If I ever get my hands on you!

This morning, Tuesday October 18, I woke up to my iPhone “bark” alarm. Quickly my half-asleep body slapped down my hand to kill the annoying barking. I headed to the shower to freshen up; it seemed to be a normal morning. After my eyes finally opened to at least 50%, I rushed through getting dressed, grabbed my laptop, and headed out the door. Once again, everything seemed normal, but that “normal” feeling to my day quickly received a kick in the balls.

When I approached my SUV I was saw a light from inside my truck beaming into the dark morning sky. I unlocked my doors and took a look inside only to see that my rear-passenger window had been smashed…just f#cking great. 

Another dumb thief.

  

There was a mess of my Creative Communications papers scattered across the seats. The glove box was open but didn’t contain anything that it used to be in there. After about a minute of staring at my smashed window and open glove box I realized that I should be checking for my possessions. Anything that was worth more than $10 was gone. Before I knew it I was running late, so I had to suck it up and take my angry show on the road.

The further I drove down Provencher the further my anger was pushed. This is mostly due to the fact that freezing cold wind was being shot into my truck through the smashed window.

Now, I’ve had a little more time to “cool my jets.” Thoughts of teaching those punks a lesson are still circulating through my head, but the odds of figuring out who they are, are slim.

When I lived in the small Manitoban town of Lorette I never had any problems with break-ins. Never! Even hearing of a friend or family member running into break in problems was rare.

However, the case in the city is completely different. I’ve been living in St. Boniface since March 14, 2011 and already my roommate had her car broken into, and now I’ve had my truck broken into. It’s easy to understand why people with safety concerns flock to the country. Theft is rampant in Winnipeg, even in the “nicer” areas.

But really, what can you do to protect yourself from these cowardly thieves?

We set up a spotlight in the back lane back in March when my roommate was broken into. Still, the spotlight didn’t prevent thieves from smashing my window and helping themselves to my possessions.  Besides having a “stakeout” (which could last months or years), there isn’t much one can do.

Setting up security cameras might detour some criminals, but even then, that’s nothing a mask can’t fix for them. Even if you’ve caught the criminals red-handed and have their face on video, it might not put them in jail. Setting up security cameras is the next step for our household, but that’s no crime-free guarantee.

Maybe crime would decrease in Canada if we abandoned the “slap on the wrist” justice system that we’ve been praising for so long. Recently I came across a story where two Manitobans living on a reserve beat a man with a baseball bat and a 2x4 piece of wood, and then they proceeded to stab the man 35 times in the neck.  Guess how long these two got in jail? Just guess… 50 Months in addition to 23 months already served. They got a break because they were “too drunk” - technically speaking: 4x over the legal limit. This sentencing absolutely disgusts me. (More on the story here.) My point here is that, anywhere else this case would have gone differently. In Texas this pair would probably be dead or waiting to die. Regardless, all I wanted to say is that Canada is very laid back when it comes to their justice system and there are major problems there.

In the end, I’ll live, worse things could’ve happened. I’ll pay my deductible, buy some new stuff, and have a beer with some friends to get my mind off of the whole thing. Eventually, I’ll get around to setting up those security cameras, and who knows, maybe I’ll do that stakeout and catch those bastards. So, the bastard(s) who broke into my truck last night got tipped over in The Outhouse and ran away, leaving a giant shit trail that I can hopefully follow back to my possessions, and maybe revenge. 

At least that's not my car

This guy has the right idea.