$500,000 IN SURVEILLANCE CAMERAS, COP SUBSTATION, AND CRACKHEADS STILL BREAKING INTO CARS A FEW FEET AWAY...

Special to El Rrun-Rrun

He hadn't believed his friends who said they had stayed away from downtown Brownsville because they didn't feel safe, what with all those crackheads and homeless roaming the dark side streets and alleys.

"C'mon," Joe (not his real name) would say. "There's a half million in surveillance cameras and a police substation on Adams right across the street from the clubs. What's there to fear? The mayor's pizza joint is a just half a block away."

They hadn't seemed convinced and declined to accompany him and his girlfriend to watch the karaoke fans belt out rock mexicano tunes and a few modern rock and country tunes. The mayor's pizza place with its restricted parking spaces in front for delivery and pick-up orders was visible from the bar entrance. A few street people sat in the doorways of some vacant stores facing Market Square. They seemed harmless enough.

He parked at the corner of Adams and the side street (11th). His truck could be seen from Adams and the blue light indicated the camera of the surveillance system was operating. The police substation was no more than 50 to 60 feet across the street from the corner. Other couples started arriving and they went in.

He and his girlfriend had just settled down to watch the singers and ordered a drink and a beer chaser when a man came in from the sidewalk asking who owned the gray truck parked outside.

Joe said he did and asked why.

"Someone broke the side window to it and of a black little car in front of it," said the man who turned out to own the car in front, an older model compact.

Joe felt sick and walked to the corner and around. 

Sure enough, glass littered the sidewalk next to the passenger side of both vehicles. Someone had rifled through the truck cab and scooped up everything in the glove compartment and console. Insurance, car manual and maintenance papers and old registration forms were gone. So were other trivial items. In the back (it was a four-door), a small hydraulic jack and a four-way lug  wrench were missing as was a towing nylon strap. All told, the value of the items couldn't have reached $40.

His fellow victim said that the burglars had taken nothing of value from his car.

He was cleaning some of the glass from the passenger seat when two policemen arrived in a black and white and asked him if the truck was his vehicle.

"Yes, sir," Joe replied, 

"Step away from the vehicle, sir," said one of the two policemen. Apparently he thought it was a crime scene. Or something.

Joe looked at the officer and stood on the sidewalk. The other looked in and asked him to tell him what he saw missing. He did.

"They didn't take very much then," one said.

"You smell of alcohol," said the other. "You're not driving this car like that."

Joe realized there would be no point in arguing with the policeman just as his girlfriend came on the scene asking what had happened. 

"Are you with him?," one asked her. 

"Yes, I am," she replied. "Why?"

"He's been drinking and he can't drive," replied one.

She was about to say that they had just gotten to the bar, but Joe gave her the keys and squeezed her hand signaling for her not to argue. She stopped and stood beside him.

"Alright, I have the keys," she said. "I'll drive."

The officer gave Joe and the other car owner a card with his name and case numbers and both left.

Discouraged by the turn of events, he finished removing as much of the shattered glass and she drove away from the downtown area. He knew that it would be some time before they would return to the city's downtown area, and that if they did, it wouldn't be in their vehicle.