Sorry to hear that the police in your area don't respond and just give case numbers out. That sucks. Kittitas County LE agencies are very good at responding in a timely manner and handle most every call in person. As for a "sting" at Parker's shop you should complain to Issaquah PD and Kittitas County Sheriff's Office if you don't like the way they handled it. It seems like it worked out for the better having a civilian buy the stolen property and reporting it to LE. Also, please don't speak for all LEO's when you say they don't give a **** about thieves. Most do. You are just jaded by the bad experiences you've had with a few officers who aren't the majority.
You're busting 1500psi s ballz over not turning in Parker and think that the county cops in Kittitas care about every theft. Well that's great and maybe they actually do over there in small town USA. Actually I'm glad to hear this as my experience over the years in several different parts of the country is the exact opposite.
Over the years I've had a couple vehicles stolen and countless jobsite break ins and I can say without a doubt the cops never seem very interested in investigating petty theft (yes I'm calling grand theft auto, or gettin $20k in tools stolen, or finding your bucket loader missing on Monday morning petty theft because the cops view it about as seriously as someone who smuggled a new hoody out of Cabelas). More often than not, I couldn't even get a cop to respond, rather " you can come in and file a report and we will have it available to you for insurance purposes in 3 days...."
He!!, I feel bad I supported this douche a few years ago. I knew nothing about him, but we were staying at last resort and wandered over to his place to check out the Sno bikes he had. Chatted him up, he let me take one for a rip to see what it was like and we bought some stuff from him. Klim backpack for my boy's birthday and some other things cause he had good deals "on sale". I now realize it was prolly cause the gear was stolen...
Fug him, throw the book at him.