Broken Window
Tool Used to Break Window
XBox Missing
CSI Kit
Fingerprinting Dust
Boarded Window
On Sunday afternoon Dallas and I went to my apartment. I hadn’t been home since Saturday afternoon. When I walked in I said “oh, crap, I left the office light on.” And then “That’s weird, I left the bedroom light on too.” I went to turn them off and turn up the heat because it was freezing, but before I could Dallas said “What happened here?” About 5 DVDs were laying on the ground. According to Newton’s First Law, DVDs don’t just fall off the shelf by themselves so I was puzzled. Just then Dallas noticed the XBox was missing and then looked up and saw the back window smashed in.
All of a sudden it was like spiraling, like the world was spinning. Like I had one 10 too many rum & Cokes or something. As I looked around I saw all the little things that were out of place. Desk drawers open, keyboard on the floor, dresser drawers open. For a second I thought all my underwear were stolen, but then realized they were on the ground. Someone was looking for something. I called the police. I didn’t know if the incident counted as an emergency, because it already happened so I called 411 and was connected to the non-emergency line and when I told them what happened they connected me to to the emergency dispatcher. Next I called my landlord. Then we waited. Dallas watched TV, which they chose not to steal, along with the Tivo, and begged me to sit down but all I could do was pace. And look around. And try to figure out what was missing. Slowly I started to see more things: The black pearls he got me for Christmas, the 24 karat gold pendant his parents gave me for Christmas, a necklace with Riley’s birthstone, Dallas’ nice cuff links he bought a little over a year ago when he was interviewing.
Finally my landlord came and looked at everything then left to go to Home Depot to get a board for the window. Then the police came. The officer was pretty nice. He took us through the house and asked how it happened, what we’d touched, what we hadn’t what we’d noticed was missing so far. While he wrote up the report he talked to us about who the thief could be. Since the theft was so weird to any normal person – XBox stolen but my TVs left, TIVO left, iPod still here, checkbook on the counter untouched, camera lense laying on the dresser – he suspected it was a drug (coke?) addict who just needed to quickly grab some things to sell on the street to get his next fix. He told us to check the soda or juice in the fridge because sometimes coked out people need some sweets? We talked about how the neighborhood is supposed to be so good now, but he said that he’s worked this location for about 12 years and has seen burglaries triple. I’ve always thought of gentrification as making the neighborhood safer, but he told us how it also brings people with more money, with things actually worth stealing. 10 years ago there weren’t as many break-ins because the people who lived here were poorer and didn’t have much to steal. I never thought about it that way.
The uniformed officer called an evidence officer (Think CSI but not as sexy, no rocking music, and not as good of lighting. He still had a big, huge gun, though.) This guy arrived right about the time my landlord came back. He dusted the window that was broken and another one where someone had removed the screen, as well as my desk, a keyboard, and looked at the TV but it was too dusty to print. Yeh, I guess I haven’t dusted for a while. He wasn’t able to lift a print off anything. He couldn’t even dust the tool used to break the window because the surfaces weren’t the kind that would hold a print. You know this rarely happens on CSI! He filled out a report and left and my landlord and Dallas boarded up the window then my landlord left.
We took a while just to chill on the couch and watch some TV. I took a nap. Stressful day. Later on we tried to clean up. There was a lot of glass everywhere. Lots of mud tracked in. Clothes and things were thrown about. And the thief wasn’t the only one messing things up. Do you know what a bitch fingerprinting dust is to get off of everything? We also took a long time to type out all the stuff that was missing and estimate how much it was worth.
Today I made a claim with insurance. I hope it goes through ok and without hassle. Dallas gave me one of his golf clubs to have for a weapon! I don’t have a baseball bat! I doubt I’ll need it but it makes me feel better. I don’t really know how to swing a club, but I’m sure I’d figure it out in a time of crisis. Wish me luck!
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