The Window Cracker

Late one night, a resident peeped through his window and spotted a man, tall, slim, and dressed in dark clothing, as he walked unhurriedly from a neighbor's kitchen, leaving the door open. It was not one of the occupants of the home; he knew them. Horror gripped him as he watched, wondering to himself what evil deeds were committed inside the house.

He called up his friends, fellow citizens and together organized a special kind of community service: a neighborhood watch. Soon they began to patrol the streets and learned that the man was burgling homes as the occupants slept, finding his way into the inner sanctums in search of silver and gold and other precious items. Their task, pursued at first without police assistance or adequate communication services, was to capture the culprit and deliver unto him all that he deserved.

When the news media revealed the extent of the damage in the community, and police inertia, the superintendent of police quickly assigned a special squad to work with the men. A strange thing happened. The perpetrator they identified and caught was a man known to the superintendent of police and his wife, both of whom own and operate a private business. As the men probed and got closer to solving the problem, questions arose about the superintendent involvement, the business and what role it played, if any, in the criminal escapades.