Brickbat: Second Time Lucky

A recent Brickbat told of how Danny Westneat used the GPS tracker on his wife's stolen iPhone to locate and follow a van containing the phone. Despite doing all their work for them, Westneat was unable to get Seattle police to do anything. Well, just a few says later, a woman called to report a suspicious van in her neighborhood. This time, she was able to get a police car to respond, and the officer immediately recognized it as one fitting numerous wanted bulletins. Yeah, it was the same van Westneat had tried and failed to get them to stop. It turns out the people in it are suspects in hundreds of vehicle break ins.

Comments

[Wasteland Wanderer]

Despite doing all their work for them, Westneat was unable to get Seattle police to do anything.

Dunphy hard at work, folks.

[WTF]

He was busy power lifting in a surfing tournament after banging his wife, Morgan Fairchild.

[Adans smith]

Move along,nothing to see here

[ColonelEngineer]

We've all got that friend...that when pulled over for some traffic violation...who proposes the question of "shouldn't you be hunting down murderers and rapists and thieves" And it's always met with, "Do you know where they are?"

Being handed over on a silver platter isn't enough. Vans hold multiple people. Multiple people could have guns. That's a threat. The sales director using their recently purchased new Porsche for its intended purpose is a much greater threat to civilized society.

[Suthenboy]

There is no money in catching rapists, thieves or murderers. Finable offenses are where the money is.

[Suthenboy]

I should add in crimes that create a pretense for confiscation of property.

[AlmightyJB]

He should have told them there were donuts inside.

[Invisible Finger]

OR drugs.

[Mickey Rat]

So you can't get law enforcement to stop using surveillance when we don't want and cannot et them to use it when we do?

[John C. Randolph]

The cops aren't interested in law enforcement any more. They get rewarded for tax collection, "forfeiture" robberies, and obedience enforcement.

-jcr

[Rev-Match]

Well, just a few says later

What is "editing"?

[UnCivilServant]

Phase two of the book writing process where you patch plot holes.

What you've got there is a proofing error.

[Wasteland Wanderer]

In the news biz it's called copy editing.

[UnCivilServant]

"Copy Editing"? As in done by a "copy editor"? The man/woman is a damn proofreader and should be happy with it. Unless they're involved in some Ministry of Truth re-writing of copies to retcon past events, the title doesn't fit.

[Heroic Mulatto]

You know another proofreader who gets all shirty when you don't call him a "copy editor"?

[Scarecrow Repair]

Adolph Hutler?

[Clich? Bandit]

You are a tracer!

[Rev-Match]

What you've got there is a proofing error

In the engineering biz, it doesn't matter what you call it as long as you fix it.

[UnCivilServant]

I would if I could, but reason is rightly afraid I'd vandalize their stories. So I have to sit here and be a pain in the arse.

[Suthenboy]

Christ UnCivil, drinking already? It is only 6:30 in the morning here.

[UnCivilServant]

You must be on central time.

I'm at work trying once again to get people to answer my e-mails about the actions they themselves requested.

[Almanian!]

Pretty cool they let you drink at work, unCiv!

[UnCivilServant]

Caffiene, yes, alcohol, no.

[Almanian!]

🙁 Good morning anyway!

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Hundreds of break ins?

But on TV they get caught after just a couple!

Something's fishy in this. How can a van go around town robbing people without some heat from the police? How useless or indifferent have they become?

[Pompey]

This piece was on TV news magazines yesterday. The couple was literally on the phone with a 911 operator following the thieves, reporting the van's location though an iphone tracking app. They finally complied with 911's request to stand down and no cops followed up. I'm going with indifference with respect to no positive revenue to be had from pursuing a petty theft case.

Losers.

[Suthenboy]

I am guessing the only reason they finally did catch them is because of the negative publicity they are getting from this hitting the news. Otherwise the thieves would still be out there until A) They rob a cop or cop's family, or B) Someone shoots them.

[Bean Counter]

At which time the robbery victim would be arrested for unjustified shooting and the thieves would sue him/her for everything they hadn't already stolen.

[Almanian!]

Jesus Christ, that's worse than horrid.

[UnCivilServant]

On TV, the 'authorities' act on every little crime and have scads of time to devote to these seemingly trivial matters.

In real life, the 'authorities' can't be arsed to act unless there's something in it for them (forfeiture, a promotion, good PR or the avoidance of additional bad pressure).

They've always been useless and indifferent, now they're industrial scale thieves as well.

[Adans smith]

Their to busy finding cars and cash to steal,it's a market thing

[PapayaSF]

Rufus, from the link:

Still there's the question of why. Some police officers wrote to say it's due to new Department of Justice (DOJ) rules ? specifically one that limits their abilities to make stops for criminal misdemeanors even when they have reasonable suspicion.

[SIV]

Reason always touts how government statistics show crime is lower.

[UnCivilServant]

This increase in efficiency has led to a decrease in criminal employment. Now two thieves can commit hundreds of robberies hwen before you'd need a larger gang.

[Libertarian]

Maybe it's lower. Or maybe people are so resigned to it that they don't report it as much as they used to.

[Ted S.]

A dead body is not just a statistic.

[Suthenboy]

Reading over the comments here I see lots of unjustified cop bigotry. Totally unjustified.

[UnCivilServant]

You ever interact with a New York cop?

[Doctor Whom]

Don't these meanies want our heroes in blue to make it home safely?

[sage]

All this aside, Danny Westneat is a complete and total douchebag. You can read some of his tripe here if you like self harming yourself:

http://search.nwsource.com/sea.....line=Danny Westneat

[UnCivilServant]

if you like self harming yourself

Not really. Also, I'm sorely tempted to be my usual pedantic self.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Sage, I'm not seeing what makes him a douchebag.

[Catatafish]

Ugh. That was a significant amount of monkey-babble about how guns are not only self-aware but possess mind control powers that would make the scientists on MK Ultra envious.

[Trials and Trippelations]

Each time this story is posted I am sure the thieves in the van will be revealed to be cops.

[Almanian!]

An unfortunately victim in all this is the Alt Text theft that these thieves apparently got away with.

*glares at Charles Oliver - IF THAT'S HIS REAL NAME*

[Almanian!]

Also victims - English and spelling. Carry on....

[Florida Man]

Unfortunately victim? *ponders*...I like it.

[Almanian!]

I haz a retard this moarning. I drink more cafeeeen.

[Catatafish]

But I thought it was absolutely CRITICAL that police be allowed access to everyone's cell phone data as it was an invaluable tool to combat crime?

[Roger the Shrubber]

Incentives matter. Civil forfeiture of victim's vehicles would make vehicle break-ins a high priority of the police, with the added benefit of reducing the number of people demanding that the police do something about having their car broken into. The crime stats will speak for themselves....vehicle break-ins nearly eliminated by the aggressive use of asset forfeiture!

[sarcasmic]

A coworker's neighbor's car was broken into a while back, and a bunch of music disks were stolen. She reported it to the cops, who of course did absolutely nothing. So she went down the street to a nearby store that sells used disks, and sure enough there they were. Since stores are required to have people fill out a form when they sell used disks, she had the guy's name and everything. Turned out to be a neighborhood kid. With all this in hand she went to the police, and was soundly mocked. Undeterred, she insisted they do something, and reluctantly they finally did arrest the kid.

[Redmanfms]

A coworker's neighbor's

Yeah, but how many hours did they have to work, how big was the bank draft, and what POS Eurotrash shitbox from 40 years ago did they buy with it????