Up our street
No page to post this time. I have not got round to any arty-play at all. However, many stories (four) have been writ and submitted – even one to an Australian mag. We shall see what happens but keep breathing normally for the time being.
A funny thing happened today. Well, not funny at all really. A neighbour’s mother left her car outside in the street with the window down. Silly her. A kid walked past and, seeing a packet of cigarettes on the seat, took advantage and swiped them. Silly kid. Anyway he was spotted, chased by the neighbour’s partner, caught and the police called. So outside our house this afternoon, were two police cars and a large police van, all having arrived with sirens a-shrieking. The kid was about thirteen years old at the most. He was handcuffed and eventually, after a lot of standing about and chatting by the officers, taken away in the van. So three vehicles, at least six police officers and, at a guess, a minimum of three hours police time were utilised. The child will have his fingerprints and DNA taken and will get, at the least, a formal caution as well as a criminal record.
Rewind three months or so. We had one of our cars stolen from the street for the second time in six months. We reported it and then received one, count it – one, subsequent phone call to tell us no progress had been made in recovering the car. Call me an over-reacting moo, if you will, but doesn’t there seem to be something amiss here?
The difference here is, of course, statistics. The likelihood of recovering a stolen car is pretty low, even though it was recovered undamaged the first time. However, today the police had a crime and a captured ‘criminal’. A case reported and dealt with – excellent result for their targets. Not so good for one kid’s future though.
And no doubt the citizen who caught the kid will be arrested for “kidnap” of the villian. Thus the police will have two crimes solved and arrests made. Good result for them!