Heartbreak Turns Happy

“To Catch a Thief,” the REAL story

Letters, we get letters, we get stacks and stacks of letters: Ok, that was the start of a song from “Your Hit Parade.” Remember the dancing cigarette package – LSMFT? No? Well, ok, we get emails and we don’t smoke, and even if we did we wouldn’t inhale. A recent letter came from a reader near our nation’s capital. The topic was not political, although she reads our political satire sometimes. I’m crushed. I thought she’d read it daily. But back to her story.

Three grad students in an apartment: The apartment is in a three story building and is occupied by three recently graduated coeds. At least one is studying law and at least one of the three’s boyfriend is a law student as well. The other morning two of the roommates had left for school and work and the third was in the bathroom preparing for the day. She heard a noise out front but paid it little mind, assuming that one of the forgetful roomies had returned for something she’d forgotten. Happens regularly.

She felt like she was in an episode of Candid Camera: When the remaining roommate finished with the primping, powder, and paint, dressed, and headed into the living room to leave she froze in her tracks. The door was open and the living room was bare. Computers, gone. TV sets, gone. Iphone and Itunes, gone. Everything of value that was easily transported had been cleaned out. It did not even cross her mind at first that she had been at risk by being alone in the apartment. Fortunately the burglars either grabbed and ran or peeked in and saw her and decided to take things that could be easily sold or pawned.

Behavior in a crisis often defies logic: She called her roommate at work and told what had happened. She said she’d walked back to the bathroom and out again several times to make sure she was not imagining but the cupboard was still bare. Was somebody playing a trick on her? No, it was real. They had been burgled and lost not only items that could be replaced but data on the computers crucial for projects and other school and work activities that would be difficult if not impossible to replicate. She sat on the couch and began to shiver as she thought what might have been. Soon her roommate and both their boyfriends arrived. Together they went to the manager to report the theft.

This ain’t our first rodeo: The manager of the apartment told the gals that theirs was not the first apartment to be victimized. It seems a ring of burglars had been casing the area trying to figure out whose apartment was vacant during the day, then breaking in. It was a modus operandi the manager had seen before. Why weren’t the tenants told about this? Well, corporate did not want to alarm the tenants. (That is code for, we don’t want you to break your leases and leave our place unoccupied). To the next question they answered, yes, they do have renters insurance but that is not the point.

Candidate for one of the world’s dumbest criminals: During the conversation a couple of young men came into the office, said they were renters and their car had been towed. The manager said, “Which apartment do you live in?” At which point the two youngsters turned and ran. One of the roommates had sensed during the conversation that something did not seem right about the lads. They seemed nervous and were wearing hoodies despite the warm August weather. So she surreptitiously took out her cell phone and snapped their picture – several times. The manager phoned the towing company and was told that a car had just been brought in that had been towed from a red zone in that very location. Another of the roomies was already on the phone with the police to report the events.

Bad boy, bad boy, whatcha gonna do when they come for you: A detective was promptly dispatched after the car was sealed for possible evidence, complete with all the stolen goods from the burglary. If the detective seemed happy that the good citizens of greater Washington D.C. had the presence of mind to call the tow company, he was ecstatic to get the photos of the suspicious possible perps and within minutes had electronically distributed the photos to the local gendarmes who picked up the suspects in short order. Ain’t technology grand? Three cheers for the roommates and their boyfriends who conspired to catch the no-good-niks, and even to the property manager who atoned for not warning them of the burglar ring. And hazzah to the cops and their technology. Don’t you just love a story with a happy ending?

A little blogging music Maestro... “Pardon Me I’ve Got Somebody to Kill” by Johnny Paycheck.

Dr. Forgot
See me also at http://vegasbuzznews.com/

Year of the Cat

One Life, Maybe Two

They say a cat has nine lives. But this cat - or more correctly, catalytic converter, has one for sure but maybe two. The catalytic converter is a device under your car. In all likelihood you have never seen it. It makes its best efforts to return the atmosphere back to the days when air was clean and sex was dirty and polluting cars were not a problem. The feds mandate the device to be attached to every car and it has been so attached since for the past thirty-plus years.

Pretty boring so far, huh? In order for your car to purr cleanly the cat is comprised of, among other things, precious metals - as in platinum, palladium, and rhodium which collectively sell for well over $ 8,000 PER OUNCE! And what happens as the value of the dollar drops as it has been doing for months? The value of precious metals skyrockets. And that makes the catalytic converters great for recycling. Are you starting to hear the magic words, "Here kitty, kitty, kitty?"

Where does one take a hot cat for a cool payoff? the same place copper thieves take stolen copper that has been ripped out everything from street lamps to air conditioning units - any recycling center. Word on the street is that each one of the metal felines brings between $ 100 and $ 200. Let's see, it takes any old drugged up hippie 10 minutes or so to remove the device. A practiced thief with a portable battery-powered saw can have one gone in 60 seconds. Thieves can live pretty well working part time.

What of the hapless car owner? Costs up to a couple of grand to get the meow back on your motor. So who wins? Crooks and recyclers. Who loses? Individuals - simply for the deductible if they are insured, but for the whole ball of platinum if they are not, and insurance companies. And who gets to pay the additional cost of insurance because of the rash of thefts of these little kittens? You and me.

Law enforcement folks tell us that SUVs, 4-Runners, and other trucks that sit high are most vulnerable to the converter thefts since they sit high off the ground making it easier for a thief to slip underneath and do the dirty deed. The problem is not unique to Las Vegas. The Topix.com blog has more than 250 stories of such thefts - and that is only one board! The answer is not in locking or otherwise protecting the device, as that is next to impossible. Even if your car is equipped with an alarm it is unlikely that it would be tripped as the two unkind cuts are made to allow for removal.

The solution is stricter enforcement of the recycle yards. Require a photo and thumbprint for every sale. As for punishment of both the catalytic converter and copper thieves? I haven't decided whether capital punishment is appropriate - but then my cat has not yet been stolen (as far as I know).

A little blogging music Maestro... "Steal My Heart Away," by Van Morrison.

Dr. Forgot