I intended to sit down at my computer and start reviewing books again this morning, following a two month hiatus. April was a very difficult month for our family. There were many trips to Maryland to visit my husband's sister who was severely ill. There were also numerous trips to Connecticut to get ready for a friend's wedding. In mid-April, my sister-in-law passed away, a sad time for everyone, and consequently I wasn't in a blogging mood.So here I am, finally settled back in New Jersey and ready to work! Still dressed in my nightgown with my first cup of coffee of the morning, I had just turned on my computer when my friend who works for the Mendham Township Police Department called to ask if my husband's car had been parked in the driveway overnight and if yes, had it been broken into!!?? Luckily, George hadn't left for work yet and when he checked, sure enough, his car had been ransacked. How did they even know that?
Well, apparently we weren't the only ones hit last night. A number of cars had been broken into and one had been stolen. The reason that the police called us was that the detective remembered that we had installed a video security system after our home was broken into last August. Still in my nightgown, policemen started showing up to check the backup monitoring system for our cameras. I couldn't figure out how to even reverse the recording on the system's monitor but remembered I could access it on my cell phone.
Scrolling from midnight to this morning, up popped the culprits at approximately 4:22:23 a.m. Two of them walking down our driveway, one going to the side of the car to open the driver's side door and one going right to the trunk to hunt for who knows what. Pretty creepy!
We soon found ourselves surrounded by three local officers, two county sheriff's officers and another sheriff's officer who is familiar with home surveillance systems. Totally embarrassing since I had intended to also clean my office today because unfortunately it looked like IT had been ransacked. No matter, they were soon able to download the footage of the perpetrators onto a thumb drive, and after complimenting us on the really good cameras we installed (apparently the high number of pixels will make it possible to enlarge the size of the stills when they print them, making the trespassers more easily visible), they were soon piling into their official cars and heading back to pursue their leads.
I guess I should thank the person or persons who broke into our home last year. We would never have installed the cameras if that hadn't happened. And if we hadn't installed the cameras, the police wouldn't have been able to know the time frame that the cars were broken into, as well as actually being able to see the people who did it.
Bravo to Mendham Township Detective Taquinto for remembering about our camera system. And bravo to the police and sheriff's department officers who responded so quickly. To my neighbors and friends, we live in a difficult time and there have been so many burglaries locally. Please be aware that we don't live in Mayberry anymore. You need to lock your doors and your car doors and do your best to keep your families safe. Get an alarm, install outside lighting, get a dog or do whatever makes you comfortable, but please pay attention to strangers in your neighborhood and don't hesitate to call the police if something doesn't feel right.
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