Tag Archives: crime

Conflicted Over a Crime

1 Oct

Nia recently witnessed a crime. She told me about it very casually as I tucked her in for bedtime. In between her prayers and happy thoughts we talk about so she has sweet dreams, she said:

“I saw someone steal a toothbrush today at the grocery store. A dad took it out of the wrapper and gave the wrapper to his little girl to throw away and then he put the toothbrush in his pants.”

She told me she heard the rip of the wrapper and that’s what got her attention to look that way. I was right there with her but I didn’t notice it. I probably was deep in thought comparing bread ingredients or some such grocery store necessity. She said she’s not sure why she didn’t point it out to me or tell me then.

I’m really surprised about that too. She always tells me all sorts of things. Things I don’t necessarily want to know about what her friends say and do and everything her little brother does to annoy her. The time she should speak up to me, for whatever reason, she doesn’t. I’m actually not even sure what I would’ve done had she told me at the time.

Would I confront him? Unlikely. I’m not the confronting strangers type. Would I tell the grocery store employees? I should, right? They are stealing. But then I think of the little girl. Do I want to cause her any more trouble or hardship than she already may be experiencing? Also, it’s just a toothbrush. Maybe the dad’s mad at the high prices and is making a point? Still doesn’t make it right though… What would you do? Would you confront or report?

I talked to Nia about it, in case it ever happens again. She knows that taking something that isn’t yours – or that you haven’t paid for – is wrong. We also talked about some things that may cause people to steal and how I can sometimes understand why someone in a desperate circumstance would feel they have no other choice. That starts getting confusing for an 8-year-old. Especially one who just watched a little girl about her age have to do as her daddy said and help him steal.

My little girl witnessed a crime but what’s more sad to me is that another little girl was involved in one.

 

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Paranoid

23 Aug

Call me a narc. Call me a do-gooder. Call me justified. I’ll call myself a pissed off neighbor who is tired of people not respecting other people’s property.

While our next door neighbors are on vacation, we’ve been getting their mail for them.  Friday night, I went out to get it  but I saw two people sitting on the storm drain next to their house.  I just thought it was two of our neighbors talking so I didn’t head for the mailbox.  Instead, I got our garbage cans and brought them around the side of the house.  As I was walking back inside, I noticed they were leaving so I waited for them to walk off and then went for the mail.  I thought it was weird that the two girls cut through our yards, so I let Joey out so he could bark at them. I didn’t think too much of it all until I opened our neighbor’s empty mailbox.

First thought – Andrew must have gotten it already.  No.  I would have known that.

Second thought – They didn’t get any mail.  No.  They always have a ton of mail.

Third thought – What is that paper blowing around on the grass?  Oh, and that ripped up envelope?  CRAP!  I think that’s their mail!

I looked around for more mail and my eyes caught a bunch of white paper stuffed in the storm drain.  I grabbed a piece that’s not too far in and see it is indeed their mail.

I freak out, worried that they stole something with our neighbor’s financial information on it.  I run inside to get Andrew and then run back outside to see if I see the girls anywhere.  Sure enough, I see them down the street behind our house and what do you know – I see them open up another mailbox and look inside!  I yell at them like some tough girl, “I see what you’re doing!  I found the mail!  PUNKS!  I’m calling the police!”  To all of that they reply, “Ma’am?”  I run back inside and cross paths with Andrew who’s armed with a stick of some sort (at that time he did not know they were girls!).  While he took off to chase them, I called the cops.

Andrew didn’t catch up with the girls but the officer did!  The only bad thing about it all – he drove them back to our house so we could identify them!  I say yes, it’s them but I don’t want to press charges, just give back the mail.  “Ma’am, we didn’t take no mail ma’am.”  I say, “Well then, could you give us the mail you found blowing in the wind while you were walking?”  “We don’t have no mail ma’am.”

Turns out they live either in our neighborhood or close to us and they are 23 and 20 years old!  (Here I thought they were just kids being kids.)  The 23 year old actually even had a warrant out for her arrest!  (Not sure for what.) Based off what we saw and another neighbor who saw them throw down two pieces of mail (another neighbor’s catalog credit card statement and our neighbor’s entire phone bill), they handcuffed the girls and took them away.

I’m just so freakin’ paranoid right now. They know where we live.  They know we’re the ones who reported them.  What if they retaliate? Nia and Nate’s rooms are in the front of the house.  I’m so scared they, or someone they know, will do something that could hurt our sweeties as they sleep all tucked in nice and cozy.  I want to move!  I can totally see why people don’t report crime.  The cop even asked if we owned a gun and told us to get one!  That’s comforting!

This sucks!  All we can do is move Nia’s bed away from the outside wall and pray the criminals aren’t crazy enough to want to hurt someone.

Did we do the right thing?  What about the smart thing?  What would you have done?  Am I overreacting yet again?  (Please don’t answer unless you’re going to help make me feel better!  HA!)
 

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Crime Update

21 Mar

Apparently, the thieves decided they didn’t want Andrew’s computer keyboard.  Yesterday, I was looking out of Nia’s window and saw something odd in our neighbor’s yard. (It looked like a purse or something.)  I ran over to check it out and there was the keyboard!

Andrew insists it wasn’t there on Monday – that we would have seen it if it was because we were all outside near the area.  He thinks maybe they came back through Monday night and tossed stuff back or something because our neighbor across the street says he found one of the things he reported stolen in his front yard too.

Odd…

Oh well – it still doesn’t change the fact that it all happened – it’s just a weird twist I guess.
 

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I Feel So Violated

19 Mar

I just can’t even believe this. How long did we live in Savannah?  A city considered to be a “high-crime” area?  NOTHING ever happened to us there.  It happened to people we knew but never to us.  Now though – we live in a small town with hardly any crime where EVERYONE is super nice and friendly and our car gets broken into while its parked in our driveway.

Apparently it happened to a lot of our neighbors.  Ours happened right under our little girl’s bedroom window.  Our big ass dog didn’t even bark.  He barks at a bird farting but not at someone breaking into Andrew’s SUV.  The SUVs alarm didn’t even go off.  Those jerks got in and then tossed stuff everywhere – you know shopping around for what they wanted to take that didn’t belong to them.

They took a keyboard he had from work and two computer cables he had for his work laptop but nothing else.  They passed up the season 4 box set of “Seinfeld” (what you don’t like to laugh jerks?) and all of Andrew’s CD’s (don’t like his taste in music?)  his Oakley sunglasses (I hope the sun damages your eyes) his radar detector (what you don’t break the law to speed?) they even left some money he had in there (apparently money isn’t worth the effort).  I understand that they took what they did because it’s probably the best thing for them them to make money off of – but why not take the rest too?  I mean, you’re already in there and I’m sure you’ll get a few bucks from some of the other stuff – especially the actual money!  It’s not that I wanted them to take all of it – I’m just trying to better understand what they did.

I just feel so violated and pissed.  I can’t even imagine how people get through something bigger than this – like a stolen car or a burglarized house or rape or armed robbery.  I feel so powerless and I just want to get back at them.  I wish we could have caught them in the act – I’m not sure how it would of all went down but I’m sure it would have surprised them and I would love to know who did this.  Just to see their faces and ask them why.  Do they get kicks out of it? Do they desperately need the money?

I know I’m probably making something bigger of this than it needs to be but I can’t help it right now.  I’m still reacting to the fact that it happened and I’m just so angry because I never thought it could happen here.  (Which is my own naive fault.) It also makes me scared because if they did that what else will they do?  Try to get in the house next?  Hopefully then that big ass dog of ours will step up and show those sharp teeth of his.  I know I certainly will.
 

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