As a lullaby song, my dad used to sing to me Battle of New Orleans. Do you know it? Well, there is a part in there that goes like this: "Yeah, they ran through the briars and they ran through the brambles, And they ran through the bushes where a rabbit couldn't go. They ran so fast that the hounds couldn't catch 'em..." I know, I know not exactly your typically lullaby. But my dad sang me to sleep at night, that counts for a lot in my book. Anyways, that part of the song is what I expected when I called dispatch to tell them my car had been stolen. But, it doesn't exactly happen like that.
Makes sense to me now that an officer couldn't just run to the last known location of the perp without getting as many details as they could from me first. Doesn't mean I didn't still want them to. As I mentioned, Officer was not on duty that day. But, he came up to my office and worked with the case as much as he could - but, there is also a conflict of interest for him working my case. He did do as much as he could though. He went to the convenient store where my card had been used, told them to save footage of the day, drove around the area looking for the car, and wrote a supplemental report to the one the officer took from me. Above and beyond.
A day passed, no car turned up. Officers squad would take shifts leaving their area and searching where my car was last seen.
A week passed. No car.
Two weeks passed. This is when I started to get worried. What's going to happen when I had a rental car that wasn't on my insurance stolen? What if it isn't recovered? Luckily, the rental company was very, very kind and made me feel completely at ease. They told me they haven't ever not recovered a car (sorry for the double negative). Maybe it would be months, but they would get it back. It would just depend on what kind of condition it came back in. Oh gosh, what condition would it come back in?
Officer was turning in an information report one night whenever her over heard some detectives talking about a case with a similar MO to mine (what's MO mean, anyways?). After chatting with them about my case and learning their suspect, he decided to make a house call. Or at least drive past (I would say drive-by, but I'm afraid people would get the wrong idea).
REAL LIFE SUPERHERO. He found my car in the parking lot of the apartment complex where the suspected perp lived! One thing I failed to mention was that my actual car keys were in the rental car, its a long story as to why they were there, and guess what? Right where I left them. Same with the umbrella that I had been using in the car! Officer is about as amazing as they come, in my biased opinion. (:
Enter, our justice system. No charges against the perp. The gas station kept footage from the wrong day, so they were unable to prosecute without that evidence against the fraud and stealing. No one actually saw the perp take my keys, so they were unable to prosecute against auto theft, as well. Even though we had several eye witnesses that placed him in our building at that time. But, I understand that these rules are in place to protect the innocent, but they sure protect the guilty sometimes, too. Reach out if you would like more info on the nitty-gritty details on why we couldn't prosecute.
Honestly, being the victim is a lose-lose situation anyways. They either prosecute the perp, maybe or maybe not recover my losses, and I pay, through my taxes, for him to have 3 squares a day and cable (by the way, we don't even have cable - let me know if you want your taxes to pay for mine ha!). Plus, they get street cred for doing time. Or they don't have any repercussions and he continues to victimize another day and I'm still out my losses. Something has to change. We have to speak up.
I would like to take this moment to thank the officers that worked hard on my case and every other case out there like mine. The perp has been caught red-handed on other similar charges and will be brought to justice(ish). I guess, I would also like to take the moment to address all the people who think that officers don't do their job in this situation. I can see where your feelings come from, but keep in mind all of the red tape that officers have to get through to accomplish one thing. And the fact that without a smoking gun, the justice system doesn't have a leg to stand on. It's not CSI, people, it's the real world.
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