Anyone ever been robbed before?

[USNAviator]

Derek

I think Surprise would be a good fit for you and you wife. With it's mixture of young families, good school system and Sun City Grand, you should be able to find a safe and affordable place to live

As far as the theft, along with pawn shops I'd check Ebay and Craig's List, especially for the NCO sword. To some that's a collectible

[Zulu 36]

Most large police dept's have a pawn shop squad. Because these kinds of thefts are quite frequently pawned out, this police squad continuously checks the pawn shops for stolen property. Serial numbers help a lot. Your NCO sword should stand out. Was there a serial number on it, provide the cops with as much unique description as possible.

Most states require all pawns to be recorded on a form, often with a thumb print of the pawner. Copies of those forms have to be forwarded to the local PD in which the shop is located and sometimes a copy to the PD where the pawner lives (if it isn't the same town).

Big PDs can afford Pawn Details. Small PDs can't. My old department couldn't, although all pawn forms were circulated around the DB for the guys to check over in the event something from one of their cases popped out. Sometimes it happened. We also kept the pawn forms in big binders for later reference.

Normally we advised folks to visit the nearby pawn shops themselves as they were most likely to recognize their own property quickly. I suggest that you do this. Get the name of the detective who has your case and call him directly if you find any of your stuff at a pawn shop.

Honest pawn shops (and there are some) can smell stolen property a mile away and won't touch the stuff, or they will try to stall the customer while they call the police. Several (ex) Detroit Public Schools employees recently got nailed exactly this way trying to sell stolen school district iPads to a major Detroit area pawn shop.

Here is a B&E case with a really nice ending to cheer you up. There were several Mafiosi who lived in my town. Full-fledged made men. One of them had his house broken into and well looted. We took the report (and knew the homeowner was claiming more stolen than really was, but...). The MO matched one of our regular B&E men who just got out of prison and the EvTechs picked up a couple of prints that matched our suspect.

We snatched him up on the B&E and arraigned him. Of course his name appeared in the newspaper. About a week after his preliminary exam (he was out on bail - judges can be so stupid), we got a call to meet EMS and found our boy beaten damned near to death. He didn't know who beat him, except whoever it was told him he better not be seen in that Mafioso's neighborhood ever again or he'll be dead.

Our boy plead guilty on the nose to the B&E and happily went back to prison.

For some reason we never found the perpetrators of that terrible beating. Maybe it was from lack of trying?

[Old Marine]

Really does not matter these days where you live. These punks abound everywhere and will strike when you least expect it. The majority of the time they are on the prowl for drug money. Most of them are so damn stupid they can't pour water out of a boot before putting it on.

[hopeful94]

I live in Surprise so if you have any questions let me know...

[A Co Legal]

Check swap meets and craigslist for your sword and other stuff. Some scum were recently arrested for posting the stuff on C-list.

Hope you find some of your stuff.

[SlingerDun]

Most states require all pawns to be recorded on a form, often with a thumb print of the pawner. Copies of those forms have to be forwarded to the local PD in which the shop is located and sometimes a copy to the PD where the pawner lives (if it isn't the same town).

Big PDs can afford Pawn Details. Small PDs can't. My old department couldn't, although all pawn forms were circulated around the DB for the guys to check over in the event something from one of their cases popped out. Sometimes it happened. We also kept the pawn forms in big binders for later reference.

Normally we advised folks to visit the nearby pawn shops themselves as they were most likely to recognize their own property quickly. I suggest that you do this. Get the name of the detective who has your case and call him directly if you find any of your stuff at a pawn shop.

Honest pawn shops (and there are some) can smell stolen property a mile away and won't touch the stuff, or they will try to stall the customer while they call the police. Several (ex) Detroit Public Schools employees recently got nailed exactly this way trying to sell stolen school district iPads to a major Detroit area pawn shop.

Here is a B&E case with a really nice ending to cheer you up. There were several Mafiosi who lived in my town. Full-fledged made men. One of them had his house broken into and well looted. We took the report (and knew the homeowner was claiming more stolen than really was, but...). The MO matched one of our regular B&E men who just got out of prison and the EvTechs picked up a couple of prints that matched our suspect.

We snatched him up on the B&E and arraigned him. Of course his name appeared in the newspaper. About a week after his preliminary exam (he was out on bail - judges can be so stupid), we got a call to meet EMS and found our boy beaten damned near to death. He didn't know who beat him, except whoever it was told him he better not be seen in that Mafioso's neighborhood ever again or he'll be dead.

Our boy plead guilty on the nose to the B&E and happily went back to prison.

For some reason we never found the perpetrators of that terrible beating. Maybe it was from lack of trying?

Here they include a digital photo of the pawner with the paperwork, no thumb print as of two years ago

[Quinbo]

Was the sword made by WKC? If so there is a serial number on the spine and if you contact them the can tell you what the serial number is on the one you purchased. Of course serial numbers can be filed off but an ignorant thief wouldn't even know where to look for the number. This part is hind sight but my sword is engraved as well.

[USNAviator]

Had a laptop stolen a few years ago. Finally bought a new one right after Christmas. This one comes with LoJac. Every time it's turned on it sends out a signal. If this one is stolen all I have to do is call LoJac and they track it and call the police

[SlingerDun]

Just got an update from a customer who is co-owner of "Hawkeye Trading Post". He corrected me on the thumb print and said the guy should have required mine last time i sold an item at a pawn shop because it has been required for around ten years. And all daily receipts are downloaded to the police department along with the sellers digital photo

He also said it's much easier in theory to locate and reclaim stolen property.

~Good Luck

[Hawk7051]

Sorry Burke. I hope justice is yours.

[Marine84]

Yep, happened to me a time or 2 - car got broken into in CA and house was broken into when I first moved here in 93. It's a bad feeling to know that somebody you don't even know has gone through your stuff. What's even worse is when a cop wants to give ME $h!t about a loaded rifle hanging on the wall behind the front door (where the thief came through). The following weekend, I found the Max Man (my Shephard that I had for 13 years) and never had another problem.

I feel for ya. Good luck getting anything back.

[Osotogary]

Had the condominium broken in a number of years ago. The thieves didn't take my underwear with holes in them. Dammmm, them!!
Seriously, it wasn't a fun experience. Hope that the MFer's are caught and brought to justice and that you get as much as you can back to you.

[Burke7051]

Thanks everyone, the sword does have a serial number on it, and I gave the cops it, I had it written on the receipt. Hopefully everything works out in my favor.

[Borknagar]

The pawn shop is the best way to go, and if you prove it's yours you could get it back....

Sorry for the sheize... it happens!

[Burke7051]

Well the cops found the 2 thugs who robbed us. One is 34 the other is 27. They were trying to sell some of the stuff at a pawn shop in Mesa. The cops haven't recovered everything (including my NCO sword sadly). But hey, at least the dudes were caught.