This was an emergency.

I am usually a calm person. I may sometimes feel nervous, but I rarely panic. If I panic, then it must be an emergency.

 

What do you do in an emergency? Who do you call for help?

 

Personally, I’ve only called 9-1-1 twice. Both times occurred in Vancouver, Canada, where I am currently attending University.

 

The first time occurred approximately 2 years ago. A friend of mine named Ewout (a graduate student) chased after a thief who had stolen prescription drugs from a nearby store. He was incredibly brave, and I followed after them while attempting to tell the police what was happening. After a long and complicated chase, the thief eventually got away. This was the first time I discovered how difficult it can be to stop a crime in action.

 

What happens when we panic?

 

Our bodies work harder: Blood is pumped to our muscles at up to 5 times its normal rate. Our lungs, throat, and nostrils expand as our breathing rate speeds up. We receive instant energy from fatty cells and glucose from the liver. Endorphins are released (acting as natural painkillers). Our eyes dilate to enhance our vision. All of these things allow our bodies to react more quickly and effectively in an emergency.

 

So why could I barely speak on the phone to the police? Why didn’t I think faster, act faster?

 

THE SCENE OF THE CRIME:

 

March 29^th, 2009

 

Time: 4:05PM

 

Two Koreans and one American have come to their University gym to exercise. They are all students in their early twenties who exercise regularly, for health and for the enjoyment of girls who secretly watch them. Kevin, who has the strongest triceps of the three, had a feeling the night before that something bad might happen at the gym. But he had promised to come, and it was only a feeling, right? So he came to the gym. Andy came soon after, followed by Calvin.

 

The three students put their backpacks (containing our laptops) in three separate yet adjacent lockers. We placed our valuables in those lockers, and placed our trust in those locks.

 

Time: 5:20PM

 

The three handsome, innocent young men return to the men’s changing room. They approach their lockers. There is a man there…taller than the three of them, in his early 30’s, who does not look like a student. He also appears to be in front of Calvin’s locker.

 

Andy, the one with strong quadriceps, approaches his own locker, unlocks the lock, and begins to remove his belongings. Kevin has already unlocked his locker. But Calvin, the one with the strongest pectoralis major, notices that his lock is missing, and the door to his locker is partially open. The man next to us disappears for a moment, then return, closing another locker (which appears quite full to Kevin) with a gold lock, which requires a key. Calvin has the key to his own lock, but the lock is missing. He checks his backpack…his laptop is still there. Nothing other than the lock is missing. But why??

 

The man leaves, carrying a large black bag over his shoulder. Suddenly, Kevin notices something. Though his lock was not broken and still works, his laptop is missing. It has been stolen from his backpack, from his locker with the unbroken lock. Could the man next to us have taken it? What appeared ridiculous at first suddenly seemed more realistic. We three students rushed out of the locker room. We split up and ran in opposite directions. Where did the man go? How will we know for sure if he is the thief? Do you just ask him, “Hey, did you steal my laptop?” How would he respond to that? No time for answers now…

 

Andy runs to the bus loop. He guesses the man would want to leave campus if he did steal the laptop. The 99 B-Line bus is the fastest and most commonly taken. Bus drivers don’t check for your bus pass. So Andy walks alongside the outside of the bus, scanning each face inside. THERE…at the back…Andy recognizes the man. Andy pulls out his cell phone and dials 9-1-1. If only Kevin or Calvin had phones, then he could call them! Andy circles the bus and considers running back to the nearby gym to find his two friends. Then the man does something odd…he gets up and gets off of the bus. He starts to cross the street. Andy follows. Without looking behind, the man begins to run. Andy runs after him, while on the phone with the police, attempting to explain what happened. The man does a second odd thing: he enters the front doors of Gage Towers Lobby, a student residence.

 

What do you do in an emergency? Do you follow logic or instinct?

 

Andy enters the residence a minute after the man entered. He would need a key card to enter any of the towers. Probably, he simply used the exit. Andy asks the woman at the front desk if she saw the man. She did not. Andy tells her the situation. The police tell Andy to call Campus Security. They tell Andy the number. Andy repeats it. Andy then forgets it. He runs back to the gym and finds Kevin and Calvin. Andy tells them what has happened and asks Calvin to keep watch at the bus stop. Kevin and Andy return to Gage residence. The woman has called Campus Security. Campus Security arrives.

 

Campus Security:

 

…is a kind man with a limp who humbly describes himself as “out-of-shape.” He asks Kevin twice, “Are you okay?” We give him a description of the man and the event. There is a small problem: we didn’t see him breaking into a locker, nor did we see the laptop in his possession. But why did he suddenly get off the bus after getting on? Why did he run into the residence?

 

The Campus security man searches around the building, and uses his radio send out reports to other units. Andy brings Calvin to the residence, while another security man takes his place watching the bus stop. Andy conducts his own quick search around the residence, as well as checking the men’s washroom for any locked bathroom stall doors.

 

Kevin’s Laptop:

 

…is an LG IBM, an old model made in Korea, but one that contains all of his personal files. Kevin says to us, “It’s lucky he stole my laptop instead of one of your’s, since mine is much older.” Also, the number 4 key is broken. You have to press it 3 times to work.

 

Security Camera:

 

There is fortunately a security camera which films the front entrance to Gage Residence. So, there is a very good chance the man’s face would be on this tape, in clear digital quality. But none of us can access this tape without police permission.

 

Back to the SCENE OF THE CRIME:

 

Campus Security leaves. We decide to return to the gym. There is a young guy working behind the front desk, eating some kind of crunchy snack. It doesn’t look healthy. He also doesn’t look like a person you would expect to see working in a gym. And he looks bored. But our story is fascinating to him. Suddenly, he becomes a detective working on our case. Kevin reveals a new fact: his cell phone is also missing. However, the joke is on the thief….Kevin’s cell phone no longer works.

 

303:

 

…is the locker number with the gold lock. Why was it so full? Could it possibly contain Kevin’s laptop and cell phone, or other stolen belongings? The gym guy/detective grabs a pair of special keys. We return to the locker room. He opens 303. There is a very nice bag: Sauder School of Business. Inside is a laptop…but it is not Kevin’s. There is a wallet (fortunately, Kevin took his wallet with him when he went to exercise). Inside of this wallet, we find a student ID. The picture reveals a different man. Is this the locker of the thief? No. So what does that prove? It proves that the man we saw was indeed a thief who could break into lockers (without damaging locks).

 

On the Phone:

 

The police line for non-emergencies was busy for 15 minutes. So, we decided to try calling again tomorrow. We will file our report then, and hopefully they can take a look at the tape so we can identify the thief. Otherwise, we’re considering starting a “Buy Kevin a New Laptop” fundraising campaign. This could include a bake sale, marathon race, or something even more exciting.

 

And if you’re the thief using Kevin’s laptop to read this…you can keep the cell phone, but please return the laptop ASAP.

 

What should you do in an emergency?

 

Perhaps we can learn from Kevin’s example. Rather than worrying about the object stolen from him, he thought about his friends. Be thankful for the material possessions that you have. But when one of them is stolen, consider this: Is it really so valuable to me that I should risk my life to retrieve it? After all, things are just things. But people are people. It’s profoundly simple, yes?