my own drum

A group of burglars made their rounds in the East Atlanta neighborhoods on October 27, 2008. In two cases, the homeowners had installed video cameras and managed to obtain footage of the burglaries. Fortunately no one was home - one of the burglars can be seen carrying a pistol as he stands on the back porch of a home.

If you notice the date and timestamp on the first video, you'll see that the entire heist takes less than two minutes. The second video is also less than two minutes in length, but has been compiled from different cameras. I have to assume the robbers were just as quick at the second home. Also, both of these robberies took place within a half hour time span. There is no telling how many other homes were robbed in that same day, but it might be interesting to try to find out. One thing I did notice when watching these videos is that both homes had a deck. Perhaps the burglars targeted these homes because people with decks are known to have wide screen TV's? I don't know.

The video footage from both of these homes has now attracted national news attention. The local paper in Atlanta has also carried information about these burglaries. And, at least according to the comments on one of the videos, the perps are now in custody. Let's all pray that they get plenty of time to reconsider their chosen career path, especially in light of the fact that one of them was armed.

From looking at the first of these videos it appears that the burglars knew about the video camera on the back porch. Three out of the four made attempts to conceal their identity. The fourth appears to be an idiot, but a clearly recognizable idiot. In the second video it appears that none of these guys had a clue that they were being videotaped for all the rest of us to see.

In both cases, the homeowners have vowed to improve the surveillance on their property with the addition of more cameras. I would hope they pony up for something with better resolution as well. One of the burglars looks like he could be one of the dope dealers in my neighborhood, but a closer look at the first video indicates that's probably not the same guy. And, when I think about it, dope dealing is probably far more lucrative than stealing and neither one will warrant much more than a wrist slap from a judge in this town.

Kudo's to the homeowners for posting these video clips on YouTube. It's good to see that site has more potential than watching some moron fire bottlerockets out of his ass.

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Burglary on YouTube

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