All PD's are different, especially county to county. But down here in SD County, there must be at least 5 cars broken into/vandalized in the same parking lot before the cops will even consider showing up. I don't believe it's a written rule, it's just what my experiences have taught me in the last 20 years of my work. The ONLY time I've seen the police show up with one car having been vandalized is when the owner of the vehicle knew the right person/people (excluding vehicles equipped with LoJack). I've even been complained to about the police not showing up by a police officer that had his Camaro broken into. I've been told stories of thief's breaking into a downstairs garage while the occupents were sleeping upstairs, the thief(s) stealing the MB out of the garage, and the police not showing up (police report done over the phone). I've repaired a judge's vehicle and the police did not show up when he filed the police report.
In the grand scheme of things, police officers have a lot more to worry about than some gas being stolen/researching a video in trying to figure out who stole the gas.
As far as you or anyone else on this board dealing with the thief(s), I highly don't recomend it. All of you macho types feel free to have someone else kill you over $15 of gas or a $200 stereo. The kind of person that is stealing your gas/stereo/vehicle etc doesn't give a rats asss about you and chances are that he or she is packing a weapon of some sort and does not care if he or she has to use it. It is not uncommon in SoCal for someone to die in trying to stop a thief.