Image uploaded to flickr by lovelypetal.
Last Friday, I returned home from work to find out that my house had been burglarized. The basement door had been kicked in, most of the drawers and closets were opened and ransacked, and both my laptops (along with some cash) were gone.
I’m not the only THIH blogger with a recent home invasion experience. Two weeks ago, Tory Patrick’s home was hit. At about 11:15 in the morning, two teenagers tried to break into her house by pushing in her window air conditioning unit. Fortunately (or unfortunately, as the thieves could have been dangerous), Tory was home and the teens ran off.
When the police arrived to my house, they informed me that there’s been a surge in robberies over the past few weeks on Capitol Hill. The crime stats back this up — and the numbers are shocking. Over the past 30 days, there have been 14 burglaries in Police Service Area 107 (which covers much of Capitol Hill South and the Stadium Armory neighborhood, and all of New Hill East) — a 180% increase from the same period last year.
According to the police officer working my case, most of these burglaries are happening during the day, while people are at work. So be vigilant — if you notice someone you’ve never seen in your neighborhood, introduce yourself or just call the police. And if you have an alarm (I didn’t — but now do), be sure to turn on it on before leaving for work!
