debris with a DL...belonged to a female that lived around he corner. The detective assigned could not have more disinterested...said it didn't mean anything, didn't follow up.

Some are better and worse than others. I think LEO's have a tough job with an unmanageable volume.

 

[TOGIE]

the police always say be a good witness instead of a collateral victim.

take good pics, relay as much info as possible. but no i wouldn't follow.

incredibly hard not to though. i don't blame OP for doing it at all. but i always think about what i'd do if i saw someone laying under my truck at night stealing my cat... the correct answer is to stay inside take as many pics as possible and call the police, as much as i think every fiber of my being wants to do other things.

multiple times in denver people have come out to confront people stealing their cat, only to have the second person who was hiding in the shadows around the corner stick a gun in their face. you come out with a gun that's when you likely die. or go to jail because your defense arguments get very muddy when you take a gun outside your house and brandish it, or worse, use it.

 

[noharleyyet]

There's an increasing census of pure criminals, disenfranchised either by the system or their own proclivities, that have nothing to lose. When I took the carry class many years ago the first thing the instructor said was that a righteous shooting would cost you 40k, even more if the POS lived.

 

[MTGomer]

How bad did you beat him up? Haha.

Enough that his nose and mouth looked like a quart of tomato juice was pouring out of it. He lived and probably didn’t even learn anything from it.

 

[noharleyyet]

Enough that his nose and mouth looked like a quart of tomato juice was pouring out of it. He lived and probably didn’t even learn anything from it.

How big a boy are you?

-Roy D Mercer

 

[Muskeez]

Remember Theat, Sherriff's positions are part of the democratic process. You and your neighbors get to vote on your local sheriff. Find a LE officer that is willing to do the work and represent his or her people better and then get all of your friends and neighbors to rally behind that person and get a new sheriff in town. If you have had the same lack of response for many years my guess is you have had the same sheriff, and a lazy leader makes lazy followers.

 

[MO Betta]

Well, this was a depressing read that gives me no faith in police departments anymore....

There's been a lot of changes recently with our local PD that make me question why we even have them anymore. Theft - will take a report over the phone, may or may not have a detective follow up after 2+ weeks. Auto accident - unless an injury occurs, no officer will come to the scene or file an accident report.

 

[MTGomer]

How big a boy are you?

-Roy D Mercer

 

[thusby]

I’ve never seen the local PD catch a thief or return stolen goods. I don’t even bother to report stolen items.

 

[ShootsManyBullets]

WWHTMD?

(what would hunt talk man do)

 

[DouglasR]

WWHTMD?

Drop the toolbox and take the ass whippin.
He lives by a code.

 

[Randi]

Remember Theat, Sherriff's positions are part of the democratic process. You and your neighbors get to vote on your local sheriff. Find a LE officer that is willing to do the work and represent his or her people better and then get all of your friends and neighbors to rally behind that person and get a new sheriff in town. If you have had the same lack of response for many years my guess is you have had the same sheriff, and a lazy leader makes lazy followers.

but you can't stop there-----vote for a D.A. and judges who are willing to make sure that those who do the crime, do the time.

if he was running away from you, your home, your car, then there is no "threat" --to you--and that changes everything. If it is safe, you can follow him and keep giving the officers your location and his, but let them "catch him" I have studied the "Castle Doctrine" up, down and sideways and if he is running away, I would not chase him, but I have no idea how the law is written in your area.

 

[Stocker]

As much as I think you should be able to chase these people down and physically hold them, because you should be able to, NP307 is right.

In about 2015, a Billings meth head drifted into my lane on a Shiloh Road roundabout and I honked my horn at him as he was about to hit me to get his attention. He responded by bouncing a full Mountain Dew off of the front of my pick up. He then made a sudden turn to the right, so I followed with the intention of getting his license plate number in case there was damage to my truck. I didn’t realize it was a church parking lot with no entrance. As soon as we pulled in he jumped out of his vehicle , and in the heat of the moment I did the same. He bounced a lit cigarette off of my face (i hate cigarettes more than I hate thieves) and I beat the shit out of him in exchange. All is well that ends well, but he could have just killed me, or known how to fight and the whole thing would not have been worth it. This all started with the intention of quickly grabbing a plate number.

The smoke got him smoked.

 

[COEngineer]

I like this guy's approach. He turned it into entertainment for him (and us) and scared the hell out of the perps:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXTYLzoroRU&t

 

[Johnny Bravo]

I like this guy's approach. He turned it into entertainment for him (and us) and scared the hell out of the perps:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXTYLzoroRU&t

Why does this guy have some many issues...? Needs to start shooting IMO...they keep coming back otherwise...

 

[VikingsGuy]

Needs to start shooting IMO...they keep coming back otherwise...

Spoken by someone who has no idea what he is talking about. Instant felony - in ZERO states are you allowed to protect mere property with lethal force.

 

[Stocker]

Spoken by someone who has no idea what he is talking about. Instant felony - in ZERO states are you allowed to protect mere property with lethal force.

 

[DouglasR]

Spoken by someone who has no idea what he is talking about. Instant felony - in ZERO states are you allowed to protect mere property with lethal force.

It’s taken me years of mind numbing menial labor to establish a western adventure kit.
That’s gotta mean something.
If I caught someone running out of my house with my skis and backpack I feel like I should be justified to shoot from the knee down.

 

[Johnny Bravo]

Spoken by someone who has no idea what he is talking about. Instant felony - in ZERO states are you allowed to protect mere property with lethal force.

Actually you are incorrect, I do know what I'm talking about. If he would shoot them over the threshold of his place, as in inside, he is 100% within his legal right. What state does not afford that right? If someone enters my house I can legally shoot them, plain and simple. My comment was more of a joke...but if he lives there and they are inside, depending on the state, he CAN shoot them inside. Hell, in Texas you can shoot then in your driveway I believe, but I could be wrong. The bad guys have way too much protection from laws....