You Can't Secure Anything In This Town

The title of this posting comes from a comment made some months ago by a security guard, whose task was to oversee an archeological find at a D.C. construction site. While the focus of this blog site is the threat of Islamism, today I digress

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/20/AR2005062001003_pf.html :

D.C. Chief's Vehicle Snatched
'Cars Are Getting Stolen Every Day,' Ramsey Says
By Del Quentin Wilber
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, June 21, 2005

"Wanted: Stolen car. Make and model: Ford Crown Victoria. Owner: D.C. police department.Reported stolen by: Police Chief Charles H. Ramsey. So goes the saga of car theft in the District, where even the police chief's department-issued car can get swiped a block from his home.There is not a whole lot to add to it,' Ramsey said. 'The car was taken, and there was nothing of real value in it. Cars are getting stolen every day.' D.C. police officials said Ramsey's black unmarked car was stolen between Friday night and Sunday morning from a street in Southwest Washington. It had been left there Friday by a member of the force's motor pool so Ramsey would have it when he returned from a one-week trip to a counter-terrorism conference in Scotland. Ramsey arrived home early Sunday. When he awoke to go to church later that morning, he couldn't find the black Crown Victoria, and he and his wife went to church in her personal car, he said. The chief said initially he thought there was simply a misunderstanding about where the motor pool officer had left the car. But yesterday morning, after another fruitless search for the vehicle, he concluded that it had been stolen. Police officials said they do not believe the thieves knew they were taking the police chief's car. No weapons were left in the Crown Victoria, but it was equipped with a police radio. Its trunk contained a large duffle bag filled with some of the chief's riot gear, police said....Ramsey is not the area's only top law enforcement official to have a car stolen in recent years. The van of Prince George's County State's Attorney Glenn F. Ivey was stolen from in front of his house in 2002...."

I agree that the thieves probably did not know that the car they were stealing belonged to the D.C. police chief. But unless they were totally whacked out on drugs, these criminals certainly must have recognized that the Crown Vic was a police vehicle.

One also has to wonder what use such thieves are making of this police unit and the riot gear in the trunk. By the way, it's usually easy to open a police vehicle's trunk because most such vehicles don't require a trunk key, thanks to the trunk-release button on the dash. Therefore, the thieves have very likely discovered all equipment in the vehicle's trunk.

As of this posting the D.C. police chief's vehicle and his riot gear have still not been recovered.