Best Job in Vegas

It would appear, according to statistics, burglary
just might be the best job you can find in Las Vegas.
For the 7th year in a row, Nevada is the number 1
most dangerous state to live in, with property crimes
and motor vehicle thefts topping the lists. The stats
say only 10% (or less) of burglaries ever get solved
in Clark county, which means you have a 90% chance
of getting away with it. If you're smart, its probably
closer to 100%. Being number 1 means your chances
of being the victim of a crime are higher in NV than
in any other state.

Crime never pays.

I'll even take odds on that.


Interesting stats though.

Seems like this has been the case for years. How long did it take Metro to catch the Hole in the Wall Gang division of the Spilotro Crew? Car theft is lucrative since you are so close to Mexico and even Long Beach for export to overseas grey markets. Cinder block fences give thieves place to hide. Few neighborhood watch programs, in fact you probably don't know more than a few neighbors.

Quote: YoDiceRoll11

Crime never pays

In actuality, crime pays very well, thats why
there are so many criminals. Most get caught
for a tiny portion of the crimes they commit.
If they get caught at all.

I can't quote a source on that, but I've heard on separate occasions from several people in law enforcement that 90% to 97% (different accounts) of the people they catch are one-timers. Otherwise average citizens who made a slip, and the statistic holds on every level, from infractions to homicides. The career criminal knows how to avoid getting caught, and most importantly not to be afraid when he is. Scared confessions account for a large percentage of solved crimes, and in judicial process it's always bargaining, real trials are rare.

Quote: P90

The career criminal knows how to avoid getting caught

Thats why I said if you're smart, you can get
away with a lot. TV and movies would have
us believe all professional criminals do time, and
its just wishful thinking. The really stupid ones
get caught, and the cops have to work hard just
to catch them, the smart ones are a mystery.
If the cops were half as bright as the TV writers
who do the cop shows, it would be a different
story.

Cops, at least the better of them, probably are about just as bright. But the police has limited resources (and it's a lot of resources in absolute terms), they can't have a big team working on each case for weeks. Police work isn't like CSI, but more like The Wire... minus the main characters.

Still, if you keep doing it long enough, you are quite likely to do some time at one point or another. But - so what? It's like a bad beat to a poker player, you go down for a while, but come back stronger. Jail time is an indispensable experience to a professional.

You get to deal with the system on a daily basis, getting the fear of it out completely. You work to get through a tough situation and get tougher yourself. You get to meet new acquaintances and partners - especially important in criminal line of work, which generally favors anonymity and limited contact. You get a break to spend your time on much needed learning, tricks of the trade, who is who in your world, the new values. As long as you don't lose a significant fraction of your life (which only happens for the most stupid of crimes), it's a level-up, not a setback.

Quote: P90

Cops, at least the better of them, probably are about just as bright..

I've never met any. Most cops are middle of the road,
intelligence wise, and not motivated to solve crimes.
Columbo they ain't..

Quote: EvenBob

I've never met any. Most cops are middle of the road

So are most TV show writers. What makes you think they would have done a better job with a real crime, rather than painting both sides of the picture?

Especially since most unsolved crimes are not complicated mystery puzzles. Someone cut the vic's throat with a three dollar knife, dumped the knife and left the body; and that's it. Simpler crimes just don't leave anything to work on.

Quote: P90

So are most TV show writers. What makes you think they would have done a better job with a real crime,

Its easy to solve a crime when you know the
whole story because you wrote it. Cops depend
on eywitnesses, video evidence, fingerprints and
snitches. Lacking these, they don't have the
incentive to look further. We had a burglary
20 years ago and the cop that came and filed
the report never got out of his car. He made a
list of what was stolen and never asked me anything.
Great police work.

Quote: EvenBob

I've never met any. Most cops are middle of the road,
intelligence wise, and not motivated to solve crimes.
Columbo they ain't..

The couple of cops I've known personally were either:

A) bullies in high school who sought the backing of a gun and badge to continue their bullying ways, or

B) were beat up a lot in high school, hit the gym to bulk up and now seek vengeance on the bullies of the world with the backing of their new blue-blood family

It takes a special person to make a living running towards danger. The people with honest nobility become firemen or EMS; some cops are made from emotionally damaged goods. Not that there's anything wrong with that in certain situations. When I seek a streetcop and say "that guy just snatched my wife's purse", I'm looking for a spiteful bully who wants to crush the criminal and make him pay, not a cat-rescuing do-gooder or a chubby 50-yr-old approaching retirement.

Quote: zippyboy

The couple of cops I've known personally were either:A) bullies in high school who sought the backing of a gun and badge to continue their bullying way.

Thats funny. The one cop I knew from HS was the
son of a doctor and a huge pretty boy bully. He
spent 30 years on the force, 20 of them as a Lt
in vice. He was a real jerk, like a lot of cops. He
was in it because he enjoyed pushing people
around. Three divorces and a bankruptcy, the
American dream.

Usually its the lower middle class bullies who go on the cops, those with a bit of a better example and better education become lawyers and judges but its the same personality.
The unluckier types become criminals but there is not much difference in personality, just finances, education and luck.

Cops can get lucky once and someone can wind up in jail, but aside from luck most crime goes unsolved except for such programs as crimestopers that gives bribes to snitches who are usually family members, friends, etc.

The burglary report where the cop never even got out of the car was solved... when some guy who got caught confessed to a zillion burglaries to clear the books.

Anytime cops set up a fencing operation as a sting they usually have to "seed" the business with their informers to get the ball going. Its rarely difficult. Any burglar will tell you the worst crooks are the fences.

Cops love sting operations because they catch crooks
in the act, which is about the only way they can catch
anybody. Trap them into a crime. All the no brainer
arrests look good on their records, thats the only reason
they do it. Radar speed traps, sending a woman cop
to solicit for prostitution while her cop buddies watch,
setting out bait cars for urban poor people to steal, this
is the 'good police work' that gets them promotions. A
real crime is a mystery to them, why even get out of
the car..