AnonymousBy an edhat reader
My daughter and her friend parked at the water plant on San Roque Road to hike Jesusita Trail yesterday afternoon. She locked her car. When she came back the front driver side window was completely smashed in and her wallet was gone. Fortunately for her, she’d put her driver’s license and debit card in her phone and taken that with her on the hike. The thief got maybe $10 and a gift card to Forever 21. Ha. And completely missed more valuable items in the car.
But honestly. WHO is that aggressive and angry? She parked among other hikers cars on a Sunday afternoon. She didn’t do anything wrong. What is going on??
She called the police to make a report and was told it would “take too long” for them to get there and should just file a report online. WHY? Two girls are now alone at dusk with a smashed car window and the police can’t even come to see if they are ok?
Something isn’t right here. Why are they too busy to check on their welfare?
Two girls alone. You don’t say how old they are, but unless one or both tells law enforcement they feel a threat is still nearby, I understand completely why a peace officer wasn’t sent out for a “routine” theft. Both females should be carrying pepper spray ($7.00 on Amazon) whenever they are out in any lonely area, when they walk alone or as a pair. Regardless of age, it’s a sad fact that women must acknowledge that they may be targeted physically. As for being “alone at dusk,” they weren’t exactly helpless if the vehicle was still in good running order.======Re: parking one’s vehicle at a mountain trail head or beach lot or at any spot where you are thereby announcing that you will be gone for a length of time—–understand that your “valuables” may fall prey to thieves. As your daughter apparently thought to take along her driver’s license and debit card, I would say that she was aware of the fact that a lowlife might target her vehicle. Sad fact of life, but we all must be more wary and take preventative measures whenever necessary to ensure our safety and the security of our possessions.
Become a lawbreaker! That’s the spirit! Love those responsible gun owners.
I wish I knew of a way to wire the car to the battery so that if anyone tried to break in, they’d get shocked, but even if I did, I wouldn’t do: I’d probably forget and shock myself or else get sued by a would-be thief.
The cops are too busy for this, yet you’ll see two or more talking to some homeless person who is sitting on the ground.
Agree. Grateful the girls are ok! Obviously they weren’t the target here so that’s good. The police didn’t do anything wrong, they clearly didn’t get a sense of danger and with so many petty thefts they can’t show up at everything while still also patrolling and handling larger crimes that actually threatens safety of others. It’s not that they don’t care, but they can’t be all places at once and their honesty is good, they provided action that the girls could take instead of sitting there for hours waiting for them to come take a report.
Reply to: A-1557277946 1 1 MAY 07, 2019 04:14 PM
Possibly some citizen had reported the homeless person. Possibly, as well, that homeless person might pose a danger to himself or others. Possibly the homeless person might become so aggressive that more than one officer is needed to subdue the subject. For my tax money, I prefer law enforcement question homeless rather than be called out to a petty theft that has, due to lack of hard evidence, no chance of being resolved. If a thief breaks into your vehicle and leaves behind his/her i.d. or DNA in the form of blood droplets, perhaps that might justify an investigation. Maybe.
This happens almost every day at local trailheads. Check out the amount of smashed glass at Rattlesnake/Mtn Drive/Romero trailheads. Police don’t respond because this is now so normal and untraceable it is an exercise in futility for them. Sorry this happened to them/you, but this is far from an unusual occurrence. It only takes a second for this to occur and with little traffic going by and houses further down, this area is a prime target. File a police report for insurance purposes, but sadly, don’t expect anything else to be done. This is the reality of life today in SB. Most smash and grabs don’t even get reported. I personally know multiple people this has happened to while hiking (mostly at Rattlesnake) and thieves got nothing of value, but I guess every now and again they get something so it continues. Sad commentary on our society and community. And agree that pepper spray when on trail is a must.
they dont waste time for “checking welfare” on a smash and grab when everyone is obviously ok.
what did you want them to do, show up are give a hug?
To be fair, it really would have taken hours for the police to get there for that caliber of crime, and if it was already dusk…. Waiting in the dark would have put the girls in more “danger” than any other part of the situation did. Even if they did show up, they wouldn’t dust for fingerprints (doesn’t prove anything) or do anything else to mitigate the situation (what could they even do?). I say dispatch did you a favor by suggesting the online report. Sorry that happened to them, it must feel violating.
Rather than fighting some future “climate change”, it would be better Sierra Club volunteers took shifts at trail heads to monitor the safety of hikers parked cars, who do want to enjoy the back country right here and now. Follow Neighborhood Watch guidelines, and that goes for the hikers too.
We used to live near Steven’s par. It was peaceful, quiet, and safe. Interrupted occasionally by the stray Coyote running by the water’s edge. Now we never go near. Even the dog froze and turned around at the entrance to the trail, a nature delight where we would walk every day. Sad. Really sorry for the girls. Understandably they must have been scared, helpless and feeling very alone. Regardless of the pepper spray advice and judgmental comments etc. – 20/20 in hindsight – they needed help and assurance then from the very people we admire and depend on to keep us safe.
I’d be happy to guard & patrol the area, every day, all day.
$50 per hr.
LUVADUCK you can’t “defend” personal (or real) property (cars, homes, etc) by using deadly force.