Anything stolen?

[Daylily]

Our house was broken into during the day. It was probably teenagers as they were probably only in the house for about 10 minutes. They just grabbed what could be carried out. A digital camera, a pair of binoculars and ~$100 in coin.

[cptacek]

I had a tool box stolen out of the back of my pickup. Luckily not much was in it. I called the police, and they asked how much was in it, and I said maybe $100 worth. They looked at me crazy like "why did you bother us for this?"

I also was working in my backyard one time and saw a car pass by through the slats in the fence. It stopped and I walked out the garden gate and some teenager - college aged kid was standing in my garage looking for things to steal (I had left the door open because I was in the backyard). I yelled at him and chased him down the driveway to where the "get away car" was and tried to memorize the license plate, but was too shook up to remember it.

[myrdale]

While I was at college, my friend brought my GF and another girl he worked with over for an evening of drinking and cards.

Monica, the friend from work, wanted me to put on a movie, I handed her my stack of DVD's (I probably had 10 at the time) and told her to pick out the one she wanted to watch. She picked Fight Club. We had a great evening!!

A couple weeks later the new Matrix movie came out, and before we went to watch it I suggested to some of my friends who had not seen the first one that we go back to my place and watch it first. They thought it was a great idea.

We went back, and I could not find it, nor LoTR DVD. My friend was a theif, but he never touched the movies and I'd eyed his place over twice. My GF would never have stolen anything from me and frankly hated those type movies. That leaves only Monica.

The screwed up part of it was she mentioned how her little brothers hero was Emenm (Spelling?). She was distressed by this and when I asked who his hero should be, she responded Jesus.

[simpleyme]

as far as reporting small crimes to police I never do ,not only do they not do anything about it( what could they do?) too many calls could cause your area to be considered blighted and from what I have read they can take blighted areas away away and give them to developers, several of my homes are in iffy areas that are "up and coming "

at our business we never report crime, havn't had any big crime anyway as if the sheriff comes too many times they bill you threaten you and you risk losing your licensing ,we avoid the police if we had a real crime robbery or worse we would call we have had kids steal candy and 1 guy try to pass fake money

[Cylenchar]

I had my old mountain bike stolen from in front of my house.... the part that bugs me about this is that you couldn't see it from the road, there is a fence and was a rather large (5 ft thick) maple blocking the view so they would have to come wandering through the yard to see it.

[Cassandra]

When I was a baby (and we were living in CO) our house was broken into. All they took was a watch and the cash in the wallet.

Freshman year of high school I had my cell phone stolen from my purse in Theater class. I know who did it too- I didn't get along with two girls in the class and after school that day they called my home (the number programmed in to the cellphone) saying they found it in the locker room. I didn't have PE that year so it would not have ended up in the locker room.

When we moved here there were several items that disappeared in the move. Nothing important or expensive.

[Daylily]

I also was working in my backyard one time and saw a car pass by through the slats in the fence. It stopped and I walked out the garden gate and some teenager - college aged kid was standing in my garage looking for things to steal (I had left the door open because I was in the backyard). I yelled at him and chased him down the driveway to where the "get away car" was and tried to memorize the license plate, but was too shook up to remember it.

This is a huge issue for me. When DH and I are out working in the yard I like to lock the door of our house. DH thinks I am stupid for doing this. However, we have two acres and when we have the lawn mowers going we can't see the house or hear anything. It would be the perfect time for someone to stop in and grab a purse or wallet or laptop.

I know that when I am not at home and he is outside mowing, he doesn't lock the door and it really bothers me.

It bothers me more though that I even have to lock the door at all! Why do people take what does not belong to them. I would NEVER take anything from someone else.

[Aleta]

If I'm working out in the front of my house, I lock the back doors and any side doors that I can't visibly see. Likewise, if I'm in the back of my house, I lock the front. I have a wooden privacy fence and you can't always see what or who is behind it.

It drives my hubby whacky too, but I'm glad that I have this habit.

[LuxLiving]

Reading thru this reminded me - I had my car stolen once in the library parking lot. It was very disorienting to come out to where you knew you left it and it just be gone. Police did recover it later.

Just this week I happened to go outside at just the right time to find new 'neighbors' backing up to the two dump loads of sand we just got, jumping out of their truck w/their shovels.

"Hi, can I help you to steal my sand?"

Oh, we didn't know it was yours.

"...and that makes it okay to steal it, how?"

Needless to say they toddled off quickly and I got my crew out spreading it pronto.

[JanH]

If I'm working out in the front of my house, I lock the back doors and any side doors that I can't visibly see. Likewise, if I'm in the back of my house, I lock the front. I have a wooden privacy fence and you can't always see what or who is behind it.

It drives my hubby whacky too, but I'm glad that I have this habit.

Oh, I definitely lock my front door while I'm out the back and close the garage door, too. My neighbor had issues with missing mail, so I can't imagine what someone would take out of our garage or go in via the inside door. I lock the front door also when I take the dogs out in the yard and go anywhere but the front yard. And, the other neighbor's car was pushed out into the street and stolen from under our window! So, I don't care if Hubby gets antsy about the locked doors. I make him do it anyway.

[simple987]

About a week ago my brother's old jeep was vandalized. They smashed the window and broke the dash apart the get plain-jane factory radio. It was worth $40 at the very most.

Also, my same brother was a witness to his neighbor's 2 pit bulls being stolen from the yard. Someone pulled up and opened the gate, and then drove down the street. They waited for the dogs to wander out, then took them. All in broad daylight.

We had some foundation repair on our house a few months ago, and the workers left their equipment in the front yard over night. They had things like muddy wheelbarrows, traffic cones, grinders, and shovels all covered with a tarp. Someone with a pick-up pulled up in the middle of the night and starting grabbing up the items. My brother opened the door and scared them off. The company said it was probly a competitor, but he thought theft was unlikely because we live in a 'nice' neighborhood.

[FrugalTexan75]

When I was in 4th grade, my family lived in Albuqurque. One day my mom came home, but before she could go inside the house, Puppy Lee, our little Maltese started barking wildly. It was then that she noticed that the front door was ajar and that a pane was broken out.

The theives were still in the house at the time - but our dog's barking scared them off. They however had had enough time to get off with a couple t.v.'s, a couple vcrs, and my coin jar that was in my closet (maybe $40 or so in it.)

Then, a few years ago, on Valentine's Day, my car was broken into. My radio/cd changer w/ 10 CD's in it, a box of cassette tapes, a tennis racket, plus some other things, were all stolen.

That night I went to a movie with a friend of mine, but I had to wear gloves while driving - between the window that had been broken out (covered with a garbage bag) and the hole in my dashboard, there was a lot of cold air coming in.

[ThriftoRama]

Everything that isn't tied down in New Orleans gets stolen. I've had all the plants on my front porch stolen, a bicycle that was unrideable because I had just gotten hit by a car on it (they even clipped a chain to get it), and garden hoses. Oh yes, and my then boyfriend had his car stolen from outside of our apartment. Ohio is much tamer by comparison.

[gamecock43]

I walked out to my brand new Wrangler last week to find it up on cinderblocks because theives were attracted to my upgraded tires. They stole the rims/tires/luggnuts/and tirelock key. AND MY IPOD!

$1850 altogether to replace- my insurance gave me $1200- and I still couldnt get the upgraded tires I had previously.

BUMMER.

[gackle]

About seven years ago our lawnmower was stolen out of our garage. I accidentally left the garage door open when I left for work. I'm pretty sure it was a lawn service that stole it because my edger was in the middle of the garage like they were going to steal it, but then saw that it was electric and decided not to. The only fingerprints on it were mine, go figure. You never see electric edgers with professional lawn services. I've also had a hose reel stolen from the same house that I kept behind the airconditioning unit. That house had an alley and I vowed to never buy another house with an alley. Although the thefts were minor, you can't help but feeling violated. The police said that because the garage was attached to the house they considered it a burglary of a habitation.

Like others, I close my garage door in my current house if I'm out back. I just take the garage door opener out of my car and carry it in my pocket.
I'm very security conscious now - when leaving we'll get in the car with the garage door closed and only open it when we're ready to go. I figure the less people seeing that we're leaving the better.