How Fast Police Can Act if There Is a Clear Chance of Catching The Offenders

amorphous2111 on 15/10/2024 - 12:32
Last edited 15/10/2024 - 13:36 by 1 other user

Hello OzBarginers, my house was broken in during my holiday and I have filed a police report.

Now, the offenders used my credit card to order like a laptop from Officeworks but promptly cancelled so I can see refund from Officeworks. I called OW and they said there should be phone, email, name and delivery address of the order and if the police request they would provide such information to assist with the investigation. I have called SAPOL and they said they will update the file and notify the investigation officer.

My hope is that if they act fast, the offenders might still have stuffs with them and I can recover those. Some of the items are not worth much to them or on the market but gives me huge financial headache, such as the car key fobs for my wife's car that would cost me like $7,000 to replace.

Anyone with similar experience have any idea how the police will act in this case? Would they try to catch the offenders asap or they just proceed sequentially with the investigation.

Thank you,

Home & Garden

Comments

  • iDroid on 15/10/2024 - 12:46
    +41

    car key fobs for my wife's car that would cost me like 7,000 to replace

    WTF? Is it a Lamborghini?

    • CyberMurning on 15/10/2024 - 13:43
      +5

      Photo please we are interested on the car

    • amorphous2111 on 15/10/2024 - 13:47
      +7

      It's an old RX350 which is worth like 15,000. But Lexus insists on replacing the certification ECU and reprogram 2 new keys. My understanding is the reprograming can take hours but they are happy to put all the time on a labor sheet for nearly 3,000.

      • JIMB0 on 15/10/2024 - 16:55
        +25

        Given that teenager are stealing these things with cheap key programmers from temu, I'm sure a locksmith could do it for a few hundred.

        • amorphous2111 on 15/10/2024 - 19:56
          +5

          Yes for about 550, but legally the car will be insurance fraud if it is stolen and I claim insurance because I am aware that there are 2 same keys out there. The Lexus approach is most legal but I can’t justify paying 7k for the keys of a 15k car.

          I probably will hide a GPS tracker in it and just drive with the after market key. It’s a good old car I plan to keep and drive to the ground anyway. If they stole it then it will lead me to the thief who broke into my house, hopefully the police will be fast in such case.

          • JIMB0 on 15/10/2024 - 20:42
            +4

            @amorphous2111: If it's a push button start you just get new keys and erase all the previous ones.

          • Speckled Jim on 16/10/2024 - 14:43
            +7

            @amorphous2111:

            insurance fraud

            You mention insurance, yet talk of recovery to save $7K?
            Do you not have home+content insurance?

          • trapper on 17/10/2024 - 20:10
            +3

            @amorphous2111: You can claim the stolen key on your car insurance btw

          • imurgod on 18/10/2024 - 10:41

            @amorphous2111: Not insurance fraud. Your policy would cover loss of keys.

      • eek on 18/10/2024 - 10:54

        A locksmith can program new keys, cut new blades and remove the old keys off the car so they won't work anymore. No where near $7K. Probably around $500-600 for two keys. It would probably be the same as your insurance excess.

  • WoodYouLikeSomeCash on 15/10/2024 - 12:50
    +26

    The wheels of justice typically turn very slow.

    • mikekiwimike on 16/10/2024 - 07:43
      +12

      It’s a square wheel so the police part doesn’t really turn that well at all …. More of a slide, a justice slide from start to finish

      • CascadeHush on 17/10/2024 - 14:40

        Sliding donuts into mouths

        • Wayne7497 on 17/10/2024 - 23:15
          +1

          Really, its an American thing , you just sound stupid as Police rarely ever eat doughnuts in Australia

        • carwashhair on 18/10/2024 - 10:12
          +2

          I remember maybe 20 years ago now, front page on a local paper in SW Sydney, some frowning cops were pointing up at a 'Police Now Targeting' sign on the M5, where some kids had got up and replaced the slide-insert sign underneath to read 'Donuts'. Still gives a good belly laugh now

  • Bruceflix on 15/10/2024 - 12:55
    +5

    I would have said that the police don't even bother investigating things like this but, recently the police (also SAPOL) attended the Fastfood business where my son works with an order for the CCTV footage from the day earlier as someone purchased food with a stolen CC. I'd be getting on to SAPOL ASAP.

    • SnoozeAndLose on 17/10/2024 - 10:43
      +2

      We once had a break-in, took the card and a chequebook, the offender presented a cheque with a false signature, police reviewed the footage and understood that he was a repeat offender and known to Police, this happened 3 years ago and now no news from the Police.

  • dogboy on 15/10/2024 - 13:00
    +33

    Police responding fast? hahaha. Get prepared for them to tell you it is a civil matter and then do everything in their power to get out of having to do their actual jobs. The problem is, if you do their job for them then suddenly you will be the bad guy.

      • amorphous2111 on 15/10/2024 - 13:55
        +4

        Could you please shine some light on this? Do you think they would try to catch the bad guys asap and have interest in me recovering my properties and saving lots of time, money and efforts or they will just let it go with the normal procedure.

        • iDroid on 15/10/2024 - 18:37
          +2

          I don't have strong views either way, but from my understanding the issues is not "the cops" but the system in which they are required to work. I bet the cops would like to given the appropriate resources and freedom to do so.

          But honestly, this is just my take, not a science driven certainty.

          • 900dollaridoos on 17/10/2024 - 08:40
            +3

            @iDroid:

            I bet the cops would like to given the appropriate resources and freedom to do so.

            From my anecdotal evidence, I doubt it.

            When I got robbed, the cops asked me to interview my neighbors to try and get secuity cam footage because they "didn't want to catch covid before they went on holidays". This was late 2023 haha.
            I sent them some videos and they never responded again.

            They also let the guy escape (had him cornered in my laneway in my car) because they were worried about getting rammed or starting a police chase.

            They also told me there were 3 car thefts every night in our small city (200k population)… wonder why.

        • Speckled Jim on 17/10/2024 - 09:49
          +9

          Here's some light from 25 years ago in NSW.

          I worked in the security industry and had a new alarm prototype with real interest from several extended trading hours businesses. In order to sell the main benefits with any degree of fair-dinkum-ity, I had to consult NSW Police.

          I was told (off the record, of course) that such a device used in accordance with the timings and procedures that were technically possible, would expose their members to unacceptable risk. The union would kill it and they'd find a way to respond in a "safer way".

          In other words, my devices would have a higher likelihood of police arriving during, or very soon after the incident where offenders would still be nearby. Too dangerous!

      • TrumpisKing on 16/10/2024 - 09:38
        +9

        My house got broken into years ago. Ps4 and laptop stolen. So you think the cops cared? Do you think they did anything? No. Of course not.
        Cops only car about crimes that make them look good.

        • Tee Rex Arms on 16/10/2024 - 13:14
          -1

          Or they’re busy with people getting assaulted, DV, traffic crashes and someone’s personal belongings aren’t the priority when it comes to staffing in relation to these sorts of incidents, as it should be.

          • SlickMick on 16/10/2024 - 17:29
            -4

            @Tee Rex Arms: I'm learning that there is an anti-cop sentiment on ozbargain. So many extreme views here.

          • haemolysis on 17/10/2024 - 16:09
            -1

            @Tee Rex Arms: I get the point you're trying to make, but if you think about what you're saying carefully… you're saying "you just don't get it! It's not that cops don't care, but… they are just too busy to care."

            Well yes, I fully empathize with cops not having the resources. But that's the point! They don't have the resources, ergo the conclusion is cops don't care about property theft and damage.

        • jackspratt on 16/10/2024 - 19:37
          -2

          My house got broken into years ago. Ps4 and laptop stolen.

          So they left your MAGA cap collection, and the other assorted Made in China memorabilia https://www.amazon.com/trump-memorabilia/s?k=trump+memorabil… you have collected?

          Not surprised.

        • johnno07 on 17/10/2024 - 10:13
          -6

          Imagine you come into work and you've got two things to pick from:

          a. Missing PlayStation
          b. Meth-head flushing their baby down the toilet.

          As a cop that "only car about crimes that make them look good" which one do you pick?

        • sauce2k on 17/10/2024 - 10:43

          wow r u me? lol I had the same thing, they came and basically brushed me off lol never heard from them again.

      • dogboy on 17/10/2024 - 08:56
        -2

        I have dealt with cops many times in my life and have a friend who works as a cop. I am pretty sure I know how they operate by now.

    • franz87 on 17/10/2024 - 17:32
      +2

      This. There is a sad misconception among Middle Australia that the police are there to protect and serve them. Anyone who’s had the misfortune of dealing with the police knows that’s simply ruling class propaganda.

  • Gervais fanboy on 15/10/2024 - 13:47
    +8

    In general, they don’t really care about most non-violent crimes.

    • AustriaBargain on 15/10/2024 - 14:14
      +11

      Even some violent crimes they would rather you not tell them about.

  • Dollar General on 15/10/2024 - 13:48
    -2

    No one is more important than you so I would expect arrests any day now

  • Porker on 15/10/2024 - 13:53
    +5

    Depends I guess. I got the below from a family member who was involved in this Court case.

    Vic Pol were surveilling a group of burglars that had broken into a number of houses. The police let them break into 9 houses before arresting them where the surveillance commenced from house 2 or 3. The reason this was done was so the prosecution could get a more robust conviction and sentencing.

    While justice (!?) was served as such, there was sadly collateral damage in the form of houses 4 to 9 being used as evidence to make the arrests.

    Even if not the above situation, I can't imagine the officer would only have OP's case on their list to be able to respond/react to it in the time OP wishes.

    • RockyRaccoon on 15/10/2024 - 14:18
      +1

      So is it the Police or the Courts that is the issue?

      • Porker on 15/10/2024 - 14:39
        +5

        Government! :p

      • geekcohen on 17/10/2024 - 08:56

        Courts / Government. Slap on the wrist and they are let out, to only then continue on with thefts, breakins and driving like they are in Mario Kart in stolen cars.

    • SlickMick on 16/10/2024 - 17:33

      How long ago was this?

      I just want to compare the collateral damage of houses 4 to 9 and stopping them vs whatever house number we'd be up to now if they didn't stop them.

  • oscargamer on 15/10/2024 - 14:00

    You have house insurance? Use it

    • star-ggg on 15/10/2024 - 14:42
      +9

      Why fund a police force if everybody is just expected to claim on their insurance whenever property crime occurs?

      • pegaxs on 15/10/2024 - 15:19
        +8

        Because the police have stopped being police and just become defectors debt collectors and standover men for the state government.

        • GordonD on 17/10/2024 - 12:29
          +12

          The police have plenty to do that's more important than chasing and catching criminals.

          Like providing a huge security operation for an arms dealers conference in Melbourne.

          And arresting people for flying flags in support of the world's liberation organisations, sorry, terrorists.

          And prosecuting someone for having a swastika on sign that equated Israel's current behaviour to the Nazis.

          Their job isn't to protect little people like you and I, it is to protect the state, the powerful, from little people like you and I.

  • Moneyinthebank on 15/10/2024 - 14:09
    +1

    They need to finish their donuts first

  • GordonD on 15/10/2024 - 14:40
    +8

    I'll always remember when my car was stolen, and I found it left on the side of the road. I went to the local police and asked whether I should take it home. or did they want to fingerprint it or search it first for evidence. The answer was "nah, we only investigate car theft when there's a crime involved". After that response was published in the media they said what they meant was if there was another crime involved, like the car had been used in a bank robbery.

    So, yeah, if its non-violent crime they aren't interested.

  • pegaxs on 15/10/2024 - 15:14
    -2

    lol @ $7,000 for remote fobs…

    And if they are ordering laptops it’s to a mules house. Not their own…

    To give you an idea, in Nov ‘23 last year, there was a crime in progress, a guy selling a stolen and rebirthed motorcycle on Facebook. I called the local police to go out and pick it up. I had all the proof and documentation they needed to make an arrest… they called me back… in May 2024.

    Also, in case I didn’t mention it, lol @ $7,000 for a car remote…

    • amorphous2111 on 15/10/2024 - 17:47
      +1

      Well, that is the quote from Lexus dealership, no matter how much your Lexus is currently worth. Parts for the ECU and key fobs are 4,000. And all the time sipping coffee waiting for the programing update (I hardly imagine a Lexus technician will actually “program” anything) is accounted for at 220 ph plus GST.

      • pegaxs on 16/10/2024 - 07:18
        +10

        They are lying to you. What they are going to do is charge you for new keys and ECU and then just get a locksmith in to code some new keys to the car and charge you $7,000 and pay the locksmith $300.

        It’s a scare tactic they use to scare people off who bring cars in that they don’t want to touch or know FA about. If it is an old Lexus, the guys that knew all about them would have moved on and all the old tooling and software may not even exist or would have to be dragged out of storage.

        but legally the car will be insurance fraud if it is stolen and I claim insurance because I am aware that there are 2 same keys out there.

        That’s not how that works. A locksmith will remove the old keys from the car’s memory and program new keys to the car. If you are worried about the key still working, they can also change the keys so they also no longer work.

        You need to stop listening to dealers bullshitting you. Their only desire is to part as much cash from you as they are physically able to extract… they don’t care about you, they care about surgically removing your wallet with all the money intact.

        • meong on 17/10/2024 - 06:34

          Thats what i thought as well.

          I lost one of my spare key and I just went to a locksmith to copy from existing key. It took them nearly 1 hour though on a shopping centre car park cause they had to attempt all the available programmings from their laptop to finally find the one that can copy and write it properly on the new key.

          No one ever told me that this is illegal or will cause insurance fraud?

          They did say though that if I had lost the spare key too, it would've been more expensive or time consuming.

  • Arnold1 on 15/10/2024 - 15:29
    +4

    My car was hit in a shopping center carpark, I got the offenders license details (overseas) phone number, address, registration number, car make also the details of two witnesses.

    He had false plates on the vehicle and the police quite literally refused to help.

    I hope you have better luck than I did OP.

  • Baysew on 15/10/2024 - 15:35
    +2

    Sorry to hear about this, it does leave you with such a bad feeling.

    The people trying to use your card at Officeworks may not be same as those who robbed you. Same I guess with the car key.

    Perhaps your house (or car insurance) may be able to cover new key cost.

    • amorphous2111 on 15/10/2024 - 17:54
      +2

      Thank you, yes it really is. Everything seems to fall into one place badly this time for me.

      The house has no content insurance. Generally we have our valuables with us but this for some particular reason everything was left at home. My wife just got a new car so this car is unresgistered and in storage, so no insurance.

      My hope is those offenders are unexperienced due to the fact that they did order with my card then cancelled it promptly, they must have realized it would lead the police to them.

      Anyway I will try to call the Sapol again in a couple of days just to see how things go.

      • deepblonde on 16/10/2024 - 13:19

        I don’t think other commenters are correct about getting a locksmith to do it for $300. You had both key fobs stolen ? So no more? How would a locksmith cut a new key without an existing one? Or copy the coding from the chip? If you still have a key , any other stolen keys can be deleted so they can’t be used by Techstream at Toyota. It’s a headache; if you can beg SA police to help , sometimes if you talk to the right officer, they’ll make things happen.

        • amorphous2111 on 17/10/2024 - 09:25

          Thanks. Yes people are free to offer comment, mocking or advice, and I am free to choose what to listen to and whom I response or thank for sympathy. I got a few quotes from Locksmiths for about 600, will see if they can actually do it as I specified that I lost all key, car is locked and I have no code whatsoever.

  • EightImmortals on 15/10/2024 - 15:41
    +10

    Tell them the car had doughnuts in it.

    • 900dollaridoos on 17/10/2024 - 18:22
      +2

      Tell them the car was spotted doing 101kmph in a 100 zone

  • JIMB0 on 15/10/2024 - 16:52
    +1

    Your house being burgled while no one is home is not a high priority for them. If you were home at the time it would be higher on their list of things to investigate and if you shot one of them dead then lookout as they'd be investigating you.

    • ozboygsl on 16/10/2024 - 08:03
      +1

      Some might say that you fire 2 shots…1 in the floor and only if necessary and only to defend yourself from imminent and extreme life-threatening perceived attacks, 1 other shot…

      • JIMB0 on 17/10/2024 - 10:06

        Perhaps the intruder was never there. If they were reported missing I doubt the police would come knocking at a random house on the off chance he stopped by to rob the place before disappearing.

  • ozboygsl on 16/10/2024 - 07:56
    +3

    sapol? from extensive personal experience it's a question of if they'll do anything, not how quickly.

  • singlewind on 17/10/2024 - 02:09

    Not sure other states. In QLD, if the case delayed, you can fire ACCC case to accelerate it. As same as most of large organisation, it is hard to manage peeps. They usually pay more attention on life threaten case just like emergency services of public hospital. If financial loss is not big enough, they don't bother it. That is another reason you have to pay home content insurance to reduce your loss or buy home in a more secure place like apartments or in closed complex. Police force is always short of resource and train a police officer can cost tax payer a lot of money. It is a stressed role anyway. Inside, it is political, which push out responded people. This is not complaining. Just the ugly fact of all big organisations.

  • R-Man on 17/10/2024 - 02:15
    +7

    Plenty of detracting views about police efficiency and effort. We once had a good experience with Vic Police regarding a road rager.

    We had photos of him and his car, with a partial number plate. We ran different plate combinations on VicRoads check your rego and shared the matching one with the cop. The registered owner's mug matched the bloke in our photos and the police got cracking.

    A couple of weeks later they arrested and charged him. We were kept up to date the whole time which was excellent.

    • ExpressCoffee on 17/10/2024 - 09:28
      +1

      Dealing with this now and I've made 7 calls to the cops and they've done nothing about it. Not even a follow up to ask for my statement, and I was told wait till they ask me to give a statement. Useless.

      • R-Man on 18/10/2024 - 03:31

        That sucks so bad mate. Looking back, I wonder if one thing that made a difference in my experience was the officer we reported it to was young and he seemed keen to get this one sorted - and perhaps added to his rep.

        I wonder if we'd get the same experience with a more seasoned and tired cop.

        Perhaps try escalating to the sergeant?

  • cashless on 17/10/2024 - 08:41
    +1

    the offenders used my credit card to order like a laptop from Officeworks but promptly cancelled

    Did they fail to get a price match?

    • Herbse on 17/10/2024 - 09:15

      Probably realise the laptop didn't have enough ram

  • Herbse on 17/10/2024 - 09:14

    Depends if they are attending to something already or sitting/driving around nearby with no incidents already in progress.

    Unfortunately they can't be everywhere all at once. So it's up to us to adequately protect ourselves.

    Do you have a fence, safety locks, screen door? Do you lock your car and hide your keys and expensive items?

    Do you use an alarm or have cameras to deter or help police with their investigations?

    If you don't do any of those things because it's expensive or takes a lot of effort or makes the house looks bad then don't put the responsibility of protection on the police to try and get to your property in time to save your iPads.

    I'd much rather my tax dollars going to keeping the community safe from dangerous threats, violence and abuse than to make sure they respond quickly to save someone's expensive European keys.

    • Domingo on 17/10/2024 - 10:52

      I'd much rather my tax dollars going to keeping the community safe

      Wouldn't catching people who break into houses and imposing the consequences of the law on them be a positive step towards keeping the community safe?

      • Herbse on 17/10/2024 - 12:19

        Not if people are taking some personal responsibility themselves fiest to protect their items like I mentioned

        • Domingo on 17/10/2024 - 15:26
          +1

          The only information the OP provides is "my house was broken in"

          There is no information in to suggest whether this was carelessness or not. Perhaps the offenders smashed a window to gain access? Or perhaps the front door was left unlocked and they just strolled in and took thing.

          Regardless, they've committed a crime. Facing no consequences for this is not going to keep the community safe.

  • Alexxx on 17/10/2024 - 10:28

    It will depend on your local police and their workload. So far I've only had good interactions with my LAC.

    My storage cage was broken into in 2020 and they sent out someone 2 hours later to get fingerprints and take statements.
    They gave me a reference number and email address to submit serial numbers and a list of the things taken. Insurance replaced everything that was taken.

    I've also called them before when there has been people on the street with torches looking into cars and they were there within 20 minutes and spoke to them.

    Stolen mail report was also actioned within 30 minutes. I didn't think it was a big deal since I spotted a pile of letters in the bush but the called me when they got there asking for more details and collected all the mail.

  • yamahamoto on 17/10/2024 - 11:02

    The tenant at my family friends rental grew weeds and cops couldn’t care less. This is through REAs so they can get the details if they want to but they didn’t. Didn’t even make a police report when we went to speak to them.

  • Eevee on 17/10/2024 - 11:22
    +3

    I always see these posts and wonder what's the point of police?

    I guess they are mainly there for the really major stuff?

    So then even when you try to make their lives as easy as possible to catch a culprit, if they still won't do anything about it, who do you go to?

    • Herbse on 17/10/2024 - 12:30
      +1

      Policing is not free.

      It costs public money to pay officers to drive to a scene, take evidence, talk to the people affected, lodge evidence, follow up on leads, speak to witnesses, go through security footage, use fingerprint and forensic resources, identity a perpetrator, write a report, go to them, charge them, process a court order, prepare all the evidence, appear in court.

      All of this amounts to days or weeks worth of work for multiple public servants. All on the public dime. And imagine this is happening hundreds of times a day.

      Do you really want your tax dollars going to spending police resources because op doesn't want to hide his expensive keys from would be thieves? Or would you prefer they priorities their duties and people take some responsibility as best they can for themselves.

      • smartazz104 on 17/10/2024 - 14:16
        +1

        Add more speed cameras, money problems solved /s

  • lonewolf on 17/10/2024 - 14:36

    Police wont care at all, they only care about revenue raising these days sadly. Long story but my house got broken into and both police and insurance company know who did it. but police didnt even have any interest in contacting us back for details or the detective who was meant to contact us, never did.

  • isthisreallife22 on 17/10/2024 - 14:56

    Most posts saying they won't bother, and that's probably true, but I don't think it's actually what the post was asking.

    The post was asking if, in the event that acting hastily is the most likely way to achieve a successful outcome, how quickly COULD police act in this kind of situation. If the answer is not fast enough, then instead of blaming individual cops I feel like this should be the catalyst for advocating for some systemic improvements (there is typically a lot of focus if Paramedics are too slow to respond, and I'm sure there would be if Firefighters couldn't ever arrive in time to be useful).

  • QF1 on 17/10/2024 - 16:04
    +1

    In my experience, they will help with any paperwork you need for claiming insurance etc. Nabbing the culprits depends on the severity of the crime. Cant blame the cops as they have to follow bureacratic procedures which to us seems unnecessary but something they have to do.

  • HangryCakeStore on 17/10/2024 - 16:15

    Police act on what gets them the most money from the news media, where do you think the leaks mostly come from watching news?
    Australia police are not far from USA with too much power.. unlike NZ every cops carrying a gun here, except the 20million other civilians, who’ll protect us if a few individual police become corrupt?

  • Metre on 17/10/2024 - 17:37

    Locally, depends on how severe the crime. Your local department may be very short on staff.

  • iguana on 17/10/2024 - 22:01

    The plural of "stuff" is "stuff".

  • payless69 on 18/10/2024 - 04:48

    After donating to Gerry
    I can get away with anything!

  • quick-dry on 18/10/2024 - 10:37

    Surprised the police didn't just tll you to claim on your insurance and then go back into their station and vanish. They did that when I was even abl to give them the exact address because my ipad had FindMy active and showing where to go - they wouldn't even need to file a case, I'm happy to just have it back under the guis of "oh, we found all this, have it back"

  • ytthr on 18/10/2024 - 12:12

    If in a Vic - it will be very slow….. Chances are there is not even an investigation officer yet or ever.

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