Posted on Friday, 21st May 2010 by Patrick Dorwin
Just when I thought there was light at the end of the tunnel, the work day was almost over, the sun was starting to shine… Then the phone rang. The call was from my friend and neighbor, and his voice was clearly agitated, “how long until you get home?” I told him it would be at least an hour, what’s wrong I asked.
There were some guys hanging out on the corner, he was keeping an eye on them, suspecting they were up to no good. One of them split off and walked behind my house, toward the back door. At this point, he walked out of his house and walked this direction to see if he could see anything from the street, the “look-out” made a phone call and by the time my buddy got to this side of the street, he sort of passed the first punk coming out from my back door area towards the sidewalk sort of adjusting his pants like maybe he urinated back there. They just walked past each other and the two guys left, walking down the block.
My buddies girl friend called the police while this was going on, but nothing came of that, the operator told her to check to see if they got into the house (sounds like police work to me), if they did, they would send a squad, if not… Meh. Fortunately one of our other neighbors is a police officer, my buddy went to tell him what happened, he was a little pissed that the dispatcher told he she should check out a possible burglary, but it turned out okay, they didn’t get anything… this time. My friend is also a bit concerned now, because the look-out thug seen him leaving his house, I don’t blame him. I’m very grateful that he was watching and was willing to take the action he did.
I think the garage was their target, if they would have tried the house, they would have started the dog barking, so we spend some time beefing up security on my garage, and over the weekend, I will be doing more to secure my house. I would hate to live behind bars, but I think it would be prudent to look at all options. I have been complacent, not using the deadbolt, leaving windows open etc. that has to change, and maybe some of you could learn from my near mistake.
We are going to also get in touch with the neighbors, many of us have been here a long time and keep an eye on each other anyway, but it would be a good time to be extra vigilant, they know now that people around here are watching, so hopefully they will avoid our little corner of the world.
I’m hoping for a quiet uneventful weekend… Please.
Posted in Home | Comments (23) |
23 Responses to “My home/garage targeted for burglary today”
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May 22nd, 2010 at 5:24 am
That response from the PD when this incident was reported to them was totally inappropriate. If that is the MPD policy for police responses (and this isn’t the first time I’ve heard of something like this happening), then perhaps that is why the crime rate stats are being reported by Chief Flynn as going down. Discourage people from calling by not responding when they call and crimes don’t get reported. If crimes don’t get reported, they never happened as far as statisticians are concerned.
May 22nd, 2010 at 7:46 am
Does Milwaukee have more criminals voting than honest people? Clean your Political House!
May 22nd, 2010 at 8:16 am
The more I think about it, the more I am kicking myself for leaving the big garage door open while mowing the lawn this past Wednesday morning, there were a lot of people walking past at that time of the morning and even though secure, they could still see things like my snow blower and tools etc. That’s going to change.
Also, the more I think about the MPD operator/dispatchers response to my friends girl calling in, telling her to check to see if they got in the house, that was just totally wrong! What if there had been a third guy that they didn’t notice? This dispatcher could have had her walking into a burglary in progress. If you see and report a crime happening, aren’t you supposed to call the police to check it, so the untrained civilian population doesn’t have to walk into something like that?
May 22nd, 2010 at 9:30 am
Not having your things on display where anyone can see what you have is always sound advice, however the bottom line here is that cops should have been sent to investigate this and locate these guys while they were still in the area. The fact that your place may not have been burglarized does not mean these guys didn’t go two or three houses down and burglarize somebody else’s house. I’m not so sure that this operator your neighbor spoke with wasn’t doing exactly what he/she has been trained to do, and if that’s the case it is a Department policy written by someone high up and approved by Chief Flynn. That would be very troubling as it means your case isn’t an isolated case but rather the norm.
May 22nd, 2010 at 9:36 am
Plenty of good housing in the suburbs. Of course you will miss public servants like that dispatcher. But then again you won’t have roving gangs around your home either.
May 22nd, 2010 at 10:32 am
What a sad commentary…
“I am kicking myself for leaving the big garage door open while mowing the lawn…”
At least you have good neighbors, Patrick.
As for your garage, two words: Motion Sensors. You can hook them up to all sorts of fun stuff.
May 22nd, 2010 at 10:58 am
Patrick:
Go to the Fire & Police Commission to make a complaint.
The telecommunicator (untrained in police work) should not have told your neighbor to check the house… Sidney Gray killed Frank Moore when Moore caught him burglarizing a neighbor’s house.
An assignment should have been created and an officer sent.
Or, you can hope the problem goes away on its own and the MPD’s policy doesn’t change.
May 22nd, 2010 at 11:20 am
Most suburban departments would of sent 2 squads to this, or one for sure. They would of checked the outside of house, and if everything looked ok they would of still cruised area looking for the guys the caller seen.
May 22nd, 2010 at 12:22 pm
I like this - “Motion Sensors. You can hook them up to all sorts of fun stuff.”
Sounds like you owe your neighbor a beer or two.
May 22nd, 2010 at 12:35 pm
I have motion sensor lights, but they don’t do much good in the daylight. I am going to get a few audible motion sensor alarms. I have one in the garage already, but it would be nice to stop them before they get that far.
I got some window bars for my bedroom window, that’s really the only window I leave open that anyone could get into. My living room has picture windows with vent windows close to the ground that are very well protected, every other window has either a storm window or is blocked so it only opens a few inches. If they want in bad enough, they are going to get in, but I’m going to make it a pain in the @ss, so they will pick an easier target… It’s all we can do I guess.
May 22nd, 2010 at 2:15 pm
For a time I lived over by 44th & Vliet and would have to deal with these sorts of problems all the time.
If these perps were walking around you’re neighborhood, there’s probably a good chance that they or someone they know live nearby, I would drive around your neighborhood, particularly around 5 to 9 p.m., and look for houses that have large crowds of people on the lawn. If you find such a place nearby, you’ve probably found the thug nest.
If you’re in the municipality of Milwaukee, you can watch this property and call the police verytime there’s a disturbance there. I think it’s something like 3 calls in a month labels it as a nuisance property, after which the property owner gets charged for all subsequent police calls to the house.
This method does a fairly good job at exterminating cockroaches.
May 22nd, 2010 at 8:33 pm
Also, the more I think about the MPD operator/dispatchers response to my friends girl calling in, telling her to check to see if they got in the house, that was just totally wrong!
That is really disturbing.
May 23rd, 2010 at 7:32 am
In Texas, if the thug broke in, you or your neighbors could just plain shoot them with impunity. After I put my sign in my car, “Nothing inside is worth dying for” with bullet holes in a person target, no on touched my car.
May 23rd, 2010 at 8:43 am
Motion Sensors
Aim well, or every raccoon, dog, and cat will have you jumping.
May 23rd, 2010 at 10:34 am
Window Decals for you http://tinyurl.com/25aqvp5
May 23rd, 2010 at 1:23 pm
At the very least, a suspicious persons call should have been generated. District Four has more squads on Safe Streets Initiatives and DPM’s than take calls for service. Suspicious Persons calls are easily responded to by them and (usually) in a timely manner, especially by the dedicated officers on the burglary cars. Thats all they do. Patrick, send me your address in an email, I’ll pass this info along to my buddies on the burglary cars and make sure i drive by your house myself.
May 23rd, 2010 at 4:29 pm
re: motion sensors….
Aim well, or every raccoon, dog, and cat will have you jumping.
Passive infra red. Various sensitivities available, up to 100lbs or so. These allow Fido to move around and not set off the alarm (or whatever fun thing you want to activate). Bigger critters - a Milwaukee Buck - will, off course, set it off. Available in wireless for easy installation and placement.
For about $50 you can have a bit o’ fun with one of these.
May 23rd, 2010 at 5:46 pm
Also, the more I think about the MPD operator/dispatchers response to my friends girl calling in, telling her to check to see if they got in the house, that was just totally wrong!
Back in October 2008, my apartment was robbed and my car stolen. We had - and still have - a very strong suspicion as to who is responsible because the perpetrators stole my keys from the back hall of the building.
When we realized the keys were missing, I had the management replace the lock and when I met the maintenance guy and realized my car was gone, the FIRST thing he told me was not to enter the apartment.
He went in and checked the place out for me. They’d been in there because my laptop and digital camera were stolen in addition to the car.
When I called the police, they also told me to stay outside; I sat on the stoop of the building for THREE hours while waiting for the cops to come.
That was just ridiculous.
May 23rd, 2010 at 6:01 pm
Crimefighter08, thanks, I have sent that email.
As for motion sensors, I have some up now, more will be on the way. I know what you mean about the sensors being set off by animals, I have several feral cats around here, it took a lot of adjusting so they don’t set the lights off all night.
I also have a floodlight that I can control from my bedroom, I like to be able to light up the yard when I look out there in the middle of the night.
Too bad I couldn’t just set up a shotgun on trip wire like they do on TV
May 24th, 2010 at 11:24 am
I thought the trapping , spaying, neutering was supposed to cut down on the feral cat population. I have a different method and can’t recall the last time I had one around.
May 24th, 2010 at 9:51 pm
Patrick, as you know I used to live on your street.
Been there. Done that.
May 25th, 2010 at 9:51 pm
Patrick…the treatment your vigilant neighbors received was a product of Ed Flynn’s “Differential Police Response” (DPR). It is a program where callers are heavily screened, put on hold then called back to see if they still need police service. This may be OK for nuisance stuff…but suspicious persons acting as a team while trespassing should get a squad EVERY time.
The mentality driven into the operators and dispatchers is to find more ways not to send an officer rather than look for ways to get officers out to more calls for service.
This DPR is part of Flynn’s strategy to lower his crime stats, which is all this temporary Milwaukee resident cares about. If his stats look good, he will fare better in his next career move.
The problem is that rather than preventing crime, it encourages situations to fester into nasty boils before they dispatch an officer.
I agree with stalker3…go to a Fire and Police Commission meeting. They are supposed to be the civilian oversight for the police and fire departments. Granted, they are appointed by the Mayor, but you gotta start somewhere.
Meetings are held every other Thursday, the next one being June 3rd. There is a block of time reserved towards the end of each meeting for public comments. Making a complaint to the department about the person on the phone won’t accomplish anything. If the incident isn’t buried outright, they will only punish the shlub who was following orders. It won’t do anything to bring attention to the irresponsible program.
Write out a brief statement to read from and bring 10 copies of it to give to each commissioner and whoever is there to represent the MPD on that day.
Bring your vigilant neighbors with you. Have them speak if they are so inclined. Heck, if they are willing to stare down thugs in your neighborhood, making a statement to the commission will be a cake walk.
You have already been outspoken on the police radios issue…so much so that Chief Flynn has publicly dismissed blogs as “entertainment” and nothing more. The mark of a self-centered politician, not a cop. A cop who cares about his citizens doesn’t mock them for raising serious concerns about serious issues. This guy is counting down the days until he makes his next career jump…probably into the more lucrative private sector. Anyone who dares question or criticize him is seen as an enemy…not a citizen worthy respectful treatment.
July 25th, 2010 at 8:20 am
[...] might remember that a few months ago, I had someone prowling around my home, a neighbor scared the thug away as his girlfriend called police. The operator told her to check [...]