Is Anywhere Safe Anymore?

"no fear of consequences because there aren't any"....... how far down this spiral of empowered lawlessness will this country go before..... before what?
I have no idea how to fix this, or the myriad of other complex problems society faces.
 
Sorry to hear some lowlife stole your stuff. I don’t think anywhere is safe nowadays, a real shame. When I park my vehicle in a sketchy spot, there’s nothing visible inside except for one 9mm hollow point on the dash. Or you can spread out a bunch of Taco Bell wrappers, Bud light cans, used needles, used Playboys and they’ll pass on your car thinking it’s one of their assclowns......nothing worth stealing here.
 
I got broke into when I lived in Washington. I reported it to the Sheriff's department. Just to report it. It didn't do any good. It happened at the mouth of Pilchuck Creek. I told the cops that I called my stolen cell phone and some kid answered, but they did nothing. They cleaned out my Subaru of everything not nailed down. But didn't take any fly rods.

After all that went down I lost my caring for the cops anyplace.
 
My daughter lives in South Hill, Spokane, which I always considered a fairly upscale neighborhood. In the past decade they've apparently had an enormous uptick in smash and grab to driveway parked cars. They hit her this last summer, broke her drivers window. Advice from the cops? Leave the car unlocked and emptied, window rolled down unless raining or snowing.
Mine was to install super bright motion activated driveway flood lights.
 
When law enforcement no longer serves the public justice will become a self serve affair. Real fun stuff to be sure.
I'm not exactly sure what "self serve affair" means in your response: No justice for those committing the crime? Or justice from victims with acts of vigilantism? Which is worse? Undoubtedly (here's a glass half empty outlook, eh) in our justice system with prosecutors who won't/don't/can't prosecute criminals, the vigilante would be vigorously prosecuted.
 
I used to wonder why Zombie movies and TV shows were so popular starting around 15 years ago. Eventually I realized it was a response to the rising blight of crime, drug use, vandalism, and vagrancy. The blight is spreading all over the country. Nobody in the Seattle metro area trusts the police. Crimes go unreported, rarely solved. The number of gun owners has sharply risen.
 
When I go fishing, I leave literally nothing visible in the car. When I say nothing, I really mean it; not even an empty plastic box. I haven't fished a lot of places that I would like to, out of fear about my car.

Hate to say it, but with the double whammy of a growing population and increasing income inequality, it's only going to get worse.
Not an income inequality…

It’s more of a moral deficiency.
 
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I would also argue that unsound monetary policy has driven the "income inequality" issue. Inflationary monetary policy fuels income inequality. Raising interest rates above zero certainly helps, but will soon trigger government budget crises now that the US debt to GDP ratio is >130%. I'm afraid that massive government spending cuts at local, state, and federal levels are around the corner (the final COVID shockwave). This will do more to defund the police than the Seattle city council ever did. Everyone needs to spend some time and money to harden their property to crime. Stay fit.
 
Unfortunately a lot of the crimes are being committed by homeless drug addicts.....don’t give a shit about us, just their next fix. Seeing the tents with all the garbage littered around is appalling! And wanting to build housing for them with our $$$? I truly feel for the legitimate homeless people, but one aw shit wipes out a thousand atta boys! Who can you trust.....ending my rant, cleaning my guns.
 
Sorry to hear about the theft. I have had a good amount of stuff stolen over the years. I understand how frustrating and maddening it is.

I was recently looking at crime stats across the country. Some obvious trends become clear quickly. The West Coast has high property crime rates and low violent crime rates. The Southeast and rural western states have lower property crime rates and the highest violent crime rates. The Northeast has low property crime rates and low violent crime rates.

What is it that makes the Northeast a place where both violent and property crimes are low? I have absolutely no idea.
 
Besides, the cops can’t and won’t do anything about them.
Steve, this isn't directed at you as I know we share the same frustration, but it ties into your comment.
If I was a cop in these times I would permanently hang out at the donut shop like cops of old supposedly did.
In this day and age they're damned if they do and damned if they don't.
And how many times should a cop be expected to risk his life to arrest the same convicted felon?
We just had a guy with 14 previous felony convictions beat an 83 year old Deer Park man to death that he didn't even know. ..and all of this was after he recently bear sprayed and kicked the crap out of a homeless guy and hit another guy in the head with a hammer in the restroom at the Target store. I'm pretty sure the senseless murder happened while he was out on bail for one or both of the previous crimes.
The bottom line is that the judicial system today is a disgrace!
 
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Not an income inequality…

It’s more of a moral deficiency.

All babies are born innocent; their environment turns them into criminals. Financially desperate people are exponentially more likely to turn to drugs, crime and so on. It all comes down to money. Human morality is a fairly constant variable, in my opinion.
 
Steve, this isn't directed at you as I know we share the same frustration, but it ties into your comment.
If I was a cop in these times I would permanently hang out at the donut shop like cops of old supposedly did.
In this day and age they're damned if they do and damned if they don't.
And how many times should a cop be expected to risk his life to arrest the same convicted felon?
We just had a guy with 14 previous felony convictions beat an 83 year old Deer Park man to death that he didn't even know. ..and all of this was after he recently bear sprayed and kicked the crap out of a homeless guy and hit another guy in the head with a hammer in the restroom at the Target store. I'm pretty sure the senseless murder happened while he was out on bail for one or both of the previous crimes.
The bottom line is that the judicial system today is a disgrace!
I’d say all law abiding citizens agree....and no way would I want to be a cop in these times! But as I said, cops can’t do anything about this crap. The won’t part is why bother risking their life for scum that would be back on the streets the next day. As far as donut shops....remember what happened to the four officers a few years ago in Tacoma.....
 
Again @Old406Kid, sorry for your experience and not trying to minimize anyones experience (the farm in KS was broken into in broad daylight while the wife was getting groceries and I was at work, it's what led me to working from home), but just to put some things in perspective; as of 2020, property crime was still on the way down (1958/100k) from its peak in 1980s (I guess one could argue reporting is down, but what isn't reported is hard to measure):
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Crime rates* (2020)
Property crimes
Burglary314.2
Larceny-theft1,398
Motor vehicle theft246
Total property crime1,958.2
Notes
*Number of reported crimes per 100,000 population.
Estimated total population: 329,500,000.
In 2013 the FBI modified the definition of rape.
Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation Crime Data
 
I had stuff stolen from my car about 20 years ago in the woods including an acoustic guitar (decent quality). I was probably dumb (young naive) to have it in my car over night while hiking, but it left an impression on me. Since then I haven’t left anything valuable to me in my vehicle anywhere. I do think they are window shopping most of the time. So bags and piles of stuff are a bad idea because they are a target even if they are worthless. Keep things neat and tidy and take everything with you when you hit the outdoors. It is what it is. All you can do is not be the biggest target.
 
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