My first robbery

[pandora_parrot]

I was robbed for the first time in my life yesterday.

From Vandals and Theft

I was spending the night at banneret's place, and when I came out in the morning to go to therapy, I came upon the image above.

It seems that they saw my 3 year old cheapo GPS and decided it was worth smashing my window in to get it. I had been taking it out of the car when I first got it, but figured that no one would try to steal a 3-year old bottom-of-the-line one.. I was wrong... But frankly, I don't care about the GPS except for the fact that these people now have all of my addresses, including that of my house.

What I care about is that this is the first time that someone has robbed me... and... I find myself unsettled. Freaked out. They smashed my window and broke into my safe little world. That was supposed to be my safe space! That was supposed to be an area they couldn't reach! At least, that's what my lizard brain was thinking. It was so wrong.

For the first time, I find myself concerned about things like security, safety, etc. When I bought my car it "supposedly" had a security system in it. I think I got ripped off by the dealer, as it was not the specific one for my car, I didn't get any instructions or manual with it, and it didn't seem to do anything when "armed." I would have looked further, but I felt like I really didn't care. Now I do...

Mew... Processing this one... slowly but surely.

Comments

[fabmadamj.livejournal.com]

I've had my truck and house (back in AZ) robbed and or busted into a couple of times.

It's developed a number of weird behaviors in me.

I always leave the lights on in my house (or the TV, as we used to do in AZ) when I go out, even if I'll be gone for a couple days.

I rarely wash my vehicle. I keep trash strewn about the back of it and don't commit much to its upkeep.

[cal-foxx.livejournal.com]

I'm so sorry this had to happen to you hon. I've had a similar situation happen to myself several years ago, and I remember how unsettling it was to me too. At least you are safe.

[maestrodog.livejournal.com]

Believe me, I feel for you...and this will pass. A GPS is easy to replace. And thank goodness it was only the car...believe me, if you had woken up to find stuff stolen from your house, you'd be feeling a lot worse.

I had my car broken into twice. Once in about 1998 when I as driving a 13 year old Ford tempo that was a mess inside. I guess they were after the stereo, but it was as cheap as the car, and the only thing they took from it were the volume and station knobs. Didn't affect the functionality; I could still turn them on the thin narrow mounts. Then also about six years ago as well, into my 1st-gen Prius...fortunately, there was nothing in there more valuable than a cheap briefcase with a music score and a copy of a Terry Pratchett book, which they took, I guess because there might have been a laptop inside the briefcase. Both experiences still shook me up though, to the point where I didn't even think to call my insurance company about the glass damage (the first time, I was poor and only had minimum liability and wasn't covered...the second time, I had it but didn't think to check), and paid the full price for the window repair...stupid mistake.

Then about ten months ago the unthinkable happened due to another really stupid mistake...my house was robbed, because we left the door unlocked at night. They snuck in and stole my whole carry bag with all my bank cards, IDs AND my social security card, my wife's purse, and my wife's laptop and cell phone...and then to top it off, my brand new Prius (since my keys were part of what was in my bag).

Although the car was recovered the next day (albeit heavily vandalized inside), and we replaced all the important stuff from the purses plus the cell phone and laptop within a week or so, as well as changing the door locks, I was still extremely shaken by the experience and it took me several weeks to be able to sleep well again at night. We also installed a pin on the door that had been broken into that we make sure lock each night now.

*hugs*...believe me, once you finish processing this and get your window repaired, things will feel normal again after a while.

[amberite.livejournal.com]

I've had my wallet stolen a few times before and determined that, for the most part, people who make their living doing petty theft don't really care about private information. The profile for a "stuff thief" and for an "info thief" are very different.

Still sucks, though - sorry to hear it.

[voiceofanangel.livejournal.com]

That's exactly why I try not to carry much cash with me. Cards and IDs can be replaced. Money's an easy grab.

[pouchedfox.livejournal.com]

*hugs* OUCH! Thats horrible. You must feel pretty violated.
My last car, a saturn had a security system too, it didn't protect against breaking windows. What it did when secured with the remote was:
1)panic mode if someone tried to open the car (like with a key) without the remote.

2)allow the car to be driven for a short distance before disabling the engine, unless they deactivated the locks via remote.

I think a lot of thieves don't know or care about the value of the item they were stealing. They just saw a gps device.

[voiceofanangel.livejournal.com]

*shudders* I heard some scandal a while back about ppl breaking into cars and stealing addresses out of GPSs to plan home robberies. Just something to be aware of.

*hugs*

[lost-angelwings.livejournal.com]

*hugs* :( I am so sry :(

[inflectionpoint.livejournal.com]

I am so sorry. That's awful.