Why didn't the police bring a K-9 Unit? A dog likely could have tracked the boys, and with an eye witness account, a conviction would be likely - and a repetition prevented! Guess in a situation like that, maybe us ciitzens might have a right to ask for such additional "back up"?
Joanne
Joanne Howl, DVM
<jovet...>
West River, MD
-----Original Message-----
From: diane Ford <dmford455...>
To: Mdbirding <Mdbirding...>
Sent: Tue, Apr 16, 2013 9:33 pm
Subject: Fw: [MDBirding] Car vandalism incident against birder at Kenilworth Park, DC
Wayne- Sorry that vandalism happened..I feel your pain. Several years ago a Patuxent Refuge South Tract my car was broken into and several things stolen. The parking lot had a lot of cars in it and was busy! It is a chronic problem at this place. I say "birder beware" and DON'T LEAVE anything in your car while hiking. I learned my lesson sadly. Items never recovered.
Diane.
----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Wayne Baumgartner <whbaumga...>
To: <mdbirding...>
Sent: Tuesday, April 16, 2013 12:12 PM
Subject: [MDBirding] Car vandalism incident against birder at Kenilworth Park, DC
Yesterday evening I was birding at Kenilworth Park in DC and had my car broken into and several windows shattered.
I arrived at the park about 6:45pm and passed six older teenagers walking into the park. I thought nothing of it and dorve into the park and parked my car along the road halfway between the two parking lots. I walked down to the main Kenilworth Marsh, looking for Blue-winged Teal and perhaps Sora (one can always hope). After walking along the field edges and observing at the marsh for about 30 minutes, I started walking back toward my car. When my head crested the small hill leading from the marsh, I saw from about 500 yards away that the doors of my car were hanging open, and the teenagers were nearby rifling through the contents of my work bag taken from the locked car.
I called 911, and the DC police arrived about 2 minutes later. The teens had sauntered off to the back (south) part of the park beyond the jersey barriers, and the two DC police officers chased them for some time, but did not catch them. A Park Police officer arrived a minute later (Kennilworth Park is not currently in the jurisdiction of the DC Police, but rather the US Park Police; the irony of this is that DC police are often seen in the park, but rarely Park Police).
My car was severely damaged. A large stone was used to attempt to break all six car windows, succeeding in shattering two and ruining all of them, as well as leaving dents all around from stone richochets. There was nothing much of value in the car except the bag, from which they stole a digital camera and a valuable antique pen. (I guess the Sibley Guide to Birds of Eastern North America doesn't rate highly on the stolen goods market).
By the look of the damage to all windows, I would say this was an act of vandalism in addition to an attempt to steal from a car. It was also particularly brazen, given that they were two cars in sight with people around them parked in the first and second parking lots. The incident happened about 7:10pm in full daylight, in sight of other people in the park. I also managed to get a couple of faraway photographs of the perpetrators, which I attach below.
I have been to Kenilworth park hundreds of times in the past three years, and have never run into anything like this before. There are often cars that are parked there with people in them that look sketchy, and it is easy to avoid the park at these times and come back another time, or to bird in a different part of the park. I will now have to re-evaluate my approach--I don't like to be inherently suspicious of any group of teenagers I see walking through a park, but perhaps I should be more so from now on. In retrospect, they were an unusual looking and acting group that should have set off more precaution on my part, but I was too busy anticipating Teal and Sora and Yellowlegs to give them proper attention.
Be careful out there,
-Wayne Baumgartner
Washington, DC
PS- here is a link to the pictures I took of the incident under sub-optimal conditions:
https://picasaweb.google.com/whbaumga/KenilworthParkVandalism?authkey=Gv1sRgCN27ya3B-sSPywE#
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