Crime and No Punishment

When I was about four, I picked up one of those hangers that socks hang on the rack with while at The Bay in Calgary. I thought it was cool, had no intention of swiping it (street value $0) but my parents made a big deal about how wrong shop lifting was (even if it is garbage) and I how I was on the fast lane to a life of crime. It must have made an impact since I haven't shoplifted anything ever, I don't steal cable and I don't use Napster, Kazaa or even rip other people's CD's. I am legal.

In the last year however, I have done a pretty good job of having stuff stolen from me and last night our car was broken into. They took my backpack, a copy of Will Sampson's book, Justice in the Burbs, a couple of pens and most sadly, my beloved iPod Nano. The value wasn't that great. My iPod battery was slowly dying and I had already thought of replacing it with a new shuffle (I like Wendy's Shuffle battery life) but it is frustrating to have a bunch of stuff stolen. The weirdest part is that last night I was feeling exhausted. The West Nile is lingering and is complicated by the fact that I am a diabetic. Dave King was in town and I decided to have a nap before going into work at midnight. I woke up at 10:00 p.m. with a fever and phoned my co-worker and asked if he had any post-midnight plans or if he wanted my shift as well. He did and I went back to sleep. If I had been feeling better, my car would have been parked in sight of me and the security camera all night at work.

This afternoon I was really angry over it. I have lost three nice mountain bikes in the last 8 years, while Wendy and Lee have had one taken each. We lost a GT Snowracer, had the inside of the van trashed and have had about 20 solar powered lights ripped off, one by one a couple summers ago (we just installed new ones this week but they are low wattage instead so we will see if that works). Wendy was almost assaulted when a drunk barged in weeks after Mark was born (our passive agressive dog Elway decided to take a stand and earned his keep for the rest of his life) and the house has been broken into. My co-worker was beaten up and robbed in broad daylight a couple of months ago and it seems to be a part of life too often on the west side of Saskatoon.

Our neighbor has lost $5000,00 in tools over one year from his house. Our other neighbor nonchalantly asked me if I had seen his car and snowmobile another day a couple of years ago. Our neighbor across the street has lamented making his yard more and more like a fortress to stop the theft. I agree with both his sentiment and his actions. Wendy and I have wanted to close in around our driveway with some shrubs and cedars but right now a 6 foot fence with barbed wire feels a little more appropriate.

Of course it begs the question of why don't the police do something about it. The answer is that they do. There are a lot of police on Saskatoon streets but as John Gormley said on the radio this morning, "It's hard to get sent to jail in Saskatchewan". A friend of mine's daughter was assaulted by an older girl a couple of years ago for no reason. She had over 50 probation violations and was still at large and still committing crimes. It begs the question, how many crimes does one have to commit to be put into jail? According to Statscan, crime is down in Saskatchewan and that is a good thing but the problem is that it takes so few people to commit crimes to make it miserable for everyone else in the neighborhood and for some, they grew up with crime and crime is normal.

It isn't the dollar value on my stuff that bothers me. Like I said, I was already thinking of replacing the Nano with a Shuffle or a cheap one gig expandable MP3 player, my bag was showing some age, and Justice in the Burbs can be replaced but the thing that really bugs me is that according to the laws of the land, what happened to us, isn't even worth punishing someone for.

Umm, it also means that my review of Justice in the Burbs won't be posted here this week either. It's a good book though I am hoping the person who stole it gets something out of it.

Update: At 9:00 p.m. while out replacing some of the stuff. Somebody tried to break in to the house. Lee was at home and Maggi was standing guard and they ran off.

The whole thing makes me want to move to the burbs, find a gated community or a safe small town and live there. Wendy and I debated on and off all summer about whether we wanted to re-enroll Mark into Mayfair School. His reading skills are farther behind then what mine were at the end of the first grade and the teachers have to spend a lot of time on "behaviour modification" rather than teaching. It is also frustrating to see kids moving past simple bullying and seeing kids get hurt in front of the school on many days with no intervention from parents or staff. So is the answer to bail out on the school and neighborhood? Of course not but at the same it will mean some changes for Wendy and I.