neutron star has the patience of a saint. I would have blow a gasket days ago.
I’ve been reading this thread and salivating, waiting for the day that Dave goes down 
I’ve been sleeping in my clothes.
It seems to me that the police force that neutron star is dealing with is completely, utterly useless if they’re taking this long to arrest the guy. The police a) already have an official report filed by neutron star, b) already have documented evidence from neutron star, c) have a rap sheet on Dave, d) know where Dave lives, and e) know that he has violated his parole. They’ll have no problems prosecuting the ass-stain.
What the fuck are they waiting for? neutron star, I would go over the head of donut-fueled, miserable-excuse-for-Barney-Fife that you’ve been dealing with and talk to a lieutenant.
Band name!
Most Courts and PD’s have a large stack of felony warrants waiting to be served. They know where the guy is, they just don’t bother.
Maybe the next phone call could be, “He’s packing a suitcase! He called the bus station! He said he’s leaving the state in an hour!”
Guess I could try to give them a call and try to nudge them into action. This is starting to bug me. I just wish I remembered the name of the guy in charge of my case (I’m working on the third person thus far to recieve that distinction).
Ugh. More voicemail. I did find out the right officer to call and left him a message asking if he could let me know when they were going to pick up Dave, but the lady at the front desk said he wouldn’t even be in until tomorrow. Christ. I’m kind of sick of coming home from work and crossing my fingers hoping that he didn’t kick in my door, steal all my shit, and skip town.
I don’t blame you, that’s a valid concern - and I know it messes with your head. Do you have anyone you could stay w/ short-term or at least somewhere to store the stuff you want to keep?
My mail (book, dvd’s, cd’s) was stolen by some neighborhood kids a few summers back, and from that day on I hated checking my mailbox, the neighborhood and the local cops who refused to do anything abut it; the only witness to the theft was a 12 year-old girl from next door whose family came from Bangladesh. Or, as the cops called her, “The little foreign girl - you can’t trust her.” :rolleyes: (This was in Hamtramck, a very Polish and immigrant area of Detroit and I assure you the cops themselves weren’t bluebloods.)
I think this may pertain: I have the minor distinction of having been briefly arrested by a citizen.
It was at UCSB in the 90's. A friend and I were attempting to shoot another friend with a water balloon from a funnelator (not a sex act, rather, a funnel, with surgical tubing attached, which you use to launch water balloons). A balloon went astray and hit near an older gent, who looked quite surprised. Now, I should point out, it didn't hit him. it hit near his feet- not even on his feet, but near. He spotted us, as we ducked. He ran towards us, as we dashed back into the lab and attempted to look busy. He came in and ranted and ranted and ranted, ignoring apologies, and swore he'd have us arrested for assault. An hour later the cops showed up, with big grins, and read me my Miranda rights, and I was "citizen's arrested". I took the heat alone as the other guy was from Germany, and risked deportation. I made a statement, which could be summarized as "oops, sorry" and they left. They called an hour later to say the DA had really enjoyed the story, and that there would be no charges and the "case" did not exist, and that I had no record.
Subsequently, I found out that this gentleman was a visiting professor, and that he had 'citizen's arrested' so many all-but-random people that the cops eventually told him that he had used up his quota and couldn't arrest anybody else.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~end time travel~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Just for the record I would like to point out that I do not advocate any of the behaviour described above :D . Sorry if this was an inappropriate hijack, but like the illustrious Polymer, I'm still pretty new here.Great story; you know you are the first person to hijack in this thread.
ETA: Neutron star, I wish I had some advice for you to help move this along. I was assaulted and robbed by this guy that lived in my building. I made a report to the police but, because of circumstances, was hesitant to have them actually make an arrest. It took them a couple days to confront the guy only to put the fear in him; it worked. They were quite diligent in following up (it also ended up being the same POs who handled it throughout), which was surprising for the NYPD.
Or to make them believe it’s Dave, “He says he’s fleeing to France as soon as he gets the money for the bus ticket.”
“Dave’s not here, man…”
I join the rest of the Dopers in this thread in wishing you a speedy resolution to this problem, neutron star.
He may be smart enough to know that he has to cool it for a little while to not attract attention. That would be scary, though, because it would indicate that he’s thinking like a criminal, rather than a methhead.
Frankly, assuming she’s still living and working in the same area and job, it sounds to me like the next thing that needs to be done here is to call in Ms Robyn. No, not to perform a citizen’s arrest or anything. Rather, to contact the Citizens/Public Affairs Offices of the local P.D. and the Penn. State Parole Office (whatever their official title may be), with a link to this thread and a note that a story that started on a positive note regarding their department has now given 50,000 or so people from around the world the distinct impression that their competence level is such that they find their office by sheer bumbling accident each day. And an inquiry as to whether the departments in question would like to complete their work, or have it turned over to the station’s investigative reporters for an expose of their incompetence.
I was thinking of suggesting this. But I can’t see how any “expose” or article about this would be able to shield Neutron from being identified as the one who actually sicc’ed the cops on Dave. As it is, NS may be able to imply that the bank did it, and, like “sorry dude, I didn’t fink on you, the bank is the one”. Thereby possibly avoiding Neutron having a very angry enemy coming out of jail in the near future wanting revenge…just a thought.
Try calling Dave’s parole/probation officer? Shouldn’t be too tough to figure out who it is.
I seriously doubt that they would give a shit. Look here. In 2004 there was an average of one murder a month and one rape a week in Harrisburg. There were 22 arsons and over 800 violent crimes. There were over 2300 property crimes. My guess is a few hundred dollar theft would be one of the lessor of the property crimes.
If I were the police captain who was determining priorities, pulling some shit like that would put that one on the bottom of the list.
Serious question: what would that do? If I’m reading this correctly, the parole officer can’t do anything until he knows Dave has violated his parole, in this case, by committing a crime. It won’t be clear Dave has committed a crime (we know he has) until the investigation by the bank and police department is complete and a warrant is issued.
hajario, I think the angle for the media might be related to foot dragging by the police department. I’m not saying this crime overshadows more egregious crimes and investigations but, depending on the perceived interest (over repeatedly higher crime stories), it might garner someone’s interest.