Stephanie Pedersen: Thieves steal sense of security
Someone stole a little bit of my sense of security this weekend. Or at least I think that's all they got away with.
I'm hoping they picked up the strep throat and stomach virus that is making its way through my family right now. Or maybe they helped themselves to a stale fry. I'm certain there's a lollipop somewhere in the vehicle.
You see, Monday morning I woke up, pulled my kids out of bed, got them ready for school, reminded them to brush their teeth and then we were ready for the first day back after a week-long break.
When I approached my SUV, I noticed some of the trash I keep in a cup holder was in my front seat. I didn't want to make a big deal out of it around my kids, so I just put it away, wondering if I did that when I grabbed my purse out of the passenger seat the night before.
Or if someone had been in my vehicle.
After I returned home, I looked through the console and noticed the top item wasn't what normally sits there. This time it was a dark, velvet bag some would think holds jewelry. Ha! Jokes on you, thief. It held a wireless mouse with the Chick-fil-A Bowl logo on it. Guess they weren't interested in that.
Turns out a few other vehicles through my neighborhood also had intruders, so I'm certain someone went through my stuff.
I've been through this before in other cities. In Savannah, I left a change cup in my vehicle and paid the price when I had to replace my windshield.
A few years ago downtown in the old Ledger-Enquirer building, my vehicle was broken into pretty late when I was working on the copy desk. I was dumb and had left my purse in the front seat, but I was smart enough to bring my wallet into work with me. So the thief only got away with a bag.
But this time, I left my vehicle doors unlocked. My explanation is that I've paid for too many windshields.
That's probably not smart, either. But I've learned not to keep anything important in there.
I know most officials encourage folks to lock their doors and, of course, don't leave valuables in your vehicle, especially not in plain sight for greedy eyes to see.
I didn't realize that some people even leave spare keys in their vehicles.
''What we need people to do is start locking up their vehicles, stop leaving their spare keys in their car or the regular keys, and stop leaving them running in places,'' Columbus police Sgt. Joe Weatherford said Tuesday during a news conference to announce a special burglary task force.
Weatherford's point was these thieves aren't necessarily looking for a free pair of sunglasses. They're hoping to take your vehicle to the next crime scene.
In my case, I think the criminals were just running around, hoping to find a few unlocked car doors to see if they could get lucky. Who knows if they would have busted out a window if they'd seen something they wanted.
Hopefully from my vehicle they found something they didn't want: a fever and screaming sore throat. Compliments of the Pedersen household.
Contact Stephanie Pedersen, senior editor, at spedersen@ledger-enquirer.com.
This story was originally published December 2, 2015 at 8:26 PM with the headline "Stephanie Pedersen: Thieves steal sense of security ."