Someone hit my mailbox with their car and drove off.

[PM Martin]

My question: If a person damaged your property with their car and drives off and a witness did see it,
if the witness reported to the police, do the police go see the person who
is accused or wait for them to come forward?

I was not home. My neighbor saw the car and has some of the license. We went to the police and have gotten no response yet.

Thank you for anyone who can help.

[NutmegYankee]

1. It varies by dept.

If they are less busy a detective might get right on top of it. Others will push it off or not take action.

[Voice for Peace]

2. I'm only guessing but it's probably not high on their list of priorities

unless it's happening in a lot of places at once by the same vandals.

There's also a question of retaliation. Recently a friend mentioned
to his apartment manager that there had been some kind of gang
fight on the property. Mgr spoke to the residents who were involved.

A few days later my friend's car was vandalized. He thought about
calling the police, but decided instead not to invite more trouble.

There are a lot of vandals out there that really don't give a shit
about making trouble, wrecking other people's property just
because they feel like it, and don't care about getting caught.

[Liberal_in_LA]

22. nope

[Brickbat]

3. Call your postmaster.

[Gman]

4. I don't know how true it is, but

I remember told years ago when I was a kid that a mailbox becomes the property of the federal government. Damaging a mailbox is considered damaging federal property. Again, I don't know how true that is. But it does make sense.

[whistler162]

5. It isn't your property.

once it is accepts mail it is the Postal Services. Contact the Postal Inspector and report the incident. There was a thread awile ago about some HOA/Management firm putting leaflets/documents in mailboxes and the Postal Inspector for that area coming down on them.

[pintobean]

12. I have a mail slot in my front door

Does that mean that the USPS owns my house? I guess that would mean I live in a mail box.

[whistler162]

14. Nope just the slot.

Don't really know about mail slots, but send the Post Office your property tax bill and see if they pay it.

[former9thward]

21. Door slots are not considered mail boxes.

The Post Office does not control what may go in them. So mail can go in them as well as some pizza or church flyer.

[PM Martin]

19. Financially, it is my responsibility though.

[former9thward]

20. Untrue.

The post office does not own the mailbox. They have the exclusive rights to determine what goes in it.

[yeoman6987]

6. When we lived in Pennsyvania,

Kids would drive down the road with a bat and knock the mailboxes off the stands. What a pain. We finally put a heavy brick fortress one in. Well worth it. Saves frustration! Where I live now, the HOA would never allow a thing, but luckily I don't have those issues here.

[newfie11]

7. We have had that happen several times over the years

No one has ever offered to replace it, from the mail man to the snowplow driver. The others we didn't know.
It's a given out here you just fix it your self.

[Cleita]

8. That happens to us once a year.

My SIL gets a new mailbox. We do report it to the police and the Post Office, but in twenty years no one has been found to hold accountable and pay for the damage.

[MissB]

9. Our box seems to be a magnet so I can empathize!

We are on a curve and often enough it seems that our post and box are what keeps cars from going directly into a deep gulley. The last time it was taken out, the woman stopped and was looking at the damage to her car. She was very sorry and asked what we needed. After she picked up various parts of her car (some of which I found for her) she drove off. Hours later, she returned with the items I'd mentioned as replacements (post, bracket, bag of concrete) which is more than most do.

The most annoying one was where two cars collided in the middle of the road right above where the box is located. One of the cars plowed into the box. Both cars ended up parked in front of the box, and dh and I both asked them if they needed anything (we'd both arrived home separately right after it happened.) Since their cars were blocking the view of the box, we didn't notice it had been sent flying yards away. And neither of them mentioned it. I imagine it did some fair damage to one of their cars. (Both drivers were fine.)

[Dale Neiburg]

10. Don't know about the police...

It's happened to us three times.

First time it was a newspaper delivery guy with a drinking problem. We cancelled our subscription and replaced the mailbox ourselves.

Second time an electric company truck took it out by accident while they were doing work on our property. They went out, bought a new mailbox and post and installed them before leaving.

Third time I don't know whether the driver was impaired or thought a little vandalism might be fun (it happened overnight, no witnesses). But from the distance he dragged the mailbox, post, and the large block of concrete it was set in under his car, the car damage probably cost a lot more than the new mailbox.

[hedgehog]

11. Can I admit here that on one snowy night, I drove the car around a curve on an unfamiliar road

and ended up sliding into a mailbox.

Since the reason for the skid was that the ass hat who lived there had blown the snow from his driveway out across the plowed road, I figured we were even and drove away.

[randome]

16. Go and sin no more, my child. Or...hedgehog or...whatever.

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[JimDandy]

26. LOL. n/t

[procon]

13. There was a spate of mailbox vandalism in my rural area

We learned that your mailbox is considered Federal Property and comes under Federal jurisdiction which makes it a serious crime to vandalize mailboxes or any mail in them, and violators can get hefty fines and even imprisonment for each act of vandalism. We reported the destruction to out local postmaster, but it may also be a crime under state law, for which state charges could be brought as well.

More info here:
https://postalinspectors.uspis.gov/raddocs/tipvandl.htm

[randome]

15. Give the perp a break.

Maybe he was drunk.
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[TheBlackAdder]

17. When I owned a rural farm. Baseball bats were the norm.

I replaced it with a 6" x 6" wood post, mounted 4' in the ground with levels of cement and stone holding it in place.

Then, installed a rural "baseball bat proof" mailbox.

Every once in a while, you'd hear a loud 'bong' sound at 1-2AM, knowing that the baseball bat probably kicked back in their face. A couple of times, you would hear two noises, the 'bong' of the mailbox and a thud/crack sound of the bat hitting the car.

If someone it the mailbox, it would be like hitting a small tree, since the bumper is a foot or two off the ground.

===

But as far has a vehicle hitting your car, as others mentioned--it's low (if any) priority to the police.

[Archae]

18. Our mailboxes get hit about once a year too.

Some dummy going too fast around the curve, hits our mailboxes.

There are 5 of them mounted on a steel barrel full of concrete.

Suffice to say, it takes a LOT to knock it over, and we find car parts around the mailbox the next day.

[Liberal_in_LA]

23. they probably damaged thier car

[logosoco]

24. That I think would depend on the amount of people and crime in the area.

This happened to me one time and the license plate of the car was knocked off. I called the sheriff's office, not because I really expected the people to offer restitution, but because I did not want them to come back looking for it, and if they did, I could tell them it was at the sheriff's office!

I would think, even if they are a busy department, someone keeps track of things and they may notice that this is happening frequently or in certain areas. Then they may take more of an interest.

[Jenoch]

25. When I was a kid

somebody ran into our mailbox and the post was broken. My dad replaced it and then a snowplow took it out. He then got a 6" diameter steel pipe that was 8' long. He put it halfway down in concrete. It was eventually bent over when the drunken neighbor kid hit it with an army surplus deuce.