Dubuque Police

I am trying to keep track of how much time they spend sitting across the street from my house. I only caught them for one hour yesterday, but that was late afternoon. Now, at 1pm, they’re sitting there. I am really curious as to how much time they sit hanging out on a side street every day.  I think if we have that little crime, we could do some cutbacks, right?

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Car Break-In

Earlier this week I woke up to my driver’s side window smashed in (by a spark plug, apparently a common way of breaking car windows quietly and quickly).  My GPS, which I normally take in every night, was stolen.  I was supposed to go out for one more drive, but Ted wanted to walk, instead, and after the walk I put him to bed and forgot about the GPS. (And my backpack AND my radio.)

I have an idea who did it — waiting for the police to finish their investigation.  There was one person who rode in my car, who knew all about it, who was curious about it, and the first day it is left in, it’s gone. A family that always asks for money and items.  Who knew too much about other things. Most importantly, I was woken up twice by noise from their door that night — they claim no one was up and about.  A bunch of other thoughts too, but for now, there is nothing I can do.

The police who responded, and the investigators I spoke to later on in the day, were absolutely brilliant.  They made something scary and upsetting, bearable.  I didn’t expect so much attention and concern, it was a pleasant suprise.

Dealing with Progressive was pleasant too, although my deductible is rather high, and I wound up paying out of pocket. But they found me a local division of Safelite, which is prompt, affordable, and on site.  The GPS was not covered, though, as it wasn’t a permanent part of the car. (That’s being taken care of though, at least.)

I am very disappointed that this happened in a place I moved to that I went in with bright expectations about safety.  I let my guard down a little bit.  I should have known better. What bothers me the most, though, is I’ve done a bit to help this family out, and support them in ways I could, and it felt like “no good deed goes unpunished”.  Plus they knew that I wasn’t rolling in cash.  That I couldn’t help them too much because I had my own tight budget to adhere to.

However, given the outpouring of support from family, friends, and community, if this is my punishment, keep it coming.  Although I am still rattled, and this hit me at a time where I really didn’t need to get a (financial) hit, in ways I’m better off than I was before it happened. I found support and caring from places I didn’t expect it, and had other parts of my network re-affirm how wonderful they really are.

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Follow-up on Dubuque Police

That whole thing a while back about the dog barking in their car for a while?

Neighbor said that ANOTHER neighbor had a dog chained in the back, was barking, and the police took the dog. So it wasn’t a police dog (which I guess made sense, I didn’t think police dogs worked at night in patrol cars) but a dog they picked up, supposedly.

Why animal control didn’t pick up the dog I don’t know. Maybe they don’t work overnight in this small city?

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Dubuque Police

Lovely.

Was woken up by BARKING. A lot of it. Loud, frequent, LOUD barking.  Shaken, I checked and made sure that my dog was ok and in the house.  I got out of bed, looked outside, and there were two police cars in front of my house, sitting in the dark.

I opened my front door, and eventually I figured out that the barking was from within one of the police cars, which also had someone inside it, sitting in the dark.  Eventually the cop shut the dog up.  Thanks for being so considerate at 1:10 in the morning!

There it goes again. Barkbarkbarkbark. Barkbarkbarkbark. What is going on? Why is this happening? Why do they sit in the dark, letting their damn dog bark?  It’s residential, it’s late, and it’s LOUD.

I also have no clue where these cops are. It’s not uncommon for the police to pull up to one person’s house and go elsewhere, another practice I find unnerving.  Since I’m from out of town I always think, well, they’re there to tell me bad news. Silly, I know.

I’d say I would check the police blotter column in the morning, but it doesn’t always print everything.  So I may never know what this is about.  Two cars though, which is extra distressing. Usually I see just one, especially in this small town.

Well, good luck to me falling back asleep.  And I HOPE everything is all right.

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