I’ll fill you in on a “job well done” by Harrisburg’s Finest on Monday afternoon.
My day is normally spent in my office on my second floor. To the left of my desk is a door leading to the deck attached to the back of my house. On either side of the door are two windows.
Sometimes I have the windows open–other days the door; this particular afternoon was sort of chilly so they were all closed.
I began hearing something of a commotion outside (which, if you’ve ever been to my place you’d know is not uncommon) and peeked out the window to see what was happening.
Nothing immediately caught my eye, so I went back to my work.
A few minutes later I can still hear an assertive male voice yelling “C’mon! Let’s go! Time to get out of there!” and I decided to take another gander outside to investigate the commotion more.
Stepping out onto my deck, I looked to the left and standing about halfway up the fire escape of the building behind my house and to the left was a Harrisburg police officer–gun drawn and vehemently yelling for me to “get back in the house and lock your doors! There’s a burglar in the house next door!
My eyes widened…not so much that I thought this robber was going to pull a Kool Aid Man and crash through my wall to infiltrate my house…but more in the shock of walking to the window in the front of my house and seeing an ARMY of police dogs, guns and squad cars surrounding my neighbors home.
“This is the Harrisburg Police! We’ve got the premesis surrounded! Come out with your hands up or we’ll send the dogs in!”
The coaxing went on for close to fifteen minutes. All the while I could hear the guy next door shuffling through the house. Knocking things over…running up and down the stairs…clamoring about most likely in a drug fueled frenzy attempting to make an escape plan…
But almost as quickly as it began, it ended with the scrawny, twitching and confused looking burglar being led from the house to a squad car in handcuffs…while claiming to know the people who own the home that he violated.
How did he get caught?
Luckily, there was a roofer working across the street who saw the guy hop the fence and smash the window with a crowbar and crawl into the kitchen. And coincidentally, there were two K-9 Units and two Dauphin County Sheriffs right around the corner having coffee when the call came in.
This all happened at around two in the afternoon…and the Harrisburg Police swiftly nabbed a burglar who most likely has broken into OTHER homes recently–
But not a word was mentioned on any of the news channels or in the local paper.
But I think there was a nice piece in the next day’s paper about the upcoming season of American Idol.
And that’s the rub.
