From: John Marlow (johnmarlow@gmx.net)
Date: Thu Feb 01 2001 - 21:32:32 MST
re: Stolen cars. Often, cops don't use the info they have. My
mother's car was stolen, reported stolen--and subsequently ticketed
for being illegally parked while stolen. They sent her the bill.
jm
On 1 Feb 2001, at 21:38, Chris Russo wrote:
> At 18:16 -0500 2/1/01, Michael Lorrey wrote:
>
> [ Michael's troubled childhood snipped ] :)
>
> Okay, so the cameras are more impersonal than cops in a small town.
> They still give law enforcement an advantage that I'm not sure they
> shouldn't have.
>
>
> > > >But there's something wrong with all those
> >> >pictures. A society that needs that sort of observation of its members in
> >> >order to enforce its rules must have some structural flaws.
> >>
> >> Uh... Yes? Are you saying that our society lacks structural flaws?
> >> A society that needs *any* observation of its members in order to
> >> enforce its rules must have some structural flaws - it's just a
> >> matter of minimizing the impact of those flaws upon the law-abiding
> >> members of our society.
> >
> >I don't think it structural, its more a systemic failing, partly induced
> >by insufficient acclimatization of immigrants, partly induced by
> >communalist tendencies and ideologies denigrating the individual.
>
> No real argument here.
>
>
> > > Personally, I'm not satisfied with the safety level in our society.
> >> In the last ten years or so, I've had my car stolen, my car broken
> >> into and valuable items stolen, a friend who was mugged and slashed
> >> in broad daylight downtown, etc. Those issues are fresh in my mind
> >> and impact my life quite often - affecting where I go and what I do.
> >
> >Last time I was victimized by crime was when I was assaulted in
> >Burlington Vermont by some acid-head picking a fight. The time before
> >that was when my truck was broken into in San Francisco. City events.
>
> My car was stolen from a nice little neighborhood in Sunnyvale,
> California. I found it rather ironic when Sunnyvale was named the
> "Safest City in the Country".
>
>
> > > To contrast that, I've never had law enforcement agents take my
> >> property or make me feel like I might lose my life. I can't think of
> >> any friends or friends of friends who've had serious encounters with
> >> law enforcement that they didn't bring upon themselves. I'm not
> >> always enamored with policemen. Sometimes they can be a bit haughty,
> >> but give me an asshole cop writing me a ticket versus someone
> >> stealing my car from IN FRONT OF MY HOUSE any day.
> >
> >Tell me: how many of the crimes you cite have actually been investigated
> >and/or solved?
>
> They found my car about a week later down in San Jose, stripped.
> Does that count? There happened to be cops nearby when my friend got
> mugged, and they caught 3 of the 5 guys involved.
>
>
> > I'll bet none of them. The break-in in SF that happened
> >to me was never solved, not that they actually put much effort into it,
> >(the guy who assaulted me got busted because he was so high that he
> >flagged down the cop for me ;-)). I'll bet if you had used a gun to
> >restrain the guy who stole your car, you'd have been arrested for
> >brandishing and assault with a deadly weapon.
>
> I felt so extremely violated by having my car stolen. I didn't have
> much savings yet, I didn't have theft insurance (playing the odds...
> lost), I couldn't get to work without my car, I was going to have to
> go into debt to replace it with something crappy. I'm probably lucky
> that I didn't have an opportunity to point a gun at the guy who stole
> my car, especially since I was living in California.
>
> Regards,
>
> Chris Russo
>
> --
> "If anyone can show me, and prove to me, that I am wrong in thought
> or deed, I will gladly change. I seek the truth, which never yet
> hurt anybody. It is only persistence in self-delusion and ignorance
> which does harm."
> -- Marcus Aurelius, MEDITATIONS, VI, 21
>
John Marlow
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