user842 wrote:Well, I realize that I may take this personally, but it is not always fair to generalize/categorize all police based on your experiences. Many of the guys on this board become very defensive regarding stereotypes/broad general statements regarding permit holders... No difference, everyone has their own good and bad experiences.
I have had few truly bad experiences with police, and they were in New York and New Jersey. (I really do have to say that Minnesota police officers seem to be way better than their East Coast colleagues in many respects) Most of the rest were just police being unable to do anything. A few were just silly, like being pulled over for yielding to the police cruiser.
user842 wrote:I can not intelligently comment on your personal experiences as I was not there, or maybe I was...? Either way, don't know the circumstances of your car accident. What did you expect to happen with your stolen car? Often times nothing more can be done than a simple report (possible video recordings depending where it was and so on) and entering it as a stolen vehicle so it will come back stolen in the DVS/NCIC system. There is no red bat phone we can pick up and have every law enforcement officer in the state looking for your specific vehicle... Too many people, too many cars, too much other stuff going on.
As far as the accident, some moron ran a red light and hit me. When I called 911 I was asked if I was bleeding. When I said I wasn't, they told me nobody would come and I need to go to the station(nice trick with the car not being mobile) and pick up a report form which then I would have to fill out myself and mail it in. It woulda been nice if there was somebody there, since the woman reeked like a beer keg, to me it seemed a good idea to get her off the road.
As far as a stolen car, you call that in, and they will tell you to call the impound lot and have it put on the list. Police are not involved at all. There is a lot of this self-service kinda stuff going on. Gang graffiti is to be reported to some obscure city department, and I am responsible for taking pictures and sending them in. That one surprised me, I thought the information on gangs in the area would be useful.
To be fair, sometimes police do get there. When a drunk in a stolen car wrecked both my and my wife's car (parked in front of the house) they did respond. About an hour and a half after the call. The drunk was long gone, and as far as I can tell there was no attempt to find him.
user842 wrote:Medical emergencies? In my experience 95% + of the time I arrive before paramedics/fire. We are mobile, they are usually not.
That's just my experience.
Maybe it's different by location?
I think there are some general deficiencies in how policing is done these days, the main one being the really thin stretching of resources. When I went to the station after the accident I learned an interesting tidbit. The entire Northeast Minneapolis was covered by only three cars that night.
There are objective reasons for why there is no reason to expect a whole lot of help from police, and it is not because they are a bunch of lazy jackasses. However, knowing the reasons doesn't change the fact that you have to be in really deep sewage to see real help. And sometimes not even then, like the guy who got stomped half to death and was told that there would not be an investigation. As far as I can tell, unless there's a body or at least some blood, it's not really worth the phone call.
"I have come to kick a** and chew bubblegum." <racks shotgun> "And I'm all out of bubblegum."
--John Nada, "They Live"
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) and go to my parents to ride it out with them. I am not too worried about the majority of material possessions I have, it can all be replaced. 
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