Thursday, June 25, 2009

Unbelievable...

...we're gone for 2-1/2 weeks, and the house is fine. Four days after getting back home and into our regular routine, we come home from the daily trip to the pool to a missing 42" flatscreen and laptop.

Somebody walked into the family room through the one door I didn't think to check on the way out of the house, and braved a loud, 85-lb dog.

Whoever it was unhooked the cables and cords from the television and picked up the remote from the coffee table. Left the xbox 360 completely alone. Then they must have noticed the laptop which couldn't be seen from the (locked) kitchen door on the carport. That was simply unhooked from the surge protector and taken away with the mouse still attached.

Must not have walked through the rest of the house, as I don't see anything else missing. The officer who responded was pretty certain we're physically safe, as he thinks it was probably a younger offender, since they were careful to take the things they'd need to use both items right away, and didn't go through the rest of the house.

On the phone with insurance now, and should hear from the detective tomorrow.

My initial thoughts are:
  • Thankful nobody (including Peter T Dog) is hurt.
  • Sad about the photos the kids have copied over the 4-6 weeks. Without the Flickr uploader working this week, I was unable to get them backed up. I wish I'd copied them to my computer with the vacation photos.
  • Disappointed in the kids, for not locking the back door when I told them to; and in myself, for not following behind them to check.
  • Anger at the thought that I now have to wonder about every teen, lawn guy, contracter and construction worker from the road project by the park. And, I have to wonder if it's bad to be predictable by following a set routine. Oh, plus wonder if dropping our 42" projection television off at Goodwill might have been the tipoff for this act, and not some random crime of opportunity.
Now, to fix some brinner and make a catalog of everything else... after I go put the lock on the bikes. Yes, the stable of bikes had just been moved back out to the carport yesterday, were not locked, and are all still siting there.

4 comments:

Slamdunk said...

That is awful--sorry to hear about your loss. Has your neighborhood had probs before?

BobKat said...

Happened to me once, living in the Boston area. My car was parked out front of my apartment and sometime during the night someone broke the vent window, and stole my expensive radio. This was a neighborhood, and I good "mechanic" friends with a young guy next door who knew everyone. I talked to him, said - I don't care who took it, I just really would like it back... can you ask around? Within two days he handed me my radio.

mappchik said...

SD - Thanks. Not much in our part of the neighborhood. There was a wallet & cell stolen from the neighbor's unlocked car a little over a year ago. The responding officer was pretty surprised - usually this sort of thing happens to the part of the neighborhood closer to the high school, near a busy intersection and interstate access.

Bob -
I wish it were that simple. A budding thug would be spotted at some point in this quiet neighborhood of walking families and dog-walking seniors.
I'm pretty sure this is related to the increase of traffic from the massive road widening project around the corner.

BobKat said...

I wish to clarify... I was living in a close knit neighborhood in Alston, MA - just outside Boston. A "Townie-type" nbh where houses or cars just didn't get broken into. I'm sure it happened, just not v. often. My neighbor lived with his mother, our landlord. He was a good mechanic, around 22 - I was maybe 32. So when my car got broken into, I filed a police report, then talked to my neighbor... we both worked on cars. I went over to talk to him because he had grown up in the neighborhood. He said he had had a party the night my car was broken into... he told me he'd ask around... given the code in behavior - I don't think the guy who stole my radio got off with just a paper report. And I got my radio back. The Boston area could be bad, but there was a lot of good there too!.