At 2:00 AM last Friday morning thieves took two dirt bikes and a quad from my neighbor Barb's garage.
Now for the rest of the story!
We have a security light at our front door. It goes off and on during the night for various reasons. Seldom do we get up to see if anything is amiss. At 2:00 AM last Friday morning my wife did get up to look out. She noticed someone standing at our corner. The guy appeared to be looking around as if looking for something. My wife came back to the bedroom to get me to look out. By the time I got there the guy had disappeared. We also noticed that the light was on in Barb's garage. So my wife said the guy looked clean cut. We debated phoning the police but somehow thought that it was unnecessary. I also said, "Well Barb probably forgot to shut the light off." So we went back to bed.
On Sunday morning I asked another neighbor if he had seen anything early Friday morning. He hadn't seen anything but he told me then that Barb's garage had been broken into.
The bad guys had found Barb's car window down a tiny bit. They entered the vehicle and took the garage door opener and so entered the garage and took the loot.
On Friday Barb didn't go to her garage and didn't drive her car.. After supper she was going to go to the store and found a mess in the front of her car. She couldn't understand why the mess. Then she noticed the garage door opener gone. She checked the garage but didn't notice anything missing. The bikes and quads belong to her son and the bikes and quad went in and out of the garage. Just to be sure she phoned her son on Saturday. He said that the bikes and quad should be in the garage.
So the wheels turned very slowly and finally more than 24 hours later it was discovered that there was a theft.
Meanwhile my wife and I felt very badly that we hadn't reported the person on our corner. Just maybe he or his friends may have been found and questioned in the area.
So this was a crime that was close and so far away in many ways. There are the what ifs? There's the feeling of being too trusting. There's the feeling that it could have been me for some strange reason.
So it's a wake up call for our community to join together and be much more aware of what is happening in the neighborhood.
oh dear. at least it was only theft of 'things' - even though it does rob you of a feeling of security.
ReplyDeleteYes , it's certainly upsetting.
DeleteSo you actually saw the perpetrator? What an awful thing to have happened! There was nothing you could have done anyway, not knowing what was or wasn't proper in another household. But I do understand your feeling of wishing you had known.
ReplyDeleteAnd you know the feeling of being a victim. It stays with you for a long time.
ReplyDeleteA cautionary tale - and a warning for us all.
ReplyDeleteI probably would not have called the police just seeing someone in the neighborhood at 2:00 AM. There was nothing to make you think it was a burglary. If you had actually seen strange activity, then I would have called. I had something very similar just this past week. Saw someone move along our river with just a flashlight and no boat lights at 4:00 in the morning and found out later a boat had been stolen!
ReplyDeleteThe worst thing about a theft like that is the loss of the sense of security that we have...the loss of innocence. Somehow, it changes things.
ReplyDeleteYou know that feeling women get in the pit of their stomach when they know something is just not right - Instinct - we have it for a reason. We had this guy arriving daily on the street corner in a beat up olde car and after the second day, I took a photo through my window of him, his car and his license plate and marched down to the police station. He would arrive and just sit there in the MIDDLE of the road in the car and I might mention he was kinda greasy looking too. Anyway, the police said to call if it continued - it did and the police arrived the next day and confronted him. He said he was just trying to piggyback on a wifi signal - yeah, right - that's what the police told me - I asked them if they knew it was illegal to do so - this guy could be looking at porn riding piggy back on a neighbours signal!!!!! And then the neighbour gets charged with the crime. Suspect came back next day and I called police again - suspect never came back. There is the feeling of being too trusting or seeing something out of the ordinary so, all I can say is follow your instinct if you feel something just isn't right. You would not have known he was up to something, and it sure didn't appear that way. And Red, the feeling of being a victim does stay with you for a very long time. Take care
ReplyDeleteWhat a shame, Red. But you can't judge yourself. You make the best decisions at the time, with the information on hand.
ReplyDeleteHorrible people out there, but they are in the minority...
Good try.
Terrible! We had a huge robbery many, many years ago. They came into the house and took lots of stuff. It was awful!
ReplyDeleteLinda
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It's a sad state our world is in.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a detached garage since they didn't go on in the house. If it's attached she is very lucky things weren't worse.
We never leave our gargage door opener in the car.
Red, when your light goes off I suggest you take a little look around.
That's a shame about your neighbour. I'm not so sure I would have made a call based on what your wife saw, either. Hindsight is always sharper.
ReplyDeleteI think we all have to be vigilent..times are getting tough all over and many are resorting to crime:(
ReplyDeleteWow, that's so close to home for sure. It's unfortunate that things such as this happen but unfortunately it's a part of life today. I was just thinking the other day how we never even used to lock our car doors, nor our house. Today we don't dare do such a thing. It really is a wake up call and it's a good idea to involve the community and look out for one another.
ReplyDelete