Dealing with a truck break-in over the Thanksgiving weekend is no way to spend a holiday.
That’s what happened to a family in Glendale who had two sentimental items stolen from their Ford truck: their daughter’s ankle bracelet from the hospital when she was born and the collar from their dog that died two years ago.
The two items were hanging off the truck’s rear view mirror.
Jessie Friesen said her husband Abe doublechecked that his truck, which was parked on the street, was locked Saturday night before going to bed.
The truck beeped twice, which meant one of the doors was open.
“Because it beeped twice, Abe looked out the window and saw an unknown vehicle was parked closer to the neighbour’s vehicle,” Jessie said.
Abe tried the lock again and it beeped once, meaning the truck was secured.
“So he thought he had misheard it (the first time),” the wife said.
Around 3 p.m. Sunday, the family was headed for Thanksgiving dinner and saw the truck had been gone through.
The truck wasn’t damaged, but everything had been taken out from the console and in the front area.
“We had clearly caught them in the middle of the act,” Jessie said.
This isn’t the first time the family has experienced a break-in. In the past eight years or so at their Gish Street home, they have experienced similar incidents about 10 times.
But the recent incident hurts the most due to the sentimental value of the items taken.
“They’ve broken into our trailer, they’ve broken into both our vehicles. They’ve broken into our yard and they’ve stolen Abe’s truck’s tailgate.
“How many more times do we have to go through this?”
The number of criminal incidents has the family considering selling their home and moving out of Glendale.
“But what neighbourhood do you go to where it’s going to be better off?” questioned Jessie about crime in Red Deer and central Alberta.
According to the Red Deer online city crime map, there have been 13 thefts from motor vehicles in Glendale in the past 14 days. In the same time, the map reports 10 break and enters.
“It’s sickening to hear that (stat) in your neighbourhood, and that’s just our neighbourhood.”
All the crimes have been reported to the RCMP, except the recent one.
“Nothing has ever been found. Nothing has come of it (from reporting it to the RCMP).”
“I understand our police force is busy, but they could make more of a presence in our neighbourhoods during the late hours. And not just our neighbourhood.”
Jessie believes the ankle bracelet and dog collar are something that’ll get tossed out, because they’re of no value to others.
“So I’m hoping someone out there walking around finds it and can reach out to us.”
To contact the family, e-mail jgiesb88@gmail.com.
mamta.lulla@reddeeradvocate.com
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