Quote:
Originally Posted by hrosvit
Nice of you to make assumptions about the qualifications of the OP's police department.
|
It's the way to bet.
Quote:
Originally Posted by hrosvit
If they don't have the expertise, they will have access to someone who does, regardless of where the OP is.
|
But not without cost, for both the local PD and the someone who does.
Quote:
Originally Posted by hrosvit
In terms of their interest, you get what you insist on. If you call and they tell you they aren't interested, ask to talk to their boss. If you still get no satisfaction, ask to talk to his boss. If you went to WalMart and the cashier was either incompetent or disinterested, what would you do? Probably complain to his boss. And when he was uninterested, you'd contact the regional manager. If you wouldn't, then it wasn't really all that important to you in the first place.
|
Let us know how that works out for you. You're more likely to show up on Fark in a story about the victim being arrested for harassing the cops than to get them to care (and spend the money to investigate a crime of less than $200). Seriously.
Quote:
Originally Posted by hrosvit
As I said, in my state two felonies have been committed, regardless of the amount of the loss. If we accept lousy service, then we get what we deserve.
|
I know a guy who was scammed out of a couple
hundred thousand bucks in a real estate scam. The FBI was only vaguely interested, despite the total amount involved being millions. They're prosecuting, but it will come down to a single count plea bargain, and probably
no jail time.
Or, to put it another way, I've worked in retail for 30+ years. In retail, one deals with petty theft, even when the dollar amounts are technically felonies. And if the dollar amounts are small (and we're talking less than $200 here), and nobody was hurt, or threatened in person, in other words, if it's not a
violent felony (and it's not), they will only put in a minimal amount of effort. I've seen police balk at pursuing shoplifting charges when they have the crime
on video, because of the hours it takes them off the street to process it (and many more hours in court if there's no plea bargain), all for probation and a trivial amount of restitution.
I predict that if BenJammin2 does go to the cops (and he probably won't), they will try to discourage him from even filing a report with them, but will take it if he insists. And they will tell him point blank to not expect anything more. The kind of investigation you're talking about would cost tens of thousands of dollars, at least, and more if it gets complicated. Yes, really, that much, because nobody will talk to the cops unless a subpoena is involved, and that means lawyers and court costs, and very expensive time for computer forensics people. All to recover less than $200. They have better things to spend their time on. Just ask them.
(I agree it would be nice if we could go after people who do things like this, and prosecute them as they richly deserve. But for me, personally, I'd much rather have the cops looking for muggers, murderes, drug dealers, or even real embezzlers, than spending that much chasing after $200 when the card holder isn't responsible for more than $50 anyway.)