This post doesn’t have much to do with the subject of credit repair or debt relief (at least not on the surface), but after reading it on my RSS feed this morning, I just had to share it anyway.
It seems the Chief of Police in Oakland, CA released a list of 44 different crimes – including grand theft, vandalism, and even identity theft – the department will no longer respond to due to budget cuts and lack of manpower.
A partial list of the crimes that no longer receive the attention they warrant includes:
• burglary
• theft
• embezzlement
• grand theft
• grand theft: dog
• identity theft
• false information to peace officer
• required to register as sex or arson offender
• required to register as a Raiders fan
• dump waste or offensive matter
• discard appliance with lock
• loud music
• possess forged notes
• pass fictitious check
• obtain money by false voucher
• fraudulent use of access cards
• stolen license plate
• embezzlement by an employee (over $ 400)
• extortion
• attempted extortion
• false personification of other
• injure telephone/ power line
• interfere with power line
• unauthorized cable TV connection
• vandalism
• administer/expose poison to another's
As you can see, this list runs the gamut from mundane (stolen cable TV) to pretty damn serious (embezzlement/extortion). If you happen to be a victim of any of these crimes, you can let the police know via their website, though what happens from there is really anyone’s guess.
So why the decrease in police responses? Blame the recession (again). The department was forced to lay off as many as 80 officers – mostly new recruits – in an attempt to close the $30+ million budget gap left in the city.
And while negotiations are underway between the city and its police to bring money back to the department, those talks are slow-going, leaving many to wonder where to turn for help when they actually need it; especially considering that those 80 officers who were let go only comprised about 10% of the overall force. This begs the question: What’s the other 90% doing now that they can’t be bothered to find my stolen dog or tell my neighbors to turn their loud music down? Certainly not answering my ID theft claims, that’s for sure…
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