I’m frustrated.
Mister and I live in a nice-enough house. We love it. It’s our home. But as nice-enough as it is, as lovely as our neighbors are, we’re still susceptible to suburban woes. Maybe incidents is the right word. For example, we’ve had some things go missing from our yard. That’s annoying and as much as I hated it, there was really nothing to be done about it. Our neighborhood watch is always telling us to report any and all crimes, no matter how small, in the hopes that our neighborhood will be patrolled on a more regular basis. But when I called the non-emergency number to report the aforementioned theft, the officer on the phone actually seemed bothered by my call. Frustrating.
Just a few days ago, I called to report a bit of vandalism. Someone had sprayed some paint in our yard, which I cleaned and tidied. This time the officer on the phone actually lectured me about reporting something so petty. Again, I had called the non-emergency line and told him I was advised by our neighborhood watch and senior lead police officer to make the report, but it didn’t matter.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m mighty grateful I don’t have anything major to report to police and I’m aware that the crap I deal with is minor. But my neighbor’s theft of a big check from his car in his driveway wasn’t minor. And the other car break-ins around the ‘hood haven’t necessarily been minor, either. Some of that stuff leads to insurance claims and higher premiums. Hell – when I called to report a strange dude in my yard with an ax, the cops showed up, talked to him for about a minute and a half then drove away. The dude was still standing there, with the ax! See something, say something, my ass.
After getting nowhere on the phone with the police officer the other day, I looked online at the Los Angeles 3-1-1 site. It advises residents to report any and all crimes to law enforcement. Of course, it doesn’t give any advice as to how to proceed when law enforcement simply refuse to listen.
My frustration continues…