Comment by cisstrd | Hacker News Reader

Comment by cisstrd | Hacker News Reader

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Watch a Crime Series like Forensic Files (even if the cases might be cherry-picked) and your attitude might change.

Sure regarding technology they are not always up to industry standards, they might have to deal with too much workload, they might be under-funded, and someone working for the police will most likely not be smart enough to work for Google and earn 200000$ a year. But they can take fingerprints, they do have databases where they collect such information, they certainly can analyse video material, and it's stupid to think that in a country like Austria this won't be investigated (it's also Vienna we are talking about).

Even if they just take some fingerprints, analyse the video material, maybe notify the bank and send out a memo, how is this not worth reporting it immediately?! The bank being notified can warn customers, change pins for customers they think might be victims, are paying more attention, ...

I won't name other countries as I don't want to insult anyone, so let's just say in a "tourist-heavy corruption-ridden non-1st world country" I could sympathize a little bit more with your sentiment, but in this case I think you are just wrong and should re-think your attitude.

> But they can take fingerprints

We've had a rash of car break-ins in my neighborhood. My roomate had a large metal ball hucked through his car window, and when the police called, the dude refused to bag it for evidence, take it with him, fingerprint it, or anything. I'd say to consider yourself lucky if your local beat police give a damn about collecting evidence of a crime that's not drugs, violence, or human trafficking.

EDIT: Just remembered, instead, he picked up the metal ball and started tossing it around, from hand to hand, into the air, etc. All casual like - as if it were a toy. Callous disregard for his job and totally destroyed the evidence.

I don't doubt the story at all and I am sad to hear that, but I have to make the following points:

-) Even if no fingerprints are taken, the other points I made stand.

-) Anecdotal evidence is weak/no evidence, though I will not disregard it completely.

-) Not sure where this happened, call me biased (I really don't want to open a can of worms here), but I have more believe in the police of Austria compared to many other (including the USA for example) countries. [1]

[1] I don't mean to imply the capabilities are different, I want to say that I think the police in the USA, especially on the level of "normal" police officers, seems to get away with far more misconduct / inappropriate behaviour than a police officer in Austria ever would. Crime rates also have a huge impact, in areas of high crime rates or under-funded police especially "smaller" cases will not be investigated properly, et cetera...

Yeah. Two worlds I guess. Large southern US city vs Austria.

To make matters worse, it was most likely payback from a person who previously vandalized his car and got arrested for it. The cop wouldn't even listen.

Excuses i have heard from Police before for not taking fingerprints are that its not worth it for minor crimes. The cost of forensics is not insignificant and even for theft from a vehicle more than 10 years ago it simply wasn't investigated.

Obviously card skimming is a massively serious offence and should be thoroughly investigated.

this is it right here. police can't launch a manhunt for petty property crimes (sorry about your car, but that is what this is called). card skimming is a hugely scalable crime that can tear the fabric of electronic transactions.

Many years ago, our family home in London was burgled. The burglar(s) left being a pocket knife. Perhaps it had helped them get in.

As in your case, the police did not bag it or take it away. I was surprised as, even if there were no fingerprints, the engraved inscription on the knife would make it unique and would surely provide some clue. They told us to bin it, which we did.

They did not hold out much hope that they would find the perpetrators or our belongings. They suggested we go around to local pawn shops to see if any of our stuff showed up.

> not be smart enough to work for Google and earn 200000$ a year

Ugh. Equating market value and intelligence is a cancer in tech circles. I've worked in government. I've worked in private sector. My last job at a highly valued SV firm had me in close proximity to people in government. The private sector guys weren't any smarter, but they sure thought they were.

Some people knowingly go into the government sector and take pay cuts because they believe in civil service.

or for job some semblance of job stability.

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