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Opinion: Delta police prove no call too small after dog walk turns into a crime of opportunity

It was another cold February day and I had an errand to do in Tilbury. It seemed like a good idea to combine it with a walk with my dog Rosie and my mother’s schnauzer in the North 40 dog park just off 72nd Street in East Ladner.
Ingrid Abbott
Ingrid Abbott

It was another cold February day and I had an errand to do in Tilbury. It seemed like a good idea to combine it with a walk with my dog Rosie and my mother’s schnauzer in the North 40 dog park just off 72nd Street in East Ladner.
 

The parking lot was quiet. I parked diagonally across from a path that leads into the fields that border the former Vancouver Wireless Station. I don't normally bring my handbag when I go for a dog walk but today was different, so I put my handbag on the floor behind the passenger seat out of sight. 

The dogs were barking with anticipation so I quickly opened the back hatch and they roared out of my SUV. I was struggling with their leashes while making sure they were clear of a car entering the parking lot. I slammed the back hatch down and clicked my key fob. I thought it was locked, but it wasn’t. Unbeknownst to me, someone was watching me.

I had a lovely walk, photographing the eagles swooping in and out of the trees, and the dogs had a great run. Back at the car I noticed the time, it was 2 p.m. I had walked for 45 minutes.

Not until 4 p.m. did I discover my wallet was gone. I reviewed my steps that day and I knew instantly I had been robbed at the park.

I immediately cancelled my cards. The banks were able to track my transactions. The thief had tried to withdraw money from my debit and Visa at a bank machine on King George Boulevard only 36 minutes after I walked away from my car. Twelve minutes later the thief successfully tapped my debit card for $75 at a gas station in Crescent Beach.

The next day I got a call from a man who lives in Ocean Park. “Are you Ingrid Abbott?”  “Yes,” I said. “I found your wallet, it was in the lane near my house."

Tired of routinely finding people’s personal effects strewn along his dog walking route, this Good Samaritan is now talking to the police to see if he can help find the culprits.

A day later there’s a young, handsome Delta police constable standing in my kitchen asking me questions. They will do what they can to catch the thief he assures me. I love our community-centred police force, but I’m pessimistic. Aren’t there bigger crimes to solve? Yes, but apparently my stolen wallet counts. Six weeks later the file is active and we wait for the surveillance video that will hopefully identify the thief.

I know better than to leave my car unlocked, I’ve read the Optimist Crime Beat and know that petty crime is everywhere in our community. I was careless, and it’s easy to do with our busy lives.

Let my story be a lesson to be vigilant about locking your doors and protecting your personal belongings. Don't be a crime of opportunity waiting to happen. 

Ingrid Abbott is a freelance broadcaster and writer who firmly presses her key fob until she hears the beep beep sound loud and clear.