Crime Sucks

I could have ran him over with my car. hmm. After I gave him the option of returning my stuff he ran across a field where some teenagers were playing soccer. I could've yelled for them to stop him. hmm, might have worked. I suppose if I owned a gun I could have pulled it and made him wait until the cops came. hmm.

I've always been comfortable in my neighborhood despite it being a little on the rough side. Now that I'll be living alone and this incident happened right in front of my new residence I'm wondering if I'm as safe as I could be. Where I'm teaching in the fall will be in an even worse neighborhood. I definitely plan on signing up for a self-defense course and am also wondering if I should get a concealed weapons license. What if some junkie broke into my apartment? *sigh*

It's nearly impossible for me to do homework now. It's been far to an eventful of an evening.

Yes logic that makes 'sense' indeed!

And some little snotnose punkass cockfarmer is not worth all that.

It sounds like he didn't get too much from you, though, beyond your sense of security: sometimes I think with crimes like this you're better off not seeing the perpetrator, so you can think of urban crime as a vague non-directed force of nature and not have to dwell on the fact that actual people will gladly violate you or your belongings.

Carrying pepper spray is really not a bad idea. One guy I know bought a keychain with a mini pepper-spray attachment and was teased mercilessly for a few weeks (something like "pepper spray is for girls" and "don't flatter yourself, no one wants to rape you") -- after which he got jumped in a park and sprayed all hell out of his attacker. (And reaffirmed his "manliness" by not running from the newly-disabled assailant but by sticking around to beat him up!) (NB no one in this story is anyone I like.)

Unthinkingly wiping the sweat out of your eyes with your hands afterwards: DUD

someone died in the apt. across the yard from me tonight. Apparently the man was missing part of his head for reasons not yet confirmed although murder, suicide and accident are all being thrown around.

Shortly after coming home I heard one of the dozen police officers and paramedics standing outside my door call for another unit due to "a possible homocide." I also heard things like "blood everywhere," "saw it as soon as I walked in the door." The news cameras showed up and our apt. manager ran them off the place. I just watched from inside my blinds and called up this number a friend gave me about a duplex up for rent.

About 4 hours after this all started, after the CSI crews had come and gone, the body was brought down the stairs, wrapped in a sheet with bare feet and legs sticking out. Then they put it in a body bag and rolled it off. It was gruesome.

Oh, and my front door won't shut properly because of the fucked-up foundation and is only being held by a little latch-to lock thing.

I couldn't help but notice your thread. Sorry I wasn't here last year, I would have added my two cents to your auto burglary incident, but I won't rehash the entire old wound today. I am sure you mulled that frustration over enough!

But by the 'revival' post I'm not sure what you are looking for? I think maybe you need to talk about the incident since it was so traumatic. This seems to be the first step with processing these types of horrible things.

I have been a police officer and more importantly a crime scene evidence technician. Oh, boy, I was depressed everyday I was employed as that. At least as a police officer you get to meet some nice people and the 'crime' turns out to be nothing once in a while. As a crime scene technician you go to nothing but scenes where 'something bad happened' ....many times to someone good.

All I can suggest is talking about it to your friends to help you kind of process the horror of it all. Do you have access to counseling of any kind? Even a general practice type of couselor/psychologist could probably help...but someone who knows about tramatic stress or grief would be better.

As far as your door, it sounds like there must be some way that door can at least be secured better than it is, even if it still doesn't close properly. If the doorway is merely slanted, what they usually do is shave off the top or bottom of the door so that it fits into the slanted entrance way. In ANY case, if you are renting, I cannot imagine that local law doesn't require the landlord to provide reasonable security for your unit. You should have him do something. I would probably go beyond that myself and buy my own additional locks. Don't forget your windows.

Did you ever get a gun? Even though you said you cannot get a concealed carry permit did you see if you are eligible to buy a gun for the home? I work at a police department and can't even get a concealed carry permit! That's how tough they are to get in California :(

I too live in a crime ridden neighborhood. I often confront the drug addicts that use drugs and/or urinate on our front step. My neighbors are correct to tell me that I shouldn't, as an ordinary citizen, confront them alone. It is not safe and I am not carrying a gun, but I do it because basically I have some training and experience dealing with criminals and unstable people, and in addition to that I have a "I'll do it myself because I wouldn't want someone with less experience to have to do it because I didn't" attitude.

Although I can't prevent someone from pulling a gun on me, I can control what I do to them. Good citizens can end up in prison for shooting at or running over a fleeing criminal. I believe that burglars have sued homeowners for getting ouchies while they were inside the victim's house too...like they tripped and fell or cut themselves on the glass of the window they broke into. We live in a very litigious society and sometimes it gets a bit convoluted along the way to righting a wrong, making matters worse instead of better.

Please be careful.

Please take care of yourself regarding the homicide incident. If you want to talk to me off line you can email me. If you want a phone call, I'd be happy to call you or I can give you my phone number. Really. I would be happy to answer any questions you have that maybe I have some experience with.

while I was sitting at home tonight drinkin' my herbal tea and airborne trying to stave off a cold and watching The Wire Season 3, some jackass went and ditched the following right outside my front door:

* some poor bastard's snipped kryptonite cable
* presumably same bastard's wrenched-off handlebar bell
* empty 1/2 oz baggie

Fuck you, crime, there's trashcans all around, for crying out loud. Now the guy who squatted over my flood drain about a year ago to take a shit I can kind of understand being as I don't live near a bunch of public toilets and there are plenty of homeless drunks just about wherever you go in this town, but seriously, I got to throw away some dickhead's material evidence for him? Assholes.

Sucks about the baggie.

I like imagining that the bike thief had been waiting for a couple of days for the right occasion to twist a huge doob with it and realized that immediately after stealing a bike in a rich neighborhood with heavy foot traffic was the time

the threadstarter is tj hooker.

Bell_Labs car got broken into this weekend. Crime sucks. Fuck you, criminals.

Dang. :-/

Well Ms S you should consider yourself lucky. When I lived in South Mongoon i had tribesmen at my window most EVERY nite. Very very difficult to sleep I should say so myself! My dad always sent them away with screams and that helped me deal with thinks.
-- Karl J Kretzschmar, Sunday, July 7, 2002 12:00 AM (5 years ago) Bookmark Link

Who the fuck was KARL J KRETZSCHMAR?

A few weeks ago my car was broken into without any windows smashed or locks damaged. Then the other night a friend locked my keys in my car. The AAA guy was able to get into the car in about 30 seconds with this air pump device that jams open the door just enough that he can slip something else in to grab the lock. Apparently the device is easily available on the internet and not expensive. I'm never leaving anything in my car again anywhere ever.

FWIW I'm not even that bummed about the break-in -- it's happened to me several times since I've had a car and I'm just glad they didn't break a window.

i've posted this before, and i probably shouldn't again. but i got mugged one time in pre 9/11 williamsburg. totally my own fault, it was 4am and i was dead drunk left my gf to walk to my place -- two teens were stalking me on bedford so i veer onto berry thinking i'm all macguyver.

dudes were waiting for me almost in front of my place. it wasn't the hueg shaq guy i was scared of, it was his short buddy whose right arm and face were twitching that made me think things over. luckily i had only $20 in my pocket, much more and i might had tried to extricate myself. i told these guys here's your twenty, but you're not getting the wallet. they acted hard but wanted to get the hell out of there. then i had the extreme pleasure of walking in on three stockbrokers blowing lines of coke telling me i should have kicked their asses.

counterpoint: crime rules

yeah

whoa mods with the quickness

my honda scooter was stolen last night by some asshole with a bolt cutter.. second time in the last year, where I had to replace the ignitions switch and some other stuff

Did a police report, craigslist & nextdoor posts, now we wait

Last time it was stolen, a bartender buddy spotted it in downtown Oakland and stole it back for me.. hoping something like that happens this time
So fucking pissed