Reality: Police absolutely hate doing the "boring" parts of their jobs. Property crime clearance rate is an abysmal ~10% and everyone knows a handful of people who reported a theft, large or otherwise, and got nothing but a police report.

Meanwhile they had plenty of time to come to our local supermarket and harass a 6 year old that tried to pocket a candybar. They took him into the security camera room and hassled this kid for several hours, zero parents involved.

The American police do not feel required to do their damn jobs, unless it involves physical activity or a gun. The boring stuff, like submitting hundreds of stored rape kits to labs to literally catch rapists, doesn't get done, ever.