Mitch Smedley was enjoying a nice dinner last December in Kansas City, Missouri. While eating, a thief got busy breaking into his wife’s Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk and driving it away.

“We went out there to enjoy date night and went to get in our car and go home, but our car was gone,” he told FOX 4.

Smedley filed a police report and hoped for the best, as any bereaved car owner would do in that situation. A week after it disappeared, Smedley and his wife spotted his stolen Jeep while running errands.

“I’m going to speed up and see if, by chance, it’s yours. And sure enough, I speed up. And it was her Jeep,” he recalled.

He dialed 911 and told them he was behind the thieves, filming the entire chase. Smedley remembered being extremely irritated by how long he had to wait for someone to answer.

Smedley said police wouldn’t help pursue the Jeep

“[The dispatcher]’s like, ‘No, we need to have the case number before we can even send a police officer your direction.’ I’m like, ‘Ma’am, I’m actively chasing my stolen car right now, and I’m on the phone with you and you want me to dig through my phone and find the case number?'” said Smedley.

“She goes, ‘If you want anything done on this phone call, you’re going to have to have the case number.’” he continued.

To add insult to injury, the couple lost sight of the Jeep when they finally found the case number.

“So they took off and turned and I never saw them after that. I was kind of frustrated. I’m like, we could have gotten the officers in the area and hashed out all these other details later,” he said.

He told the outlet he called the police department’s theft division after the 911 call, though they never called back.

Police say you should always have your case number handy

As if vehicle thefts didn’t have enough stress on their plates, police Sgt. Phil DiMartino said victims should have their case number ready in case they find their stolen vehicle before they do.

“Generally, when you file a (stolen car) report, you’ll be given a form with some basics, including the case support number and the officer who took the report. It’s never a bad idea to keep that handy just in case this moment happens,” he told the outlet.

“It’s frustrating at that moment because you see your car and want help right now, understandably so. Stay on the line with the call taker. You can say, ‘Hey, I don’t have that information right now; here is my name. I filed a report at this time.’ The most important information to get out to the call takers is the location of the vehicle.”

Smedley thinks police need to try harder

After two unhelpful calls and his wife’s Jeep still missing, he felt slighted by the police. He also thinks thieves would be less likely to steal cars if they knew police were taking their crimes seriously.

“It’s like, wow, they really have no interest in stopping vehicle thefts. I can understand it’s kind of hard to stop them before they happen, but with adequate prosecution to the fullest extent of the law, then, a couple of guys end up watching their buddies go to jail for ten or 15 years for stealing cars, and all of a sudden people are going to quit stealing cars,” Smedley said.

Most importantly, he was frustrated that it took so long for a 911 dispatcher to answer his call.

“For one, if you call 911, you shouldn’t be put on hold for as long as I was,” Smedley said. “But then to stop the progress of everything by saying I need a case number before I can do anything seems pretty arbitrary.”