Time To Eat Some Crow

We got robbed last night.

Our generator was stolen which was stored in a concrete and block dog house with security bars at our new home.

They knew exactly what they wanted.

Our neighbors heard a car drive by their house at 4 am. They were too far from our house to hear anything else. The thief's used a sledge hammer to knock a hole in the concrete top, then wedge a crow bar to pry the security door off. They only took the generator when the garage was open full of tools and a wheel barrow.

Now, we will have to have someone at the house every night. Our contractor will sleep there through Sunday night, then it's me...without power. Scary!

We filed a police report so this is where I start to eat crow.

In 2 and half hours, we filed a report with 2 police stations and traveled to our house with 2 detectives to inspect the site of the crime.

Not bad.

And here I was poking fun at them yesterday in my blog. They were professional and equipped with their own truck (with fuel), radio and crime scene kit.

They were interviewing the neighbors as I left. Even though we don't have high hopes of recover the generator, everyone will know the police are on it. Hopefully that will be some deterrent.

I was very happy with their response.

My blog yesterday was unfair to the police (but not the Bomberos who deserve all the bad press they get).

A little history about the police.

Being a policeman is considered a terrible occupation by the citizens. No one brags about it.

They are poorly paid, have to buy their own bullets, receive minimal training on how to use a firearm and their facilities are pitiful. The police are from other areas of the country and live in a dormitory which is pathetic.

The police are different from the Transit Cops who make good money from bribes.

Not the police. It is no wonder that the police are ineffective in many cases. There is a group of gringos that are raising money to upgrade their equipment and training in an effort to prevent future theft.

Welcome to the 3rd World.

When an investigator was taking our statement, she printed it out using an old dot matrix printer with carbon paper between the pages. It's been a long time since I've scene that! They do have current computers with flat screen monitors but this printing thing was old, old, old.

This is the land of opposites.

Needless to say, we are accelerating our move into the house because I don't want to stay too many nights alone. Our appliances arrive Monday so more valuables need to be protected.

We will wait to buy a new generator until sometime next week. Maybe the police will retrieve the old one.

One can only hope.

A somber day, for sure.