Debra Gorgos
Active member
Has anyone had a positive experience with the police after a crime was committed at their wash?
Serious question
- Thread starter Debra Gorgos
- Start date
Of course. Kind of a stupid question and not serious question TBH. 99% of my encounters have been dealt with professionally. When something happens and you have license plate and pictures there most likely apprehended within hours. Now if you have nothing to give the cops but a picture of your vaccum or whatever that got broken into then what do you really expect them to do. There not miracle workers with special powers. I can go on and on about this but to question the integrity of law enforcement who put their lives on the line every day to ask if theirs a single good encounter is just plain dumb. We need to focus on the criminals not the police SMH!
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Waxman
Super Moderator
Yes. I captured video of a customer at 815 pm a couple fridays ago smashing into my height restriction, damaging it. The police came right away, got the plate number and contacted the customer. Customer said he'd come that day and see me. He did not. Police came back the next day, took a copy of the video and made a report, which I used for insurance claim. I contacted his insurance directly.
Police were very responsive, answered emails quickly, etc. It was a very positive experience dealing with my local police.
Police were very responsive, answered emails quickly, etc. It was a very positive experience dealing with my local police.
Roz
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Police have been A+ whenever we an issue with someone damaging equipment and running off. In two cases I got perps phone number to call them about restitution so fast (in under one hour) it made their heads spin such that they wrote checks for the damage within the day (when I had a quote for the repairs). We treat our first responders well with significantly discounted washes and occasional free washes if we see them. Most know me or my helpers by sight - always friendly dialog. What goes around comes around.......
Debra Gorgos
Active member
Thanks for your reply, and I will forgive you calling my question 'stupid.' I put the 'serious' part in the subject line because the cover story for the next issue of Self Serve Car Wash News magazine is all about car wash owners and their relationship with the police. I wrote a four-part series on a car wash owner in Dallas who didn't have a positive experience, so I am/was trying to cover a more positive experience. This forum is supposed to be a place for all and any questions, and insults of any kind are not appreciated. I have constantly seen, reported on and read of stories in which car wash owners are 'ignored' when an incident happens at their car wash. I understand the police probably have 'bigger' problems, but wanted to investigate further. In the future, please refrain from insulting my questions. Thank you.
ShinePro
Well-known member
Called police for damage to vacuum
They come out watched video
License plate was obscure.
But car had a unique paint job.
Cop said I know that car.
Got a call at 11:45 pm that night.
He got him! No trouble since from this guy!
Small town police / sheriff depts are great!
They come out watched video
License plate was obscure.
But car had a unique paint job.
Cop said I know that car.
Got a call at 11:45 pm that night.
He got him! No trouble since from this guy!
Small town police / sheriff depts are great!
I keep a record of the number of times I called the police. Last year I had 18 incidents where I had to contact the police. They came out, took a report, took my video and gave me a case number. That is pretty much the end of the story, no call back, no e-mails. I don’t call them for the petty things like household garage. At least when I call the police they’ll come, my brother’s car washes are over in the next county when you call 911 there to report a crime, they give you a case number you then go online to report the crime. The system is so cumbersome that it’s almost impossible to report a crime. Is calling the police a positive experience that makes you warm and fuzzy inside, no it not some you want to do because you get ready pissed off calling them out.
Sound_Boi
Member
Couple years ago we had the cops pull in one night and there was a guy messing with our vacuums. When he saw them pull in he took off running. I can't remember if them caught him or not but the next morning they came in and asked us if anything was off but we didn't find anything.
Kimberly Berg
Well-known member
Hi Debra, I applaud you for speaking up about the rude reply to your original post. This forum should be a safe place for everyone to post a question, and learn from each other. Members may not always agree with the posts, so they should take what they like and leave the rest. Good for you!
Here in Northern California, I wish my relationship with my city's police was more positive and responsive. Citrus Heights has their own dedicated police department for population of 88,000. I have 31 high-resolution cameras and call them no more than 1x a year for help. When I have an issue, I usually can't get past their dispatch / gatekeeper department.
Here in Northern California, I wish my relationship with my city's police was more positive and responsive. Citrus Heights has their own dedicated police department for population of 88,000. I have 31 high-resolution cameras and call them no more than 1x a year for help. When I have an issue, I usually can't get past their dispatch / gatekeeper department.
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Debra Gorgos
Active member
I have always appreciated your support and input, Kimberly
I didn't ask for your forgiveness. I didn't call you stupid, I called your question stupid. The "serious" part is not so much the issue. It's the "anyone". First of all as a journalist you should already know that the way you phrase and word questions/headlines matters. For instance you did not ask "Please tell me about your positive experiences with police after a crime?" Instead you said "HAS ANYONE" insinuating that no one has positive experiences with police and it's absolutely out of this world to hear one. That is an INSULT to the entire law enforcement community. It seems everyone that has replied has had good relationship with the police. Im not sure where you found the one that you wrote four pages about but that is the problem with media in general. The police can do a million great things for society but it's always the one bad thing here and there that people want to talk and write about because thats what get views and makes money. You were quick to write that four page article instead of doing a ride along with a cop for a day and really see what their job is like or getting other opinions. Now that you wrote that article your all the sudden looking for good view points. You should have done that before. Theres plenty of them and it would have actually been beneficial for society. Like I stated earlier your question was STUPID. I have no filter, I dont care if that offends you. If you want to rephrase it correctly I will gladly apologize. If you dont then you showed your true intentions of trying to put police in a bad spotlight just to write an article for views.
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Debra Gorgos
Active member
Thanks, Blanco. Also, it's "you're" as in "you are"; not "your." And it's "don't" with an apostrophe, not "dont". You seem to missing the apostrophe key on your keyboard. If you'd like, I can give you a quick lesson on the apostrophe and how to use it correctly. Also, I didn't write four pages about the aforementioned car wash owner; it was four=part series. If you're going to question my journalistic integrity, please do so with better grammar. Words matter. Thanks.
Thank you for the grammar lesson lmaooooo I care more about the people who put their life on the line then where my apostrophes go haha what a joke.
edredtop
Well-known member
In Southern California...
We had 4 washes up until about 2018, two in a county coverage area and two in a city. The city began to seriously struggle financially (bankrupt) to the point that "low priority calls" would regularly take 3 or more days to receive a response. We dealt with homeless camping in our bays, stolen cars being dumped, serious graffiti and vandalism but we chugged on. We attended "coffees with a cop" meetings and would walk away slack jawed at the disconnect we were seeing from our police. The lieutenants and captains would tell the elderly homeowners to call the police if they saw transients digging for recyclables in their waste cans juxtaposed with us trying to get police help for felony level vandalism, obstruction of a business, shootings, open drug use / sales, etc. One night at about 2 a.m. my wife was checking the cameras and woke me up saying there were 3 guys trying to break in at the wash that was in the city coverage area. They had 6-foot pry bars, sledgehammers, and bolt cutters. I immediately called the police to ask for help, and they indicated they "would send an officer as soon as possible." I called 5 more times over the next hour and the dispatcher finally revealed they had no officers available to assist, they were all on other high priority calls, all 6 of them in a 300,000 population city leaving the entire city without coverage. I asked if they could send the Highway Patrol, the sheriff, school police, request an assist from another city, anything to stop the damage that was occurring. All requests were denied. An hour and 15 minutes after my first call, an officer drove by the business with his alley lights on very slowly and let them run off into the night. When I arrived, I asked the officer why he didn't give chase. He indicated if he had done that, he'd have to process them, keeping him off the street for a few hours and that there already were no officers available in the entire city. After hearing this shocking revelation, having already experienced a history of poor service from the department, and inspecting the thousands of dollars in damage, the decision to shut the business down was made on the spot. When those experiences are contrasted with the outstanding service we receive from our sheriff's department, the importance of strong law enforcement becomes all too clear.
We MUST have the support required to protect private property and our ability to engage in commerce, if not, the imbalance of criminal activity will crush our pursuit of profit.
-Sorry Debra, that's as positive as I can get with this topic.
Dan kamsickas
GinSan Technician
I generally try to keep my personal(non-carwash) beliefs off this forum but as someone who counts many members of law enforcement as family and friends, to ask "Has anyone had a positive experience" is, at the minimum, implying a negative opinion of law enforcement as a whole.
Earl Weiss
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Police have responded professionally - sometimes later than sooner. Chicago cops prioritize more serious crimes but (abbreviated story) when alarm went off and I looked at cameras and saw the guy inside the place I called in Burglary in progress. Police station is 2 blocks from that location, cops came and got the guy. I think he ultimately took a plea deal (Video evidence was pretty damning) He must have had a bad record because I think he got 5 years.
Debra Gorgos
Active member
i see your point, and thank you for being respectful about it. I should have written: Does anyone have a positive experience… they would be willing to share…
I didn’t realize my open-ended questions on here did not indicate I was doing research for an article. I have been posting on here for about 9 years, so I thought it was redundant to write it every time I posted.
Thank you.
Dan kamsickas
GinSan Technician
I would have phrased it this way "I'm working on a multi-piece article about 1 operator's negative experience. Is anyone will to share a positive experience as a counter point." My point being is the media is very quick to jump on any negative aspect of law enforcement and, I have to assume willingly, not report on the positives which by any measure you want to use are the majority.
Carwashking
Active member
I just had a Carwash owner arrested by Grandbury police because this person has stolen over $4,000 of my foam brush assemblies over the last 3 years from my Dallas Texas location. Dallas sucks but Granbury did fabulous job. I used a AirTag in my foam brush head to catch him.
Attachments
Kimberly Berg
Well-known member
Great job Carwashking!! Love your story and the successful outcome!
Here is Citrus Heights, our police are pretty passive about the Airtags. 6 months ago, I had a friend in Citrus Heights have her luggage stolen from her car. She was headed out of town and had an Airtag in her luggage. When she came back out and discovered the missing luggage, she immediately called the police. She tracked the Airtag to a duplex in the same town, but the police said that without video, it couldn't be proven who took it!! 
Here is Citrus Heights, our police are pretty passive about the Airtags. 6 months ago, I had a friend in Citrus Heights have her luggage stolen from her car. She was headed out of town and had an Airtag in her luggage. When she came back out and discovered the missing luggage, she immediately called the police. She tracked the Airtag to a duplex in the same town, but the police said that without video, it couldn't be proven who took it!!
