Where Are We Going?

I went out to the car yesterday around 10 a.m. to put the car back together after flattening the rear seats to haul some things. It's "Marietta Days" this Saturday and the "stuff" has been flowing into our house to try to sell at this large, town-wide yard sale.

I'm in it for the food. The deli always has its famous Philly-style sausage sandwiches, grilled with sauce, onions and peppers. Mmmmmmmm-mmmmm. There are all kinds of great french fry stands, and all kinds of food in general.

I was fumbling with my car keys yesterday when I reached the FJ Cruiser. Glancing downward I caught the image of broken glass at my feet. I knew what it was right away and pulled my head back slowly to see my driver's side window completely smashed into little pieces.

Someone had broken into our car.

I peaked in quickly and could tell that someone had rifled through our glove box, tossing the contents about the front seat and floor. I wanted to call the police as soon as possible so I made a beeline back to the house, also to empty my arms full of backseat headrests.

I told Barb and she teared up a little but quickly pulled her composure back together. We don't keep anything of any value in the car. But I understand how she felt - violated.

I called the police at 10:17 a.m. An officer would be out as soon as possible I was told.

I went back out to the FJ to look around. I felt it best not to touch anything until the police arrived. I peered in the window and the only things that were missing was about $2 in change and an expired coupon for an oil change. There was glass everywhere.

I walked around the back alley to see if any other cars had suffered the same fate. Nope. It seemed like all the other cars on the block were untouched.

I think I waited for a police officer to show up for about an hour before I called the police again. Did they get my address wrong? Were they still coming?

All of the officers are busy with other calls, I was told. I was on their list.

I called once an hour, for four hours, and still no response from our local police. Somewhere into the third hour I called the borough office and asked cynically "Is this normal response time for our police department?"

The borough office was outraged too. They gave me the chief of police's direct-line, well at least his secretary's direct-line. As we reached the four-hour mark I tried to call the chief direct. His secretary tried to give me the brush off. I leaned back into her.

"Four hours? Four hours? Should I or anyone be happy with such a response time?" I said. "Could you at least tell me what the officers are tied up with so maybe I can feel better about waiting like this?"

I let her know that I could not wait any longer. I had to get the window fixed. I do not have a garage and rain was due that evening. I told her they might as well not send anyone out because by the time they get there the car would be fixed and there would be nothing to see.

I told her that I'm going to make sure this gets back to the borough and to the chief. Then she asked me to hold and an officer picked up the phone.

The officer was very polite and he took a report over the phone. He told me it probably really didn't matter whether they came out to see the crime scene or not because they rarely catch anyone.

WHAT?!?!?!?

Where are we going when police decide to never respond to a crime scene, and admit that they probably won't catch the culprit anyway?

Sounds like we need to invest more in policing our local communities rather than those half-way around the world.

Jeesh.

The window was fixed before the rains came. The police called us later to let us know that there had been several car break-ins in Marietta over the past few days.

Great...now they're interested?