I was the victim of a felony theft and the police completely dropped the ball. Two months later and I finally have a report number. I have no confidence that they are planning on putting any effort into anything at all.

The officer who provided the report did say that he was going to turn it over to the prosecutor early this week.

I'd like to know that A) He really did this, and B) I'd really like something to be done about it seeing the opportunity to recover my property is gone.

Kosher to contact them directly?

Sure. They might talk to you and they might refer you back to the agency

Call him, worse thing they can do is refer you back to the PD...

Absolutely. No harm

You may check and see if the Prosecutors office has victim/witness assistants. Every District Attorneys office in NC has these folks whos job it is to make sureyou are contacted, have your questions answered andare assisted through the process.

NC also passed a "Victims rights" statute a few years back to guarantee victims of crime a voice in the judicial system. Good luck! Regards 18DAI

Absolutely yes. And any prosecutor who would be offended or angry about a victim calling them should be ashamed of themselves.

Thanks everybody. I'll give them a call tomorrow.

THEY work for YOU. So, yeah.

Yes. The squeaking wheel gets the grease.

I assume that an arrest was made or the suspect was identified for it to be sent to the prosecutor.
You should contact them to see what the status of the case is. If charges are/were filed, you should have been notified.

quote:

I assume that an arrest was made or the suspect was identified for it to be sent to the prosecutor.

No arrest. I knew who did it and had my stuff tracked down within 72 hours complete with cooperative witnesses.

Took 2 months to get a report number issued. To the best of my knowledge they did get a statement from a witness between then and now, but that's as far as it has gone with them.

Around here it's very low priority if it's a property crime even at felony-level. Good luck

quote:

Originally posted by a1abdj:
Thanks everybody. I'll give them a call tomorrow.

Possibly off for Columbus Day.

I would encourage it. Sometimes property crimes get low priority and it helps to remind them that it’s not just a file. It’s only bad it turns into pestering which is obvious to most but not all.

quote:

Around here it's very low priority if it's a property crime even at felony-level.

That certainly seems to be their attitude about it, and it makes zero sense to me. Especially considering that I did their job for them and handed it all to them on a silver platter.

Is it because they don't want the crime statistics? I would completely understand in areas that are high crime rates with an officer shortage and a lot of serious criminals to deal with. With the drug problems we are facing it doesn't make any sense to me that they wouldn't crack down on it otherwise. Ignoring crime simply perpetuates the situation.

In a large number of areas the office of prosecutor is an elected position.

For that reason, he or she should be responsible enough to answer questions pertaining to your issue.

Our prosecutor last likes communication from the victim; it makes their job a lot easier so yes, call away.

Here we suggest it to all victims the phone number is right on the case card we provide them. In the instance where an arrest is not made that day the victim is required to contact the prosecutor to file a criminal complaint (separate from the police report) or it will go no where in court and the police investigation is generally less prioritized.
It can be some what of a litmus test in regard how willing the victim is to prosecute and testify in court.

I had a prosecutor call me and ask which of two sentences I'd prefer in the plea bargain he was trying to set up with the guy who broke into my garage and stole a bunch of stuff and got caught trying to sell it.

Option 1:
1 year in county jail.

Option 2:
2 years of probation and 4 years in prison for violation of probation.

He had an extensive record, so I chose option 2. He violated probation almost immediately and spent 4 years in prison.