Where approximately are you located?
I see your point. I guess it all depends on what the victim wants, and Breaking and entering is more serious. However, entering an unlocked shed or garage is also usually burglary, and most people wouldnt consider that as bad.
I think that depends on many jurisdictions wording of the laws, but in general - yes, you do.
Yeah, that happens a lot, and it isnt good. However, to be fair there isnt much they (Patrol officers) can do in the way of investigating - generally those things are solved via several such thefts becoming a pattern, and some door camera recording it. The Police Dept has just so much in the way of resources. But several such crimes in one area, and the police will move on it.
Honest question: isn’t the sole act of forcibly entering someone’s domicile considered “housebreaking?” Then when coupled with theft/larceny, it becomes burglary?
Or, just after typing this out, doesn’t it have to do with time of day? “Breaking & entering” during daylight, “burglary” after dark?
Tripler
Not reporting either, even if nothing was taken, is a bad idea.
It’s abandoned after you take reasonable steps to notify the owner.
Historically, in the UK, things lost in public places were treated a bit differently than things lost in a private space like your home. It’s a bit harder to identify the owner of a $100 bill you find on the footpath in the city. And/But when you already know the actual owner (plumber), it’s even more clear: you don’t gain ownership by abandonment just by having possession.
Case in point:
I believe the definition of burglary is entering a building unlawfully with the intent to commit a crime within. If you enter a building without the intent to commit a crime, I suppose it’s just trespassing.
At least in England, burglary consists of either entering someone else’s property with intent to commit one of certain offences (theft, criminal damage, grievous bodily harm) there, or of entering the property without such intent but then committing such an offence while you’re there. It’s defined in section 9 of the Theft Act 1968.
How hard is it to prove intent then? It’s not a hard logical leap to say someone in the process of B&E is not just jimmying open a door “to have a look around.”
Tripler
“Your honor, I am in awe of their interior decoration and wanted a closer look!”
You’d prove intent with evidence, the same as any other element of a crime.
Maybe it’s statements the defendant made (“that house is got a lot of good stuff to take”). Or maybe it’s based on inferences from physical evidence (the defendant entered with an empty bag, or maybe he had tools with him to break open a safe).
Typically, burglary is pretty self evident; it’s charged because the person not only entered but also committed a crime therein (note that it doesn’t have to be stealing, if you unlawfully enter a home and get in a physical fight with somebody, you could be charged with what my jurisdiction calls a “burg/batt” (burglary with battery), which is punishable by up to life in prison)
In cases where the proof isn’t so clear cut, the prosecutor will still likely try to convince a jury of intent, but will also ask that they be instructed on lesser included offenses; for burglary, that would mean a trespass. That way, even if the jury isn’t convinced that the defendant did have the intent to burgle, they can still find him guilty of a crime.
This can be difficult, but it’s not intrinsically more difficult than in all the countless other offences where some kind of intent (mens rea) must be proved in addition to action (actual reus). As @Moriarty said, you could rely on statements made before or during the deed, or items carried along, to convince a jury (“beyond a reasonable doubt”) that the defendant intended to steal or cause criminal damage inside the building.
The reason for letting intent suffice to turn trespass into burglary is, of course, to capture cases where the defendant entered the building with intent to steal, but where this theft isn’t carried out in the end (because, for instance, the defendant was apprehended before actually getting to steal anything). The law wants to make sure that this is a case of burglary, not just attempted burglary.
I can get my $/item(s) back at no cost to me? Sure. Yes, I realize this isn’t the crime of the century & won’t have 20 detectives working on it, but if it’s fresh, they may catch the perp walking a block or two away.
If a given shop has a reputation for being tough on crime, they’ll have less crime.
Call the non-emergency # (if you have one in your locale) & report it. It’ll get logged in & when they are looking at stats on crime, if enough of them, your neighborhood will be up for extra patrols. They probably won’t do anything for one broken car window, but if they see 10, or 25, or 50 they probably will.
If there was an ‘order’ for some part(s) for that model car it may be safer for the burglar to tow it. I would think the PD would run the tow truck plates & not the vehicle being towed if the thief got pulled over.
-* yes, some cars are stolen specifically to replace something on another vehicle. Need a new fender on your ___ {make, model, & color} car; a chop shop can get you that part a lot cheaper than they can thru legitimate channels, if they can get it thru legitimate channels, which may not be possible any more; especially, for older vehicles.
Ever have a burglar break into your house to steal things? This isn’t stealing a candy bar from a shopkeeper or even someone taking 20 bucks worth of stuff, and I’m pretty sure I know how the police would react if they found out through other means that your home was broken into and that you withheld valuable evidence without regard to who that jewelry actually belonged to, and you tried to use those silly arguments on them.
You think you will get your stuff back? Not unless it is valuable enough to pawn etc, and is readily identifiable.
Maybe, or just the opposite
Jewelry? I never mentioned anything like that. I said
And, if a victim wants to call the police, they have every right to do so.
When I lived in the city, the house at the end of the block was burgled. Then a week or two later, the next house closer to use. Then later, the next house close to us. Then, later, the next house close to use. Then later, a neighbour reported the car in the back lane, and our house being burgled. Daylight crimes, when the houses were empty.
There was no police response.
My experience here is that they do turn up fast for potential safety situations – if you are in the house, or there’s a fight, stuff like that, but for property crimes, nada. I doubt if the emergency response system has any more capacity to contact detectives than you or I do.
i represented a defendant in a burglary case. A man reported that a collection of watches was stolen from his house (which he was in the process of moving out of. It had a for sale sign outside, and most of the furniture was gone, but he said his watches were still in his closet).
A pint of orange juice was found, opened, in the hallway, which had been taken from the refrigerator (criminals are nothing if not dumb) Police conducted a DNA swab on the seal and matched it to my client, who lived a few houses down. They also found some video that may or may not have shown him leaving the scene, and he acted cagey (turning off his lights and pretending nobody was home) when police canvassed the neighborhood for witnesses.
So, at least where I live, a claim that watches (admittedly, the claim was about $20,000 worth) were stolen triggered a very thorough investigation. No violence alleged.
Obviously ymmv, but I offer it to provide a contrary perspective.
“The sun also shines on the wicked.” --Cicero, Roman Attorney.
A police department that doesn’t want you to report a home invasion would be the exception, not the rule. At the very least, they want it for the stats and to identify patterns or hotspots.
You cut my quote short & materially changed it.
You also missed the below line in the same post