If You Live In Tulsa Don't Bother Calling 911 - Part Two

My friend who had his business van stolen yesterday got it back today.  You would think that once he got his police report filed
that the tag number and description would have been broadcast, that Tulsa PD and Sheriff's units would have been instructed to look for it, that in their diligent patrols of our streets it would have been spotted and my friend would have received a friendly call from Officer Friendly to come pick up his stolen vehicle.  NOT IN TULSA OKLAHOMA.

This morning, my friend and his grandson got in their beat up old car and started searching the streets near where the theft occurred.  (Wouldn't you think that is something our highly paid police officers would have been assigned to cover?)  At any rate, within an hour or so they found the stolen van parked in plain sight in the parking lot of just about the only grocery store on the north side.  The keys were in it, his fruit, tools and personal possessions were still there.  Only some minor electronics had been stolen.  So, in a way, my friend was lucky.  He got his beat up old van and load of fruit back.  But, was he really lucky.  I think not.

I think that when a grand theft auto is reported that any citizen has the right to speak to a police officer within a few minutes of making the 911 call.  That did not happen.  I think that when an auto theft occurs, a citizen should not be required to get himself to a police station somehow and then beg police officers in the parking lot to take a report.  I think that when an auto theft report is taken that the citizen has the right to expect the police to make at least a cursory search for the vehicle.  And, I think that if a stolen vehicle is parked overnight in a public parking lot in full view of dozens if not a hundred passing TPD and Sheriff's units, at least one could have had the common decency to investigate.  That's what I think.

And, I think that my friend is awfully lucky that the vehicle was abandoned.  What if he had drove up on it and the thieves had been in it or nearby?  Would my friend have become the next George Zimmerman for doing the police department's job? 

It seems to me that Tulsa's city government, especially the police department, has abdicated its duty.  I no longer bother to tell clients to call the police when they are the victims of theft, embezzlement or even blackmail.  And, I tell them not to bother with the DA's office either.  All of those people that we pay to protect us are too busy for the day to day crime that costs us a fortune in the aggregate and even makes our lives a living hell at times. This situation has to change because anarchy is already taking hold.