Locks Keep Out only the Honest

Rachael Robles

Prof. Watts

Victimology CJ N1

“Locks keep out only the honest.”

By, Jewish Proverb

Crime happens all over the world every second of every day. Thus making numerous amounts of victims. Crime victims are all around us even though we may not know it or think about it. According to the crime clock every twenty-five point three seconds a motor vehicle theft occurs. Have you ever thought what it would be like to walk away from you car, even after you have locked it, and to not be able to see it or the things inside it ever again? Motor vehicle theft happens every day in every neighbor hood including yours.

I never realized it prior to this assignment but I live with victims of crimes right in my own townhouse on school property. My housemate Anne was generous enough to tell me her story.

As Anne recalls it her story begins last semester when she borrowed her sisters car to get back to school. She remembers parking the car in the top commuter parking lot. Anne distinctly remembers locking the doors and heading down to her townhouse for the night. When Anne went to use the car Saturday morning it was gone. There was no car in sight. The first thing Anne did was go straight to public safety. They could not help Anne so she called the Reading Police Department immediately. The officers came about two hours later and made a report, leaving Anne with nothing to do but pray they find the car and the person who stole it.

Anne recalls the worst thing about the situation was having to call her sister and tell her the story. Anne’s sister Mandy truly understood and simply made a call to the insurance company to see if reimbursements were possible. Nothing else was heard about the car or the perpetrator until the Wednesday after the incident, almost a week later.

Mandy received a call informing her the CUMRU township police had found her car Friday night, immediately after the incident, crashed on the side of the road. Mandy of course inquired as to why she had not been contacted for so many days only to find out that the Reading Police Department had not put the theft into the computer system leaving all other departments unknowledgeable about the incident.

Overall, the victim here was truly victimized. Not only did Mandy have to pay for the impound fees from Friday to Wednesday because no one had known the car was found on Friday but she also had to cover all towing fees. The impound fees alone were over $300. Mandy did not get any reimbursement for her car being totaled due to only having liability insurance. The insurance company informed Mandy that if the car was not found at all she would have received a check in the amount of the blue book value but since the car was located she received nothing towards the repairs or anything.

Both Mandy and Anne heard nothing else from the police after the incident. The thief was never found and no charges were pressed nor was a case ever really opened. To this day Mandy doubts their efforts in finding any perpetrator at all. This is the perfect case of the innocent truly being taken advantage of and suffering lots of consequences for no good reason at all!

Mandy and Anne blame both the police and the thief. Mandy explained to me that if the cops would have been “on the ball” the car would have been located earlier and that could have saved her a couple hundred dollars. They both expressed to me their feelings of disappointment in the police. They felt that the police could have done a little more to help locate the car and perpetrator. “It’s almost as if they didn’t care!” Anne stated. Anne simply felt that they could have arrived to the school for the statement sooner or at least called to let both her and Mandy know how the case was going or if any progress was made.

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