Robbed
I can tell there is something wrong with my car as I approach it. Even from a block away, it just doesn’t look right. Something about the passenger side window. I am pretty sure that I am going to find it busted, even as I tell myself that can’t be right. No, that’s just foolishness.
Why would it be broken? Who would break it?
As I get closer, my hope starts to sink. The window is broken. I can see it now. There are bits of glass sticking to the rubber seal around the window, and the window itself is lying shattered inside the car, all over the seats and floor.
I look inside: the center console has been opened and the contents scooped out and dumped into the passenger seat; the glove box is hanging open, but the contents have not been removed. I don’t immediately see anything taken. “Damn, what did they think they were going to get?” I don’t leave money in the car, and I carry my iPod with me.
Then, my next thought is: “My laptop.”
Yes, I had left my iBook on the back seat hidden underneath a duffel bag. I had become complacent about that. Every Thursday when I drive in to D.C., I leave my laptop on the back seat underneath my duffel bag of dirty clothes, in order to avoid the hassle of taking the computer through security at work.
I quickly went around to the driver’s side rear door and opened it. I lifted up the bag and…the computer was gone. Along with the brand new battery I had just purchased for it last week. As it would turn out, though, the criminal did not think to take the power adapter, so the computer probably won’t be worth much. Also, I had shut the computer down that morning before leaving the house, and since I have it setup to require login, the thief won’t be able to get in to the computer. It is effectively worthless to him, unless he has the startup disks that came with it so that he can start from CD and erase the hard drive.
I also discovered one other thing missing: my RoadTrip FM transmitter for iPod. It had been in the center console, but again, the thief was not bright, or perhaps he was in a hurry. He did not take the part of the transmitter that plugs into the cigarette lighter; he only got the part that plugs into the iPod. So that, too, will be worthless to him.
Maybe it is the Zoloft effect, but standing there evaluating the damage and the loss, oddly I did not feel any great anger. I only felt regret. How could I have been so stupid, so trusting? I’ve been living in this city for almost five years now. Nothing has ever happened to me, despite the warnings from my co-workers about the area in which I parked my car on Thursdays. My conclusion is that I had simply become complacent.
Leaving that laptop in the car in order to avoid the hastle of security at work was just dumb. Especially since my boss told me the capitol police didn’t hassle people about bringing computers in, anymore. When I started work there, you had to have a special permit to bring a laptop into the building. Supposedly this was to keep government laptops from walking out of the building without authorization. Now, my boss tells me the police don’t even blink at people walking in and out with laptops.
Anyway, after a few moments examining the damage, I called the police. An officer arrived fairly quickly to take my statement. I told him this was the first time this had ever happened to me, and he said, “Well, you’ve been lucky.” I asked him if I had parked in a bad neighborhood and he said, “This could have happened to you anywhere in the city. It makes no difference where you park. A thief walks by and for some reason sees something about your car that makes him think it contains something valuable, and he smashes the window and takes whatever he can get.”
“Just be glad he didn’t take the car, too,” the policeman said.
And in the end, that is the advice with which I consoled myself. As bad as it was, it could have been worse.
In retrospect, it is astonishing that, as I told the policeman, I parked my car there at 6:00 AM, returning at 5:00 PM for the drive home to Virginia. Sometime during the day, the car was broken in to. People passed by it all day long; they had to have seen the broken window, yet no one called the police. The officer just shrugged, “No one cares. People mind their own business.”
Unfortunately, I am not sure I am going to be driving into the city on Thursdays anymore. It saves me an hour on my commute, but is it worth risking something like this again? My insurance is going to take care of it, but how many times will they take care of it?
As the policeman and myself were standing there, a passerby who had parked on the same street stopped as he was getting into his car and said, “That’s happened to me twice since I began parking here.”
I guess I have to ask myself, is once enough for me, or do I want to risk it again?
It seems like things have just turned crazy in Washington lately. This has not made the national news yet–and it may never make the national news since it isn’t exactly sensational–but over the past two weeks, someone has stabbed two people in the vicinity of the capitol during the rush hour. One stabbing happened at Eastern Market metro, which I pass on my walk to work Thursday mornings. The other stabbing happened on D street SE, in the same vicinity.
The man supposedly sings to himself as he stabs people.
These crimes were committed in daylight, during business hours with dozens of people on the street, as was the crime committed against me. So what to do?
I am inclined to stop driving in to the city on Thursdays. I lose an hour, but possibly preserve myself from being the victim of a future crime. Saving that hour just no longer seems worth it.
I am computer-less until my insurance can compensate me. I had to drive home in a freezing-cold car, the wind whipping about my ears on the interstate. Fortunately, the glass repair company is coming today to repair that damage.
But there is other damage as well. I know it’s a cliché, but there is some loss of innocence, as well. As much as I love Washington and city life in general, I now realize it probably does not love me back.
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There’s a terrible realization of vulnerability that comes with being robbed. Luckily it passes, though it takes time. We normally have blinders up and ignore the many possible ill things that could befall us every day - and this is good. When those blinders temporarily come off, life is much more unsettling.
I’m glad your insurance will be taking care of everything, and that you weren’t hurt.
Comment by Step — Friday, 13 April 2007 @ 9:49 am
From just the title of your post, I had a sinking feeling that was confirmed soon enough. Somehow I’m not surprised you weren’t angry, though. Powerlessness seems a more common response to such an event (and I say this having never been robbed), at least at the beginning. Glad your insurance is covering the loss, but you’ll probably feel this for a long while.
Comment by Dawn — Friday, 13 April 2007 @ 10:19 am
oh MAN this pisses me off. my car was broken into, a car ago. I left my cd wallet on my passenger’s-side seat when i was in rental car hell (stupid). it was parked next to the building i worked in, and across a very narrow street from a firefighter’s credit union. firefighters. and next to that–policeman’s credit union. i checked the car as i went to take a customer home; it was fine. i checked the car when i got back–someone had smashed the window and taken my cd wallet. it must’ve been worth all of 30 bucks second-hand. cost me hundreds to replace. not to mention the cost of the broken window.
i had forgotten it was a crime; our rental cars were broken into all the time. and police like to talk down to me, in any case, so i didn’t want to have anything to do with them, either. didn’t report it, didn’t mess with insurance. it was a small enough loss to absorb.
but that’s neither here nor there.
don’t stop driving into the city. if your car isn’t broken into in washington, it’ll be broken into in your hometown, or on a trip, or wherever. if some asshole wants to break in, they’ll break in. take your shit with you, maybe invest in a Club. the guy who fixed my glass says he doesn’t even lock his doors, so that when his car is broken into, at least he won’t have that expense. (and it sucks driving home with a broken window, doesn’t it?)
don’t know if that’s an option, but it’s an interesting thought. me–i lock my doors still.
but in any case… i’ve been broken into once. i haven’t been broken into again. auto thefts and property crimes are very high in fresno–they blow the national average. i drive a reasonably nice car. but i can’t live in fear. i like my car, and goddammit, i’m gonna drive it. screw the assholes. that’s what insurance is for.
oh, and a note on insurance: this is a comprehensive claim. if your company are reputable, they should have a few comprehensive claims in them, especially if you’re a good customer, before they start grumbling about raising your rates. nobody was at fault. it’s not like a collision. and if they DO start grumbling, make them take the hit, then leave them, like i did after my second hit-and-run with my parked car. (last car. poor thing was cursed.)
don’t let the bastards get you down.
Comment by Heather — Friday, 13 April 2007 @ 10:29 am
I have a co-worker who says he does not lock his doors; I always wonder if he is telling the truth. I don’t think I could NOT lock my doors. I am not too worried about the insurance company yet. They have been good to us so far. The window is fixed already, which again is a big plus in the insurance company’s favor. I called them last night…and the glass is fixed today. The glass repair company even swept up all the glass, something that was really worrying me. How do you get those tiny slivers of glass out of your fabric?
The car looks good as new. And I feel better already. Whether I continue driving in to the city…I don’t know. That feeling of vulnerability has not gone away yet.
Comment by greypilgrim — Friday, 13 April 2007 @ 10:51 am
Excellent about the glass. Having a good insurance company is infinitely comforting.
For me, the vulnerability settled into more of a feeling of heightened awareness. It’s like a bump on the head–oh, this CAN happen to me. dammit. nowadays I always check my car windows as I’m approaching it, for instance, and am a little psycho about leaving things in the car, or at least in view, though you did not leave anything in view. it makes me crazy if a passenger leaves, say, a purse or something in there, risking another break-in. (breaking in, and not even for my stuff? are you kidding me???) as long as you’re OK, and your insurance is good, it’s just something else that can happen in a day, i suppose.
Comment by Heather — Friday, 13 April 2007 @ 11:14 am
It sucks that you lost that little sliver of security and complacency you had left.
I don’t leave anything of value in my car. My iPod or camera always come in with me, no matter what. I should do a better job of hiding my iPod cord, but I don’t bother. Maybe I should.
I’ve gotten so paranoid that when I go to the drugstore down town, the one where there are always people begging for money, I roll up my windows, unplug the iPod and already have it put away in my purse. I don’t want anyone seeing that I have something like that on me, nor do I want them to think I might have other things of value in the car.
Much like in the post I wrote the other day about the popping noises, I feel better if I lock my doors, even if I know it won’t do me a damn bit of good if someone wants to shoot or smash the glass with me still in the car.
This is a horrible violation, though. Did you have your stuff backed up somewhere? Are you going to be able to replace your laptop?
And good thinking; having a password on your computer. I think a lot of thieves are looking for the quick buck, and that computer is going to be worthless.
Comment by Mel B. — Friday, 13 April 2007 @ 5:04 pm
I do a weekly backup of the personal stuff on my hard drive; I back it up to my iPod actually, and of course my purchased music and TV shows are on the iPod as well. I also do regular CD backups of my purchased media…only I am not sure I had gone to that length recently. But again, anything I purchased between CD backups would still be on the iPod itself. So no worries about backups.
Without the power adapter and without my password, the computer will be effectively worthless. Still, it hurts to think of my faithful iBook tossed in the trash somewhere.
The precautions you take with your iPod are actually quite sensible. An iPod makes you a prime target for a thief. I’ve even heard that some people are no longer using the white earbuds because they are too noticeable as iPod accessories.
Comment by greypilgrim — Friday, 13 April 2007 @ 5:52 pm