So I finally got broken into

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Permalink Reply by misterhinkydink on May 14, 2008 at 1:39pm

Bastage!!!!

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Permalink Reply by Mario on May 14, 2008 at 1:43pm

Since you know who it was, was he arrested? If so I hope you were able to get your things back........anyhow, very sorry to hear that.

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Permalink Reply by Albuquerque Gal on May 14, 2008 at 2:05pm

Is this really true? Is it based on an actual police policy? I just want to know.

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Permalink Reply by rf on May 14, 2008 at 2:35pm

Sadly, several of my friends have been robbed here. Once, I was dropping a friend off and watched a robbery in progress through the windows of his house. We called the police, but by the time they arrived, the suspects were long gone. The cops have never recovered anything from any of my friends' robberies.

My advice is be careful as to where you live, don't leave curtains open at night so people can see what you have, and if you happen to live in a shady hood, make sure there are security bars and doors on your residence, and if you don't have security bars, don't leave the crank style windows open when you aren't home as they are super easy to break into. Also it's a good idea to leave a light or two on at night even when you aren't home because it makes people think twice.

I lived in the student ghetto for three years, fairly close to the poster's residence in fact, but east of University. I lived on the ground level, but had bars on all of my windows. There were all sorts of shady happenings in the neighborhood, but I personally never had any problems (and I would have had a lot more to lose than the average student ghetto dweller).

I have rental insurance and now live in a much nicer neighborhood.

While I feel badly when I hear people are getting robbed, it is easily preventable. Most robberies here are for the purpose of getting money to buy drugs and are done by amateurs. In all of my friends' robberies, very simple things could have been done to prevent their stuff from getting stolen.

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Permalink Reply by Tim on May 14, 2008 at 3:56pm

Living in a nice neighborhood in the heights we were broken into 2 years ago. A neighbor saw everything unfold and called the police immediately, then agonized while the guy left with a sackful of our stuff because the police took so long to respond. They were however able to pick the guy up strolling down central with our stuff, based on the neighbors description. We got back all our things, which included cameras, jewelry, a cheap full page scanner that I'm sure he thought was a laptop, a new package of unopened mens underwear, and some loose change.

I doubt that the cops actively pursued the guy, but they did put out the description. An officer saw the guy, stopped him, and arrested him after questioning him about the assortment of items he had.



One unintentional deterrent resulted from my being anal about the cords and cables to my electronics. To keep them all tidy and out of sight, I had taken all the power cords, speaker wire, video cables etc. behind the entertainment cabinet and bundled them all together using velcro strips about every 6 inches or so along the bundle. I had then fastened this bundle using zip ties the the entertainment cabinet itself. He tried to take the DVD player, but discovered he couldn't without undoing all these fasteners, and gave up.

Probably the worst part of the whole experience was having to explain to my 5 year-old who it was that busted his piggy bank all over the room to get the roughly $3.72 or so in change that was in it.

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Permalink Reply by Ren Adams on May 14, 2008 at 9:12pm

<<>

Awwwww! :-(

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Permalink Reply by CK Barlow on May 14, 2008 at 10:04pm

well... yeah... but then you worry about your beloved pet(s) being hurt. That happened to a friend of mine; they came home and their poor dog had obviously crawled, hurt, into her crate to get away from the bastard. They got bars after that. We've got bars. I've had too many break-ins here, 2x in 6 days at my place near Old Town and one in my current place in EDO (before the one non-barred entrance got bars...).

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Permalink Reply by Ben Roberts on May 14, 2008 at 2:50pm

Suckage. Had it happen to me too. 2 times.

Sorry to hear you're leaving the 'hood though. But I do totally understand.
Maybe you can come back once we spruce the place up a bit. ;)

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Permalink Reply by cathyray on May 14, 2008 at 2:57pm

dang, that's messed up. What got me about the whole thing when I got robbed was the number of people that said to me, upon hearing I'd been robbed, was "I remember the first time I got robbed too". It truly sucks to be robbed & I know if they had just come to the door while I was home, I'd have given them a check to cover what little they got from hockin my stuff & then some. It felt like they took a part of my soul when they stole my grandmother's bracelets.

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Permalink Reply by roadrunner lady on May 14, 2008 at 4:44pm

i used to live in the Huning Highlands neighborhood. My neighbors robbed me while I was at my high school reunion by sawing the bars off my window and claiming they didn't hear a thing. Nice guys named Tom and Doug.

I have alarms wherever i live.

Sorry for your loss. It can be heartbreaking but sounds like superficial STUFF as opposed to family treasures (the watch?). File a police report ....

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Permalink Reply by ridin on May 14, 2008 at 7:14pm

Yeah, thanks guys. I do appreciate the kind words. I have renters' insurance--though this is the first time I've ever had to make a claim; and based on their claims procedures, it seems like a pretty efficient cash extraction/retention business to be in.

I did call the cops. Nice guy, showed up in an hour or so. He found a couple of prints so he called a fingerprint tech. I asked them, not in a mean way, how long the fingerprint results would take? Reply: realistically, 5-6 months. There are 25 fingerprint techs in ABQ and exactly one (1) fingerprint analyst. With murders and rapes galore and this being the third most dangerous state in the US--Fat Bill's trips to fucking Venezuela or wherever apparently not actually doing much to help--break-ins take an understandable back seat.

Readers of my blog will know my attitude towards stuff. The problem is, I kind of have so little stuff now that I'm at the point where every thing I have is important. On Saturday, my entire apartment will fit into about half of the 12' box truck I've rented from Penske. So I do wish it hadn't happened. But it could've been worse.

He could've broken my plant. I've had this plant for several years now and it's a survivor of a Santa Fe winter outdoors and then two months in a garage sans water. Had the plant been killed, that would've been a real loss. The other things are inconvenient and mean. And the insurance company is going to rape me over the replacements. But in the end, I'm still healthy, my daughters still love me and the sun will come up tomorrow.

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Permalink Reply by ayax on May 14, 2008 at 9:32pm

I find your attitude very admirable and as 'zen' as can be under the circumstances.

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