My Wet Coast Life

So this morning, i go to my car to run to the grocery store as we are out of coffee filters and i need my morning wake up juice to function. I go to my car and low and behold, my back window is smashed and car looted

Now as some background, this is a '91 Nissan Sentra beater used for commuting to work, taking the dog to the park and running errands. The only 2 things of value in the car is an old Sony discman and a FM transmitter (hello stock cassette deck work-around) in the glove box and out of site. There are other cars on the road with valuables and technically more worth while to break into but alas, they choose my car as the break in victim.

Now what grinds my gears, is these idiots risked a criminal record over maybe $30 of stuff that may fetch $5 at a pawn shop (who wants a discman nowadays where you can get an MP3 player for the same amount?). But in turn have given me an unexpected expense at Christmas time. If it was just a smashed window, i would think it was just stupid drunken rowdyness but they went through everything in the car so i can only assume it was for financial gain. Luckily i had "The CLUB" on and my car didn't leave with the thieves...

For tips on preventing auto crime, you can visit ICBC for mo'info

Now when i worked in Africa, they have mob justice to deal with thieves (due to corrupt police), so theft had a much stiffer penalty, you know, death and occurred less.

Why so severe? Sooner or later you're going to have something stolen from you so if someone calls out a thief in public, the mob will enact years of frustration on this poor soul prior to the police showing up and taking away this severely beaten soul, if they survived. I now fall under that group as i am pissed off with this inconvenience and unwanted expense.

Depending on the area I was working in, they told me they would even go to the extent of giving them a "necklace" (car tire filled with gas placed on head and...you can figure out the rest...). Now i do not condone this but yet again, if there are not stiff penalties and repercussions, people will keep doing what they are doing knowing they will get a slap on the wrist or a light sentence (and for some that equates to a free roof over there head and 3 meals a day at the tax payers expense).

Follow up:

I think they should apply stiffer penalties to thieves and petty crime to show we won't stand for that either. Maybe they should implement what they do in some countries where they cut off your hand. That means you can only steal twice before having severe difficulty stealing there after...and you will think twice before committing the crime knowing that you are trading what you will be stealing for one of your hands.

Regardless, people who steal are the lowest of the low and another reason the gene pool could use some chlorine some days. We don't live in an area of poverty and there are enough resources to get people off the street and back to being something productive in society. The fact this occurred over the holidays is that much worse and shows the lack of morals people in our society have...

Now i send this message to anyone reading this. If you know someone who steals or causes damage to other peoples property for either fun or monetary gain and don't speak up about it, all i can say is KARMA. Speak with them and get them to change there ways, if not report them as sometimes that will be the only way to stop the cycle.

If you don't, you are just as guilty and i hope it happens to you as that may be the only way to get it through to you. Everyone is complacent until it happens to them, including me. In this day and age, no one should not have to deal with this or any other crime.

The will to be stupid is a very powerful force, but there are always alternatives.