Question about burglary

[diddums]

The house I live in was burglarized yesterday when nobody was home. No windows were broken, they got in through an unlocked door and left a big mess. We are still totaling all that is missing, it looks to be significant.

Officers arrived on the scene hours later, and first, told us that they didn't want to take fingerprints because it was a house and there are way too many people that go in and out of our house and touch things. We pointed to some items that are rarely, if ever, touched by us, yet was touched by the burglar. They still did not to a fingerprint.

I suspect it to be the individual who hooked up our TV satellite two weeks ago. I suspect because:

I signed up with the satellite TV company over the phone on Dec 31, 2010. I entered into the 2 year contract over the phone, agreed to have a technician come out set up the satellite the following day, January 1, and provided address necessary to open the account, including name, address, social security number, and credit card number. About 3 hours after hanging up, an individual called our house claiming to be from the satellite tv company. I was out of the house. They claimed they wanted to confirm that they were to come the following day, and my father spoke to this individual. They first asked for his name, and then his date of birth, and then his social security number, at which point my father for suspicious. They didn't get that info and then proceeded to ask him for the credit card number used to open the account. At this point, my father got further suspicious and questioned why they needed this type of confirmation. The individual quickly hung up. I got home an hour after the phone call and my dad told me what had transpired. I quickly called the the same number that I had called to sign up, and notified the individual who picked up the phone of the suspicious phone call. After mumbling, he stated that this was perfectly fine and was a routine way for technicians to confirm their next job. I said OK, hung up, yet was convinced that there was something fishy going on. This was clearly not a usual confirmation in my eyes. But I stopped pressing the issue. Until today, January 14, there has been no fraudulent activity on the card.

My theory is that these guys, who are actually sub-contracted by the bigger, actual satellite company, are part of a crooked office of employees. They are taking credit card numbers and keeping tabs on houses that they set up satellites in. Of course I have no proof of this.

Other facts that supports my theory is that the burglar came in through 1 of 2 gates at our house. One gate is always used by us, and used by our gardeners and maid. It's also used to take out the trash-- it's our main gate. This is not the gate the burglar came through in, though. He came in through the other one, a smaller one, and one that I personally have not even been through in 15 years. When the techinician came out on the 1st and set up the satellite, we told him to use this second, never-used gate since the satellite was going to be put on that side of the house. I find it odd that the burglar came in through the same gate as the technician.

My question is the following: If I present all pertinent facts to police officers and file all proper reports, can I get the police to question the technician who came to our house, and to question the sub-contracted company that he works for, who gave me false information about technicians confirming their jobs by asking for credit card information.

More importantly, I want to do the following: I would like for the police to get a list of houses that this same technician has installed satellites in the last 3/6/9/12 months, and see if any of those houses were burglarized. What do the police need to get this information? Is reasonable suspicion that criminal activity has taken place enough for police to get this information? Or do the cops need a warrant for that information? And given the facts above, how likely is it that there is probable cause that some sort of crime was committed against us by the sub-contracted company?

Perhaps we should deal with both issues separately at first?

Any help is greatly appreciated. I want justice and feel like good faith police questioning of plausible suspects (and there is really only 1) can give me and my family a sense of peace and justice.

[Curt581]

The answer to your question(s) is:

No, you can not "get" the police to question who you suspect may have committed the crime.

No, you can not order the police to do anything, such as fingerprint your belongings if they do not feel it necessary.

No, you may not direct the investigation.

The police are just as concerned with prosecuting the guilty as you are. However, they are more concerned with prosecuting them for ALL the crimes they may have committed... not just yours.

[DeltaV]

More importantly, I want to do the following: I would like for the police to get a list of houses that this same technician has installed satellites in the last 3/6/9/12 months, and see if any of those houses were burglarized. What do the police need to get this information? Is reasonable suspicion that criminal activity has taken place enough for police to get this information? Or do the cops need a warrant for that information? And given the facts above, how likely is it that there is probable cause that some sort of crime was committed against us by the sub-contracted company?

There's no reasonable suspicion and there's certainly no probable cause. You simply have mere suspicion based on the fact that you recently had contractors come to your house. Lots of people theorize who may have committed a crime, however that doesn't mean that there's proof. Your "evidence" really isn't evidence at all, it just shows that you had a recent visit from a contractor. The police are not going to do anything based off of this alone. If it is part of a pattern then I'm sure that they already know this, but aren't going to say anything to you about it because they don't want you calling anyone and tipping them off inadvertently. On the other hand, most property crime like this is completely random.

About the most you can do as far as the investigation is concerned is going to local pawn shops looking for any IDENTIFIABLE property taken from your burglary. And no, that does not mean that the PS3 in the pawn shop has the same scratch on the front that yours had, it means having the serial number.