Lots of arguments about traffic tickets as a revenue source. This is one case. I was managing a small lot in a Denver suburb when I had a car stolen from the lot. The lots was next to the local police duck blind on a four lane street headed downhill to the South. A cheap gas station was next door with two driveways shaded by trees. The North side of the station had a high wooden fence nearly to the sidewalk. The motor officers could sit under a our tree, hide behind our cars, and see a block and a half to the North and a full block to the South. Unless you were looking for him, Officer Friendly was hard to see.
I was rearranging the lot and had all the keys on the vehicle roofs when a customer came in to make a payment. A police motorcycle was sitting under our tree. I went inside long enough to write a receipt and came out to find our Mitsubishi Galant VR-4 gone. The empty space was directly beside the policeman. I ran up and informed him our car had just been stolen. He told me to call 911! WTF! Guess he was more concerned with writing tickets than catching a car thief.
Well I called 911 and soon had three cruisers on the lot but the car was long gone and never recovered. Rare car, only 3,000 were imported.
We had a decent relationship with the police and they always came quickly. The lot was in a high crime area. When I asked the street cops about the motor cop, they looked embarrassed - guess they didn't like the ticket writer squad either. At least, they didn't back him up when he finally strolled over and I told him to never park his Ramen eating, gutless, lazy POS, tax collector dressed as a policeman ass on our lot again. Seemed to upset him. He looked at the the other officers who looked back at him. He then went back to his scooter and drove off. After thanking the other officers for responding and finishing the theft report, we all went back to work.
Two days later a shift supervisor stopped by and we talked. He told me they had six motorcycle officers who did nothing but work traffic. Nice guy, we shared a cup of coffee and he looked over our security and video set up. I did monitor my driving closely within that city after that.
Guess you always have one in every group. In later years one of my sons lived within that jurisdiction and had numerous contacts created by his psycho meth head girlfriend. Their response was always professional. I still heartly dislike the way they work their duck blinds.
