In my particular area I haven't noticed any cars being stolen, but I
did meet one of my neighbors because he was mugged outside of our
apartment building.  After losing his wallet and keys he sought out the
only apartment with the lights still on to call 911.  That apartment was
mine.  Naturally the people manning the emergency line wanted to know
whether the muggers were still around, but they refused to let the man who
had witnessed the crime leave the phone, so they sent out the other guy
to look.  That was me.
   So here I was being instructed by emergency personnel to leave a man
whom I had just met sitting in my home while I went off looking for
trouble.  In the end I took my wallet and car keys with me when I went
out.  That way I figured my newfound "neighbor" would have trouble finding
anything worth stealing in my apartment if such a desire happened to take
him.
   I hadn't gone very far before it occurred to me that going out
in search of muggers while carrying all your valuables with you was
probably not the best of all possible ideas.  Considering the
circumstances I could hardly leave them in my apartment, so I consigned
everything of worth that I owned to a nondescript hedge.
   I then proceeded with my search carrying only the knife that Jit Kee
gave to me before I left for Albuquerque. (Thanks to Jit Kee.) I spent
quite some time looking, and while I never did find any muggers I did
eventually see a police car drive up.  "Finally." I thought, "bout time."
   Much to my dismay the police car drove right past me.  This was
particularly astonishing since I was a tall ill kempt young man standing
in plain view while weilding a rather large knife.
   My astonishment was, however, nothing compared to the surprise of the
officer who soon found his police car being chased down the street by a
knife wielding maniac.
   Fortunately he found this sufficient cause to stop, and after a little
careful explanation I procured myself a police officer.  Neither he nor I
mentioned the large pointy object in my right hand.
   In the end the only real excitement of the night occurred during a
brief instant when I misremembered which bush I had hidden my stuff in.
Oddly enough the muggers were never found.

   It all seemed perfectly reasonable at the time.