City of Phoenix services declining (Tempe: apartment, insurance, house)

[Desertspiritsteve]

A neighbor called me Monday at noon when I was going for lunch in south Tempe. He informed me that my lawn mower just went over my block wall in the alley. He yelled at the perps and they peeled out in the alley. He saw the truck. The neighbor didn't and most neighbors won't call the police. They usually tell you all about it later. I came straight home to the Osborn and 19th. Ave. area and found my storage rooms with cut locks and open doors. My nice Honda mower was gone, ladders and some power yard equipment. He even stole a box of spa chemicals. No one got into the house. I have Roll-A-Shields on every window and they were closed. I have cameras around the house, too.

I called the police on the non-emergency number and they said they would send out an officer. I waited all day and my doorbell rang eleven hours later just before midnight. The police had arrived. I had gone to bed but got up and got dressed. The officer was very apologetic about the Phoenix Police response time. He filled out a report and I gave him a flash drive with some back yard videos on it. I will try to upload a video for your amusement.

I talked to the street light "Executive" with the streets department of Phoenix. I asked him if a tree could be trimmed back from under the street light and the streetlight could be fixed because it runs 24/7 and yet the street is dark at night. A waste of electricity. He said that even with their cherry picker (Or SRP's) they weren't permitted to trim a tree. The light never got repaired; it runs day and night.

Most City of Phoenix telephone lines have endless voice prompts and often go to "I'm away from my desk" voicemail. 911 is the only exception I'm aware of.

I guess most of our city taxes are going to fund spiked pensions and for feel good projects. Downtown Phoenix and the Arcadia area have lots of Police presence. Poorer neighborhoods are not so good. I think we're on our own.

Here is a two minute video snippet from one of the back yard cameras. At the end you will see my Honda mower going away forever. two minute clip

[vimeo]90830578[/vimeo]
https://vimeo.com/90830578

[phx1205]

Sorry to hear about the theft, that really sucks. I would suggest emailing your councilman. They might not be able to fix everything, but should be able to do something about that tree trimming issue. I have found the staff of my councilman to be very responsive when emailing with questions/concerns.

[locolobo13]

Sorry to hear about that.

Not sure if you want to try this but here is a suggestion. Hopefully your home insurance covers this. If you can find the serial number of your mower or have a good way to positively ID it that the police will accept check craigslist. I was able to recover my bicycle this way.

The police won't go check on a item that "looks" like your tho. You will have to go and ID it yourself. At least I had to. It's not wise to try to take it back directly as that could lead to charges against you. Once you have ID'd your mower pass on it or tell the seller you will have to get the money and come back. Then call the police and tell them.

There's still not much hope of recovery. Sorry. It is just a suggestion.

The better suggestion would probably be to look into a security system if you don't have one.

[phetaroi]

I'm not so sure that the OP's post shows any decline in service. I loved in a community with a rather thorough police department; had a break-in of my apartment's storage bins; had a fair bit of stuff stolen. Although the police came fairly quickly, they did no more than take a report because those types of thefts are -- to a large extent -- unsolvable.

[Zippyman]

What we have here is a failure to communicate. Apparently, you believe the police department is there to "protect" you and your stuff.. That notion went away with Andy Griffith, and was re-affirmed with about a dozen supreme court cases, starting with Warren vs. DC in 1981. The police will respond in a timely fashion to a *business* being burglarized, (because businesses are people with rights!), but ordinary subjects are on their own. The only thing keeping your stuff inside your home is the kindness & civility of your local meth-head. The emporer has no clothes..

[Desertspiritsteve]

The officer that showed up at midnight was blown away with how secure my house is. The only suggestion he had to make it more secure was to add another course of block to my wall which is already six and one half feet tall now. I don't think an alarm system would have helped in my back yard. Most of my rolling shutters are usually closed and if I leave they are all closed with the tv playing loudly near the front door or in a front bedroom. With rolling shutters, the evil-dooers can't tell if someone is home on the inside just waiting for them. I love the cameras and may put in more of them. I have more videos including some of the vehicle the neighbor described driving past the house before it went to the alley to conduct business. I reviewed all the videos and transferred them to a flash drive for the police. The officer requested the videos and I had them ready. I can't tell from the video I posted if the burglar saw the cameras on the patio. If this is all the trouble I've had living at this address since 1986, I'm very grateful. My house is lit up with led lighting outside front and back dusk to dawn. This happened at noon. My insurance is $1000. deductible so there is no point in filing a claim. I went to Home Depot and bought a new Honda mower the next day. I bought an aluminum sign that warns about video surveillance and mounted it on the back wall of my free standing garage at Home Depot, too. I have a yard service but like to have a mower for in-between in the summer and picking up leaves. The new mower lives in the garage with my car now. I won't leave valuables in back yard sheds any longer. I have enough spa chemicals for the time being and saw that new ladders are not really that expensive.

The point of my post was really about how ineffective the City of Phoenix is now. The lower line employees don't get paid well and haven't had a raise in years. The higher-ups get paid really well and get car allowances and cell phone allowances and pension spiking. Police telephone lines (Other than 911) are all voice prompts leading to voice-mail....and you don't get a call back for hours. Phoenix police now have a special barking dog line so the neighborhood beat won't won't respond to that issue in the middle of the night. It's as if though the departments are scripted as to why they can't help you with what you need. I'm a sixty-five year native and remember when the police function was to protect and to serve. I don't own any guns. I am a Viet Nam veteran and know how to use them. Am I supposed to purchase some handguns for protection?

I have been reading in the paper how broke the City of Phoenix is again. It's all the usual stuff. They may have to shut down the few senior centers that are left and meals on wheels. Kid's swimming pools will have to stay closed when summer comes. The graffiti busters will no longer be. All the usual stuff.

I know that I can always vent here on city-data and get support from people I respect. I thought you'd enjoy the video, too. You got to hand it to the guy, he works hard. He runs everywhere he goes.

[West Phx Native]

Your lucky, when my house got broken into, the Phx PD did not even want to send anyone out. There were well defined boot prints on the back door, they did not care, it was more or less, DON'T BOTHER US.

[Burning Madolf]

I'm still unclear as to why your neighbor didn't call 911.

[Burning Madolf]

Originally Posted by West Phx Native

Your lucky, when my house got broken into, the Phx PD did not even want to send anyone out. There were well defined boot prints on the back door, they did not care, it was more or less, DON'T BOTHER US.

What are they going to do? Unless it's in the act, they're just going to file a report. They're not going to take boot/finger prints.

B&Es suck and the people who commit them are the biggest pieces of crap in the world. That being said, unless it's in the act, there's really nothing that can be done (unless you catch them ).

[phetaroi]

Sounds to me if the city can't afford to hire sufficient police. In other words, not enough tax dollars.