This actually happened about 2 weeks ago. Grandpa had forgotten about his keys and left them stuck on the door coming home from one of his smoking breaks downstairs. Nothing special I suppose considering his age.
However, some assholes were more than happy to snatch those dangling keys from our door.
Luckily, it was a Sunday. Everybody was home when Grandpa suddenly realized he didn't have his keys with him. My uncle went out to get some replacement locks and everything was under control within 2 hours.
(This is the wonderful thing with the guys in my family.... the older ones at least. They're always so hands-on. For example, my dad has always been the 24-hr electrician/plumber/car mechanic. He's definitely THE HANDYMAN in the family. My late paternal grandpa was also like that. He could fix anything you can think of... refrigerator, TV, video, battery-powered mini cars, bicycles, generators, ..... anything other than computer, of course, considering he was way into his retirement age by the time computers are all over the place)
Anyway, back to the lost keys.
So things were cool for the rest of the weekend and Monday. Come Tuesday morning, though, it was a different story.
Around 11 am, somebody rung the door bell, while I was stuck in my room working on my project.
I went out of my room and quietly tiptoed to take a peek at who it was -- a habit that I have somehow developed after my 4 years in Chicago. No, it wasn't because I was avoiding debt collectors or anything like that. By now I can't really remember why and how I developed the habit, but I'm positive there was one particular event that triggered it.
Anyway it was 2 guys that I saw through the peeking hole (whatever you call it).
I don't know that many people in this city and I most definitely don't recognize those 2 faces. I also know that my aunt, who owns the flat, does not have visitors that often either, other than relatives.
Instead of opening the door, I quietly slipped back to my room and grabbed my digital camera. I turned the thing on as I tiptoed back out.
By the time I got back to the door, I could hear them trying to use the keys.
Now this is when I made the biggest mistake. I got so excited at the idea of catching potential burglars that I lost my cool. Forgetting that I had a camera on my left hand, I opened the main door (I was really high, I tell ya'.... what an adrenalin rush) and startled the guy (the other one was standing further away by the elevators) when I asked him what he was doing. The startled guy who by then had his back turned towards me did not reply. I raised my volume and repeated my question.
He turned back to face me, and replied: " Oh no... we're selling VCDs..."
As I said, I got too excited and lost my cool, as I instantaneously replied:" Yeah... rite....."
It was then and there, at that split second, that he saw I had a camera on my left hand.
He ran like a sissy and I could hear his buddy following him.
I had to grab my keys and struggle a bit to open the outer grille door (Was still not used to the new locks). Instead of taking the stairs which were right by the flat, those two sissies ran towards the corridor on the other side of the block. Obviously they were very familiar with the place as most people usually don't realize that there is an additional staircase on the other end of the block. Even my aunt didn't realize that there was a staircase there....
Anyway, I tried to chase those two, but by the time I managed to open the door and ran to that corridor, they were way ahead of me.
I was actually pretty ok afterwards. Just some silly kids, I thought...
I didn't think much of this until later on when some of my friends insisted that I should go to the police to report this. Just to be save, they said...
One thing led to another, and these friends of mine definitely managed to freak me out.
So, I thought, oh what the heck... just go and get it over with.
So the following night, my aunt and I went to police station to report this.
I must say, I was really impressed at how the police lady officer couldn't even properly feign a concerned look on her face.
For starters, I learned that there was nothing that the police can do since those two guys did not manage to get in. So, I couldn't report it as attempted break-in. I suppose I should have let them in instead.
I also noticed that the lady officer did not even bother asking me what the guys looked like until way, way in the end,after she repeated for like the hundredth time that there was nothing they could do. I think the two officers at the two different counters where I had to report and re-report myself (within less than 50 metres) might have spent more time taking down my particulars. Anyway by the time she asked, I really did not see what the point was in her doing so, especially since she only scribbled my description on a piece of scratch note on her desk, despite having some fancy looking monitor in front of her showing some fancy looking screen, and a keyboard right at her fingertips. By now I wonder if the screen was really working.
The highlight of the day, though... or should I say the highlight of the evening, was when she asked me which block the address was (again, this was not until way, way, WAY later, which is interesting). Her response to our answer was, "Yeah... there really is nothing much we can do. Your neighborhood, ... you're at Txxxx Gxxxxxx Rd right? Yeah... there are a lot of questionable characters there,especially block xx to xx (she named a range of numbers that included our block".
Then it was all the yadayadayada about protecting ourselves, adding extra locks, calling the emergency number if we see any suspicious character loitering around, etc.
Anyway, what really impressed me though was her inability as a police officer to at least comfort me or at the very least create the illusion of a sense of security.
I mean, there I was a resident who's concerned about the safety of me and my family members, and what she decided to do was basically to tell me that we're not living in the right neighborhood and that there's nothing they could do?
I mean, if it is such an unsafe neighborhood, shouldn't they be patroling the area more often then? I mean, apart from 2 incidents involving reports of a small fire, I have never seen any police officer patroling around here.
I suppose the campaign that they used to run "Low crime doesn't mean no crime" couldn't have been more appropriate.
I just wish there were more that they could offer as public servants in instilling the public sense of security.
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