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Someone came to my home last week & rifled through my wife's car. They took a little box she had in there with our house keys in it, so I changed all the locks on my house.

I took a cursory inventory around the place, & didn't see anything missing, but today, when I went to my little shed to get some tools for a job, I discovered at least $500 dollars worth of stuff missing.

So, here I sit, waiting for the cops to come, & worrying about it all, not even able to do this tiny little job that would make me about $100 today.

Needless to say, I'm more than a little PO'd at the world, not to mention myself, for missing what was taken before I NEEDED it!

I feel like an idjit & a sap for not taking the forethought to put a frikken lock on everything.

DIBBITZ!

Bummer!! I hope some good news come your way Phil!

The cops just left after saying "check out the local pawn shops & call us if you see your stuff." Cuz there's nothing else that they can do, really, & it's unreasonable for me to think otherwise, I guess.

Doesn't stop me from being mondo-PISSED & ready to shoot someone, though.

God help anyone I see wandering around here anytime soon.

Guess I need to take this advice I just gave to Craig, huh? -

"Remember that your blood pressure doesn't give a damn whether you're in the right or in the wrong. You've got to keep your emotions on a short leash, or they can kill you. You aren't an 18 year old kid anymore. You're supposed to be able to handle things like this without the white-knuckle fight-or-flight animal response that you're showing both us AND your enemy."

There is a certain outrage that I feel just knowing that some stranger came to my HOME to claim my property for himself. My home - the one place that as an American citizen, as human being, I am supposed to feel safe from outside harm. My tools, which are all I have to work with, are gone, & I need to replace them with money I don't have, in order to make money to live on. Yep, there is a very primal & visceral response to it all.

I can only imagine how much worse it is for those who experience home invasion wtih guns, knives, etc, with personal harm & rape.

In that respect, I can only feel lucky to have been spared such things.

Still, there is definitely this feeling of being sullied by some outside force, that some asshole can come & make me feel less than safe in my own dwelling. I'm gonna have to find a way to deal with this with my head instead of my emotions, cuz the latter would prolly end up with me being in jail for manslaughter, at the very least.

I feel your pain Phil.

To me, thieves are as bad as any criminal. I abhor people who think they can just take other people's sh*t. I feel like the law ought to be: shoot first, ask questions later.

I would definitely make sure to check every pawn shop in town, every day.

Something else you should do if you get a chance: with the increasing ease with which we can take digital photos nowadays, you should photograph every tool, gadget and treasure you have. Take pictures, record serial numbers, etc. A guy should treat his own property like inventory in a store, and make sure you have pictures and numbers on everything. Then when it does go missing, you've got visual evidence that you owned it, and recorded serial numbers to back you up.

I'm getting divorced and moving back to the town here after I find a new house (been living in the country for years). The number one thing I'm worried about is thieves. I'll be photographing and tracking serial numbers on all my stuff, from guitars to tools to CD's and movies. Anyone who steals from me better be prepared, because I'll do my own damned detective work. There won't be police intervention to save their ass from a whupin'

Man those cops are either misinformed or just stupid.
If they take it to pawn, the 60 -90 day pawn ticket has to expire before the owner can display the goods in any fashion. It does not belong to them either.
If the pawn broker purchases, he still cannot display for a period of time (I don't recall how long) according to federal law.
I hate to say it but you've been ripped off twice.
Damn I hate that people have no integrity.

Sorry Philby.
Nasty business and all I can offer is my sympathy. Peeps walk through here all the time. Drives me nuts which is why I've set up a Halogen worklight and some night cams.

Damn thieves!

Sorry to hear this Phil!

And man traps, bells on doors, clangers in the trees, trip wires.

Claymores

Sure hate to hear about this Phil, you've already had a rough enough time lately what with psychic deer and earaches and such. I have pictures of all my guitars and serial numbers on guitars, guns etc so if anything happens I can identify it.

My three wheel bicycle was stolen off my front porch 2 years ago, the cops didn't bother to look for it, I doubt if they even filed a report. When I found it a week later in the weeds behind a vacant house, the "officer" that showed up refused to fingerprint it. When I asked him how many petty thieves didn't already have a police record he said "We don't have a fingerprint database."

HUH??? Barnie Fife had a file cabinet full of 3x5 cards on a stupid TV show in the damn 50's, we still haven't caught up around here???? 3 bicycles and 2 car stereos were stolen in this neighborhood within 3 weeks of my bike and they refused to even try and find out who did it.

I had already talked to all the local pawn shops and took them pictures of the bike - printed out with address, phone and description. They can't put it on the shelf for 90 days, but they can and will let you know if they have it and turn it over to the police to deal with.

I keep my shotgun fully loaded and beside the bed at all times except when I clean it. I bet they'll damn well do something if I ever have to use it...

Hey man, remember those pics a while back of my truck on blocks?

I know how you feel. I've been ripped off a LOT!! My last truck was broken into 4 times and stolen twice.

A few quotes from the police about those situations:

" There's some gang tags on the truck, we know who did it, you could go after them if you want, but just keep in mind they know where you live."

"I know there are fingerprints clear as day on your truck, but we only lift prints for attempted murders and homicides."

From the impound in Inglewood CA (aka gang central): "Looks like they stole your coil wire, you'll have to get a new one to get it out of here. The nearest place is about 5-miles that way." - I was dropped off and had to walk it alone.

"You might want to consider leaving your ignition permanently disassembled."

At least Phil, the police will actually come to your house. In Vegas, they won't. All you can do is either go to the station and fill out a report or call one in. 100% of the burden is left to the victim to do his own police work. I once had about $2,000 worth of tools stolen from my truck, and nobody would even come out and look at it.

Oddly, the best advice given to me was to disassemble my ignition in my older truck. Older Toyotas have a coil with a slot in it attached to the keyhole system. Thieves would hammer a screwdriver through the key-hole until the screwdriver would reach that slot and turn it, and it would start.
I left the coil disassembled and tucked under the steering column, and would start it myself every day with my own screwdriver. The truck was broken into two more times, and screwdrivers were left sticking out of the keyhole both times. So it worked. Once their screwdriver trick didn't work, they left.