Van Invasion

My mom took the boys and I to McDonald's for lunch on Wednesday and while we were there we had a discussion about theft, robberies, etc. This was partly provoked by finding out my sister-in-law's mother had her car stolen from her house about a week ago.

I truly believe that thievery will get worse before it gets better. If it ever gets better. The rewards may outweigh the risks in some people's minds, thus perpetuating the "what's yours should be mine" mentality. Isn't that what our government is teaching everyone these days anyway?

Thursday night Jason was at a deacon's meeting at our church. The van was parked directly outside the windows of the room they were meeting in. During the meeting someone went through two vehicles, one of which was ours. They stole a gas gift card we had just bought a few days prior (we can save 5 cents/gal. with a gift card), a digital voice recorder (which we never keep in the van, but Jason was listening to something I had recorded for him), and our digital camera (which we also usually don't keep in the van, but had never gotten out after our last meeting). Thankfully they missed several other electronics that would have increased the dollar value greatly - our GPS, an MP3 player, and removable DVD players we use on long trips. Apparently they were more interested in stealing what they had to find in the console than what was plainly obvious. The additional irony to this is that pastor and the deacons were discussing church security while this was happening. Needlesss to say, this cemented in their minds the fact that improvements need to be made in and around the building.

We always lock our house and vehicle. Jason remembers pushing the lock button on the keyless remote, but for some reason it didn't lock. He suspects that he didn't get the door shut all the way because he was carrying stuff in the for the meeting and was parked on an incline. The keyless remote won't work if a door is not shut all the way. It figures that the one time this happens is when someone decides to enter the world of criminality. The other car they went through is never locked (and owned by a cop, nonetheless), but they don't keep anything of value in it.

Oddly enough, I'm not all too creeped out by the event. I suppose it's because I know they didn't break the window or anything, but rather took advantage of an unfortunate situation. I also joked with someone at church that once you've had someone break into your house (by jimmying the door open) and fall asleep on your living room floor, the thought of someone going through your van doesn't seem so terrible. To me the worst part is not having to replace the camera, but rather the pictures I lost on it. Those are things we can never replace, such as the first tooth Gavin lost. He will never have that first again and the adult tooth is already completely in so we can't "stage" the loss. We also lost pictures from a meeting, which we've been trying to take so we can remember our travels, the churches, and the people we meet. I'm not sure what else we lost on it, but it was about a month's worth.

When Jason filled out the police report they told him there have been a string of vehicle invasions in the area. They were actually surprised the GPS was still there since that is usually what gets stolen. Apparently this person (or persons) is looking for high dollar items to make quick cash.

I visited the pawn shop on Friday with no luck. I was taking some things to a lady from our church who happens to live next to it, so I decided to walk in. I must admit it was a little intimidating walking into a somewhat dumpy building with three somewhat rough-looking men sitting/standing inside. I doubt the items will show up there because he makes people give him their i.d. info. when they sell things to him. They would be better off selling them on E-bay or craigslist.

All in all we've learned to be even more vigilant than I thought we already were. I've also reminded myself that it is just stuff, highly inconvenient to replace, but replaceable nonetheless.