This sounds like a classic gumshoe case:

"The Case of the Purloined Flamingo"

Too bad it didn't happen in PA. They would print that screwdriver...

I wonder which resources the police "don't have" to look for stolen property? Would those be political resources? Mental resources? Financial resources? Even if you don't intend to look for stolen property, can't MV's Finest at least muster some interpersonal resources and politely lie to those you're "serving"???

"Posted by greycat, a resident of another community, 3 hours ago

I wonder which resources the police "don't have" to look for stolen property? Would those be political resources? Mental resources? Financial resources? Even if you don't intend to look for stolen property, can't MV's Finest at least muster some interpersonal resources and politely lie to those you're "serving"???"

To be perfectly frank, they simply don't think that this kind of theft ranks as important enough to investigate. I am a local Neighborhood Watch Block Captain in Mountain View, and I'd been trying to get them to investigate the theft of recyclables from people's bins. Now, some people don't care, and that's fine, but the law states that when you leave recyclables in your city-provided bin on the street, they are no longer your property, but the city's. So, anyone rifling through bins is stealing from the city, and theft is theft.

Moreover, I have personally taken photos/video of "rummagers" going through not just the recyclables bins, but people's garbage bins, doing dumspter-diving, taking PAPERWORK out of bins, likely trying to steal someone's personal info for identity theft. Basically, the local PD's take is: "Meh."

If you want to protect your home and personal property, and indeed, your family...You're just going to have to take steps to do it yourself. That's what I do.

I wish that all people were nice and had everyone else's best interests at heart...but in this economy, with reduced police resources and a scale of importance for response to crimes, we simply don't live in that world.

Stay safe out there,
~The Eye~

"For the kids who probably did it, it is probably not going to be the last time they are going to do something bad or illegal," Fenner said.

Right, let's blame the kids, because there's not enough wild finger-pointing going on in the world today.

Having said that, whoever stole such an adorable flamingo and holiday cheer from a family and their small children the day after Christmas should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves!

Just to clarify a few things. First the flamingo was stolen the Sunday before Christmas, so it wasn't like I could take the decorations down and hide it from the kids. Secondly, responding to "bark", I assumed it was kids due to the half dozen basketball prints on the back of my car that I found in the morning, who really bounces a basketball off a car while commiting a crime...? I am not sure what we are going to even do next year, I don't really feel like replacing it and adding more stuff just to risk another theft. I am still hoping that someone finds who did, even if I never see it back. What they did is wrong and I am getting tired of certain crimes being chosen over others to investigate, ie IdeaFarm.