[strangesongs]

To add another comment, pro-police commentators should look at clearance rates for crime in their areas. Police are generally very very bad at their jobs! I looked up SFPD clearance rates for the last year -- they solved about 10% of all bulgaries and less than 21% of robberies. 10%!

These organizations have enormous budgets and they can't solve simple, non-violent crimes. Why do they need more funding and resources? Is all of that double OT going to finally stop those "brazen" CVS pickpockets?

[urthor]

Keep in mind that you have a very America centric viewpoint. Judging by your mention of CVS Pharmacies at least.

American police are hot, smelly garbage.

Most other countries have much more intelligent and professional police forces.

What you've described isn't an innate factor of law enforcement. It's a factor of shit quality, cut price, American law enforcement (the biggest factor is the absurd fragmentation of local police departments).

[multjoy]

What's your definition of 'solve'?

I mean I could tell you who did a robbery, but proving it to the criminal standard of proof is a very different proposition.

Burglary isn't getting solved without a) CCTV and a subsequent ID or b) DNA or fingerprints.

I work on a busy (and I mean busy) robbery squad. An 11% detection rate puts us head and shoulders above the rest of the organisation.

[cookieswumchorr]

i think the laypersons definition of solve is getting their stolen things back. That's what i would expect. How much, if at all, jail time or fine or whatever the person gets is between them and the state, i need no revenge

[multjoy]

Good luck with that, then. Most stolen property is disposed of within hours.

[manigandham]

"Solving" a case in real world policing is much more complicated than you seem to think. Many crimes are not reported, solved off-record, or just prevented in the first place. Many are reported with no info to do anything with, and others take magnitudes more resources to solve then is practical.

I suggest you go for a police ride-along or listen to dispatch to learn what it's really like. And police are still at the mercy of the laws and courts which can make their efforts ineffective. You can catch all the criminals you want but it won't do anything if they're let out immediately with no consequences.

[addnab]

10% doesn't say much about the value that was recovered. 10% of burglaries could very well be 5% or 90% of total value recovered. Are they disproportionately going after grand thefts or petty thefts?

[qsdf38100]

It could be incompetence, it could be lack of ressources, it could be that it’s just very hard to find the culprits and prove with high certainty they are guilty.

[notahacker]

Also, excessive focus on proportions of crimes solved results in the worst sort of policing, where they push clearance rates by trying to pin lots of charges on one weak individual, decline to record minor crimes that probably won't be solved, and boost their overall clearance rates with easy charges for drug possession.