Oh, right -- I forgot to mention these:
We got to arrest a counterfeiter this weekend! Someone buys a drink with a $10, the bartender is about to put it in the register, notices something hinky, and gets as far as turning around and saying, "Hey, uh..." when the customer bolts for the door. Subtle, guy, real subtle. So we grabbed him and the cops took him away. That was nice.
Less nice is this story: Some guy steals a motorcycle in broad daylight elsewhere in town. He drives the stolen bike here, parks it in front of the club, wanders in to DNA Lounge (while the door is open because we are receiving a delivery), steals a bottle from the bar, and goes next door to the pizza place. At this point the police roll up and arrest him. (Apparently the owner of the stolen bike had been driving around looking for it, and spotted it parked here!)
Here's the part that sucks: the owner of the bike, for some insane reason, didn't want to press charges. And the cops didn't even ask us if we wanted to press charges for the stolen liquor, but instead just let him go!
"Everybody got their stuff back, no harm no foul", the cops were heard to say before they drove off.
Because, you know, I'm sure it was all just some kind of misunderstanding, and this guy will never steal again.
I would totally have prosecuted, but now we have no info, and the cops left so fast that we didn't even get their badge numbers.
(We tried to complain about this, but several phone calls later and we are left with the distinct impression that if if you don't have badge numbers, SFPD doesn't even write down your complaint.)
Hmmm1 interesting story.
When I don’t hate the world (and foremost the people in it) enough, I just read your blog and all is right again.
They couldn’t arrest him because he wasn’t having enough fun. Somebody should have set a DJ booth down in front of him and then he would have gotten hauled off. Remember you are only a threat to SF if you are having fun with your friends enjoying music.
Getting your stuff back is so rare a pleasure perhaps he was too overcome to think about pressing charges?
When my house was robbed and they nabbed the buggers – a couple of 18 year old thugs and one 15 year old girl – I got my stuff back and very much enjoyed the court appearance.
I’d rather enjoy my stuff, sans thugs, just-pubescent harlet, breakage, and court appearance.
I’m sure he would not have stolen that motorcycle if nightclubs were required to scan your ID at the door.
WTF! I don’t think I have ever heard of anyone having a good interaction with SFPD when it comes to theft.
Do you have pictures of him?
Send your story to the guardian, DA, Jane Kim(sup) and chief of police. The dispatcher knows who Answered the call and who was on Duty.