Neighborhood Watch

Over the weekend, I witness petty theft from my front porch. I watch a guy break into a car and grab a black bag from the front seat. I stood up and watched him. I let him see me and yelled, "You better start running, because I'm calling the cops. Good luck." I called 911 and reported the crime. The female operator seemed as confused as I felt incredulous by witness the brazen act.

About 5-10 minutes later, the cops showed up. They seemed less than enthusiastic about answering my call. I told them to keep an eye out on my house since the burglar might decide to come back to bother me. They gave me some bull about not being able to watch my house. That's fine; just watch my neighborhood so that random acts like that don't happen on what should have been a lazy day of sitting on my front porch.

Several hours later, the owner of the car showed up. It turns out that nothing of value was in the black bag that was stolen. Most troubling for me is that he refused to call the cops. If nothing else, his insurance company would need a police report before paying for a new window. He spoke in broken English with a very heavy accent. So maybe he was afraid of interacting with the police (no insurance, no green card, the car is stolen, etc). Who knows.

I've decided to sit on the front porch every evening to keep an eye on my neighborhood. I want those bastard thieves, murderers, rapists, and other hoodlums to know that I'm watching them and I don't have a problem calling the police if things get out of hand.

Now that I've scanned the DC police department crime statistic map, my guard will be up even more than before. Sure, the hoodlums can have the $10 in my wallet but they won't be harming me or my friends without a fight. Next up, self defense class and I've even starting to think about the benefits of a gun. [gasp!] I never thought I would ever think about the value of a gun but I'm a treehugging hippie who is pissed and itching to take back her street and her 'hood.