Don’t leave the tools in the work van. Those are the most common burglaries, stealing from cargo vans, that occur in our neighborhood. People often don’t bother calling the police, as they view it as a waste of time. HPD won’t recover the tools, and even if the contents of the tools are covered by insurance, which could be one’s home insurance, the deductible is usually extremely high. It would be cheaper to buy used tools at pawn shops, where it would not be surprising if the tools being sold were stolen.
Keep in mind that these are the clearance rates for reported crimes.
According to the statewide summary, about 114,000 crimes were solved in Texas during 2024.1 The U.S. Census Bureau estimated that Texans spent $21 billion on law enforcement in 2020. Of course, it would be considerably more by now. According to Texapedia, Texas has over 81,000 law enforcement officers. That means that we spend nearly $200,000 for every case solved, and the average number of crimes solved per officer is about 1.4.
It seems to me that we should be able to do better.
Some of those tools are not that easily moved inside, such as generators and compressors. A better solution is to build a driveway if the deed restrictions don’t prohibit it in the fenced area of one’s property.
