Crime and Covid-19

[KleanRide]

Well, this has been a sobering morning. It's pouring down rain, which I dread because my bays fill up with shade tree mechanics looking to stay dry. Around 10:30 a guy pulls in and carefully positions his engine block over my drain grate. I hit record on the cameras and immediately got on the phone to the police.

They've been (fairly) good about chasing down stuff like this in the past, provided I was able to get good video and a license plate. Today, though, I was informed that our local cops are not doing onsite property crime calls right now because of Covid-19. I said, look this is a slam dunk, the guy will be there for at least 20-30 minutes, just drive up and write him a ticket. To which the dispatcher said, I'm sorry sir but people are dying out there and oil dumping is low priority.

In a county of 3 million we have 340 cases and 9 covid deaths as of today. I haven't checked the papers yet, but I'm guessing at least a dozen died last night due to bullet trauma, overdose, and DUI.

 

[MEP001]

I think they're protecting officers by not having them respond to "trivial" matters. Just before this got serious I called police because a homeless woman was sleeping in front of the changer. The officer asked me to tell her to leave. He really didn't want to get out of his car and confront her, and I don't really blame him.

 

[OurTown]

This is going to be really fun when business owners have to start taking matters into their own hands.

 

[KleanRide]

This is going to be really fun when business owners have to start taking matters into their own hands.

Agreed, it won't take long for the hyenas to figure out that property crimes are a free for all

 

[Wash4Life]

Unreal. The bureaucracy and cops know that any time a cop responds, there is always a risk the cop could die as a result of the job. If a person is not willing to take that chance as a cop, then don't join the force.

I expect our tax dollars to pay for police to show up if we need them.

 

[JustClean]

Hahaha...nothing a good irrigation system can't fix ))

 

[mjwalsh]

It does hinge on the current chief of police &/or the tone set by the police commissioner & other city commissioners.

Also sometimes it comes down to a specific officer. When we were somewhat under seize by over 16 homeless supposedly "all cousins" of the 1 who used a "local homeless coalition voucher" to get his foot in the door. I saw the overwhelming # of loitering show up on camera view on my phone minutes after I left.

The main instigator perp (who was allowed to finish up the drying of his clothes) ... was taunting both me & the best PD officer out of the 5 or 6 that showed up ... saying "us muslims don't cause any problems". This was back in about 2015 or so where video clips of muslims beheading christians in the middle east were being shown & verified. It sure looked like ... some of the "worse of the worse" were emboldened by the AG & the administration at that time.

Long story short .... one of the more punkish younger police officers actually had the gall to tell me that the only thing I could do as owner is hire a local 24/7 security company for constant monitoring-enforcement??? Him being totally oblivious to the cost. Sooo.... some police officers are better than others. And what are our tax dollars at every level being used for???

I remember once a male & a female officer showed up for an incident. The male was saying stupid stuff ... I noticed the female officer actually elbowed him & corrected him. I am pretty sure she outranked him which worked for the better in that specific case!

 

[Sequoia]

A lot of people have taken serious hits to their income and bankroll. If they even had a bankroll to start with.

As this virus lockdown continues, I am expecting the number of desperate people to grow, especially some of the drug users who are running short of drug money.

Over the next few months I am going to keep a much closer eye on the wash (cameras) and remove money much more frequently. Luckily I already upgraded some lighting but I will probably do more.

Long ago, after I added good lighting to the bays, I would up with some "mechanics" that would come and use my bay and lighting for nighttime car repairs. Although I never did it, I was tempted to add a broken hose near the boom, plumbed into a valve I could operate via remote control. Funny how hoses can break at the oddest times?

 

[MEP001]

Over the next few months I am going to keep a much closer eye on the wash (cameras) and remove money much more frequently.

I started pulling money more frequently at the beginning of March - instead of filling the changer for a week I've been leaving just enough for a couple days. I might start leaving the changer unlocked and empty overnight if I start having problems, but so far I haven't had any. I was about to buy a really good DVR but I put that on hold - I certainly can't think about buying a changer right now.