I know, I know

I know, I said I was going to get off the venting but something happened last week that is so totally worth venting about.

So Tuesday, March 17th, I wake up and get ready for work. It was normal morning and nothing too out of the ordinary had happened, I even got up and got ready on time...I walk out to my car, and open the door to find utter chaos. It looks like a tornado has been through. My first thought was to Carter. He's almost three and has the uncanny ability to make really big messes in a very short time. But the more I look, the more it seems something else is afoot. I immediatley find my car owner's manual to search for the $100 in emergency money I keep stashed there (you never know where you will be when you blow a tire)...it's gone...I've been robbed. I jump out of the car like it's got an electric current. And my CSI watching mind kicks in...oh no...I've disturbed the crime scene.

I check the wife's car...broken into as well...the $100 bucks we keep in her car...gone. I was careful with her door, and used my jacket to open the door and a pen to look through things. I couldn't believe that our cars had been broken into...I am almost positive that the doors were locked. We lock everything up at night...even the dog...(okay not really the dog, but everything else is locked up).

I head back in to the house, call the police and let them know what has happened. I also decide that I better call work and let them know that I may be late, or I will be working from home. A police officer shows up after a short while (since it's morning he was at the elementary school near my house to deter speed demons), he looks at things and informs me that he can tell where they pried the top corner of the door open, which allowed them to get in and unlock the doors. My jaw dropped as he told me how they do this. He said the unfortunate thing is that it usually causes a little bit of damage to the doors as it tweaks them enough that they don't align as nicely and so the doors are harder to close.

He notices that some of the stuff has been put away and asks if I disturbed the 'crime scene' wincing, I confirm that it happened. He takes an official statement about what was stolen and what time I noticed it. He asks what time we went to bed and if we were startled out of our sleep at any point...I tell him what I know, he thanks me and adds a comment, "You are probably lucky, if they hadn't found the cash, they would have taken the cd's and cd players right out of your car...and they aren't careful when they do it." He also mentions that it's a pattern, groups from out of town come in to Layton, and hit neighborhoods. He said you can almost block out areas that have been hit, and in a few months they will be back to hit that same area again.

I asked him if there was anything we could do to avoid getting hit again...and he said...the good news is, the best thing to avoid getting your car broken into just happened. "They probably won't hit you again because they already got something from you."

Okay so here comes the venting. For those who have been to my house or know about where I live, I don't live in a bad part of town (although I am beginning to wonder). It's a quiet neighborhood where not much happens, the worst we really have ever had is simply speeding. This little stint has thrown us into the wraps of paranoia. How late do we let our kids go out and play? Should we buy alarm systems for the vehicles? I woke up a few nights ago...because I was sure I had heard the security system in the Trailblazer (which you have to hit the lock button on the remote twice to set the system) going off...turns out...it was my imagination. I walk in the door and lock it...immediatley...when I'm in the house...shouldn't I be safe to leave the door unlocked?

Plus...what is up with the police? My car was broken into and money was stolen...where was the Crime Scene Investigators? Isn't that part of a step to catching the jerks that did this? I got no assurance that they would have an officer drive through the neighborhood and intervals for the next 6 months...I got no assurances that they would do anything...I haven't even gotten a follow-up phone call...

Okay I admit that some of this is sarcasm...I don't expect them to do anything unless they fell it is warranted. Plus I understand that to them, this is nothing extraordinary...but that doesn't change the fact that to us, it is! Is any neighborhood safe out there. I also get this depressing feeling that as the economy worsens, crime will follow. I am not worried too much about my money, it hurts a bit (heck I could have used that cash to buy stuff), but it's not like it pushed under the poverty level, or wiped out our entire savings (although it did a huge number on our emergency money). What worries me the most is the peace of mind that I may never get back.

When we first moved to this area, we had a $300 mountain bike get stolen, I didn't attribute this to the neighborhood or anything, there was a lot of construction going on with a lot of private contractors whose employees probably didn't make too much money, so I blamed it on them. For 3 years I have felt comfortable with letting my kids play outside without too much supervision, I felt comfortable leaving windows open so if I got locked out, I could break in...for three years things have been good...now I want to move, and I hate that some petty criminals can have that kind of effect on me.