Violated in the Middle of the Day in Holyoke

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Last night I got a call from a distressed Cindy. Her house was broken into and thieves stole jewelry, her laptop, her camera and the new HDTV that I brought there just about a month ago. The worst part was seeing that hole…they punched their way in through a bedroom window and then traipsed through each room, looking for booty.

Thinking about that really burns me. Thinking about a total stranger walking through the house when we were not there, contemplating what he can steal for himself. We called the Holyoke PD and the friendly officer showed up quickly. He told us that many break-ins happen to houses next to the woods like Cindy’s. He said that there hadn’t been many break-ins in the Highlands recently…or at least since 4 pm when he came on duty.

Then a detective, a big friendly guy wearing a nylon jacket came over holding a kit. His jacket said Crime Scene Investigator, and his business card said detective. But he warned us that dusting for prints makes a big mess. “Don’t worry,”we both said, eager for him to solve the crime. “Those TV shows like CSI give criminals ideas for crimes,” he said. “And most crimes aren’t solved in 45 minutes…it’s more like two months.” He said the state police lab takes months to analyze prints, if he is lucky enough to get one from the surfaces where the criminal had been. So many towns in Western Mass all send prints to one overworked crime lab.

The criminals even righted a plant that the overturned taking the TV out of the house, so we hoped he could find a fingerprint from it. No luck.

While we’re not that optimistic that this crime will be solved, it heartened us to know that to the Holyoke PD, this is a crime worth sending two men over for. My hope is that the thiefs will be caught trying to fence my Sony Bravia TV, or are stupid enough to list it on Craig’s list.