Thanks very much to both Anne and Gregory for your knowledgeable responses to the Shegstad car theft issue. I do feel a lot less outraged, because I can better understand what the cops are going through. I believe the problem is basically that it is very hard to get a conviction on something like car theft if not witnessed by an officer? So there's not much point in bringing in the bad guys?
Even though I have lost some outrage, I am still very concerned on how we stop these guys (or gals) from messing with our cars. Is there some way citizen groups can do something? Maybe hassle the thieves until they are so annoyed they leave? If they're really bad dudes with guns, maybe we could get them on gun charges? Would video-taping be sufficient to get convictions? Could we charge them with civil penalties bad enough to stop them, so we don't need the cops at all? Just throwing out ideas. Is this a problem that would be somewhat mitigated if we had more cops on the streets; that is, partially a problem of the decreased police force? Maybe it is an argument for more cops. Except that in my experience the cops have never been very responsive to anything less than murder, even in their salad days in the '80's. Mark V Anderson Bancroft REMINDERS: 1. Be civil! Please read the NEW RULES at http://www.e-democracy.org/rules. If you think a member is in violation, contact the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:mpls@mnforum.org Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
