What to do when the burglars are NOT in your house.

[driftrider]

Subject: What to do if the burglars are not in your house



George Phillips of Meridian Mississippi was going up to bed when his wife told him that he'd left the light on in the garden shed, which she could see from the bedroom window.

George opened the back door to go turn off the light but saw that there were people in the shed stealing things.

He phoned the police, who asked "Is someone in your house?" and he said, "No."

Then they said that all patrols were busy, and that he should simply lock his door and an officer would be along when available.

George said, "Okay," hung up, counted to 30, and phoned the police again.

"Hello I just called you a few seconds ago because there were people in my shed. Well, you don't have to worry about them now cause I've just shot them all." Then he hung up.

Within five minutes three police cars, an Armed Response unit, and an ambulance showed up at the Phillips residence. Of course, the police caught the burglars red-handed.

One of the Policemen said to George: "I thought you said that you'd shot them!"

George said, "I thought you said there was nobody available!"


This is supposedly a true story...but whether this is actual history or not it's still close to the very frightening truth about how well the cops are going to "have your back" if you ever really need them.


Mike

[North Texan]

hilarious!

[CalHunter]

Although I couldn't speak for other police agencies and areas, I can say for sure that in my department, a homeowner calling in a burglary in progress (whether it's in his shed or house), would get an immediate code 3 response from several of our units. If necessary, we would divert units from other lesser priority calls. Everybody loves to catch burglars in the act.

[Tazman]

In 1979 when I lived in Sacramento my next door neighbor couldn't sleep one night and about 2 am he see's this guy stealing a battery out of a car so he called the police, the guy finished getting the battery out of the car and left, 10 minutes later the guy comes back and starts to take another battery out of another car! Jerry calls the police back and they said they would have some one come out when they could, the dude left again and came back again! The second Jerry saw him he called the police for the THIRD time, this time he said I just finished loading my gun and I am going out to shoot the guy and hung up! Jerry calmly watched out his window and within 3 minutes there were 4 cop cars out front and they busted the guy. Jerry went out to talk to the cops after they caught the guy and they searched him for the gun, he was laughing his head off the whole time they were searching him for a gun he did not have! I stepped outside while they were frisking Jerry and asked what was up? Jerry told me the whole story right in front of the not to happy cops.

[kevin1]

The average response time for our thinly stretched county cops is somewhere around 25-30 minutes , forget about getting state cops to respond unless you just found a meth lab on the south 40 , so we don't usually bother to call them unless it's something very serious . We have the greenest woods here ...

[logs]

Different areas of the country have different classifications for their types of calls, Priorities.
The one thing that is universal is that a crime agians persons in comparision to a crime agianst property is always higher, usually much higher.

Breaking into a garden shed or stealing a car battery(s) are crimes agianst property. The minute a weapon, threats to shoot or a shooting of a person is involved it becomes a Priority One everywhere. That is why they drop what they are doing to respond rapidly. They should and in the cases mention did just that. Good for the LEOs.

Now any LEO who has ever responded, 10-17 to a call knows the great risk to the officer as they responding rapidly to save a life or to capture a criminal who may have injuried someone. Many die every year doing just that. In particular if it calls for a silent run. Falsifying a call is not funny nor smart just to get the police to respond quicker. It is stupid and the people who do it are crimianlas and should be charged criminally.

Now I realize everybodies property whether it's in a garden shed,vehicle or whatever is very importent to them. But these proceedures are not guess work. They have been put in place over time to serve the best interest of that entire community based on the avialble man power there to serve the community. That is usually based on how much the community is willing to pay in taxes to support fire and police service. You get what you're willing to pay for.

If the officers are busy doing something else, take the time to get a good description of the persons and/or vehicle and be a good witness. No car battery no anything you keep in your garden shed is worth having any Officer get hurt responding to because you are impatient. That is unless you think that little of the Officers who serve your community.

[driftrider]

And whats to say that the perps in the shed won't decide to make their way into the guys house? I'd say a CRIME IN PROGRESS trumps investigating a crime that has already occured, whether it's a crime against property or a crime against persons. The bad guys are right there doing the deed!

And whats the defination of "busy" anyway. I knew a cop who'd call 10-6 (busy) to watch the Simpsons, but the dispatcher doesn't know any more than he's "busy" doing something "official." One more reason it should be legal for citizens to just shoot the SOB's first, and let the cops sort it out later! You have a lot less bad guys walking free because the cops just didn't have the time to come arrest them. If they're bleeding out on the back lawn, the cops can come at their leisure.

Mike

[kevin1]

ORIGINAL: driftrider

And whats to say that the perps in the shed won't decide to make their way into the guys house? I'd say a CRIME IN PROGRESS trumps investigating a crime that has already occured, whether it's a crime against property or a crime against persons. The bad guys are right there doing the deed!

As thinly stretched as LEOs are these days it's no wonder they can't respond to every call . I don't normally support vigilanteism , but with the way the crime rates have risen if I see a butt poking out of my shed at 3:00 am it's very likely to get a load of #6s through a turkey choke .

Anyone willing to steal will sooner or later develop the idea that raping or killing isn't such a bad idea either if there's no response to change their minds . Once they cross the thresh hold they're a threat as far as I'm concerned , and will be treated as one . I'd rather see them get the idea that crime doesn't pay first so that they can reconsider their career choice .

[CalHunter]

ORIGINAL: driftrider

And whats to say that the perps in the shed won't decide to make their way into the guys house? I'd say a CRIME IN PROGRESS trumps investigating a crime that has already occured, whether it's a crime against property or a crime against persons. The bad guys are right there doing the deed!

And whats the defination of "busy" anyway. I knew a cop who'd call 10-6 (busy) to watch the Simpsons, but the dispatcher doesn't know any more than he's "busy" doing something "official." One more reason it should be legal for citizens to just shoot the SOB's first, and let the cops sort it out later! You have a lot less bad guys walking free because the cops just didn't have the time to come arrest them. If they're bleeding out on the back lawn, the cops can come at their leisure.

Mike

Mike, a crime in progress will generally have a higher priority than a crime that has just occurred or is a "cold" call that occurred a while ago. Some notable exceptions to that policy are a murder, rape, robbery that just occurred where there is an imminent danger to the public from a suspect still at large and that cold call does get a higher priority. In a perfect world, there would be enough cops to respond to all calls as soon as they come in. That's not reality, however, as the average cop ratio is 1 cop on the department for every thousand citizens. When you calculate different shifts, vacations, court, etc. into that figure, you have a realistic figure of 1 cop for every 5-10,000 citizens depending on the department.

In my Sheriff's Department, we serve a county with almost 1,800 square miles. There are 2 incorporated cities with police departments in the county and everything else is ours. In my current assignment, I patrol an area of about 50 square miles with somewhere around 40,000 people in it. that's 1 cop for 40,000 people. My nearest beat partner patrols an area with another 50 square miles or so and he's responsible for about 30-35,000 people.

Using last night as an example, my partner was at the jail with a prisoner and 4 calls backed up in his beat. I was able to handle 3 for him before he got back to handle the 4th. Yes, those calls pended until I could get to them (I'm only 1 guy) but we handle them as quickly and in the best priority that we can.

Taz, I live just above Sacramento and know exactly what you're talking about down there. the police are so overwhelmed that they mail out theft report forms for all theft reports with no suspect information.

If you really want to get a little steamed, go to your local police/sheriff agency and check on how well your area is staffed and just how few cops that department has. I have always thought that the public gets a little shortchanged in how many cops they actually get. JMHO here.

[Tazman]

calhunter where did you live?