Tuesday, July 9, 2019
Fine. If You Don't Care, I Don't Care. Although...
Once again, those of us on Chuck Ross' CrimeWatch circulation got an e-mail about car invasions. Chuck strategically and correctly does not use the word "break-ins," because no car was broken into. The cars were left UNLOCKED(!!!!!), so no effort was expended by our visitors in what Chuck describes as "rummaging" through the vehicles, and taking whatever looked good.
And hey, it's your stuff. If you want people to help themselves to it, that's up to you. There are only two things I would ask you to keep in mind. First, if BP is seen and known as a place where cars are left unlocked, then it attracts people who will try to help themselves to my belongings just the same as they'll help themselves to yours. And since I'm not as unconcerned about this as you are, I don't want to send that message. I don't want you to send that message.
Second, if you want to make your car coffee mug, or your tools, or your wallet, available, to strangers who are up to no good, then, as I say, it's your stuff. But please don't leave your firearms in your unlocked car. When people take your money, or charge things on your credit card, that's your problem. When they tote your gun to amplify the mischief they can make, it's everyone's problem. Please don't make those kinds of decisions for the rest of us.
By the way, as an aside, it appears Tracy Truppman is working to undermine CrimeWatch and its effectiveness. If you know about CrimeWatch, and you appreciate it, please let the Commission know you don't approve of any efforts to neutralize it.
Amen, Fred.
ReplyDeleteWorth adding that BP has had LOADED guns stolen from UNLOCKED cars. (IMO, those gun owners should lose the right to own firearms.) If your gun is stolen because it wasn't properly secured and it's then used in the commission of a crime, you can be held legally responsible for that crime. I was told that directly by our former police chief (not the one in prison, the Barney Fife that followed and before Nick).
PS: What kind of mayor would want to dilute the work of the local Crime Watch? We all know that a vindictive, petty mayor would do that, but you'd think that mayor could put personal animosities aside for the sake of increased safety, huh?
From a reader: "People actually leave firearms in their cars?!!
ReplyDeleteBoy, that sure makes a statement. An invitation for disaster.
"What is wrong with Tracy Truppman anyway? She doesn’t support CrimeWatch?
Is she nuts, or just offensively contrary?"
I don't think Tracy is nuts, nor do I think she's contrary. I think she's myopic, petty, small-minded and vindictive. Basically my same feelings about Trump.
ReplyDeleteAdd insecure to that list of adjectives. Very, very insecure.
ReplyDeleteAh, we're adding adjectives. We may need crash helmets for that.
ReplyDeleteI don't agree with classifying these thefts as anything other than that...thefts. Is leaving your front door unlocked or your window open at your home an invitation for someone to burglarize it? I think your post suggests that somehow a theft is the victim's fault and I don't think it is. What if the car was left unlocked accidentally? Does that make it okay to steal? I don't think so. I think what BP should be doing is continually trying to improve patrols so that thieves know to stay away. It is my practice to lock my car, but I know some people who leave it unlocked so that if someone wants to steal they don't break the window. As someone who always locks her car, I was surprised when I returned to my car, parked in broad daylight in front of the Miami Shores Field House, to find the glass shattered and my property stolen. They got a lunchbox and a padfolio with an ipad that the thieve quickly threw out into the alley. They have learned that those devices are easily tracked, which is how I found it shortly thereafter. Bottom line is that stealing someone's property from their vehicle is a crime, and we should be worried about this kind of crime in our Village.
ReplyDeleteHi, Kelly,
DeleteObviously, it takes more than a victim for a crime to occur. And obviously, the criminal is the most central figure in a crime. But is there some theory by which it should be made easier for criminals to commit crimes? You yourself have said two interesting and seemingly opposite things: your locked car was broken into (suggesting that there would have been less damage, and the loss would have occurred anyway, if you had not locked the car), but "it is [your] practice to lock [your] car." So you, who have experienced the additional problem of locking your car, lock it anyway. I lock mine, too. Don't you think there's something wrong with not locking a car, overnight, with valuables, and maybe even a gun, which might be loaded (we've had this!), in the car, in plain sight?
Are there areas of town where you wouldn't go, especially on foot? Would you worry for your safety if you went there? And if you did go there, and you got accosted, and your friends told you you were a dope to have gone there in the first place, would you argue with them, and tell them not to blame the victim? Or would you know they were right, and you sort of realized that what you did wasn't too smart?
That's all this is about.
Fred
I'm sorry, Kelly. I got a little distracted. In answer to your question, "Is leaving your front door unlocked or you window open...an invitation [to burglars]," I would say yes, it sort of is. Not that anyone would know if your front door was unlocked, if they didn't try it, which you and I agree they shouldn't, but you do issue a kind of invitation when you leave it unlocked. Look at it this way: it is well-known and documented that car invaders try car doors, to see which ones are unlocked, so they can take what's there. If the car door is locked, they simply move on. (There is security camera evidence that this is true.) If it's not locked, they open the door, to see if there's anything to take. Sometimes, what they take is a car radio, which has to be pried out of the dashboard/console. If they're going to that much trouble, you might think it's just as easy to break a window, too. But they don't. Maybe they don't also want the noise of the alarm, or of breaking the window. But one way or the other, yes, leaving the door unlocked is taken by burglars to be permission to burgle. And knowing that a proportion of cars will not be locked is taken by them as an invitation to come into BP to check.
DeleteWe don't only tell people not even to think about speeding. We ticket them if they do. And if we didn't do that, we'd be being permissive about their wish to speed. We'd be telling them there's no consequence if they speed. It would be sort of like an invitation to speed. The same is true of telling ourselves that no one should enter our cars or homes, but leaving the doors unlocked. The actions speak louder than the words.
All I am saying is that, locked or unlocked, when someone gets inside your vehicle and takes your property it is wrong. It is stealing. The person who stole is a thief. The person whose property was stolen is the victim. I don't think we blame the victim in other crimes and I don't think we should do that here either. I think your post chastised the victims of such crime. I think, as a community, we should be focused on catching the people committing those crimes - not blaming the victims. The bad behavior here is not leaving your door unlocked. The bad behavior is stealing.
DeleteFair enough. You're not wrong. But we should still not make it easy, which makes it inviting.
DeleteFrom Chuck Ross, who is apparently having computer problems.
ReplyDeleteFirst, thanks Fred for your constant and loyal support of BP Citizens Crime Watch (CCW).
One thing to add is don't keep items of value in plain sight.
As to Tracy, she seems to have been on a mission to dismantle CCW since she was elected. So the result is that we have not been getting info as we did in the past because of Tracy's interference. The good news is Chief Cabrera has done a bang up job, and there has been very little if any significant crimes to report. I would like to have a Crime Watch meeting before school starts we will see what happens.
Chuck, you don't need me to tell you this, but Tracy is a very primitive person. For reasons that are no doubt obvious to almost anyone, Tracy, who is totally taken with herself, but also insecure, and highly competitive and controlling, was in a continuous rage about Roxy. Normal people are not only accepting, but frankly grateful, for how great Roxy is, and how they themselves look, and are, by comparison. Not Tracy. She becomes filled with fury and vendetta, as if it would somehow make her better if she could wipe out or neutralize Roxy. As I said, this is very primitive, but it's what sits at the Commission desk. By extension, Tracy goes after anyone who is connected to Roxy, and that most prominently means you. I hope your statement of appreciation for Luis Cabrera will not further inflame Tracy, who might very well decide Luis is some sort of traitor, because he relates with you in a way that leaves you complimenting him, and then have to execute (excuse the pun) some sort of vendetta against Luis. But I wouldn't for an instant put it past her.
DeleteLet me know when the meeting is. I'll be there.
Fred