Yesterday I visited with an old friend from CT. She and her husband just moved here over the summer to Alexandria, where her husband, who is in the Army, just started working for a general. They have enjoyed many sights in DC and Virginia since they moved here and for the first time last weekend decided to try out the Metro. I have always found the Metro to be well organized, pretty safe and fairly easy to get around but a little more stressful with children, especially with a stroller. My friend, who has two young boys, was doing exactly that. Two boys, one stroller, lots of bags including a backpack with all her essentials, including her wallet. Her husband was also along, making this story even more intriguing.
Last weekend, my friend had her wallet stolen while on Metro. She had it when she picked up her ticket, couldn't find it as they exited the station at their last stop. Amazingly, when she reported this to DC Metro police, they told her they could not claim it was a robbery as she could not prove it was stolen. Hmmmm.... what exactly do they mean? She would willingly give her wallet away on the Metro? She would have just left it out for someone to take??? Someone might just pick up her wallet and quickly charge over $200 on her credit card in one hour?
Fortunately, they were able to stop the charges on that card only 1 hour after it was stolen. Unfortunately, she has gotten no help from DC police. Stolen? her military ID card, her driver's license (from NY), her credit cards, ATM card, etc. It's sort of a nightmare. Now her husband is off in Iraq for a bit and she's made two fruitless trips to MVA with two children, is carrying around more cash than she'd like to because she has no credit card, no ATM card, no driver's license.... Crazy!
This morning, I open up the washington post and look what I see:
Some Crimes at Metro Stations Not Counted
Well, no duh!
Last weekend, my friend had her wallet stolen while on Metro. She had it when she picked up her ticket, couldn't find it as they exited the station at their last stop. Amazingly, when she reported this to DC Metro police, they told her they could not claim it was a robbery as she could not prove it was stolen. Hmmmm.... what exactly do they mean? She would willingly give her wallet away on the Metro? She would have just left it out for someone to take??? Someone might just pick up her wallet and quickly charge over $200 on her credit card in one hour?
Fortunately, they were able to stop the charges on that card only 1 hour after it was stolen. Unfortunately, she has gotten no help from DC police. Stolen? her military ID card, her driver's license (from NY), her credit cards, ATM card, etc. It's sort of a nightmare. Now her husband is off in Iraq for a bit and she's made two fruitless trips to MVA with two children, is carrying around more cash than she'd like to because she has no credit card, no ATM card, no driver's license.... Crazy!
This morning, I open up the washington post and look what I see:
Some Crimes at Metro Stations Not Counted
Well, no duh!
4 comments:
Good post. Sorry your friend faced this; hopefully your post will warn others.
Murder in PG The murders in Prince George's have already surpassed records levels. The figures you see from the county police do not include crimes with municipalities with their own police forces (there are several within the county) or that occur on the B/W Parkway (US Park Police), at county parks (MNCPP Park Police) or at the Univ of Maryland or Bowie State University.
Thanks - hopefully. We've ridden the Metro for years and never had this happen or even heard of it. I was shocked with the response they got from the police. It sends a really bad message to the perpetrators of this kind of crime!!
She's hoping that doesn't happen, however military ID's have a LOT of personal info on them. That could pose a problem, and they are watching for that. I think it might be hard for metro police to argue that it wasn't theft if they were to have an identity theft issue!! Thanks for stopping by!
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