This is to the driver missing a blue front bumper! (license, office)

[AngelHorse]

Originally Posted by skeddy

Understand the posters frustration, I'd be mad too. Bottom line, to the DSP, this is property damage, nothing more. People have their mailboxes/paper boxes hit all the time. The DSP aren't going to response to your house to investigate that either, this is basically the same thing. Some idiot, sober or not, became distracted and drove through the yard, hit a tree and left the bumper in the yard and kept driving. This will get no more than a cursory glance. The DSP aren't going to take the bumper for forensics, fingerprints etc etc., Their investigation will consist of being alert for a vehicle driving around without a bumper at best. They have investigations to conduct where people were seriously hurt or killed. This is at the bottom of the pile. A police report for this will state the DSP received a call reporting ..... on this date and time from someone identifying themselves as ______. That's all the insurance company wants, evidence that this was reported to the police. You can order them on-line from the DSP, they cost $25.00. 33 years in the LE business at municipal/county and federal level. None of it in Delaware but it's pretty much the same everywhere.

There's no police report.
That's the thing.
This cop acted as if we weren't worth his time. He insulted the property by calling it a name. Then he told my husband that there's no reports about this incident. As if to say they'd not responded to the incident at the time it happened , so why were we bothering them now thinking they're going to write this up? You know, just an hour or so later after it actually happened?

I was in the house when this joker careened through our yard and never heard a thing because the AC and the TV was on. It's like this driver took his/her reckless driving as a matter of course and when they got lucky and their front tires found purchase on our driveway , and they narrowly missed hitting the street post and fence behind it, they just careened back onto south bound DuPont highway and kept it movin.
I'd been home for about an hour when hubby came home and asked about the damage in the yard and to the tree. The cop got there relatively fast, like within 15 minutes.

Likely this BMW could have driven right past a DSP SUV and that officer would never have done a thing then either.
But if I was a cop's wife, friend, or a cop, and this was my property that it happened in? Oh boy, this thread would not even exist! The driver would be found, charged, I'd be suing them for private property damage. They'd have citations and fines and a court date by now.

What DSP don't realize is, when they tell a citizen, "there's nothing we can doooooo!" , as they dismiss property damage, vandalism, etc.... that DSP officer is stating, as a sworn officer of the law, the executive branch of government, that there does not exist any law that pertains to matters of concern with regard to property damage, vandalism, or whatever it is that that particular responding officer decides to say , there's nothing we can doooooo, to.

And that means that officer is advancing vigilantism.

Because when there is no law to enforce, no thing law enforcement can do, that leaves it to us. Bet there's something fed up Delaware citizens can do when they've had enough of depraved indifference in law enforcement that doesn't give a damn about citizens being violated by idiots who can afford a BMW but can't drive it worth a hill of beans.
And vandals that tag property they destroy over years because they can. Because their parents FAILED!

[skeddy]

As I mentioned earlier, file a claim with your homeowners insurance if damages warrant a claim. And again, DSP won't respond to minor property damage such as in your case or a damaged mailbox. Sorry for your loss.

[Zippyman]

Originally Posted by pdpfa3

Skeddy, I don't know where you were trained in police responses, and it may be that way in Delaware and where ever you are located, but it's not that way everywhere. A police report maybe required by the homeowners insurance company. If the offending driver leaves evidence behind the traffic safety division of a police department should investigate the accident. If it leads no where then fine but that is part of their job. In my 26 years in law enforcement that's the way we handled it. Otherwise, it would pay to flee all accidents because there would be no repercussions. And the primary focus of the police is to protect and serve, that includes public and private entities.

+1

I used to work at the headquarters of the parts department of a major automaker - we'd routinely take calls from law enforcement regarding hit-n-runs. Quite often we could narrow down the search quite a bit from even a small piece of a lens. Sounds like the chunk the o.p. Has is large enough that it may also have a vin tag on it which would lead directly to the vehicle involved.. Fenders/doors/hoods/bumpers, etc are required by law since 1987 to have a vin Id attached for parts traceability/ chop shops.

[Creature of the Wheel]

OP: it was probably an off-duty cop on a drunken and/or drug fueled bender or it was a member of the DuPont family.

[kanling]

The police need supporters these days. Treating law-abiding citizens this way is a great way to lose support.

[Mathguy]

Originally Posted by skeddy

sorry, police have policies about when to take a report, usually if no one is injured or public property is not damaged they don't take official police reports. Their contact with you will be noted as responding to a call. It's been that way for many years and it's not just in Delaware.

In your example, if the police witnessed someone drive through your yard, they would stop and take a report and issue a summons to the driver to appear in court; if they were impaired they would be taken into custody. Their focus is primarily public safety and protection of public property. Your damage would be resolved by your homeowners insurance.

To make matters worse, if you place boulders in your yard specifically to serve as a barrier to vehicles and someone runs into them and is injured, I'd expect a lawsuit. Sorry, it's a different world today.

Yep, when you put the boulders in put some plants around them and make sure to document it on facebook as your rock garden and how much more aesthetic it looks.

[AngelHorse]

Originally Posted by skeddy

As I mentioned earlier, file a claim with your homeowners insurance if damages warrant a claim. And again, DSP won't respond to minor property damage such as in your case or a damaged mailbox. Sorry for your loss.

Firstly, I've arrived at the conclusion you're not police.

The academy teaches police how to keep details in their head, and prior to the academy those that aren't able to remember simple facts, because there is a test, are booted.

You've fouled on two points in my OP and now here quoted above. First, it was never public property. It is private property. There is a world of difference. Actual police know this.
Second, there was never mentioned any damage to mailbox. Because the mailbox was not impacted. A simple scroll back when you can't recall details of the thread where you're defending bad policing would have helped you find those facts so you could respond at any time using those facts. You've never bothered. That's lazy.

You're not a cop. And posers are personal tragedy attention whores. Your antagonist roll is found out. Move on.

[AngelHorse]

Originally Posted by Creature of the Wheel

OP: it was probably an off-duty cop on a drunken and/or drug fueled bender or it was a member of the DuPont family.

That very well could be. I use to live in a different state. One day I chatted with someone while lunching at a cafe' near the local courthouse. She points toward this rotund man making his way there. She noted he was a judge. And an alcoholic. When he's pulled over by police for DUI they don't bust him. What should be the arresting officer calls another unit to the site, the arresting officer lets the judge ride in his car, and the other officer locks his patrol unit and drives the judges car to the judges house. Then the arresting officer drives his buddy officer back to his own unit and on goes life.

If a clerk at the courthouse knew this how is it no one did anything to stop it? What about the day when that judge kills someone because he's again drunk behind the wheel ? And with a valid license that should have been suspended years prior?
It's not what you know, it's who you know.

And it very well could have been someone the cops know to let get away with anything.

[AngelHorse]

Now that everyone reading is off work today, please be safe as you celebrate, breathe deeply and have tons of fun on your day off work.

[skeddy]

Originally Posted by AngelHorse

Firstly, I've arrived at the conclusion you're not police.

The academy teaches police how to keep details in their head, and prior to the academy those that aren't able to remember simple facts, because there is a test, are booted.

You've fouled on two points in my OP and now here quoted above. First, it was never public property. It is private property. There is a world of difference. Actual police know this.
Second, there was never mentioned any damage to mailbox. Because the mailbox was not impacted. A simple scroll back when you can't recall details of the thread where you're defending bad policing would have helped you find those facts so you could respond at any time using those facts. You've never bothered. That's lazy.

You're not a cop. And posers are personal tragedy attention whores. Your antagonist roll is found out. Move on.

you're right, don't listen to me.