Fk this crap

[iris lilies]

I had to take 20 minutes out from my plant digging work to deal with a stolen purse.

DH saw a young man squeezed between our alley dumpster, going through something. he thought it looked very suspicious. he asked the kid if he was OK and the kid said yes. A few minutes later we drove down the alley, kid was gone, contents of the woman’s purse was spread all over the alley.

I am so DONE with these idiots and their stupidity. I am DONE with the thieves. I am DONE with people from the burbs who come to my neighborhood and leave your car is unlocked. I am DONE with lack of law-enforcement. I’m not even going to call cops on this one. And of course the little shit couldn't even pick up his litter.

So we gathered all the stuff from the purse and I contacted the woman via her workplace and also LinkedIn. It’s fortunate that she had a unique name so easy to find.

Also DH is at this very moment walking inside nearby restaurants holding her purse up, in case she is still around. We theorize as she was brunching in one of our nearby restaurants and her purse was taken from her car.

Looking forward to living in Hermann where the thieving is performed by 4 footed creatures, even though we will be just as unable to deal directly with the thieves because ya can’t shoot ‘em in the city limits, and even then, there is a limit of how many deer you can bag.

first world problems, I know!

[catherine]

No, that's more serious than most first world problems. I've had my wallet and/or pocketbook stolen 3 times--they were recovered 2 of the 3 times. If it had been my purse you found and you contacted me to return it, I'd have kissed you. It is such a pain to have to replace locks, keys, licenses, credit cards, never mind sentimental things like pictures in wallets, etc.

All three times when I got my stuff stolen I was in my early 20s, barely making ends meet, saving up for months for a winter coat. I would get so angry when it happened, and my thought to the thief was, "You bum! What makes you think you deserve my stuff more than I do!! I NEED that stuff!"

Good for you and DH to work to track the woman down. I'm sure she, too, will be very, very grateful.

[iris lilies]

No, that's more serious than most first world problems. I've had my wallet and/or pocketbook stolen 3 times--they were recovered 2 of the 3 times. If it had been my purse you found and you contacted me to return it, I'd have kissed you. It is such a pain to have to replace locks, keys, licenses, credit cards, never mind sentimental things like pictures in wallets, etc.

All three times when I got my stuff stolen I was in my early 20s, barely making ends meet, saving up for months for a winter coat. I would get so angry when it happened, and my thought to the thief was, "You bum! What makes you think you deserve my stuff more than I do!! I NEED that stuff!"

Good for you and DH to work to track the woman down. I'm sure she, too, will be very, very grateful.

she is a graduate of ISU in Ames, Iowa. So is DH! I lived in Ames and that is where we met each other. So we are doin’it for a fellow Cyclone.

this is where my mad Internet stalking skillz come in, although honestly any amateur could’ve found this lady.

The last set of keys I returned to the owner was a set keys with a few cards attached including a library card. I called the library and said hey I have this lady‘s keys, could you contact her and tell her I’ve got them please.

The lady called me within 10 minutes to retrieve her keys.

The time before there was a credit card or two that I tracked down but that turned out to be my neighbor’s mother. She had a different name and I had no clue that it was Diviani’s mom or I would’ve just given her the cards. She had already canceled the credit cards anyway so that was no big deal.

oh, and now I’m remembering a gym bag like a dozen years ago that belonged to a tough guy. It had a weapon in it as well as his identifying information. He was on parole. Due to the weapon I had him meet me in an open space in our park to pick up his bag.

It’s amazing that all of these people have had unique enough names that they are easy to find. I’m not gonna waste my time trying to help John Smith or Sally Johnson or etc. find their stuff.

[happystuff]

Good for you, IL, taking the time out to look for and return what you find.

When I was walking more often, I would find a lot of things. Musical instruments, cell phones, keys, gas station credit cards, wallets, etc. Anything I can't return directly to the owner, I take to the police station.

[JaneV2.0]

I've had stuff stolen from my car several times. The only item of value was a pair of driving glasses, because I don't leave valuables unattended. Friends had their vehicle stolen and trashed in Portland--car theft capitol of the world--last week, from its parking place in front of their house. As I've asserted ad nauseum, I like suburbs because, among other reasons, they're generally safer. I guess I'm a law and order progressive, if that's a thing.

Kudos for gathering up the purse and contents and contacting its owner, who will surely be very thankful you did.

[happystuff]

This thread makes me wonder - how do folks safeguard their purses? When out and about, I tend to use a small cross-body bag that holds what I consider to be my essentials or, when I can, I wear cargo pants and put things in the pockets and don't carry a bag at all. My wallet is RFID, so I feel decent about such remote kinds of techno threats.

What do others do?

Edited to add: Moderators, if you feel this should be a different thread, go ahead and move. Thanks in advance if you do!

[pinkytoe]

That sort of crime is rampant here too. Stealing mail, porch pirates, breaking into cars...As a society, we seem to have bred a slew of near sociopaths who don't know how else to live their lives. Meth addicts, ex-cons, vagrants/homeless, unsupervised teenagers. I am grateful to have a garage as cars on the street or driveway are fair game. I am so ready to get out of the big city.

[bae]

The Crazy Times are upon us.

We've had a huge crime wave here the past year. Many businesses in the village burglarized, home/garage burglaries, car break-ins, tons of fly-by-night "repair/contractor" scam operations, squatters moving into unoccupied homes, drug deals, and so on.

The main (and only) town in the County, our County seat, on the next island over, suffered the worst in April. A big chunk of the historic waterfront town was destroyed by arson. It took all the resources here and responding resources from the mainland that came over by boat to manage to save the town - the whole place was in danger of going up. It was the biggest fire I've ever responded to, and it is a horrible loss to the community:

https://komonews.com/news/local/crew...-friday-harbor

And then just this weekend, someone went crazy at the ferry landing at the next island over, nearly ran over several ferry deckhands, and almost got shot by a poor sheriff's deputy who was simply trying to commute home. This could have ended very poorly.

[iris lilies]

The Crazy Times are upon us.

We've had a huge crime wave here the past year. Many businesses in the village burglarized, home/garage burglaries, car break-ins, tons of fly-by-night "repair/contractor" scam operations, squatters moving into unoccupied homes, drug deals, and so on.

The main (and only) town in the County, our County seat, on the next island over, suffered the worst in April. A big chunk of the historic waterfront town was destroyed by arson. It took all the resources here and responding resources from the mainland that came over by boat to manage to save the town - the whole place was in danger of going up. It was the biggest fire I've ever responded to, and it is a horrible loss to the community:

https://komonews.com/news/local/crew...-friday-harbor

And then just this weekend, someone went crazy at the ferry landing at the next island over, nearly ran over several ferry deckhands, and almost got shot by a poor sheriff's deputy who was simply trying to commute home. This could have ended very poorly.

Arson is shxt. Losing histoirc waterfront buildings…mynheart hurts for that!

We had an arsonist in Hermann and since it’s pretty much Mayberry there, they knew who who he was because the minute got out of jail he started sitting fires again. He burned up a couple of oldish houses but they weren’t super old ones Herman is known for, so that’s Better than it could’ve been. They were vacant.

edited to say: when I say “super old “that is by our Midwestern standards. Hermann was settled in 1840 so nothing older of importance. Daniel Boone was around thereabouts a generation or two before that, but not in Hermann.


I’m saying this for our East Coast folks who regularly encounter houses built in the 1700s.
I respect your super super old historical structures and I recognize we do not have those here.

[Teacher Terry]

Reno’s crime has also skyrocketed. You see people posting on Nextdoor about it all the time. I am happy to be in a secure building. Most cars are only in a car port. I have one of the 6 spaces in the back underneath the building so most thieves wouldn’t know about it. Plus you get trapped back there and can’t easily run away.