Theft & the Police
 |
Just had a frustrating experience involving theft and the police. I live in a small apartment complex on the edge of Western Houston. A couple of weeks ago my bike was stolen from inside the building. It was locked to an indoor bike rack. I live in a studio apartment, keeping the bike in the apartment just wasn't feasable. Worth around a 1000$, but I had put a decent amount of labor and upgrades to get it exactly how I like it. I own a car, but use my bike whenever possible. Most years I end up with more miles on my bike then my car. Only recently moved in, had no renters insurance. Plus previous experience tells me the deductible would have probably swallowed any reimbursement. The building uses electronic key cards for entry. The thief used such a card to get in (& no he doesn't and hasn't live(d) here), knew exactly where my bike was, and already had bolt cutters ready as he walked in. Got him on film coming in and riding away on my bike. It turns out he has a female partner(?) who has also robbed the complex, porch piracy is her theiving specialty of choice. They've been seen crossing the property on mutliple occasions together. They appear to be homeless. The bicycle theft happened 2 weeks ago, the last porch piracy 3. Both were reported to police. ***** So today I was outside when I saw the woman crossing the property. I suspected where she was headed and guessed correctly. An adjoining commercial property has some sort of windowless small(maybe 5'x10') building they no longer use tucked away in a back corner. The homeless break in and use it for whatever. Police have been called to the location on several occasions to evict them. Sure enough her bike(not mine, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was also stolen, was parked behind it). My apartment complex had shared pictures of both of them with me and had filed at least one report against her for theft. Our complex office is closed on weekends. I called 311 and told them what was happening, they said they would send someone out. I waited an hour when someone else showed up at the building and the two of them left together. ***** I am quite aware Houston police are busy. This is low priority, they've "only" stolen a few thousand $s in property. No weapons. No assaults. But how easy could we make it for the police? We have them on camera commiting the thefts. We know they stay locally. And today one of them was literally sitting nearby for an hour and law enforcement never showed up. It sounds like a great criminal occupation. You can be pretty sure nobody will ever attempt to catch you, no matter how easy it might be. Add to that Houston is notorious for letting virtually everyone out on bail or bond and very quickly at that. What is the deterrent to continuing? Criminally frustrated in Houston. submitted by /u/elric132 |
