[speaker001:] okay I think the crime in Dallas is horrendous
[speaker002:] compared compared to what
[speaker001:] compared now to when I first came here twenty years ago when I came here twenty years ago it was not near as bad as it is now it's terrible now my house has already been broken into once and there was an attempt a second another time I mean I can't it's horrible I'm afraid
[speaker002:] do you live in do you live near downtown
[speaker001:] no I live well I live in Oak Cliff but uh uh we never had any problem here before we we really did not in my neighborhood we're not wealthy at all know you know we don't have a rich neighborhood and when they break into our houses they don't get anything much they get a little jewelry and maybe you know a VCR's and it just irritates me to no end that somebody has broken into my house and stolen my things you know just
[speaker002:] well  hum well I live I I live in in north west Garland actually west about a mile south of one ninety so we're really quite far north and the house we just moved into a house that has lots of windows and I course I have a friend Dallas policeman that lives right behind me so I don't know if that'll do any good but uh it it's interesting though that you've been broken into uh you must you must look at this whole mess a lot different did you see today that they the the police commanders got a pay raise and the the regular folks didn't
[speaker001:] no I hadn't I hadn't heard that
[speaker002:] it just on the news I was just watching a little of it just before you called it uh and they cutback and they cutback on overtime and they have to take electric clocks home and you wonder what that does to the fighting crime if if they had an electric clock on their desk they were supposed to take it home to save energy
[speaker001:] are you serious that is the city
[speaker002:] I'm serious uh Doug Clark's on channel eight
[speaker001:] that sounds like the city I worked for the city of Dallas for a while and I do know that they're they can be really strange
[speaker002:] what what what do you think why why people breaking into your house
[speaker001:] drugs they want to see they take what they do they break in and they take your jewelry and they take it and they sell it they hock it and then they buy drugs I really think it's drugs they want the money for the drugs
[speaker002:] hum
[speaker001:] so I think drugs is the root of it
[speaker002:] what time of day are they breaking in
[speaker001:] well okay I used to work second shift and when they broke in I was working at night I I work in payroll now and I work days but uh they broke in they knew my hours the police told me evidently they were watching me and they know your hours see that's what so spooky about it
[speaker002:] uh yeah
[speaker001:] and they broke in at night and uh since then I've put in a security light and I've marked everything I you know that I have I put my driver's license number on it ugly too I mean where it could be seen because I don't care don't I just don't want them to get it and hock it again
[speaker002:] well are you uh you said you're not in a in a rich neighborhood but are there are there obviously um drug people in the area
[speaker001:] no not right here I I have never even seen like uh what they call a crack house or anything I wouldn't no there's nothing like that here that I know of now I'm sure there are somewhere in Oak Cliff but I've never seen it we're not in a bad area you know I
[speaker002:] do you think they just kind of hit your house at random or but they were going down the street
[speaker001:] they've hit they've hit my next door neighbor they hit uh the guy about two or three houses down so they've hit several houses in the neighborhood one of them twice
[speaker002:] so they okay so they're really just looking for
[speaker001:] they're just looking
[speaker002:] a nice enough house to find something to steal
[speaker001:] just something they kicked my door in they literally I had a solid wooden door with a dead bolt on it and they backed up and put their foot to it and kicked it in molding and all
[speaker002:] oh that's scary because everybody feels you're supposed to have dead bolts
[speaker001:] that's real scary I have a and I my insurance paid to have the contractor come out and I we put in a another solid door and another dead bolt but it doesn't hold it
[speaker002:] well my the front door on the house I have has uh glass in it
[speaker001:] so does mine now this one does have glass in it
[speaker002:] well I I wonder you know you know it I don't know this is tough but I guess the issue is is if it's drug people what's the solution
[speaker001:] uh I don't think there is a solution I I really I really don't know I really don't and you know the police told me to get a gun and if they if you're here and they try breaking in shoot them now I have never heard policemen telling people to get a gun and shoot people before
[speaker002:] well that
[speaker001:] but that tells you how bad the situation is that tells you how bad it is and there aren't enough police and they they didn't get here till six the next morning I got home at eleven called the police immediately
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] several times my neighbors came over immediately we didn't even know if they were still in the house my neighbor went through looking
[speaker002:] yeah um-hum yeah
[speaker001:] they advised on the phone that we'll have somebody go through and look now that's terrible and the police did not get here until seven hours later
[speaker002:] yeah well that that's real scary
[speaker001:] that's darn scary
[speaker002:] but is the is the solution uh cutting off drug supply
[speaker001:] if it's possible I guess I well or is it is it or is the solution legalizing
[speaker002:] or or is it yeah or yeah uh do you see that these people you know are they going to if if you cut supply it's going to raise the price
[speaker001:] somethings
[speaker002:] or if you uh
[speaker001:] if you legalize it it uh well you couldn't legalize everything okay I just don't see that you could but if you legalized marijuana and then uh taxed it and everything then everybody'd come out okay I think on that deal
[speaker002:] well how how expensive is um how expensive is marijuana it's not very expensive is it
[speaker001:] I don't even know I really don't know
[speaker002:] but I mean the people that are I'd be curious to if the people that are wouldn't you think the people that are breaking in are probably
[speaker001:] hard drug users
[speaker002:] are probably crack that have got a pretty high because I would think a hundred dollars worth of marijuana I don't know what it costs but
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] I should think that'd be more than a lot more than just ordinary recreation it would be interesting to see if to the problem is is is what do you lock them up for you know
[speaker001:] and then the thing is keeping them locked up
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] you know they pick them up they lock them up and then they they let them go
[speaker002:] but they don't have enough proof them
[speaker001:] they don't have anything to keep and you never get your stuff back you never get your stuff back
[speaker002:] and then we got to raise well we had interesting enough we had a in in Garland before we moved we had some neighborhood kids came by and stole uh uh drill and our saw and and I had them marked and uh we called the police about a week la ter the guy caught these kids riding a motor um a motor scooter or a a go it was a go-cart in the in the alley and he got to talking to the kids and and we recovered the drill and the saw it was but uh it it's one of those you know it was uh not a not a real expensive neighborhood uh but it's it's interesting that the the motivation and the question is what's the motivation not to steal and I I guess that's what bothers it's like the criminal you know if somebody says well let's lock him up for life well how should he you know what bothers me is the incentive that he's if you if you know you're going to be in there for life why should you just be good but if you if you say I'm not going to let you out till you have a skill and we think you're reformed well that's not how they do it they let them out when they time is served I
[speaker001:] that's right
[speaker002:] I I guess the problem is is is what it would take to do that would be more money than we it's like the school issue and which I guess we're not supposed to talk to but anyway the idea of how much money would it take to reform these criminals and lock them all up
[speaker001:] and they think these are kids kids are probably teenagers older teenagers that have been doing this around here
[speaker002:] hum
[speaker001:] they uh they weren't real professional well we don't know for sure but they hit they took they knew right where to go that's what scares me
[speaker002:] in your
[speaker001:] they went they went right to my jewelry they did not ransack my house they went right to my jewelry box and I had a ring that had my diamonds in it and my grandmother's diamonds in it that I had made and it was worth close to two thousand dollars
[speaker002:] oh my
[speaker001:] they got and they I mean they had pay dirt when they saw that I mean and I couldn't I worked in the shop then at TI you you know with machinery and I couldn't wear my jewelry I can wear it now I wear everything
[speaker002:] yeah yeah
[speaker001:] I don't leave anything home I wear everything you bet but uh
[speaker002:] everything of value
[speaker001:] they got that and the diamond necklace and stuff so they really hit pay dirt and then they grabbed my VCR also but they didn't just tear it out they very carefully unhooked everything laid everything out you know I mean it was just unbelievable
[speaker002:] well did they did you take your TV
[speaker001:] no they left two TV's and one was small they could have easily carried it but the police said they must have been on foot it looked like they were on foot they left my silver my silver was sitting here in a chest
[speaker002:] yeah but who buys silver anymore
[speaker001:] well I did
[speaker002:] well yeah but have you bought a place setting lately I have a niece that's getting married and uh she's not even um selecting a silver pattern because it's I've forgotten my wife was telling me what the cost is just incredible to you know a place setting is is
[speaker001:] yeah yeah
[speaker002:] I don't know two or three hundred dollars or something I mean your silver probably is worth a lot but uh what are they going to do walk down the street and tell everybody what would you like to buy uh a
[speaker001:] well they could they could no well they can hock it see they take everything to the pawn shops and just hock everything but um
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] I don't know they just hit the jewelry well I guess if they knew their jewelry they knew their but they did take some cubic zirconiums too I had a ring that they looked awfully real
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] and I did have a ring that that wasn't real and they took that you know and I said
[speaker002:] well how would they know I mean they they'd have to be pretty sophisticated
[speaker001:] they just grabbed they just grabbed but boy they sure hit pay dirt with that one ring luckily my insurance you know reimbursed me but I can't replace those diamonds
[speaker002:] no and and and yeah how to put a value on a ring that you'd made
[speaker001:] you know to have and that had my grandmother's stones in it you know so oh I was sick
[speaker002:] yeah that is scary
[speaker001:] but I still haven't bought a gun
[speaker002:] well see that's the thing scares me about it is um who gets shot with the guns they say that a large number of the homicides are people that know each other that uh I've forgot what the percentage forty or fifty percent it's surprisingly high that people that shoot each other know them I mean it's not like you know a