It's a shame when a simple case can't be solved in a reasonable amount of time, when all the information has been provided to the police. A purse was taken from a shopping cart at Wal-Mart on April 11. When the owners of the purse discovered it was missing, they immediately checked with the Wal-Mart surveillance staff, which were very cooperative. An officer immediately responded, and he had the owners of the purse look at the surveillance tapes and reassured them he would take care of this the next day, knowing they had identified the people taking the purse. The next morning, the surveillance associate from Wal-Mart gave all the information to a detective, who turned it over to the officer handling the case. This officer was off duty for the weekend, and requested the case be handled by him. Monday afternoon the information was given to the officer. We called to talk to the officer, who hadn't looked at the case yet. He said he had a huge case load and was still waiting for Wal-Mart to release the videos. I went to Wal-Mart and talked to someone in surveillance. I learned the tapes were given to the detective on April 12. On May 8, I called the officer to check on this case. Surprise, he hadn't looked at the case yet. What are the chances of retrieving anything of personal value? What is the point of having surveillance cameras?

Connie Hickman

Rush Valley