Someone broke into my car earlier this week. They unscrewed my whole dashboard and tried to pull out the heater controls and the stereo. Tried is the key word here. They only got away with my CDs and my face plate. But in so doing, they destroyed my dash, killed my radio and murdered my chair and door.
I’m not sure how they got in, but whatever they did to the door it now is extremely difficult to push or pull.
I called the police about this. No one would be available to come to my house to check it out, I was told. But I could make a report over the phone. I admit I was a bit shocked that when you call the police to report a break in, they say they won’t come… that it’s standard operating procedure not to come. WTF?!?
Two hours later I try again. This time I find my local CAPS officer. I ask her to come on out. She sends a truck over. They decide that, due to the cold and the fact that there isn’t a homicide involved, they won’t be dusting for fingerprints. The following is a direct quote from the officer: “I know you don’t consider this to be a little crime, but it kinda is. You know, not meaning to be disrespectful. But really unless someone is shot, we won’t really investigate when someone breaks into a car or vandalizes it.”
I suppose I should be happy for this honesty?
Instead it just makes me mad. They didn’t steal anything but an old tape recorder (yes, real tape. I forgot I had it in there) from under my seat and my Stevie Wonder and Gotta Have Gospel CDs (in a handy, dandy, Delta Sigma Theta carry case) but they vandalized my car. They rifled through my stuff, and then they closed the door AND put the alarm back on.
What were they looking for? Did they work for a chop shop and just so happen to need the driver side chair of an 11 year old Nissan Altima? Did they want the heating controls? Did they want the old-ass stereo that doesn’t even play MP3s? Then they TAKE my Jay Z CD and leave Timbaland and Terence Blanchard. I just don’t get it.
Do you?
I had similar frustrations when my car was stolen in April 2008. When it was located by the police 2-3 days later, I was told nothing other than returning it to me would be done since no other known crime was connected with the car. No dusting for finger prints, no police report.
In the end, the return of the car didn’t give me much relief as the window that was forced open to get into the car no longer stayed up, the steering column was damaged, ignition switch busted, and certain electrical components (lights, wipers, windows, etc.) no longer worked with faithful consistency. By September 2008, the car was no longer drivable and I had no person or persons to go after for recourse.
So with all that being said…I definitely do feel your pain.
Thanks much. I take it you didn’t bother to get everything fixed. That’s the kind of pickle that I’m in. By the time I get everything fixed, I could just buy a new car. But with this economy, I’m not too keen on buying anything right about now. That’s why this sucks so much. I hear that if I replace the radio, the aftermarket installation will make me even more open for theft. I hope it lasts through the winter. And, I wonder why police don’t investigate these things? The people who steal/vandalize cars might upgrade themselves to other crimes in the future.
You might need to get that cougar from “Ricky Bobby”. Make sure it only attacks people it doesn’t recognize. But in all seriousness, I’m sorry this happened to you.
The ironic thing about calling the police is that it must be really bad for them to come. The crazy thing is that when you call 311 for minor stuff, they refer you to 911.
I just called 911 for my sister- who lives in the North Suburbs- because she was too afraid to talk because she thought someone was breaking in. The idiot female officer in that suburb snapped at me, “Why can’t she call us?”
911 was a joke WAY before Flava Flav told us.
I’m with you on this one. Why must there be degrees of horribleness before someone helps you out? Perhaps if they responded immediately, to everything, they’d be around so much that crime would be squelched. Realistically I understand that there just aren’t enough officers to handle these knuckleheads. That being the case, they need to allow us to have better ways of protecting ourselves. I’m still perplexed as to why I can’t legally purchase a handgun in Chicago while all the little boys on the corner get them for free… I hope your sister was OK. To be at home while someone is trying to come in is awful.