The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

2 Friday, December 3, 2021 brooklintowncrier.com "Proud to be a Brooklinite" Founded in 2000 and published 24 times per year. Editor, Richard Bercuson 613-769-8629 editorofbtc@gmail.com The Brooklin Town Crier is locally owned and operated and is a publication of Appletree Graphic Design Inc. We accept advertising in good faith but do not endorse advertisers nor advertisements. All editorial submissions are subject to editing. For advertising information, contact: 905.706.0482 Email: mulcahy42@rogers.com Next Issue: Friday, December 17, 2021 Deadline: Friday, December 10, 2021 During COVID-19 dates are subject to change. How Not To Be A Victim Once, years ago, I got careless. We lived on a dead end street, homes on one side, fields and woods across. Meager street lighting. Nobody had security cameras. My driveway neighbour had a motion detection light that suffered from intermittent success. Yet, there'd been just one home break-in in the area, the last house at the dead end. It was the prettiest on the street, both architecturally appealing and inviting since its bay windows revealed much of the interior. Otherwise, zero crime. Till one summer night. I left the car in the driveway unlocked. My trendy Oakley sunglasses, purchased from Ron Jon Surf Shop in Cocoa Beach, sat on the dash, a handful of change in the console. My neighbour, Jim, drove a lovely Lexus and, coincidentally, he left it unlocked that night as well. The next morning, both our driver's doors were ajar. Sunglasses and coins gone. Glove box open. The thief had thankfully left me the car manual. My neighbour's vehicle was also invaded though nothing was taken because he left nothing in the car. Did I mention he was an RCMP Inspector? A couple of other neighbours were "hit" but the loot was minimal. As Inspector Jim said when we stood in the driveway, with me lamenting the sunglass theft, thieves aren't smart. They don't think; they just do. Jails are full of them for a reason. Which brings me to the recent spate of vehicle break ins and the security camera footage showing these lesser lights bouncing from car to car, hoping to land a treasure trove. While hope isn't a plan, opportunity serves as a decent replacement. I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that the "hoodied" thieves did not get bored with their graduate philosophy essays and needed some excitement as a respite. Brooklin is a target because it's an affluent area, is easy to get into and out of and, in any given sub-division, one is bound to find unlocked doors at three a.m. The theft I experienced was similar: a quiet well-to-do suburb with easy escape routes and complacent residents. While I still mourn the Ron Jon sunglasses, the event made me paranoid about our cars not presenting a welcome mat for society's detritus. They're locked and empty. This isn't to say I no longer have careless moments or hold a belief that my porch is off-limits to bad people. To wit, the Purolator bag of books swiped from my stoop at 1:30 am a couple of summers ago by a local kid, all caught on camera. The culprit was found, warned, and the books returned. So much for leaving stuff outside overnight. The police call these crimes of opportunity. Still, we live in a wonderfully safe community which we could make even more so by taking common sense precautions and watching out for each other. Less than half the picture by Richard Bercuson Leanne Brown, who writes the BTC "Our Brooklin Kids" column, has recently published a children's book entitled "The Thing With Wishes." She is also the book's illustrator. The paperback is now available on Amazon for $12.95. According to the descriptor, "Dandelions can pop up anywhere. So when a young polar bear named Booker finds a dandelion puff in the snow he is filled with wonder. Finding a dandelion wish is magical. But choosing what his wish will be is a big decision. With the help of his friend Page, Booker unexpectedly finds the perfect wish." Columnist Pens Children's Book