Perils of burglary
A British burglar was arrested last month when police identified his ear print on a door of a house that had been robbed.
It seems that Calvin Sewell had a talent for detecting whether anyone was home by putting his ear against a door or window for some time and listening. He had committed 13 successful break-ins before he was caught.
Police dusted the front door for finger prints and found instead an ear print that matched Sewell’s ear. The ear print got him another year in jail tacked on to three years and nine months he received earlier for other burglaries.
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Burglars know about avoiding detection of fingerprints. You either wear gloves or wipe off surfaces you have touched. Sewell’s experience indicates they’ll have to develop ear muffs that aren’t too thick to muffle sound. I suspect if Sewell had invested some money in modern electronics he could have sat in his Austin Healey across the street and detected whether the house was occupied. But one would have to commit 13 more burglaries to pay for the equipment. It’s all in the economics.
A policeman’s lot may not be a happy one, but you can see people in the burglary trade have their problems as well.
In addition to the dangers of detection, stumbling about in the dark in a strange house can be most hazardous.
If you break a leg and are caught red-footed you are taken to the prison hospital where they feed you cold hamburger patties, broccoli and jello.
And since you can’t get out of bed to change the telly you have to watch a rerun of “Edge of Night.”
