I contacted the police about this matter, and was told it was a civil matter, and that law enforcement would not take a police report for theft?  

It will take too much of your time, energy, and head space to continue to pursue litigation, even in small claims court.

If so, be very careful when screening tenants, if you use similar criteria, you'll quickly subject yourself to fair housing violations & maybe even civil rights violations.

That's not to say that I could possibly maybe have known some people who hypothetically have skipped all that bureaucratic hassle because their gut told them the tenant is way too lazy to ever come back with some sort of wrongful eviction litigation.

Once you show a pending litigation its funny how things get resolved especially if you have it in writing

Insurance is not going to cover you in all the scenarios - asset protection strategies/structures complement regular insurance and represent insurance against litigation - so I would say you should put that in place when you have substantial equity and cash flow to protect. 

There is plaintiff's exhibit #1 for your civil suit (unless water co doesn't pursue it further).

Other than what is already mentioned, I will pull from my previous live as a Civil Engineer.

I actually got a cop to come out the second day and he said the same thing it was a civil case.

Using the S&P500 as a proxy for economic activity, the US as a civilization is TWICE as overextended as it was in 2007.