How To Stop A Thief

So, my neighbor’s house got broken into last week. No, I didn’t do it! Although... The police did come to visit me. But only to ask if I’d seen anything about 10:30 on the night in question.

“Well, no,” I told the cop. “It’s dark at that time and I can’t see in the dark.”

He seemed to have no sense of humor and his frowning gaze suggested he thought I shouldn’t have one either. And since I had no information for him, he appeared eager to leave, so I decided to play a little game—just to see how much information he would give to me. Not much, it turns out. I learned the break-in was in the back of the house, the people weren’t home, and that the police were not sure what was taken. Which seemed to indicate SOMETHING had been taken—even though, he didn’t exactly say that.

Then, he said something about additional burglaries in the area. Now I was the one with no sense of humor!

Whether he was referring to actual incidents or hoping to prevent future ones, I’m not sure. And he didn’t really elaborate when I asked—just offered me the standard, run-of-the-mill advice, as in: Make sure to keep all windows and doors locked, don’t leave valuables out in plain sight, keep a few lights on, etc.

That’s all nice, I guess, but it doesn’t really help catch anyone responsible if my stuff gets stolen. And judging by the lack of effectiveness of the police (in the case of my neighbor) there’s not much of a guarantee they’d be all that helpful either.

On a related note, my new security camera should arrive in a day or two. No, it probably won’t deter anyone from breaking in, but at least I might be able to identify the culprits if they do. It’s one of those nifty little cameras that I can control from my phone with all sorts of features that I’ll probably never use. The feature I would like to install is an artillery attachment! But I’m pretty sure that wouldn’t be kosher with, well, anyone. But it probably would stop the break-ins! For a while anyway. ~

Bruce A. Borders is the author of more than a dozen books, including: Inside Room 913, Over My Dead Body, The Journey, Miscarriage Of Justice, The Lana Denae Mysteries, and The Wynn Garrett Series. Available in ebook at www.amazon.com/Bruce-A.-Borders/e/B006SOLWQS and paperback on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Books-a-Million. Bruce A. Borders is a proud member of Rave Reviews Book Club.