Burgled.

The other night our minivan was ransacked.  We were EXTREMELY lucky or blessed or whatever you want to call it, because the thieves somehow overlooked my wallet (which I NEVER EVER EVER leave in my car) and a house key.  Our loss was limited to the large handful of change they grabbed from the ashtray, which is fine because since I've been working out, I really don't need that McDonald's-vanilla-cone fund anymore.

I miss these.

I don't want to over dramatize and say I am traumatized or feel excessively violated.  I mean, I'm more kinda pissed off and perplexed.  Our neighborhood is very blue-collar and not well-to-do by ANY stretch of the imagination.  But I guess anyone might leave some cash in an unlocked car--which IS common around here because we live on the outskirts of a small town where people are trusting and unbelieving that this type of thing would happen to them.  We have lived here for nearly eight years and people laughed at us when we installed deadbolts on our doors when we moved in.

The vandals hit several dozen cars in our neighborhood.  No one in our neighborhood is laughing.  What is even less funny is the fact that the State Police (who are the responders where we live) flat out told us they weren't coming out.  My husband and a neighbor waited for two hours after initially calling them, thinking that someone would be out to take statements or at least write up a report, but when they called again they were told that that wasn't going to happen and that basically it could be chalked up to "we shouldn't have left our cars unlocked."  Our tax dollars at work.  Thanks for that.

More useful and zero tax dollars spent.
flickr.com ©Mark Turnauckas2012

One piece of information we did get from the police was that they had over 100 calls about vehicle break-ins that morning.  I'm not sure if the police were implying that they were all committed by the same people, but if it was a group and they were moving that fast and there were enough of them, its not inconceivable,I guess. There were at least 15 incidents that we know of in our neighborhood alone.  And that was just people The Sarge spoke to that morning.  I later found out about a few more from others.

I found it strange that a lot of people in our neighborhood didn't seem to be troubled by it whatsoever.  One lady had her driver's license, insurance card, registration and a debit card taken and yet she did not want to wait with my husband and the neighbor for the police. I mean, personal information was stolen and she begged off because she had to be at work.

Like I said, I'm not seriously traumatized.  Obviously it was dark and whatnot but you could tell they were moving fast and just looking for cash.  They actually missed a ten dollar bill in our visor because they likely never took the time to look up and around there.  They swept out all the low cubbies in the dashboard (where my wallet and the key were) and dumped the drawer under the passenger seat and the glove box, grabbed the change in the "ashtray" and that's it.  But if I'd had personal information stolen?  You better believe I'd want to talk to the cops.  It's hard to imagine that I'd be so worried about missing work that I'd ignore that kind of violation.

The other thing I question is that is this just "Shit Happens" to them?  Because "Shit Happens" to me is NOT burglary. "Shit Happens" is like, the game was rained out, or I forgot to bring my coupons to the grocery store, or the toddler crapped in her diaper 17 seconds after I changed her.  Burglary is NOT the shit I want happening around here.

flickr.com ©rick2008