It's a Romanian problem with the thefts. The government knows about it but there's only so much that can be done. The police have mugshots of many kids but they don't prosecute the young children. Quite often the parents of the children encourage the activity but of course deny this to any police. I have a limited understanding of Roma but it's clear many at least in Bucharest have a distaste for the group judging by their reactions.

The theft happened at dusk. Not knowing where to go that night, we went to the main police station the next morning. The ride in the squad car came about because apparently I had to report the crime in the specific district where it occurred, I think. Hard to tell with the Romanian>French>English and back translations there. So two patrol officers drove us, and they clearly don't like the gypsy people. On the way they stopped a woman on the street selling flowers, treated her rudely and confiscated her tub of roses.

The 3 detectives I spoke to were all early to mid 30's, very polite and spoke reasonable English. One was very fluent and while the report was typed, we had a long conversation comparing Bucharest to other EU capitals and US cities. I felt bad explaining my negative opinion of the city, admitting it was somewhat tainted by my being a stupid victim of crime, but he agreed that Bucharest is still very young in its transformation.

Anyway, I have a half page piece of paper that is the police report abstract in Romanian that makes a lovely souvenir. It was hard getting the point across that I needed the $3000 hearing aid listed as the primary item, the cops were more concerned about the $220 Craigslist special PDA I lost. After that, the local cops guarding the US Embassy wouldn't let me in to seek an official translation. Jerks. Luckily I didn't need it anyway.