I had a friend a few weeks ago describe a large portion of Troy (esp the Lansingburgh area) as "scary as f****" For a while, postal workers were demanding (and getting) police escorts.

I have over 100+ calls to the local police submitting information.

Need to learn about commercial lending, starting LLCs, and need to polish my math skills in relation to making good investment decisions for properties I'm evaluating.

I would roll it out of the garage and then contact local code enforcement or police to determine the next step.

I just got word today that a long time tenant that currently rents a single family home from me in a small rural town, had to have the police come stop a domestic dispute 2 days ago.

If they steal it from there then it's a police matter and when they are found in possession of the goods it's theft clean and simple.

And as far as police and firemen ..

Typically insurance agents advocate for umbrella polices while attorneys advocate for forming LLCs.Unless you have a ton of equity or cash, I would focus my attention and time on accruing more assets.That being said, it never hurts to plan ahead. 

If you didn't call the police to take the pot and document it, then you're likely not going to be able to use that as a basis for keeping the deposit.

Your tenants needed to escalate the issue immediately, regardless of the opinion of the responding police offers.