Thought you had a bad day...match this...

The day started last night (Thursday) around 11:30 PM when our friend, who rents my wife's old house from us, called. He had just walked in his door after going to work that morning and stopping on the way home to see his girl friend, only to discover he had been robbed. We made a trip up to the house to see what was going on and to talk to the cops as well as to make sure the busted in rear door was secured.

Based on what we saw they tried getting in the front door and couldn't so they had climbed the fence in the rear of the house, kicked in the rear door, then opened the front door and carted the stuff across the front yard to a waiting car. It could have been worse than it was but they still got a 52 inch flat panel TV, an electric guitar and amp, his computer system, his stereo system, and his IPOD. All total he's estimating in the $8000 range worth of stuff gone...all in just a few minutes.

Sad thing is the police no longer dust for fingerprint, etc. Robbery in Charlotte has become so routine (one of the responding cops said he averages 5 break ins a shift) that they no longer take the time to dust for prints, etc. They basically file a police report, give you the file number and tell you to call your insurance and file a claim.

When I saw the damage last night I thought I was fortunate that only the door itself was damaged and not the jamb since changing a door isn't that big of a deal.....Boy was I WRONG.....Made a trip to Home Depot and Lowes and guess what, an uncased, steel, entry door isn't available at either place. I can get any size interior door I want but not an exterior one...So I buy the correct, standard size, cased door (standard RH swing 32x80) My thinking was OK, now I'm good to go. I'll just take the old one off at the hinges, do the same with the new one, install the new one in the existing casing and the repair will be done.....again WRONG.... They are supposed to be standard sized doors so you'd assume that meant the "same sized" door but that's not the case. The old one was nearly 3/8 longer than the new one, so the new one wouldn't fit and seal in the old casing....OK, I'll just change casings, no problem....WRONG AGAIN......Finally get the old casing out and discover that it's nearly an inch taller than the new one one and slightly narrower. Fortunately I was able to shoe horn the new one in side to side and get it squared up and then cut up a piece of the old casing to make a top spacer to fill in the gap. Finally get all that taken care of and then I discovered that due to the smaller casing size the storm door no longer fits and will have the frame trimmed to fit (typical for a initial application but you don't figure on haveing to do it with a retrofit on a STANDARD sized door)...

You'd think doing something as simple as this wouldn't be that hard since everything is supposed to be standard sizes but that would be wrong. Heck even the reinforcment pieces I got extra for the door edges and for the jambs said they were sized to fit standard hardware measurements but even that was wrong....so I had to deal with all that too in order to make things look as right as possible instead of like something someone had cobbled together.

Fortunately a neighbor across the street saw us working and came over and asked if the cops there on Thur night were somehow related to a break in because she had seen activity at the house around 10 PM but didn't think to call the cops....This is in a "Neighborhood Watch Comminuty"...what a joke that was.... Funny thing is one of the people she saw was a teenage neighbor to one side of the house....who of course says "I didn't do it"....

To say both my friend and I had bad days would be an understatement....just hope the weekend goes good and things don't get any worst...now on to the kitchen flooring project I was supposed to be working on today and hoping to get done before the house gets appraised.......

Are there any safe places left in the U.S.A. I would move somewhere safe if possible.

NW,ND is safe,quite ,and peacefully,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,but everbody makes fun of us and ware we live,,,,,,)

We have a serial killer on the loose in the next city over. 4 murders in a week... And there are reports of armed robberies almost every day.

I could"nt find my house keys if you paid me, doors haven"t been locked since I bought it over twenty years ago. I always go to town with tools and such in the back of the truck and have never lost a thing. Maybe I am living on borrowed time!

the next town up the valley is a tourist town many break ins, due to unsupervised teens, absent homeowners and a usless police dept, [ there are only 3 on a shift for a average sumer population of 25,000, the oldest ive seen is in his mid twenties] but here in the valley all seems well, the keys stay in the trucks, tractor, ect very few burgelers out here, they seem to catch lead poisoning out here and that keeps there numbers down,

The thieves know that the TV and other items will be replaced with new items and will reschedule a new break-in to get the new stuff. Be ready.

Yeah, the dont have time to fingerprint, but try going over the speed limit in little Jamestown MO. and they will have time to run your plates to make sure you are not a convict, make sure you have the proper registration, insurance and everythinge else, and then award you and $85 speeding ticket.

Little town of about 120 but Barney has a car with all the lights, radios, cell phone, pepper spray, gun, taser, flashlight, spare bullets, etc., etc.

Deputy Fife would sure be jealous.

Gene

Fingerprints, yeah, right. And every car has a DNA machine that magically spits out a picture of the bad guy, just like on TV. Get real guys. Fingerprints are great if you have a suspect, and prints on the right kind of surface, and someone who knows how to take them properly and the proper chain of custody to hold them for trial. Trust me, it's a lot more likely they'll catch the BG in the act than that they'll use fingerprints. Stop believing everything you see on TV.

I live in Michigans thumb- I have never locked our doors or taken keys out of the cars at home.I've left tools in the back of my truck for months and never had a problem-knock on wood.....

Often times an older installation, you won't be able to mix/match within the old frame, better to take it down to the rough opening, and start from there with a new pre-hung unit. Trying to coordinate the undercut dimension, and or other things using the existing frame always presents problems, old type millwork wooden doors will at least have enough rail material to trim, but the days of those being used for exterior entry doors are long since gone.

I don't get the thing with law enforcement, that seems to be a serious enough crime, has to be a felony larceny, they would take it serious around here, though it is hard to say how they would investigate it and what techniques they would use to collect evidence, most have well trained and equipped technicians, and it would not get shelved, sometimes it can take some time to nail someone and make it stick.

One thing is for sure, in this county they can be swayed easily by people, I am not impressed by any means and have lost some respect for them because with petty or lesser criminal situations it's a joke how things get handled, and how they make a judgment call as to who is in the wrong and who gets charged, regardless if a crime was committed against the other party, with profound evidence directly in front of them. Things can easily get turned against you, law enforcement is just some generic means of legal interpretation backed by a badge and official authority, they often make mistakes and mishandle situations that end up in the courtroom. Sad but true, system ain't perfect, have to play it smart and stay one step ahead at all times or you can get dragged through the mud, even if you are in the right, all at your expense. In short, sometimes it's better to avoid their involvement, it can work against you, so again play it smart, avoid or resolve things that they don't care to deal with, because you will in fact become a nuisance, rather than a citizen needing help.

It is agravating.That goes for so many standard replacement things these days.Prob made in China,they must have a off measuring tape there,(prob made there too).

cops nowadays are only capable to write tickets for traffic violations(brings in money!)and such,and to protect criminals from the public.
Out in the country where I live,they wont even come on a call.Unless there is a dead body,
they tell ye,just come to the office and file a report.

"I always go to town with tools and such in the back of the truck and never lost a thing"
My cousin also did this for many years UNTIL one day him and i went to a big box store and i advised him to lock up his electrical tool kit and he said "Not to worry, no one will bother it". when we came out it was gone and so was the smile on my cousin's face. he lost about $1200 that day.

Just another example of law 'enforcement' taking the easy way out. Taking fingerprints is work, and probably exceeds their intelligence level. But they don't have any problem writing traffic tickets, most likely because they can do that while on their way to Krispy Kreme, or that they can Taser a real live person, just like their television heroes do, if you are 'uncooperative'.

So how many of you big tough whine a sses ever got off the bar stool and tried being a cop? None. What's that old saying about walking a mile in another mans shoes? But you don't do that, you hide behind the anonymity of a keyboard and spout the bull you do. Must be nice to be the all knowing genius that never has to back anything up.

Wayne- take the information on the teenage neighbor and get a hold of someone at your police agency. Keep climbing on peoples backs till you get some action. Not all PD's are perfect, but this is a good lead and it worthy of a followup.

We are not allowed to be cops. They will lock you up for competing with them.

feel offended? maybe you are/was one at one time.
Did'nt pan out for ye?

There are good cops too, but the majority is fairly useless as far as i am concerned.

I have never had any problems, but I do lock my car when away from home. Our local cops don't even want to come out for a b&e. They take reports by phone and give you a case number. If you want a report, you have to pay $5.

Well, you see, I just know several cops and am related to a few also, in fact my brother in law advanced for years as a deputy sheriff and through that advancement got the opportunity to do something new and was recently sworn in as a US Marshal. That said this wasn't a barb against the police department as such. Maybe I should have explained a little better in that they don't have the funding, manpower, etc, etc, to do a proper job of investigating such a "simple"and "common" crime such as theft.

That said when they broke into the house about 6 years ago, when my wife was there alone, there was more damage done and they did take prints. Even so when I had a pistol stolen out of my bedroom of my house about the same time they didn't bother to take prints then either. Bad thing about that was that it shoudld have been a simple matter in that case. No one had been in the room and opened the drawer except for me and whom ever stole the pistol....and I had a good idea of who did it and he had a record already so his prints would have been in the system.....Now that really didn't make sense at all....In the end, sadly, they are "The Law" and we as simple citizens can't force them to do anything they don't really want to do even though our taxes pay their salary........

invite the neighbor kid to go fishin - tie a cinder block on his ankle - and ask if he thinks he is a good enough swimmer to override the laws of gravity don't harm him in any way but once he thinks he is going to see Jesus face to face, he'll squeal like a pig

(quoted from post at 02:52:51 07/04/09) I could"nt find my house keys if you paid me, doors haven"t been locked since I bought it over twenty years ago. I always go to town with tools and such in the back of the truck and have never lost a thing. Maybe I am living on borrowed time!

Click to expand...

hat part of the world are you in?