Arlington Heights police received a report about 1:35 PM Tuesday of a theft from a locker at Xsport Fitness, 960 W Dundee Road. Police received a report that an unknown offender or offenders entered the UNLOCKED locker and removed a Hi-Sierra gym bag (valued at $35) containing a brown Diesel watch (valued at $150), vehicle/residence keys and some personal paperwork.
The crime is reported to have occurred on December 18, 2012 between 12:30 p.m. and 1:30 p.m.
Anyone having information about this or any other serious crime in Arlington Heights should submit an anonymous text tip by texting the keyword 847AHPD and your message to 847411(tip411) or call Arlington Heights Crime Stoppers at (847) 590-STOP. Callers are guaranteed anonymity and may qualify for a cash reward of up to $1,000.
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Why would the writer need to emphasize that the locker was unlocked? It isn’t any less of a crime if it were unlocked. The victim wasn’t more deserving of victimization because of an unwise act. The editorial grammar choices don’t improve the story, and seems an amateurish choice.
M. Dolan — Thanks for your input with this article and any other articles. Some of the news articles are direct releases from police departments. In this case, the police department provided the emphasis on “UNLOCKED” in their release, and the decision was made to comply with their emphasis in their manner of expression. Of course, it is not less of a crime that items were stolen from an unlocked locker. However, for busy people who want to scan a short article quickly, the capitalization of “UNLOCKED” gets the point across from a crime prevention perspective. In a perfect world, it is disturbing, not only that the crime can be perceived as a lesser crime when the locker is unlocked, but more so that the victim ends up with some of the blame.
The police want people to be more careful about locking their lockers, or their vehicles. Unfortunately, there is a tendency, perhaps unintended, to blame the victims for the crimes. In the case of vehicle locking, is it possible that a vehicle owner that locks their car might have a window smashed instead? Is that the victim’s fault? No, it is absolutely the fault of the criminal who does not respect another person’s private property. But in every day life, the bigger, real world concern is minimizing damage, minimizing loss, and maximizing personal safety. Many of these criminals don’t get the punishment they deserve, anyway; so to argue intellectually about lesser or greater criminal activity is better referred to a philosophy class or a class on philosophy of law.
Think for a second about the cop on the beat that sees these petty crimes every day for an entire career. It doesn’t take much time to realize, while stepping into his or her shoes, that the practical and simplest solution for effective life is to get people to limit opportunities for criminals. There can be a lot of suffering for victims that leave their lockers unlocked to go take a shower or use the bathroom, and discover their wallet and car keys are missing. These thefts can lead to identity theft, temporary loss of access to credit card accounts, a stolen auto, the loss of budgeted time and energy while working to change door locks at home, and other inconveniences.