One of our cars was broken into the other night. It was parked way back in the driveway, far from where any stranger should be on the property, especially late at night when we are all sleeping. The driver’s side window was broken, an expense that will just about meet the insurance deductible, cause great frustration for the driver and make us feel ever more vulnerable than we already do. There wasn’t much of value, but what was, was stolen.
When I lived in a big city, before I moved to this area, I was burglarized three times. The first time, it was someone I knew who lived in the same condominiums that I did. He was a young man, just out of the service whom I had helped at the school where I taught, giving him rides daily. He had broken into 27 homes. They caught him with a fingerprint from my house, and he spent a lot of time in jail.
The second time, they kicked in my solid wood front door. I came home after a late-night rehearsal to find all of my electronics and jewelry were taken; every drawer emptied onto the floor. They had been watching and knew my hours. They were never caught. The third time was a daring daytime robbery that the neighbors observed and called the police in time to get them out of my house. All this was in a nice quiet neighborhood very similar to the one I live in now.
We feel vulnerable. What are these people doing late at night? Are they looking for things they can sell? Are they poorly disciplined kids out for the “fun” of causing…