We got robbed and Malcolm's car was stolen. Andrew got in at 11:30 p.m. and forgot to lock the back door, and around 12:30 - 1:00 a.m., someone jumped our ten foot fence, walked in the back through the kitchen and into the front hall, took money out of M's wallet, and the keys to M's car. What he didn't take: the keys to my car which were plain to see on the kitchen table. A cold beer from the fridge, or the Bose in the living room, or Andrew's Little Wayne and Ludicrous and Dave Matthews CDs which were beside the wallet, or the cigar box of change from M's and A's pockets. He left the back door wide open, which is how M knew something was wrong this morning at 7 when he got up to make coffee. He woke me, and we woke Andrew. It was A who told his dad to check to see if the guy(s) had also taken the car keys beside the wallet. They were gone, and when M looked out the window, the Denali was gone.

So - we called 911 and the New Orleans police were here within 20 minutes. And then called OnStar, because this car is new and has a GPS system. The crime was so quiet and precise that the police were sure it was an inside job. And the burly black detective, Officer Herman, asked Andrew some direct questions about where he'd been, who dropped him off, etc. The lieutenant took me aside and said that they were sorry to have to question A, but kids' friends steal money for drugs, etc. A looked pretty shaken and seemed not real forthcoming, and I took him out on the front porch and asked him if he was hiding anything, and to please tell the truth now.

So our kitchen was being dusted for fingerprints, and we had five police officers in the house looking around, (a good feeling), when Officer Herman got a call on his radio saying they'd found the car - pinpointed it at a stop light in the 700 block of Canal Street. Within minutes, they'd surrounded the car and arrested the kid - Michael Howard, black, 26 years old. They recovered most of M's money from Howard's wallet, and the Canon Rebel camera and lenses, the laptop, the windbreakers and fleeces in the back of the car, the sunglasses in the ashtray, etc. - all of the stuff was still there in the car. When they searched the Denali they found a bag of marijuana. A pack of camels. A watch with half of the strap missing. A lighter.

The policewoman who was here first - Officer Fontenot - gave M and A a ride in her policecar - A in the back like a perp, but smiling - down to Canal to pick up the car. They saw Michael Howard. M said he looks about A'S age. He has a long arrest record and the police said he'll serve time for this. His cohort supposedly is on his way to Baton Rouge. Officer Herman apologized to Andrew twice for questioning him.

Our neighborhood's been so quiet, and we don't see people walking around like we did Pre-K. But this guy must've looked through our front door and seen M's stuff on the little table. I'm thinking last night wasn't the first time he'd ever tried to open the back door.

Since we got back, we've felt safer living in the city, thinking that most of the bad guys are somewhere else, and someone else's problem.* But that's not true, although Officer Herman works armed robberies and he said he hasn't made one arrest since Katrina. Michael Howard wasn't armed when they arrested him. M asked Herman why he'd drive smack down Canal Street, which is teeming with police right now because of Mardi Gras, and Herman said, "He was trying to pick up girls."

*Before Katrina, there were 480,000 people in New Orleans, and 100,000 arrests a year. That's over 8,000 arrests a month. Most of these crimes are committed by the same 20,000 criminals, who don't stay in jail because they aren't prosecuted properly, or witnesses are too afraid to come forward.