So my car was broken into yet again, this time downtown while I was at the office. The jerk smashed the small window on the driver's side rear door, opened the locks (thank god they didn't break the locks again, as it would take another month to get those in). It turns out they were either interrupted in the process, or just not very good at stealing stereos because they couldn't get the stereo out.

They did, however, manage to damage the stereo significantly, as well as the housing around it (which I foresee taking another month to get directly from Japan). I didn't have anything else valuable in the car, so nothing was actually stolen per se, and they were kind enough at least to close the doors when they were done so teh battery didn't run out.

The thief was also kind enough to leave some physical evidence, in the form of an address book handed out to them in prison by a group called The Gospel Echoes Team. It's chock-full of names and phone numbers, an accounting of giving Laurissa $50 bail-out money, and a couple of places for him/her to stay (having looked through the address book a couple of times now, I'm actually fairly positive that it was a woman).

So I thought to myself, as I was driving to the community police station that it would be extremely useful in helping track down the person who broke into the car. And it was shortly after this that I found myself completely disillusioned with the Edmonton police department. As I filled out my paperwork, I pointed out the address book to the officer on duty. His response was, "I don't know what I'm supposed to do with this other than throw it in the trash."

Excuse me?

So what he's saying here is that despite the fact that I have physical evidence of the thief's identity, with fingerprints and likely enough information that s/he could be identified, and YOU DON'T WANT IT? I understand that there are hundreds of breakins a day in the city, and you can't track each and every one of them down. But when someone hands you a piece of evidence, which might actually serve to identify the perpetrator, shouldn't you take it and keep it on file? Wouldn't it be a good idea to actually use the evidence to, I don't know, catch the thief?

I mean for crying out loud, your visibly public presence in my experience is to catch speeders and hand out tickets. I've been stolen from and vandalised almost 10 times in the last 3 years, and the police's response EACH AND EVERY TIME has been to hand me a blank form to fill out, walk away while I fill it out, then collect it when I'm done, WITHOUT ASKING ME QUESTIONS OR VERIFYING THE INFORMATION. The last time we called with a valid concern about our neighbourhood, when we thought a neighbour was being abused/attacked (it later turned out that she was just crazy), it took over 2 hours to respond! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU PEOPLE DOING IF NOT INVESTIGATING CRIMES? My sole interaction with the Edmonton Police Service as a victim of crime has been that they facilitate my insurance company processing my claim, whatever that claim may be (as they certainly don't verify my claim themselves).

And to the thief him/herself, thanks for nothing. You ruined my day, caused damage to a car that's near-impossible to find parts for, and in the end didn't even get anything yourself. Sure, you left me with an amusing/frustrating anecdote in the address book, but in the end I'm just annoyed and pissed off.

Oh, and to the Gospel Echoes Team. Apparently it takes more than faith in the good lord and address books to rehabilitate people.