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I'm so sorry that has happened to your family. As a family moving to LC early next year, I find that very disturbing that occured at 10 am. being a stay at home mommy and all.
FleeingPhilly, it was 10 am because that's when a lot of people are definitely at work and not due home for a possible lunch break for awhile. Mother-in-laws aren't known for cranking up the music, so these guys thought the quiet house was empty. The fact that they immediately fled as soon as there was a commotion tells you they weren't prepared to enter a house with someone home. A possible way to avoid this is to make it obvious you're home. Music or TV on. A barking dog of any size in the back yard can be a surprising deterrent. It's just like the club. It's not the effect of the actual deterrent, it's just easier to hit a house without someone home, without a yipping dog in the yard and so on.
And I don't say this to put anything on mike0421. I'm personally disgusted by the idea of law abiding people having to change their habits to allow for the behavior of criminals. It does worries me that the two incidents were so close together. A personal information 'profile' is actually a salable commodity. The theives already had some bits of information. It's possible they were returning to find a few more bits of info that would allow them to sell a whole profile.
Reading mike0421's response:
Quote:
Originally Posted by mike0421
For instance, if I were there instead of my MIL, I would have caught one of them.
made me immediately think of a recent Albuquerque case where a guy was roused from watching evening tv to find a guy in his driveway trying to break into his Bronco.
The criminal's ride tore off leaving the homeowner to confront him. Being former security the homeowner tried to subdue the criminal until APD arrived (which is about two hours after the 911 call is made if there is fear in your voice and obvious threat of immediate house intrusion and gunplay.). The criminal began to threaten and eventually tried to run down the block. The homeowner pursued and eventually shot the guy. It ended up fatal and now the homeowner is in prison. Now, you can talk about the details of what happened, but in my mind the guy was sitting in his chair at home when this criminal made an obvious CHOICE to try to steal this Bronco (it later came out that the friend in the getaway vehicle was in the same year/make Bronco, suggesting they wanted it for parts.). Obviously the threat of random Law Enforcement is not enough, so what else are we left with? Do I think every thief should be shot? No. Do I think fewer home robberies would occur if thieves thought it was likely they could be shot without retribution? Absolutely.
Look, FleeingPhilly, I don't know if you're actually in or around Philly, but I've got to believe you're not living in a place untouched by crime. I wouldn't let something like this keep you up at night. Las Cruces's economy has been hoppin' in a time when many places in America can't say that.
While it's disgusting to consider that we have to make them, a few behavior changes and investments can minimize your visibility to thieves. My wife used to give me flak about pulling down the shades every time we left the house. One time we came home at night. I had her wait in the car while I turned on the livingroom light. I had her come to our front window and tell me what she could see. In moments she listed off a wide flat screen TV, attendant audio/video equipment, Xbox 360 (so easily turned into cash!), two laptops (one is her work's, but what do thieve's know) a desktop computer, two digital cameras, a fax, a printer, a scanner and three of my guitars hanging on a back wall. It's like a shopping spree at Best Buy. Most criminals are pretty simple. The 'out of sight, out of mind' principle works just fine. On top of that, a completely shut house is an unknown. Why risk capture for what you can't see when the guy down the block has a nice flatscreen in plain view.
FleeingPhilly, it was 10 am because that's when a lot of people are definitely at work and not due home for a possible lunch break for awhile. Mother-in-laws aren't known for cranking up the music, so these guys thought the quiet house was empty. The fact that they immediately fled as soon as there was a commotion tells you they weren't prepared to enter a house with someone home. A possible way to avoid this is to make it obvious you're home. Music or TV on. A barking dog of any size in the back yard can be a surprising deterrent. It's just like the club. It's not the effect of the actual deterrent, it's just easier to hit a house without someone home, without a yipping dog in the yard and so on.
And I don't say this to put anything on mike0421. I'm personally disgusted by the idea of law abiding people having to change their habits to allow for the behavior of criminals. It does worries me that the two incidents were so close together. A personal information 'profile' is actually a salable commodity. The theives already had some bits of information. It's possible they were returning to find a few more bits of info that would allow them to sell a whole profile.
Reading mike0421's response:
made me immediately think of a recent Albuquerque case where a guy was roused from watching evening tv to find a guy in his driveway trying to break into his Bronco.
The criminal's ride tore off leaving the homeowner to confront him. Being former security the homeowner tried to subdue the criminal until APD arrived (which is about two hours after the 911 call is made if there is fear in your voice and obvious threat of immediate house intrusion and gunplay.). The criminal began to threaten and eventually tried to run down the block. The homeowner pursued and eventually shot the guy. It ended up fatal and now the homeowner is in prison. Now, you can talk about the details of what happened, but in my mind the guy was sitting in his chair at home when this criminal made an obvious CHOICE to try to steal this Bronco (it later came out that the friend in the getaway vehicle was in the same year/make Bronco, suggesting they wanted it for parts.). Obviously the threat of random Law Enforcement is not enough, so what else are we left with? Do I think every thief should be shot? No. Do I think fewer home robberies would occur if thieves thought it was likely they could be shot without retribution? Absolutely.
Look, FleeingPhilly, I don't know if you're actually in or around Philly, but I've got to believe you're not living in a place untouched by crime. I wouldn't let something like this keep you up at night. Las Cruces's economy has been hoppin' in a time when many places in America can't say that.
While it's disgusting to consider that we have to make them, a few behavior changes and investments can minimize your visibility to thieves. My wife used to give me flak about pulling down the shades every time we left the house. One time we came home at night. I had her wait in the car while I turned on the livingroom light. I had her come to our front window and tell me what she could see. In moments she listed off a wide flat screen TV, attendant audio/video equipment, Xbox 360 (so easily turned into cash!), two laptops (one is her work's, but what do thieve's know) a desktop computer, two digital cameras, a fax, a printer, a scanner and three of my guitars hanging on a back wall. It's like a shopping spree at Best Buy. Most criminals are pretty simple. The 'out of sight, out of mind' principle works just fine. On top of that, a completely shut house is an unknown. Why risk capture for what you can't see when the guy down the block has a nice flatscreen in plain view.
I find crime in any place disturbing and thats not to say where I live now is crime free, sadly it's the world we live in. It will not keep me up at night nor will it deter me from moving to Las Cruces, I was just stating how the situation bothered me and to let the OP know that I sympathized with him.
Don't know if it's urban myth, but we heard cars with baby seats get a break from the thieves. I guess they figure all your money is in the babies and not available for CD's and high end audio equipment.
Don't know if it's urban myth, but we heard cars with baby seats get a break from the thieves. I guess they figure all your money is in the babies and not available for CD's and high end audio equipment.
No such break in our case. We have two child seats.
A quick internet search reveals Medford does indeed experience crime. Maybe you just got lucky.
Total Crime Risk (in Index) - A score that represents the combined risks of rape, murder, assault, robbery, burglary, larceny and vehicle theft compared to the national average of 100. A score of 200 indicates twice the national average total crime risk, while 50 indicates half the national risk. The different types of crime are given equal weight in this score, so murder, for example, does not count more than vehicle theft. Scores are based on demographic and geographic analyses of crime over seven years.
Who steals from babies? Seriously? How are you feeling? It took me a couple months to get past our last bump with crime. Strangely, I ran across CD around that time and found that helping people out and pointing out some of the positives of the city helped me remember what I liked.
The cost of living in Albuquerque's supposedly nice NE side since 2000:
Truck was broken into on the trailer the night I arrived in front of my mom's house. Smashed a side window to take some maps, bungee cords, an air gauge and a stock Ford CD/Radio. Welcome to Albuquerque.
My girlfriend's trunk was broken into directly in front of Defined Fitness while she was working out. Took the purse she put in the trunk to keep out of view in the car.
My windshield was shot 3 times with an air rifle while it sat in the driveway, along with a number of others up and down the block.
Car was broken into in the driveway (come to think of it, with a baby seat in it). They took the diaper bag and tried to take the seat but couldn't figure out the safety latches. My wife's new digital camera was in the diaper bag.
One of our tires on each vehicle was slashed along with a number of others up and down the block.
On three different occasions while working at Coronado Center (one of the local malls) I had gangsters blatantly run with expensive sunglasses. We were literally directly in front of security, and they never did a thing. Well, I got a citation for yelling in the mall at one of the thieves(I yelled "HEY" just to get attention. I couldn't make it up.).
My sister's storage garage on her property was broken into without force days after they had a local locksmith install new locks. They took a huge Delta band saw and a bright handled sledge hammer. This turned out to be key because the next day, when my sister was describing the hammer to an investigator they immediately got on the radio and came back to tell my sister that someone was shot down the block while breaking into a car with a bright handled sledge hammer.
And the wheel keeps turning. I hate it, but I hate to think they would make me leave what I do love about living here.
Who steals from babies? Seriously? How are you feeling? It took me a couple months to get past our last bump with crime. Strangely, I ran across CD around that time and found that helping people out and pointing out some of the positives of the city helped me remember what I liked.
The cost of living in Albuquerque's supposedly nice NE side since 2000:
Truck was broken into on the trailer the night I arrived in front of my mom's house. Smashed a side window to take some maps, bungee cords, an air gauge and a stock Ford CD/Radio. Welcome to Albuquerque.
My girlfriend's trunk was broken into directly in front of Defined Fitness while she was working out. Took the purse she put in the trunk to keep out of view in the car.
My windshield was shot 3 times with an air rifle while it sat in the driveway, along with a number of others up and down the block.
Car was broken into in the driveway (come to think of it, with a baby seat in it). They took the diaper bag and tried to take the seat but couldn't figure out the safety latches. My wife's new digital camera was in the diaper bag.
One of our tires on each vehicle was slashed along with a number of others up and down the block.
On three different occasions while working at Coronado Center (one of the local malls) I had gangsters blatantly run with expensive sunglasses. We were literally directly in front of security, and they never did a thing. Well, I got a citation for yelling in the mall at one of the thieves(I yelled "HEY" just to get attention. I couldn't make it up.).
My sister's storage garage on her property was broken into without force days after they had a local locksmith install new locks. They took a huge Delta band saw and a bright handled sledge hammer. This turned out to be key because the next day, when my sister was describing the hammer to an investigator they immediately got on the radio and came back to tell my sister that someone was shot down the block while breaking into a car with a bright handled sledge hammer.
And the wheel keeps turning. I hate it, but I hate to think they would make me leave what I do love about living here.
Savages. They steal. These incidents you speak of make me realize the reality of the Morgan Quitno state rankings when it comes to safety. NM is constantly either 48th, 49th, or 50th.
The incident on the NE side is particularly troubling, because I know where you speak of, which is around Tramway. The 'admission price' into that neighborhood is particularly high, but it seems not to make you immune from these transgressions.
The mall incident you site is yet another example of what I refer to as rewarding bad behavior while simultaneously punishing good. You were cited for trying to apprehend a perpetrator? That's pretty reviling. This is what happens when you elect officials who are not very sympathetic to crime victims. They appoint judges who interpret laws wrongly and rewrite them to punish the good and reward the bad.
Actually, I was cited just for yelling at the perpetrator. I had to sign a document acknowledging my offense which was sent on to the home office of the company I worked for like a letter from school to my parents for peeing on the playground. On a different occasion I jumped the counter and would have got the guy at the outside doors. That's when I saw the Escalade with the doors open waiting for their homie. I wasn't interested in taking this guy down right in front of his waiting buddies, so I called it good for one day. I was chastised by security on that one. We were specifically told in a mall meeting with security not to get security involved unless we were sure the item taken was worth more than $250. Then Security would arrive not to apprehend, but just to make sure mall staff wasn't harmed before APD could arrive and make the arrest. I witnessed many thefts but never saw a single arrest and APD has a sub-station IN THE BUILDING. It was exactly what you're speaking to. A culture where the crimes are ignored and the whistle blowers are punished. I put in my two weeks after the Escalade incident (I was literally there for the fun of it, and the fun was officially over.). I just couldn't live with the policies.
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