I give up on the local police

[The Straight Story]

Dear Mayor Coleman,
While I have been very supportive of you, and in general I continue to be so, I wanted to let you know that I have given up on the Columbus Police Department and their ability to, in some cases, perform the duties expected of them.

Over the last few years, and especially the last few weeks, their response to issues we have faced in our neighborhood has been...well, worthless. So much so that residents here no longer bother to call them when things like those we encountered yesterday occur.

Two men pulled up to a partially foreclosed home across the street from me and began stealing things from the back yard. They noticed one elderly neighbor on the porch across the street from the house and approached him and told him some Mexican guy that does flooring told them to come out here and clean up the place. I called the home owner and walked across the street to confront them and told them to put back the stuff in their truck. The owner soon pulled in (he lives only about 11 houses away) and several other neighbors came over as well.

They put the stuff back and took off.

Two weeks ago same thing - but those guys claimed to be from the bank. We got their license info (as we did this time) and called the police - who basically shrugged it off and said it was just folks looking for scrap metal.

These are not isolated incidents. I caught two people next door on a similar scam - they had a car with manufacturer plates. Called the police, and they shrugged it off. I called the BMV, found the dealer, and called them - that was not a car they had on their lot and it was not one of their employees (based on the info/descriptions I gave them). So there is someone out there with stolen dealer plates breaking into empty homes.

And this is nothing new here - I have caught people stealing things from sheds, taking down cable lines, stealing power boxes - and we have a few people here in this neighborhood who have been breaking into places, throwing rocks at homes (and me), threatening to beat up one guy and rape his wife (after they turned over their garbage can and tossed an old dresser out in the trash into the street),

Still - nothing has been done. Multiple witnesses, we gathered the info needed, caught folks red handed - and we give up. By the time we call the police it can be a long time before they get here - and the stuff will be gone and incident over with.

Many here now own guns, my own dad went and got a conceal/carry license (and he has had his car stolen here before, and mine and others have had their cars broken into). Someone tried to set a house on fire here, two of my neighbors have had their homes broken into of late and things stolen (laptops, TV's, etc).

I am fairly sure though that if I am speeding or my daughter is riding a bike without a helmet and the cops are driving through here they will pay attention to that. At this point it might be worth it for me and others to note foreclosed on homes and ransack them for copper and such - not like anyone will care. My one elderly neighbor lets her little dog who walks himself around the court and goes home when she is to ill herself to take him - and sure enough animal control has been here to ticket her (and she is one of the people who caught people stealing from her yard - and nothing was done).

No detectives coming out, no follow up calls, etc. We are on our own to handle things our own way. And our way is not going to be something pretty.