Wednesday, January 27, 2021

Catch and Release

4 catalytic converters and burglary tools.
I'm retyping this article, because our 46-year-old free weekly newsletter, the Foster City Islander, doesn't even have a website. [bold added]

Headline: Busy Week for Foster City Police Department
Over the weekend, Foster City PD Officers stopped and arrested a Stockton resident following the theft of a catalytic converter. An alert local business owner saw the suspect on his video surveillance cameras and promptly notified the FCPD.

Officers stopped the suspect's white Lexus and found burglary tools along with four cut catalytic converters in his car. Following the arrest, the adult male suspect was cited and released for his crimes.

At midnight officers were called to the Crowne Plaza Hotel on the report of a suspicious male subject driving and walking around the parking lot. Upon arrival, they contacted two Daly City residents who were on probation for drug and theft offenses. A probation search of their vehicle revealed narcotics and stolen property from a theft reported in San Bruno. The suspect was arrested and released from the scene with a citation. The stolen property was returned to its owner.
First, kudos to the local police for their quick response. Decades ago, we lucked into buying a house in this then-middle-class planned community of 30,000. Due to its support for businesses like Gilead Sciences and Visa, Foster City enjoys a balanced budget with adequately funded police and fire departments. It's also got a racially and culturally diverse population which leans liberal in politics while also having a strong ethic of respect for the law.

However, as Californians we're also participants in the great social experiment that dismisses property crimes as no big deal. Having to replace a catalytic converter is expensive and disruptive to a car-owner's life. Inflicting that much damage to four families while getting off with only a citation encourages more property theft, and if a person cannot understand that, they must be willfully ignorant.

The great exodus from California has no signs of stopping.

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