Follow up to this thread
Last night I received a phone call from the local police. My stolen iPod has been RECOVERED !!! The juvenile (boy)was flashing it to his parents, along with another stolen item, and they asked him where he had gotten it. Apparently his response was weak, so they called the local police. Who checked, found my report, and are now arresting the kid (he's gonna have a holiday !).

This kid lives in my neighborhood, so he's an upper middle class suburban kid. I told the officer that he can give my name and number to the parents, so I'm sure I'll be meeting with them at some point today so we can come up with an acceptable 'scared straight' approach. The local juvie judge is very creative with his sentences, so I'm sure the boy will get some merciful justice- a good scare, community service, apologies, etc...

I'm wondering if, if the boy is young enough, if I can invite him to my Scout Troop as part of the whole thing (I'm one of many Assistant Scoutmasters), but we'll think about that later.

So, all's well that ends well, justice is served, and a boy who may have thought he could "get away" with everything and grown up to be another Enron executive will hopefully learn a good life lesson and become a better person.

I know that MY interaction with the police when I was 8 certainly scared the heck out of me and stopped a burgeoning criminal career (I was undulging in a bit of street art, ie. graffitti.)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/07/2009 08:26AM by MacResource Moderator.

I have respect for those parents--it takes guts to call the cops on your kid. Glad you got your iPod back!

Nice to hear of parents who are doing the right thing - even if it is a difficult one!

Seems like east of Cleveland is stuck in 1957. See if you can get Jim Anderson to sell you some insurance if he isn't too busy lecturing Bud on how to be a responsible person.
I wish I was there...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/07/2009 11:08AM by richorlin.

Some graffiti in Singapore.

I guess the perp/perps didn't get caught here.

More follow-up. His dad brought him over to the house (they live two streets over) to apologize. And his dad and I sat down and talked about it.

Classic square peg in a round hole suburban kid whose parents are trying really hard to straighten him out. The current tale is that he traded for something else in High School. The current charge is receiving stolen property.

After discussions with his dad, I'm not going to press charges. His parents are doing a lot to help the boy, far more, in fact, than the local juvie system will. So we'll scare the boy, and see if he can either confess to taking the device or turn in the other kid who did.

And rich-
As a matter of fact, most folk in these suburbs really DO want to live with the Cleavers. It's the life we parents remember, and we want our children to appreciate it. Yes, it's an oasis of idyllic civility in an otherwise difficult world. Is that bad ? IMHO, no !

Old-style suburbs have the same dynamic as small-town America. Neighbors who talk and cooperate, children who are respectful, etcetera. Our local HS has a 94% graduation rate, and that includes the kids who drop out. Inner City Cleveland, on the other hand, has about a 64% graduation rate, and that does NOT include the dropouts. With dropouts, it's estimated to be less than 30%. I'll stick with the suburbs. It's a good place to raise kids to be good human beings.

And let this be a lesson to VICTIMS - always report theft to the police. Give them the serial number and you just might get a call back one day.

Worked for me years ago when a stolen camera of mine showed up in some badguy's possession along with a lot of other stuff. My serial number connected to an actual theft help get this guy thrown in jail...

and I got the camera back

and where was the iPod left before it got stolen?

Quote
bwicklander
and where was the iPod left before it got stolen?

There's some blue underlined text in the top post-- click it.

Quote
richorlin
Seems like east of Cleveland is stuck in 1957. See if you can get Jim Anderson to sell you some insurance if he isn't too busy lecturing Bud on how to be a responsible person.
I wish I was there...

Pretty much what I was thinking.