I have always believed that life is filled with good times and bad times. I seem presently to be living in some of the bad times. The last two years of my life have been filled with troubles, and the past two months seem to be trying my patience to the point where friends are waiting to see if I buy a high powered rifle and start looking for a high place with a good view of crowds.
Some self styled socialist seems to believe that the truck that I have been making payments on for years should be his. Twice in the past sixty days he has broken into it and destroyed parts of it while failing to steal it. The insurance people have been very cool about things, but insurance does not make me feel good about my fellow man or his intelligence.
The night after I got the truck back from the repair shop the second time, this self styled socialist broke into the lovely Mrs. Troll’s truck and stole items inside, including blank checks.
That is three auto theft/burglary incidents in the last two months, two of those in the same week. Gimmie a break!
The police are obviously not terribly concerned. They say all the right things and go through the motions, but hint that this is such a common crime that nothing will come of it. One officer told me that there are about 200 similar calls in the metro area each DAY. That is about 73000 calls a year. If I were to pull a number out of my ass and say that each incident cost the car owner or insurance company $1000, that means that $73,000,000 is being given up for auto crime in the metro area each year. That is not chump change, my friend, but the police are treating this as an everyday crime and not important enough to pursue.
The thought strikes me that when the police are overwhelmed by the crime rate, something may be wrong with our government. I thought that part of the money I contribute each year in taxes was supposed to go toward law enforcement and public safety. I assure you that I pay plenty in taxes, between income, state, food, alcohol, fuel, property, gross receipts and other taxes that slip my mind at the moment. There are a LOT of people in this city that are paying taxes like I am, and I wonder if they are as happy as I am with what they are actually getting for their tax dollar.
I am particularly disappointed that while the majority of society seems to be trying to prevent this kind of thing from happening, the bad guys seem to be winning. Criminals are obviously getting away with it if they are still doing it. Property crime is not a crime of passion; this is the kind of thing that comes from practice and an availability of others willing to buy stolen goods. This is obviously an industry. There is obviously someone making money from stolen goods.
There used to be a time where you might be killed for being caught attempting to steal a man’s horse, breaking into his home, or taking away his goods. Now, even if the ‘perp’ is caught, he is quite likely to get a slap on the wrist, probation, and an opportunity to go to jail for a short while where he can learn the tricks of the trade before getting out and putting the things he has just learned to use in taking things from others.
Maybe, after getting caught four or five times, he may get sentenced to a longer time in jail where he is fed, exercised, and watered like a family pet. While incarcerated, he is in the perfect place to learn how to get away with even more criminal behavior. One of the problems with putting people in jail is that you are providing a finishing school for criminals at the taxpayer’s expense.
Crime is out of control in many places in this country. The police are no longer able to protect the common citizen from criminals. The police are outnumbered, the courts are overwhelmed, and the jails/prisons are overcrowded.
In my opinion, we are well and truly fucked.
