Stealing doorknobs

[PennyQuilts]

I am so disgusted. We have an nice little old house that we are selling. The closing is set for next week. Some thief broke a window and STOLE ALL THE ANTIQUE GLASS DOORKNOBS! Jerk. What is wrong with people? The little old lady who was buying the house particularly liked the doorknobs. Thieves are just so dispicable. It never ceases to amaze me that people walk around with such a warped sense of values. DOOR KNOBS!! I don't know how they can look themselves in the mirror.

[GWB]

ECO, that is disgusting. Sorry to hear of this. Did this happen in OKC or where you are living now? I hope you are able to find some similar knobs at some antique stores or places that sell old door knobs. I'm sure they won't be cheap though.

[Karried]

What a shame.. big jerks.

If they are glass check this out:

Huge Lot Of 22 Sets Glass Door Knobs Not Identical - eBay (item 270289016494 end time Oct-24-08 12:32:47 PDT)

Check out the antique section on Ebay...

Vintage Lot of 10 antique door knobs doorknobs metal - eBay (item 350111043893 end time Oct-26-08 09:07:03 PDT)

[kevinpate]

Sorry ECO, much like copper in a church A/C, one person's useful application is another person fix. Sad commentary, but not inaccurate.

[metro]

Never heard of anyone doing that before. Anyhow, try Habitat's Renovation Station over on 17th and Broadway. They usually get tons of old things like that donated and sell for reasonable prices. I wouldn't be surprised at all if they end up having a few over there.

[PennyQuilts]

ECO, that is disgusting. Sorry to hear of this. Did this happen in OKC or where you are living now? I hope you are able to find some similar knobs at some antique stores or places that sell old door knobs. I'm sure they won't be cheap though.

Thanks, GWB. Grrr.

It is in OKC - a little house off Villa built in the early 30's. The doorknobs are probably the only thing in the house worth anything... Actually, that's not true. It is a modest little place but it has charm.

And thanks, everyone else. Waiting to hear back from the realtor about how the lady wants to handle this.

[Oh GAWD the Smell!]

Who in the hell steals doorknobs?

If I ever turn to a life of crime, I'll be stealing something valuable.

Like shingles (have you seen the prices on them lately?)

[PennyQuilts]

I'd like to skob THEIR knob.

They broke window and went in. The house is empty. Maybe that is all they could think of to take. I hadn't heard that they did any vandalism - I sure hope not.

[Thunder]

Did you contact police? Never touch anything at the first sight of broken window. Call police to have them sniff out for fingerprints.

Karried provided some eBay links, do some search on there. Sit with the lady and see if she finds anything on eBay of interest. If none, go shopping with her at places for some.

[PennyQuilts]

No, the police weren't called - the thief was long gone by the time the break in was discovered. Grr.

[Thunder]

But the fingerprints isn't going anywhere. It would have been wise to call police immediately. This was a crime scene and the police should had been contacted. You do know that there is a higher chance to catch the thief, since this is probably not their first trouble with the law.

[jsibelius]

Are you sure your interested buyer wasn't behind the theft?

[PennyQuilts]

My experience is that they won't take fingerprints unless the theft is significant or violence is involved. Sending out the crime scene techs is pretty pricey and I doubt the city would bother. I was robbed, before, and they didn't do anything but take a statement. Moreover, since we are here (East Coast), the only person they could meet with to investigate is a family member or the realtor and we aren't going to ask them to mess with it. These probably aren't items that will be pawned. We rented the place for 10 years and who knows who was there and left prints. Even if they got a "hit" on something, that wouldn't mean that person took our doorknobs unless they caught them with them red handed. I can't see them issuing an arrest warrant on what would probably amount to a misdemeanor. Then, there would be the need to come be a witness and you can see the problems with that. We'd also have a hard time testifying with any certainty that these were "our" doorknobs even if they found them. I certainly couldn't do that and unless the knobs were distinctive (which they weren't), I doubt a jury would believe we could identify our doorknobs. I don't see the police being helpful in this circumstance although we did think about calling them.

[sgray]

I know this isn't funny, but are you sure that granny isn't part of a larger antique-theft group? Probably pays pretty good since ol' granny can go in and 'scope the place out' and not be suspected of anything. Again, not funny, but I just had to get that out.

I hear what you are saying about the police here. Useless. My place was robbed several years ago and I was over 90% sure where my stuff was and provided a detailed location for the cops to look. Never heard from them after the statement and they never checked into my lead.

Just recently called out the police (against my better judgment--I offered to go to HQ) to take a statement on some issues that were going on with a person in the neighborhood and they actually told me, "Well, there are worse things that you could have to deal with." they then told me not to worry about it, refused to take a statement and left. Can you believe that crap? I specifically asked them to take a statement and they ran right over my rights. YOU AND I PAY THEM but they dont seem to get that. And they have no fear of rerimand. NOT HERE. COPS ARE OUTSIDE THE BOUNDS OF THE LAW IN OKLAHOMA. Funny links --> YouTube - Traffic Cop Makes illegal U-Turn
YouTube - Traffic Enforcemen Officer blocks hydrant-Jimmy Justice


I hope things work out with your house.


Steve

[PennyQuilts]

Steve, I sort of half idly wondered if the old lady was involved - not sure other than having a cynical mindset. Discarded the idea because I couldn't find an angle that would benefit her.

I'm not unhappy with the police not doing much on these sorts of things. I know too much about their lack of resources. If we wanted private security guards, we need to cough up the cash. I see so many of my families at work who call the police to refereee family disputes - wasting the time of the cops - that I have a horror of being "part of the problem." I wish it weren't so but I am a realist.

If I were living at the house, I might feel differently. That is so scary to think of someone coming into a residence where someone is living. Because it was vacant, I suspect you have a garden variety thief who is just a lowlife but probaby not really a physical danger to the community. If I had a serious crime going on and the police were off investigating a doorknob theft, I'd be aggravated. If there were cops sitting around with nothing to do, that would be different. We don't, unfortunately - can't afford it. It is what it is.

[sgray]

No, we just have cops that run lights and stop signs and exceed the speed limit by 20-30mph while on patrol and not in pursuit--breaking the law and creating more danger than protection. I have been known to visit the station and call on cops that do this stuff, although I know there is nothing being done about it...evidenced by the fact that it continues.

Myself and three other drivers' lives were in jeopardy last year when a nutcase cop peeled out of his hiding hole to catch someone going 2mph over the limit and nearly took out those of us in the oncoming traffic. HE HAD TO SWERVE BACK ONTO THE GRASS TO MISS US! I have witnessed firsthand, the hostility of the cops here...verbally attacking people who have not violated the law, but because there are nothing governing their behavior they can do whatever they want! The reality is that while your door knobs were being robbed, they weren't doing what they could with what they have to work with. As a taxpayer just like me, if they were actually out helping you with your stolen doorknobs, then I would understand the delay in getting to me. So long as they were actually doing their job and not goofing off.

There is no reason in existence why they have to get so hotheaded when dealing with things and do stupid stuff that causes more damage than good. (ie the accident while conducting a chase out on nw expressway & penn when the officer died as a result of being too aggressive)

That's why it is called law enforcement. It is not supposed to be a place for mental people to take out their frustration on the citizens.

Sorry for the slightly off-topic rant, but thats my observation.


Steve


PS- my own mother was ticketed by an officer in OKC when she stopped to ask him directions. He said that she was illegally parked and all she did was pull up behind him and wave him over to ask directions. She never shut off the car and had people in the car with her.

[sgray]

Back on-topic though, as Thunder pointed out, it is of utmost importance that no matter what has been stolen, we need to get those prints into the database. Although it may not result in you getting your stuff back, it will aid in eventually tracking these guys down. For example, ones that have not been caught have no record in the system yet, but if they had already been identified and your prints match up, then bam!

I know it may sound like wasting the time of a short-handed force, but in the long run, it does the community more good as we are one step closer to stopping them.

And who knows, there have been cases where that paper trail of where the thieves have been led to the discovery of where the stolen goods went to. Some people get their stuff back. We can also see where their dropping the stuff too...see what their patterns are.

[PennyQuilts]

They aren't going to take fingerprints. It is too low level a crime and too many people have been in the house, including workmen. All that would tell them is that people have been there and we already know that - most legitimately.

[Midtowner]

You don't want them taking fingerprints. That dust is impossible to clean up.

[PennyQuilts]

And then there's that...

But I appreciate the comments about calling the police. I might feel differently if I was right there. We are about to sell the place and I think my incentive to follow up just isn't what it might be.

[Midtowner]

There's that and you don't want the property showing up when prospective buyers do searches for crimes in your area. How would you like to buy a house which was recently burglarized?

Me? Not so much.

[LIL_WAYNE_4_PREZIDENT08]

Yea they got me 25 dollars a knob at the pawn shop

[PennyQuilts]

LIL WAYNE, did you take my door knobs when you should have been working at Burger King?

[Thunder]

Yea they got me 25 dollars a knob at the pawn shop

You're back!

[Matt]

Steve, I sort of half idly wondered if the old lady was involved - not sure other than having a cynical mindset. Discarded the idea because I couldn't find an angle that would benefit her.

Don't be so sure. Some old ladies don't even need an angle.