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Sounds like a small town. Probably the Chief is right - nobody there is going to go buy an obsolete power supply for an obsolete stolen laptop.

As opposed to removing the hard drive and reading the data directly...

If they broke into a police cruiser to steal such an old laptop, there's a good chance they were after the data rather than the hardware.

I don't think the risk vs. reward would justify that crime for your average thief.

Your average thief is a kid looking for thrills.

Question: Why is the power cord so important? Can one not be made with cheap materials? I was waiting for a punch line but it didn't come.

The only power cord you might need is for your electric screwdriver to open op the laptop, remove the hard drive, and plug it in to another computer.