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car it was, the rancher said he saw
sorne men pulling it down another
road with their car severa! minutes
earlier. "Hop in," he said. "We' ll
see if we can catch them!"
Without further thought the two
boys, the dog and l jumped into the
back of the truck and roared down
to the road where the rancher had
last seen my car. ·
Then
I
began to t hink. What was
1
going to do if we did catch up
with t he car thieves? What if they
were armed and violent?
1
didn't
want us to have our lives endan–
gered.
The rancher had great persis–
tence. He didn't see the vehicles
on the road where he saw them
last. So he turned and sped down
another. Then another. Then he
stopped to ask farm laborers in a
field if they had seen a car being
towed. They hadn't. "They had to
go the other way!" he said. So
we sped down another road and
looked. We had traveled severa!
miles by now.
Finally, after
I
felt the effort was
futile, we carne to an isolated field
with high brush. As we passed a
narrow road cutting into it, sudden–
ly [ glimpsed my car with anotber
car before it. Four men were start–
ing to strip my car.
r
jum.ped out of the truck, dog at
heels .and dashed in there on the
run. Three of the car thieves tore
off into brush that to me looked
impenetrable with brambles and
thorns. They paid a painful penal–
ty.
The . remaining car thief stood
there · shaken and frightened. He
was astounded we found them. I
did not threaten him in any way,
but 1 did firmly order him to put
my car w.heels back on, put gas
back into the tank and put things
stripped out of the trunk back in
order.
Fortunately, because of the
strong hood lock put on after the
battery theft, the car thieves tried
but couldn't open the hood to
steal or damage critica! engine
parts. .
Then
1
ran face to faae with
another all-too-frequent situation
experienced by victims of crime.
The rancher said if
1
reported the
incident 1 would have nothing but a
lot of red tape, and with justice as it
34
is, the car thieves would soon be
back, possibly seeking to do me
harm. Besides, he said, we needed
to get out of there because the ftee–
ing thieves could be circling back
with weapons.
The situation dictated we should,
indeed, get out of there fas t. We Jet
the almost-successful car thief go
with a strong warning.
Before departing, the helpful
rancher t urned to me and said,
"You know: It's a miracle you got
your car back!
I
had mine stolen
but
1
never got it back!"
1
agreed with him.
1
knew the
recovery of my car intact was more
than just good luck.
1
was providen–
tially helped out of a potentially
costly and troublesome problem.
Hard Lessons
These two experiences with crime
caused me to rethink bow changing
social and economic problems are
altering moral attitudes and crime
patterns. It taught me
I
had to be
much more careful than
I
had
been.
l
had not realized crime was
much of a problem away from the
city. But now it is. Rural crime is
growing.
Again,
I
didn't think a car thief
would be interested in a car severa!
years old.
I
was wrong. Car thieves
are interested in stripping anything
of value they can get their hands
on, even though they probably
would only get a small amount of
money for any ítem.
l
saw how easy it was to punch
out an ordinary trunk lock. Or rip
off even a locking gas cap. Or to
drop a wire between the windows
and door frame to pull up the
ordinary knobbed door lock
latch.
My car had no strong wheel
lock. There was no hidden ignition
cutoff switch. There was no born
or alarm to announce forced entry
or movement. Such devices are
useful to deter forced car entry
and theft. 1 also realize that many
newer cars simply are not har–
dened as they should be to dis–
courage theft.
Others Not So Fortunate
Many
Plain Truth
readers, I'm
sure, have had similar or much
worse experiences with crime and
criminals, or know of others who
bave.
The media are filled with numer–
ous accounts of losses of prized pos–
sessions or costly equipment when
homes or businesses are broken
into with relative ease, simply
because the owners didn't take
basic security measures. In addi–
tion, sometimes emotional trauma
and suffering are caused when
mates or children are criminally
threatened or assaulted- even in
broad daylight.
ln more cities in recent months,
police have had to warn citizens to
lock cars at all times. Car drivers
are told to keep purses or valuable
items hidden from view even
while they are in the car. Do not
leave valuable possessions on car
seats, say police. Incidents are
increasing of men and women,
waiting in their cars at stoplights,
being robbed or assaulted because
brazen criminals size up a vulner–
able situation. They simply open
an unlocked car door or smash a
window to seize what they want
before the startled occupan ts can
respond.
lt Can Happen to Yo u
We may not always be able to
prevent every incident of crime or
theft. But we should do what we
can to avoid making ourselves or
our property appear an easy tar–
get.
While professional thieves are
capable of breaking through any
barrier if they believe a large haul
is involved, most thieves or crimi–
nals look for the easiest, most vul–
nerable targets. They don't want
attention drawn to themselves.
They don't like to take a long time
to do their dirty work.
If
too much
time and noise or risks and obsta–
eles are involved, they would rath–
er go elsewbere.
In Britain, a study of robbed
households found one in four left
windows open at night. Four out of
five did not tell police they would
be on holiday (vacation). More
than half did not lock up their
valuables. And one in five did not
cancel newspapers and milk when
they were away.
Nearly 25 million American
households experienced a t heft or
violent crime in 1982. Wealthier,
The
PLAIN TRUTH