Shocked how the guards didn't care about stolen wallet?

lovelife92

I am very disappointed in the services. My wallet/purse was stolen for the first time last week in the city centre. All my IDs, cards everything was in it, has been very stressful/ frustrating knowing someone could possibly be using or selling my identity.

I went down to the guards and told them. I expected an alert would be sent out on my name if anyone was to use it on an ID or something like that. I was told it was probably thrown away at this point and just to order new ID and cards?

Is that normal? There is literally nothing I can do?

SmartinMartin

Did you have 2 wallets stolen?

Galwayguy35

What else could be done only get new cards?

Franz Von Peppercorn

lovelife92 wrote: »

I am very disappointed in the services. My wallet/purse was stolen for the first time last week in the city centre. All my IDs, cards everything was in it, has been very stressful/ frustrating knowing someone could possibly be using or selling my identity.

I went down to the guards and told them. I expected an alert would be sent out on my name if anyone was to use it on an ID or something like that. I was told it was probably thrown away at this point and just to order new ID and cards?

Is that normal? There is literally nothing I can do?

I had a phone stolen once in England. I left it on the bar and someone took it while I was in the loo. Clearly visible in the CC camera. Police did come but not much else happened.

Logged into the phone tracker app. Got a location for the phone that night. Phoned the detective assigned. Sent the image. Nothing.

They just dont police small stuff.

pleas advice

Franz Von Peppercorn

Galwayguy35 wrote: »

What else could be done only get new cards?

Track the card usage with the banks?

Sal Butamol

Jesus what sheltered backwater did you come from OP?

Roger Hassenforder

Are we shocked?


My car was broken into in Waterford a few years ago. Rang the cops expecting a forensic team to arrive. Full tent over the car, white suits, dusting for prints, DNA swabs etc.

What actually happened was the cops rocked up in their car, asked was there much taken, said "thats terrible" and drove off.

pebbles21

Should have sent the Emergercy Responce Unit down straight away .. It's a disgrace Joe !!

CinemaGuy45

lovelife92 wrote: »

I am very disappointed in the services. My wallet/purse was stolen for the first time last week in the city centre. All my IDs, cards everything was in it, has been very stressful/ frustrating knowing someone could possibly be using or selling my identity.

I went down to the guards and told them. I expected an alert would be sent out on my name if anyone was to use it on an ID or something like that. I was told it was probably thrown away at this point and just to order new ID and cards?

Is that normal? There is literally nothing I can do?

Drug use homeless everywhere assaults murders, feral gangs.
People with hundreds of convictions wondering around free.

Getting new cards and cancelling the old ones should have been the first thing you did that is good advice from the Guards.

You did not suffer any injury in the cesspit that is our capital city.

What did you really expect OP and by the way I am sorry your wallet was stolen but that is the reality of life in a city like Dublin.

Ghost Train

There was a good big bang theory episode on this topic.

Guy:Incognito

Franz Von Peppercorn wrote: »

Track the card usage with the banks?

99 times out of 100 the wallet is in the bin or in a hedge or an alley within seconds of being stolen. They'll take out any cash and dump the rest. Lads robbing wallets and purses are not gangs of international jewel thieves accumulating wealth to buy private islands, they're low level junkies and the like. Quick cash is what they want. Everyone in the shops in town know them, they won't be long getting picked up if they start rocking up to the shops with various cards all of a sudden buying crap.

sligojoek

If I'd a pound for everyone who reported a stolen wallet to the guards I'd be looking after my wallet with great care.

OP All joking aside I hope you get sorted. We had our last 550e plus cards lifted from my wifes handbag in a hospital canteen while our son was being prepared for an ambulance to Dublin. Waste of time going to the guards. They're not going to put out an APB.

Badly Drunk Boy

A friend of mine was getting the train from Newbridge to Dublin so he cycled to the station. When he got back, his bike was gone so he said it to his father, who was a Garda. The father gave him a video and said "There's no chance of getting your bike but at least you have a video of it being stolen.". :rolleyes:

Baron Kurtz

If your post is anything to go by, you were probably the perfect target for theft. On the back of this, I wouldn't worry about identity theft - wouldn't be that noteworthy.

vicwatson

What city was it?

Cookie_Monster

Gardai in not giving a **** shocker :eek:

Outlaw Pete

Lost / had my wallet stolen twice thus year, pointless reporting it, just cancelled ordered new cards asap.

Driving Licence renewal was the only real pain as you have to report it stolen and get Garda to stamp a form witnessing it.

Visa touch was used an hour after I lost it the first time for €14 or something and but declined after that as I had used it twice that way already that day, so pin was then needed.

mikemac2

Got burgled one night. Ballyfermot sent a car and said they’d do a drive around. I’m sure they know the local scrotes. I was told the “scence of crimes” people would come next day for prints, still waiting. I found a cigarette lighter from the scumbag and asked Ballyfermot station what should I do. I offered to bag it and bring to them. They fobbed me off

....meanwhile across the city government minister Alan Shatter got burgled the same night. A Garda was put outside his house, the white suits arrived and a team of detectives picked up suspects and got confessions out of them

We are just the unimportant little people

Avatar MIA

We could conceivably have the Garda numbers to attend for every wallet stolen.

1. Pay a lot more tax to significantly increase Garda numbers.
2. Go live on an island where this would be a novelty and the bored Garda would investigate.

Or realise you've no chance of getting your wallet back even Inspector Morse turned up, and just order new cards, ID. Personally I'd have looked in the local bins, alleys, and reported to the bank. I do think wallets are more valuable now with touch payments, and less likely to be discarded near by.

Who did you expect them to inform OP?
So you think there is a master computer somewhere that gardai know every time a bank card is used in the city?
Do you think every shop & bank in the country informs Gardai everytime someone uses their debit card?

Informing your bank, who actually can check on your stolen cards being used, is more important.

joe swanson

You sure you didn't just lose it?

Philipx

You must be really shocked, you started two threads on it....

macwal

Ghost Train wrote: »

There was a good big bang theory episode on this topic.

Must have been in the first 2 or 3 seasons.

VinLieger

Ghost Train wrote: »

There was a good big bang theory episode on this topic.

Thats a lie since theres never been a good big bang theory episode

Srolen bike, wallet, phone, laptop or dog: you will have to do your own policing.

Last year, a friend of mine who is a solicitor, was called into the local barracks 3 times in about 10 days, to provide legal assistance to men charged with sexual assault, rape and murder. This is a relatively quiet regional Garda station.

2smiggy

they should have got him on the case of the stolen/lost wallet IMO

Peregrinus

Basically, law enforcement resources are not free, and decisions about how to expend them have to factor in (a) how serious the crime is, and (b) how likely it is that an expenditure of resources will result in a conviction. Stealing a wallet is petty theft, not a very serious matter, and as others have said the wallet and cards are nearly always thrown away within minutes, so attempting to track the cards is very unlikely to yield any result.

Basically, the OP doesn't want to pay the kind of taxes that would be needed to resource the guards to a point where it was a rational expenditure of resources for them to investigate wallet theft by such methods.

PlaneSpeeking

Ghost Train wrote: »

There was a good big bang theory episode on this topic.

Poor Glen!

Franz Von Peppercorn

Peregrinus wrote: »

Basically, law enforcement resources are not free, and decisions about how to expend them have to factor in (a) how serious the crime is, and (b) how likely it is that an expenditure of resources will result in a conviction. Stealing a wallet is petty theft, not a very serious matter, and as others have said the wallet and cards are nearly always thrown away within minutes, so attempting to track the cards is very unlikely to yield any result.

Basically, the OP doesn't want to pay the kind of taxes that would be needed to resource the guards to a point where it was a rational expenditure of resources for them to investigate wallet theft by such methods.

What if we are, like with health, paying enough taxes but the service is incompetent.

The loss of wallets, laptops, bikes etc is how a lot of people are affected by crime. If the system isn’t doing anything about it then that’s most people’s experience of the legal system.

And it’s not that trivial either. A wallet could have a fair amount of money. A bike or laptop could run to the thousands. Preemptive policing could help here.

razorblunt

I look forward to seeing this in an episode of CSI!
Zoom in on the wallet button ... enhance ... reverse image ... we got him!


It might be slightly different these days with contactless transactions but a quickly cancelled card will sort that out.

I was pick pocketed in Paris (my own fault, really, I'd been so careful up until that), the local Gendarme had the same reaction. They asked if I had insurance and would I be making a claim, I said I would and then they helped by providing a report with all the details. They said the same thing, it's most definitely in a bin with the cash taken. They sent an email to the Metro staff in case it was handed in but to be fair I didn't even expect them to do that.

FTA69

My flat was burgled in London and I rang the cops expecting the usual "there's nothing we can do" stuff, I only rang them because I wanted a crime number for the insurance. To my surprise they actually dusted the gaff for prints, took swabs and ended up catching the woman she did it and she got six months for a string of house break ins.

Genuinely shocked I was.

Sardine

I eventually lose every wallet I have, I must have lost at least 10
over the years. The police have better things to be doing. Just cancel your cards and get on with your life.

Cee-Jay-Cee

Roger Hassenforder wrote: »

Are we shocked?


My car was broken into in Waterford a few years ago. Rang the cops expecting a forensic team to arrive. Full tent over the car, white suits, dusting for prints, DNA swabs etc.

What actually happened was the cops rocked up in their car, asked was there much taken, said "thats terrible" and drove off.

The problem here is that you have watched too much CSi...you should get out more and realise that real life does not mimmick tv :rolleyes:

Riskymove

Cee-Jay-Cee wrote: »

The problem here is that you have watched too much CSi...you should get out more and realise that real life does not mimmick tv :rolleyes:

funnily enough after I read his comments I was thinking of posting my experience anyway but in relation to your comments I should definitely do so.

When my car was broken into the local guards arrived and having had a look wanted me to leave the car there so that they could arrange for the forensics, printing etc.

It was more that I needed the car and the loss wasn't much that I decided not to but they certainly had an interest despite the minor loss.

PlaneSpeeking

Cee-Jay-Cee wrote: »

The problem here is that you have watched too much CSi...you should get out more and realise that real life does not mimmick tv :rolleyes:

Is that true ?

Balls, I've a plumber coming round tomorrow to clear out my pipes.

ohnonotgmail

Franz Von Peppercorn wrote: »

What if we are, like with health, paying enough taxes but the service is incompetent.

The loss of wallets, laptops, bikes etc is how a lot of people are affected by crime. If the system isn’t doing anything about it then that’s most people’s experience of the legal system.

And it’s not that trivial either. A wallet could have a fair amount of money. A bike or laptop could run to the thousands. Preemptive policing could help here.

What do you think the guards could have done in the OPs case?

weldoninhio

Policing in this country is a joke. They're more interested in getting to the chipper than to a crime scene.

Was assaulted a few years ago in a local nightclub. Turned around and a scumbag hit me a sly headbutt, knocked me clean out. There were at least 7 witnesses, two bouncers saw it, it was on CCTV. There was a Garda car outside so the bouncers said I should go over to them straight away to let them know what had happened. Tried to talk to them, the told me to get lost, that they have to be outside the club "in case something happens", I asked them is an assault came under something happening. They told me that if i didn't get away from the car they'd arrest me for a breach of the peace, and as my nose was bleeding, if I bled in the car on the way to the station they'd also charge me with damaging police property. Told me to phone an ambulance if I wanted a record of the incident happening that night and report it to my local station the next day.

Next day, went to my local station, was told there was absolutely nothing they could do as it happened in a different town. Went to the other towns Garda station, finally got to speak with a Garda, explained what happened, gave him the bouncers names and numbers, the bar managers name and number, explained that there was full CCTV of the incident, gave him the guy who'd headbutted me name and address.

His response was "Well what did you do?", I said nothing, I was ko'ed. He said, No to provoke it. Basically called me a liar and said he'd look into it. That was about ten years ago, still waiting.

Saw your man a few weeks later and beat the absolute shyte out of him.

seamus

lovelife92 wrote: »

I went down to the guards and told them. I expected an alert would be sent out on my name if anyone was to use it on an ID or something like that. I was told it was probably thrown away at this point and just to order new ID and cards?

Is that normal? There is literally nothing I can do?

You need to think about this practically.

How would this alert work? Would the Gardai send a list of "Today's fake IDs to look out for" to every shop in a 5km radius? That's not really feasible.

Would they put an alert into their system so that whenever anyone used your card the Gardai would be notified? Practically that would require the payment processors to be on board and monitoring all transactions and sending out alerts on specific cards.

Which is actually something they might do, but you're also asking them to open that up to authorities, which is a much bigger proposition; not least because it means if a Garda wants to track you, all they have to do is put out an "alert" for when your cards are used.

Realistically, the odds of catching the guys in the act is tiny and the mechanisms that would be required to do so are either unfeasible or require a huge amount of effort and cost. And even then would still be unlikely to catch them.

As said upthread, the kind of guys who steal wallets and purses absolutely do not want to be stopped by the Gardai carrying a stolen card. They get stopped and searched five or six times a day. They take the wallet, strip out everything of immediate value and throw it away within minutes of stealing it.

Go for walk along hedges and alleyways within a five minute radius of where your wallet was taken and it'll probably turn up.

corks finest

pebbles21 wrote: »

Should have sent the Emergercy Responce Unit down straight away .. It's a disgrace Joe !!

Bloody right,not as if they've a lot on

Crea

A neighbour of mine smashed my windscreen on my car and scattered a pile of nails in my driveway yesterday. Garda response - Get security cameras.

verycool

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8k1d8uX9Gw

antodeco

Wife's car was broken into a few months ago. Reported it to the Gardai. Less than an hour later car was dusted for fingerprints. Sometimes they care sometimes they can't.

Billy86

Fire brigade instead, but it reminded me of when the girlfriend and I were up the Dublin mountains about two weeks ago and she wanted to take a wander through the forest. We came across about a 20 x 30ft forest fire that hadn't been put out properly and was flaring up flames on it's edges. Tried to keep it under control and call the fire brigade because of how dry and hot the summer has been, and the fact it hadn't rained properly in Dublin in ages at that point. They've been happening all summer - https://www.rte.ie/news/2018/0627/973640-forest-fires-dublin-fire-brigade/

So anyway, two and a half hours of furiously trying to stamp out anything kicking off; nothing. Thankfully herself is from rural northern Ontario where these happen a lot, so she had a good idea of how to keep it at bay, but it was quickly getting worse.

Called back to let them know it was intensifying and had spread to maybe 60 x 30ft... again an hour later, nothing.

Luckily, a downpour - the first in a good number of weeks - happened not long after because it was really beginning to look bad at that point. On the plus side, all the steam and hissing that rose up with the rain began to come down was a pretty cool sight.

You never really know how busy the fire brigade is, but this was late morning-into-afternoon on a Tuesday which I would hardly imagine is peak time for the emergency services. There is at least one station within a 10-15 minute drive from there, yet in four hours (including the half hour of rain we stuck around for) there wasn't a single sign of them.

Sardine

Crea wrote: »

A neighbour of mine smashed my windscreen on my car and scattered a pile of nails in my driveway yesterday. Garda response - Get security cameras.

Sounds like a lovely neightbourhood!

Franz Von Peppercorn

Franz Von Peppercorn wrote: »

What if we are, like with health, paying enough taxes but the service is incompetent.

The loss of wallets, laptops, bikes etc is how a lot of people are affected by crime. If the system isn’t doing anything about it then that’s most people’s experience of the legal system.

And it’s not that trivial either. A wallet could have a fair amount of money. A bike or laptop could run to the thousands. Preemptive policing could help here.

Which is very easy to say, but hard to implement effectively.

What do you think they could do? I'm sure AH would be happy to take a look at your suggestions and take them apart from a realistic angle.

Look after your stuff. Don't use your back pockets. Be aware of the weight in your front pockets should someone slice your jeans with a blade. Don't trust strangers who come near to your body. That's it essentially.

Crea

Crea wrote: »

A neighbour of mine smashed my windscreen on my car and scattered a pile of nails in my driveway yesterday. Garda response - Get security cameras.

Your word against his. No witnesses? No Proof of it happening...

Crea

Sardine wrote: »

Sounds like a lovely neightbourhood!

It actually is but one scumbag family can ruin it for everyone.

Crea

Deleted User wrote: »

Your word against his. No witnesses? No Proof of it happening...

Exactly.

Steve F

Avatar MIA wrote: »

We could conceivably have the Garda numbers to attend for every wallet stolen.

1. Pay a lot more tax to significantly increase Garda numbers.
2. Go live on an island where this would be a novelty and the bored Garda would investigate.

Or realise you've no chance of getting your wallet back even Inspector Morse turned up, and just order new cards, ID. Personally I'd have looked in the local bins, alleys, and reported to the bank. I do think wallets are more valuable now with touch payments, and less likely to be discarded near by.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12i-uCjjuuU

Berserker

Roger Hassenforder wrote: »

Are we shocked?

My car was broken into in Waterford a few years ago. Rang the cops expecting a forensic team to arrive. Full tent over the car, white suits, dusting for prints, DNA swabs etc.

What actually happened was the cops rocked up in their car, asked was there much taken, said "thats terrible" and drove off.

Had a bike stolen a few years ago. Went into the local police station reported it. Guard closed the conversation telling to the give them a shout if I see anyone cycling it.