Dark Knight inspired me: Tonight, I become a Vigilante

[quakerboy]

Ok... So I haven't actually seen the movie yet. Nor do I plan to become a vigilante per se.

Someone stole something of my mothers, and tonight I hope to recover it. Sans police, likely, given that they are too busy to help but "if you do positively identify it, call 911 if there are any problems"

Hope I don't get knifed or shot. Wish me luck. Actually, just wish me safety.

[vixengrl]

1. For real? Stay safe and be careful, Q.

n/t

(Wow, I edited a "no text" message. Is that a first? It read "n/y"--I made it "n/t". )

[quakerboy]

2. Well, that is that

Turns out it wasn't my mom's stolen item. No harm, no foul, and everyone got a laugh out of it.

[Pierre.Suave]

3. Did you go armed with big friends?

that is bordering on stupidity there. Share more details please.

[quakerboy]

4. Um

Someone broke into my moms car last week, and stole a laptop. The police who came out to take the initial report said they would deal with the pawn shops, and we should watch Craigslist and let them know if it showed up there. Oddly, the next day a laptop of that very type appeared on Craigslist. Some searching revealed that I could not find another one of that particular model listed used anywhere. Not Ebay, Amazon, Craigslist in a number of big cities. Not anywhere, except one listing, specifically minus all disks and paperwork, that showed up on Craigslist the day after the breakin

We let the police know it was seemingly there. Because it was located in another area of town, they said we had to deal with the police office there. The second departments initial over the phone reaction "well, thats nice. When you go out and meet them, and there are any problems, call 911". A far cry from the original department which said to let them know, and they would take care of it. They Did sent an officer out, who took a second report, with the CL add info, and said they would look into it. 5 days later, we call back, because the add is still up and we have heard nothing. The officer says "we will look into it" IE "We have done nothing yet".

So, I figured that since things were not kicking into gear, I would set up a meet to "buy" the laptop in a public place, and make sure the serial number was a match. I figured that if its not, no harm, I can just "decide" I don't want to buy it after all and that is that. If it is, then I have a positive ID and can maybe get the police moving, but I can still just decide that one of the spec's isn't quite good enough, and decline it.

Either way, no harm, no real vigilantism, just an everyday CL meet up with an ulterior motive on my part.

Amazingly, it was not my moms. Somehow, the only internet listing on any website I know of the same model as the stolen one happened to show up on our local CL the day after the breaking. Coincidences do happen, it seems.

As to where Batman comes into this? I dunno. Everyone seems to be abuzz about it. Reality is there is no connection. But I am a bit frustrated with the police now. They wasted the hour to come out and take the second report on it, but then let it sit 5 days and do nothing about it? CL usually moves a little faster than that around here, only reason it was still there for me to check was that it had an asking price near what a new one would cost.

Edited for clarity and punctuation.