No one should be on a Fire Escape. No one. Not safe for them, definitely not safe for the people in the apartments near them. If you see someone, call it in. Sorry to be a Nervous Norman, but that's the fact, Jack. The Q has zero tolerance for fire escape antics. Okay, maybe someone smoking a cigarette and their window's wide open, or watering a plant. But c'mon. Even someone locked out should contact the Super rather than pull a Spider Man.
And yes, the 71st is aware and working in concert with Brooklyn South to stem the tide. I'm told there are unmarked cars working the neighborhood, though of course I have no way to confirm that. We have at least 10 reported break-ins in July. I'm speaking with the 71st tomorrow so maybe I'll learn more.
This piece from DNA INFO:
Related? The lobby at 125 Hawthorne was ransacked and hardware and such stolen.
Lock, keep and eye out, and here's a probable suspect. Breaking my heart. 16 years old. And as we've said, probably not alone.
15 comments:
A quck web lookup shows that this 16 year old who "breaks your heart" was arrested for "Robbery" i.e. mugging only this past April. What happened the first time around?
I think we may have a DA problem as much, or more, than a police problem.
And why, "clearly" must one not "confront" a person breaking into your home, but rather call the police. If someone is actually inside your house, they will do what they do, or leave, well before the police arrive.
You may be uncomfortable with the notion of defending yourself or (gasp) even your property, but it is not so "clear" to everyone that you have no right to defend yourself in your own home.
Zealously prosecution and incarceration of someone who is still psychologically a child just somehow doesn't seem like something I'd want to get behind. Of course, if you do the crime, you have to do the time they say. Well, what good is the time done if no lessons are learned? I thought the purpose of incarceration was rehabilitation, not punishment.
Also, you have plenty of right to defend yourself in your home, but you also may find yourself in more danger than you expected if you don't know who's carrying what. Unless you're walking around your house with a weapon, but who does that?
ETA: Directed at NYC Parent, not Q
To Curious27
I don't agree that the only purposes to be served by incarceration are either (a) "punishment" or (b) "rehabilitation" as you state.
There is also deterrence of future acts. And, there is prevention of crime while a habitual offender is incarcerated.
The fact is that the majority of street crime is committed by young males, aged under 25.
If you have someone who has really embarked on a criminal path, despite prior attempts to get them to "turn their life around" incarceration for a significant period will, at least, keep that person from society during the time in which they would (otherwise) likely inflict much more crime on the community.
It is also not clear to me that this young man, if he is the perpetrator here, ever had any jail time at all, though he seems to have been arrested in April for a mugging. I have no idea of the April arrest was his first one either? Would you bet $100 that a young man arrested for mugging in April, and now is a lead suspect in house burglaries hadn't committed more crimes previously? These are bold and serious crimes, by someone with experience committing crimes, and not youthful experimentation.
I'm not ignoring all consideration of the future life of a young criminal, but I think that there is a balance of rights and interests, between that person and the rest of the community.
I'm also not advocating just confronting criminals willy nilly. But I do take issue with language such as "certainly" one does not do this, especially in one's own home.
No course of action is without risk. Calling 911 gives you no guarantees either, especially in a situation of a home invasion. My central point, though, is that protecting yourself should not be taken off the table, and that a person needs to have a realistic plan to protect themselves, whether it be through vigilance, a dog, or otherwise, as another layer to simply calling 911 and hoping for the best.
Back in the late '70s, when there was a far bigger spike in crime, I briefly considered buying a shot gun. I didn' t do it because I realized I 'd probably never get over killing a teenager, even if it was "justified".
That being said, I do have a baseball bat, but, thankfully I've never needed to use that to defend my home.
Oh NYC Parent. You are so very, very tough. I'm sure that you will defend yourself in such a situation and I hope for your sake that it all turns out okay. It frequently doesn't. So my advice stands.
A note of caution. A situation relevant to this particular issue ended when the person defending themselves and their family got a knife pulled on them. Unless your background involves law enforcement and Jedi training, you too might find yourself performing such an unrehearsed dance.
The "breaks your heart" comment is not for this particular ruffian, per se, but for the family, the society, the predictability in which children become "most wanted."
In conclusion, I'm not uncomfortable defending myself or my property, and have done so on numerous occasions. However, unlike you, I try to take some common sense and empathy into the proceedings.
Oh, and please don't go around suggesting others take your John Wayne attitude to heart? I'd hate to think you'd have someone else's injury on your conscience.
I will give you the last word, but I think that you mischaracterize and oversimplify my comments.
But now that these "children" (as you like to refer to teenage muggers and robbers) have been apprehended, it will be interesting to see how the DA treats this.
As I pointed out in my initial comment, the 16 year old "child" who is a suspect in these recent, serial house burglaries was arrested only this past April for First Degree Robbery. Yes, my "heart breaks" for him.
Wait...that's giving me the last word?
Right on NYC Parent.
Only Commies would use mealy-mouthed words to defend horrible behavior.
Whew. Finally some much needed sarcasm.
I will take my last-word prerogative here to remind Mr. NYC Parent that being "arrested" and "convicted" are still two different things in this country. We seem to have lost sight of that fact, and you don't seem to give a rat's ass about the difference.
As to whether a 16-year-old or a 14-year-old or...I dunno how low shall we go?...is worth our mercy or empathy depends, I imagine, on your own experience and the degree to which you think ANYone should be given a chance to turn it around. At 16, I would argue that we should do everything in our power to see that the person does, because it costs society a hell of a lot more to incarcerate again and again, ultimately perhaps for life, than it does to figure out what's going wrong in the first place. It does not necessarily make society safer to have someone put away, only to create a more determined and reckless criminal when they "do the time." But yes, do the crime do the time indeed.
Except...we incarcerate the wrong people ALL THE TIME. Is it not among your worst nightmares that you will one day be denied your liberty and stripped of your dignity for something you DIDN'T do? Somehow, despite the fact that our crime rate is not particularly high worldwide we've managed to incarcerate at the highest rate in the recorded history of the world.
We have 5% of the world's population and we have 25% of the world's prisoners.
Think about that next time you tell me that someone "arrested" awhile back is somehow indeed absolutely assuredly the guy who done it. Or, as you suggest, the guy who did THIS crime.
And might it be a little bit easier to imagine the person in this picture be allowed a shred of humanity if, maybe just if, the boy looked like he could be an offspring of yours? Just a bit? C'mon now, dig deep, a little deeper, keep going, yes, you're almost there...
Oh yes, i'm sure it's just another episode of wrongful conviction!! he just looks like such a sweet guy! How dare those NYPD thugs arrest my sweet innocent baby who has worked so hard to further his life, only to be wrongfully accused of several crimes against the community!!
I worry that if i'm ever stripped of my liberty it will be by well-meaning idiots like Clarkson FlatBed.
Might NYC Parent and Parkside Guy be one and the same? Hmmmm...
I had a feeling if I pushed hard enough their (his?) true colors would show through.
As I've said before, my opinions are here for anyone to see and you may contact me at any time. However, you undoubtedly won't, because for all the tough talk you are essentially a coward. And while you may be encouraging people to confront people entering their house to commit a crime, I will bet dollars to donuts that you won't contact me, me, a guy who has no interest in doing you harm, other than giving you the wedgie of a lifetime.
Makes you wonder whether the core of all our problems is fear, including over-incarceration, hatred and racism. Which sometimes combine in the same stew.
I'll be looking forward to your email.
cheers!
I am not NYC Parent.
Great! Glad to have you then...tell us a little bit about yourself?
And what are you doing up in New London, CT? Tea Party convention?
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