Jessica Listi loves her two dogs and really enjoys time outdoors with them. With its open green spaces, the White Rock Lake Dog Park is perfect for an afternoon out with her pets.
“The dog park is awesome. It’s very well-maintained,” Listi says. “People just bring their dogs out there and let them out and run around.”
The dog owner frequents the park and had planned on being at the park for a couple hours. Before venturing out, Listi pulled her car into the parking lot across the street, ready to let out her anxious dogs. She brought along her camera for some pictures of her beloved pooches.
Unfortunately, the camera didn’t make it to the park. Instead, it became easy target for a criminal in the area.
As she exited her car, Listi had trouble letting down her seat to let her anxious dogs out of the backseat.
“I don’t know if the camera fell out of my purse or I left it on the hood,” she says. “I realized pretty quickly I didn’t have it, and came back and it was gone. I know it had to be taken pretty fast.”
The camera was new, and Listi had still not downloaded the photos on the camera to her computer.
“It’s just frustrating, and I just got it for Christmas,” she says. “I still had some pictures on it from Christmas. I really just want the pictures.”
The camera was a Red Nikon in a black and gray case. She is hoping a Good Samaritan may have found it and will return it. She was also able to give the serial number to police and hopes it might turn up at a pawnshop.
“It happens,” she says of the theft. “I probably should have been more careful, and not paying so much attention to just the dogs.
Dallas Police Lt. Mackie D. Ham of the Northeast Patrol Division says this kind of “basic theft” is common and could have happened anywhere in the city.
“When residents fail to properly secure their property, the chances of it being taken are increased,” Ham says. “The White Rock Lake area is not a ‘hotbed’ of crime. We do experience some burglaries of motor vehicles in the area, but it is not really anything off the scale. We have assigned officers that regularly patrol the lake to prevent theft and other such offenses, and generally we do a pretty good job of keeping the crime down.”
Ham says victims like Listi who store serial numbers of their property can have it entered in the DPD crime database. If the item is pawned, Ham says police have a good chance of recovery.
Crime Numbers
$1,490
Value of the items stolen from an apartment unit in the 3500 block of North Buckner; The tenant lost a computer, DVD player, Blu-Ray player, Nintendo Wii, jewelry and a shoebox full of photos
02.14
Date when someone burglarized Fuzzy’s Taco Shop at Mockingbird and Abrams, stealing more than $8,000 from the safe
6600
Block of Lovers where an apartment unit was burglarized while the tenant went to the laundry room; The suspect stole more than $650 worth of valuables
SOURCE: Dallas Police Department
