“Stop! She’s stealing my phone!”

This is what I was screaming while chasing a girl who had stolen my phone at the last Thursday Night Market of the year two weeks ago.

I was just sitting by City Plaza with a friend when a girl came up to me and asked me if she could borrow my phone.

I handed it to her thinking she needed to make a simple phone call.

She decided to walk closer to her bike, so my friend and I followed. The girl was talking into my phone when all of a sudden she jumped on her bike, taking off with my lifeline.

I was in such state of shock that I ran after her screaming, hoping somebody at the crowded Thursday Night Market would jump in front of her to stop her.

Nobody did.

I chased after her for three blocks until I couldn’t keep up with her anymore.

About four days after my phone was stolen, I was telling a friend about the incident.

He asked me about what the girl looked like. I told him she was blonde with a piercing on her cheek. He told me he had seen her get arrested for theft at one of the previous Thursday Night Markets before my phone had been stolen.

I went to the Chico Police Department and looked through the arrest records. I found a description of a girl similar to the one who took my phone. I asked them to show me a mugshot of the girl because I told them I could identify her if I saw a picture of her. They told me I would need more specifics about my case to do this despite the fact that I had spoken to a worker at the department the day before who told me I would be able to take a look.

I never thought I would be a victim of theft.

Growing up in the Bay Area my parents always warned me about thieves, especially in San Francisco. They always told me to never have my phone out when I am riding public transportation and to never leave my personal belongings inside of my car.

All it took was one girl asking me if she could borrow my phone for me to be tricked by a thief.

It troubles me that there are people like this who have a criminal record and yet are still preying the streets of Chico looking for innocent people to steal from.

This girl clearly has a record and has a very distinct description. There are not very many people walking around with piercings on their cheeks. They should have been able to identify her right away in order to arrest her.

Police need to keep a thorough record of repeated offenders of the law in order to keep our streets safe from crime.

I understand that the police are understaffed because of budget cuts, but it is no excuse for them to let repeated offenders continue roaming the streets breaking the law.

Crime and various forms of theft have been increasing in Chico and this is definitely one of the factors that is letting crime run so rampant.

Police have a civic duty to protect their citizens from criminals. Citizens should feel a sense of security knowing they have a police force to look out for them.

I certainly do not feel this sense of security and now I don’t think I ever will.

Allison Weeks can be reached at [email protected] or @msallisonweeks on Twitter.

Illustration by Liz Coffee.