<p>I had some clothing stole from our dorms laundry room last night and reported it to the police. At the time of reporting it they asked me if I would be willing to press charges and I said of course, they stole my stuff, they deserve it. He also asked if I had any especially valuable clothing and I mentioned one shirt that was worth more than your average $20 shirt and then they went off to investigate. He called me back later and said they had the man on camera, and asked me to meet him tomorrow to see if I could identify him. Later in the day I get back to my dorm and my RA tells me to call the officer, so I did. The officer informs me that he has my shirt (The one previously mentioned) and I could come pick it up. Now of course my next question was, “What about the rest of my stuff?”! He explains to me that if I can provide him more details on what was there then he should be able to get them back, which I really hope can happen!</p>
<p>Now here is my question! When we first met he mentioned pressing charges against the individual, but during the last phone call where he informed me he had my shirt it wasn’t mentioned at all. Now you might this this is a little harsh, but I completely still want to press charges! </p>
<p>My question is… Does the police officer have any right to tell me that I cannot press charges against the individual?</p>
<p>I’ll be going tomorrow morning to get my shirt and provide a detailed list on the things I can remember being in the load of laundry, and I’m just curious if he doesn’t mention pressing charges or such if I can demand they be filed.</p>
<p>No, a cop cannot dictate whether or not you can press charges (if you have a valid case). I was once hit by an SUV while walking to class, the SUV sped off and I wanted to press charges for a hit and run. the Officer said I couldn’t. I found a different officer who filed the report, made a complaint to the first officer’s superior and he was reprimanded.</p>
<p>If you have a valid argument, you should be allowed to press charges even if it’s only petty theft.</p>
<p>You can press charges if you want. Whether or not anything will come out of it is another story. I personally wouldn’t waste my time. These things take a lot of time and energy. If you get your stuff back, you should be happy. Also, never leave your laundry unattended.</p>
<p>I got hit by a car on my bicycle valentines day while coming back from a grocery store after work.
-_-
There wasn’t any damage though and I had gotten into a car crash the month before so I didn’t want them to go through the same headache so I let them go. She did offer to pay for my broken dozen eggs though LOL.</p>
<p>And my brother called the police on some ****** bags that were throwing water balloons filled with mud at Cornell. We never figured out who they were but my bro was ****ed off =_=</p>
<p>I’d really push to press charges. When I was in college, our dorm wing had a theif. At the suggestion of the police dept., I was told to let all the girls know that we would all have to go in to the station on Friday for lie-detector tests (They had no intention of actually doing this.) Within hours, one girl confessed and begged not to go for the test. He dad came in the next weekend, with his wallet out, offering to give us as much money as we wanted. This made me even madder. Her dad was some big-wig attorney and the girl wasn’t steeling because she needed the money. When I didn’t hear back from the police officer, I called him and he said he was told by someone that everything had been worked out and that no charges would be brought against this girl. I’ve always wondered if dad and his wallet went down to the station.</p>