Sunday, September 17, 2006
Crime spree in my neighborhood....
Thursday night, I went to bed at 1am (my goal is supposed to be midnight, but I never seem to make it). About 15 minutes later, Chip started barking like crazy, not his "I want to play" bark, but the ferocious bark that makes him sound as large as a a Doberman (he's a springer). I took off my eye pillow and went to the window as I heard my neighbor friend's car alarm going off. I didn't see anything amiss except the light in her car flashing on and off. I went downstairs and looked outside again but saw nothing out of place. I went to the hutch where I keep the phone numbers so I could call her and see if everything was ok, but just then, the alarm stopped, so I figured it had been a false alarm and that she had switched it off herself.
Friday morning, my neighbor friend called me to tell me that indeed her car had been broken into. Apparently, someone had pried open a window, grabbed a bag just as the alarm went off, and ran like hell. Unfortunately, that bag had contained her driver's license, materials she needed for work, a paycheck stub, her cell phone, and a an iPod. Luckily, the alarm must have scared the thief off before they found her checkbook, which was also in the car. She did call the police, but they just told her to file a report in the morning.
So the first thing to do was take my friend to the DMV so she could replace her license because she couldn't really go anywhere else by herself without it. As I backed out of the driveway, I saw that the truck belonging to the neighbor on the other side of me had its back window open. My friend went to our other neighbor's house but got no response when she knocked on the door.
I'd heard on the news that there had been big staff cuts at the DMV causing long customer waits but thought the problem had been resolved when they started allowing license renewals by mail. I was wrong. We got there at 10am, and the line was already out the door on the sidewalk. No way I could stand that long, so my friend had me drop her off.
I picked up a few things at the grocery store since it was sill fairly early in the day and there was an electric cart available. As I came home and pulled into the driveway, I saw my neighbor who owned the truck out front on her cell phone. I came up and asked her if anything in the truck had been taken. She didn't even realize it had been broken into, but when we took a good look, we could see where someone had climbed into the bed of the truck, pried open the window, and then climbed through the window. They must have left the truck from the door, because it was unlocked, and she had locked it the previous night. Nothing was missing, but things had been re-arranged like someone had rummaged around in there. She called her brother, who owned the truck, and then she went to file a police report.
So best I can figure, someone waited for me to turn my light off to go to bed, broke into the truck right afterward, broke into my friend's car next, and then fled when the alarm went off. No one bothered anything at my house as my Saturn is locked in the garage every night and my house has a security system. Even if my car had been parked out front, I doubt anyone would have bothered breaking in as I don't keep anything in there worth stealing, the stereo doesn't work if removed from the dash, and the car can't be driven if it is hot wired. Still, it is infuriating to think of some asshole on a treasure hunt in my neighborhood like that.
Oh, and my friend called from the DMV after two and a half hours to say they had only served 8 customers and that there were still 36 people ahead of her! Ridiculous.
So I guess the moral of the story is: never leave your driver's license in your vehicle, even if you have an alarm.
Friday morning, my neighbor friend called me to tell me that indeed her car had been broken into. Apparently, someone had pried open a window, grabbed a bag just as the alarm went off, and ran like hell. Unfortunately, that bag had contained her driver's license, materials she needed for work, a paycheck stub, her cell phone, and a an iPod. Luckily, the alarm must have scared the thief off before they found her checkbook, which was also in the car. She did call the police, but they just told her to file a report in the morning.
So the first thing to do was take my friend to the DMV so she could replace her license because she couldn't really go anywhere else by herself without it. As I backed out of the driveway, I saw that the truck belonging to the neighbor on the other side of me had its back window open. My friend went to our other neighbor's house but got no response when she knocked on the door.
I'd heard on the news that there had been big staff cuts at the DMV causing long customer waits but thought the problem had been resolved when they started allowing license renewals by mail. I was wrong. We got there at 10am, and the line was already out the door on the sidewalk. No way I could stand that long, so my friend had me drop her off.
I picked up a few things at the grocery store since it was sill fairly early in the day and there was an electric cart available. As I came home and pulled into the driveway, I saw my neighbor who owned the truck out front on her cell phone. I came up and asked her if anything in the truck had been taken. She didn't even realize it had been broken into, but when we took a good look, we could see where someone had climbed into the bed of the truck, pried open the window, and then climbed through the window. They must have left the truck from the door, because it was unlocked, and she had locked it the previous night. Nothing was missing, but things had been re-arranged like someone had rummaged around in there. She called her brother, who owned the truck, and then she went to file a police report.
So best I can figure, someone waited for me to turn my light off to go to bed, broke into the truck right afterward, broke into my friend's car next, and then fled when the alarm went off. No one bothered anything at my house as my Saturn is locked in the garage every night and my house has a security system. Even if my car had been parked out front, I doubt anyone would have bothered breaking in as I don't keep anything in there worth stealing, the stereo doesn't work if removed from the dash, and the car can't be driven if it is hot wired. Still, it is infuriating to think of some asshole on a treasure hunt in my neighborhood like that.
Oh, and my friend called from the DMV after two and a half hours to say they had only served 8 customers and that there were still 36 people ahead of her! Ridiculous.
So I guess the moral of the story is: never leave your driver's license in your vehicle, even if you have an alarm.
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