Hello Everyone, Just wanted to report that I helped to catch 2 car burglars tonight. The arresting officers let me know that there has been a lot of activity in our neighborhood, and so were appreciative of my efforts.
I was walking the dog back from walking my daughter home at about 10:45 pm. As I was walking down Springfield towards 48th, I saw two African American teenage boys at the corner of 48th and Springfield, both wearing white t-shirts, one with light-colored knee length shorts, and one with dark-colored long skinny pants. One walked down the street, looking into cars on the driver's side, while the other walked down the sidewalk. They were walking slowly. I decided to follow them with the dog down 48th St., and they turned down Windsor, going towards 47th when they realized that I was behind them. I crossed the street and followed them from the other side of Windsor. They were going really slowly, and seemed to notice that I was behind them, so I picked up the pace. I crossed Windsor at 47th going toward Springfield, and glanced at them as I passed. They stopped at the wall of the convent, and then slowly started back down Windsor toward 48th. I turned around, re-crossed Windsor and looked to see where they were (which was mid-block of 4700 Windsor), then proceeded to Warrington in order to walk down 48th in case they were continuing up 48th. By the time I got to my house (900 block of 48th), I heard breaking glass, and saw the lights on in the van parked across the street. I believe they saw me as I turned down our alley to go to the trash can, and exited the van because I saw the interior lights go off, and then I quickly entered the house and called 911. I watched from the door for when the police arrived, which was within minutes. By the time the suspects were in the car with handcuffs I came out to identify myself to the officer who was looking at the van with a flashlight. I described the whole thing, and described their clothing which the officer corroborated. They said that one of them had a hammer and screwdriver. The bottom line is that they were displaying classic "suspicious behavior", by walking in the street looking into cars, and being a team of two. Being observant of this behavior, and of what they were wearing and their general description, helped me to be useful when the time came. Just being explicit about this, in the event any of you would want to do likewise :-)! I don't necessarily recommend following people, but I couldn't help myself... Your neighbor, Patty Bulack
