[franga2000]

Yeah, Jim Browning definitely needs to go teach law enforcement how to do their job, preferably in exchange for the biggest consulting cheque the world has ever seen.

Ths problem, as always, is that they don't actually want to do that. They'd rather stay incompetent because it lets them let criminals off more easily. We have the same problem where I live but with illegal work for often far below minimum wage. The cops and tax inspectors keep saying they're understaffed, underfunded and undertrained to do anything about the problem, yet two journalism students have been able to catch and report more cases of illegal working conditions than the inspectors do in one year.

I used to wonder why, until I saw one of the main white collar cops in the city having a beer with the dude that I know for a fact regularly pays people minimum wage then has them give him half of it back in cash or they're fired. I asked around and it turns out they're childhood friends so he lets him do whatever. And we're not even close to the higher half of the corruption index! I can't imagine how things work in a country that's worse off...

[jl6]

Did you report the wage theft crime that you suspected?

[franga2000]

I didn't have any proof, only the word of a few people that were still working for him and couldn't afford to lose their jobs.

I do however know that he was reported and investigated at least once by a former employee, but the investigation unsurprisingly found no proof ("agreements" were all verbal and everything was done in cash). The cops said that with just one testimony a conviction was unlikely and nothing really came of it.

In general, these things rarely get resolved because the worker can't risk snitching because they'd lose their only source of income and once they leave and get a better job, they're just happy it's behind them and don't pursue it further.