I think the Incident Report speaks for itself. It has been edited just slightly to protect the identity of those involved (click to enlarge).
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
To the rescue
We are living in a "call the cops" culture where many people are easily irritated, unwilling to talk to one another about these minor irritants, and seem to think that the solution to every annoyance is to summon the power of government.
I think the Incident Report speaks for itself. It has been edited just slightly to protect the identity of those involved (click to enlarge).
I think the Incident Report speaks for itself. It has been edited just slightly to protect the identity of those involved (click to enlarge).
How odd that this woman is so concerned about her tax dollars being used to purchase and replace the missing sand that she apparently didn't think calling the police and wasting their time on such trivial matters was a waste at all.
ReplyDeleteIt is indeed a "call the cops" culture. SOP in one agency is to ask the complainant something to the effect of: "Have you been a good neighbor and asked (subject) to stop/remove/adjust/turn down/etc?" The reply is often "it's not that important (for me to waste my own time)", or "I don't want them to know who called." Cowards. We're not _communities_ anymore, just collections of residents. Sad.
ReplyDeleteBucket of sand = $1.00
ReplyDeleteCost to send Officer and time on report = $400
Laughing at this report = PRICELESS
Saving tax dollars----Lets pay a cop $25 or so per hour to recoop the $1 in sand. (not to mention gas prices and the person's wages who had to take the call).
ReplyDeletewow...
ReplyDeleteChief, can you please tell us how many ice cream buckets worth of sand qualifies as a felony?
ReplyDeleteThis is too funny.
I nearly soiled myself laughing so hard. How do the dispatchers keep from busting one when they get a call like this. Now I know where 38 was coined.
ReplyDeletebbrk
Gene:
ReplyDeleteThat depends on the size of the bucket.
I think officer White's value of $1 is not literal, rather it is a indication of the nominal value of the sand.
You could, however, calculate the actual value. I went here for a quote of $30 per ton. A ton of sand is 1.35 cubic yards. A cubic yard of sand, then, would cost $40.50. There are 201.974026 gallons in a cubic yard, or (put another way) a gallon is .0049511 cubic yards. So, $40.50 x .0049511 is $0.20 ( rounded to the nearest penny) for a gallon of sand.
Of course, if it's a half gallon ice cream bucket, we'd be talking a dime.
In Nebraska, theft is only a felony if the value is more than $500, which (in sand equivalent) would be the volume of 2,500 gallons of rocky road, or 5,000 half gallons of chocolate chip.
:D
ReplyDeleteThe untold story is that this was found on the gentleman when he was patted down. That's clearly Holmes Lake on the right.
ReplyDeleteThat's too much sand to be carried in one load! Could you aggregate all those sand thefts into a single felony charge?
ReplyDeleteAlthough on the surface this report could and apparently is according to the comments, viewed as ridiculous. However, people call the police because they are unhappy. People often erupt over trival things which really are not the reason for that eruption.
ReplyDeleteThe person's action in calling the police is much preferred by me rather than the more violent actions of others (e.g. road rage incidents and school shootings). The officer making this call performed a valuable service for the caller, his department and society. Their is no price tag on serving the public.
The most important police work may in fact not be crime fighting.
I actually think the woman was reasonable. I don't think I would confront someone for taking the sand because the act itself shows a general lack of courtesy to the community, and why should I think pointing that out is going to change it?
ReplyDeleteI know it seems a little overkill, but the little things are important. Calling things like this in prevent a large long term problems that occur from the 'tragedy of the commons'.
Also, for the guy that clearly wasn't trying to hurt anyone but was in the wrong: try the yellow pages.
oh, and Chief, you forgot to include the price of getting a city park employee to put it in the hole.
ReplyDeleteEvery fall, I purchase three or four tubes of sand and gravel mixture for the back of my pickup, to be used as weight to provide traction. Since these tubes are basically heavy plastic, by springtime at least one has usually ripped open because I actually use the back of my pickup, unlike most around Lincoln.
ReplyDeleteWhen I take the sand out, it goes in the wheelbarrow, then I walk over to the neighborhood park and put it on the gravel parking lot to fill in a few holes.
Thanks to the original caller and you, Chief, I now can do this feeling that I have bettered the community at large by putting back what someone else has taken away from all of us. I think I'll sleep better tonight.
Sand larceny is on the rise and thus could lead to bigger criminal acts like, road gravel thefts. Stop these violent offenders and report all of them immediately to your local law enforcement agency. Chief can we assign at least a dozen officers to this special enforcement project before it gets out of control and our city is over taken by these harden sand thiefs?
ReplyDeleteAlso to all citizens do not attempt to confront these sand thieves as they could be packing sand box toys! Consider them armed and dangerous!!
I smell a POP project!!!!
ReplyDeleteChief, are these implements classified as burglar tools in the State of Nebraska? By the way, that boat would look pretty snazzy on your desk.
ReplyDeleteanonymous 7:07 -- I can see it now! Concerned citizen sees you putting the sand in the lot. Calls in thinking its toxic substance. Full blown haz mat response! Lincoln Fire among others! Testing at Lab. Officer assigned to chase you down for littering. Cost?
ReplyDeleteHe could fly the flag from his car antenna and people would just think he was a Husker defense fan.
ReplyDeleteanonymous 3:02
ReplyDeleteCode 38? You gotta have been around here a while to remember 802.
Another example of burglar tools in this case.
ReplyDeleteChief: What's your enforcement policy? How much sand can someone haul away before the cops get serious? One wheelbarrow? One pickup? One dumptruck? Inquiring minds want to know.
ReplyDelete1:43-
ReplyDeleteDog gone it. Someone has removed the General Order on Sand Pilfering from my manual!!
For the moment, I'll just have to revert to the default order:
"Follow the Golden Rule, use some common sense."
The Husker's have a defense??? When did this happen?
ReplyDeleteSomeone evil mastermind must have stolen the Husker defense. Maybe it was the same villain that stole Wednesday's LPD incident summary page code - it's totally missing!
ReplyDeleteWe canceled Wednesday.
ReplyDeleteReading is fundamental.
And, they sell play sand at Home Depot for $3.39 per 50 pounds...
ReplyDeleteFunny, I thought it had to be $1000.00 for a felony theft. That's what my Sgt told me the other day. Can you clarify?
ReplyDelete8:52 PM-
ReplyDeleteSure, I can clarify.
Class II misdemeanor <=$200
Class I misdemeanor >$200
Class IV felony >=$500
Class III felony >=1,500
He/she must have missed that question on the Sergeant's exam.
ReplyDeleteTo whom it may concern!
ReplyDeleteThis is a man who loves his daughter, stopped by three hardward stores to get sand for her wedding, and finally stopped at the lake before going home and took 2 cups of sand which he put in the ice bucket that he had in the back of the truck from fishing and after having an officer come to his home, he went back to the park and returned. This is also a man who for the last 6 years has been a YMCA coach for basketball and football, volunteering his time for our children.....which 3/4 of Lincoln residents would never "have the time to do". But some woman has the time to call LPD for a silly matter like this. Priorities?????
As far as the yellow pages, REALLY?!?!?!?!?!
June 4, 2008 10:22 PM