So, my two cents on this.
Our bikes got stolen a couple of years back. We called the police when my wife tracked down the thieves and had them in sight, and they appeared to apprehend. All well and good.
At the end of my interview with the officer, he said, "So are you planning to press charges?"
Wait, what?
"What do you mean, am I planning to press charges? This is a criminal offense. Why do I need to press charges? You guys caught them with our bikes. Isn't that enough?"
The answer, basically, was "No." He said that, overwhelmingly, most people are happy to get their property back and are unwilling to show up in court to state for the record that yes, this is the person who took my stuff, or even, yes, that is my stuff. They don't want to get involved, they're afraid of retribution, etc. And as a result, when the criminals come up for trial, it's fairly straightforward for them to be acquitted, without witnesses, even if they were caught red-handed. So the police often don't bother to go after these sorts of crimes, because they know from experience that most of the time they're just wasting their time.
"You have got to be kidding."
Nope.
"Tell me where and when I need to show up."
His eyebrows went up and he reopened his notepad.
We went to court. Never had to testify. The fact that we were out in the hallway was enough that the bike thieves took a plea. Cost us a couple of hours, and we never saw them.