I've always been intrigued
about places I was not allowed to go. As a kid I wasn't allowed to ride my bike
across a main road to go to 7/11, but my curiosity would take over and would go
anyway. As I got older, went to college and visited new places I learned there
were areas you weren't supposed to go to as an adult. My freshman year I went
to college in North East Philadelphia, and I was warned not to explore the
area. I was told a young white girl is not ever supposed to be wandering around
“the hood” alone. That always just made me want to see what it was like even
more. When I can’t wander as I please though somewhere, I feel like my freedom is taken
away and I don’t like that at all.
When I moved to Los Angeles, a
friend lent me a car to explore the city. She warned me to not go to certain
areas because how dangerous they were and it wasn't a joke. Compton is a city
that is well known in many rap songs and where many famous rappers grew up. My
mind of course raced that I wanted to just drive through and see what it
actually looked like. Was is that bad or dangerous? I didn't push my boundaries
and like a good girl I stayed in the areas I was supposed to.
This summer a friend a met in
Australia was passing through LA. On his was to Hollywood to meet me, Jacob had
one of his bags stolen on the metro with all his valuables including a Mac book,
credit cards and his passport. Jacob was one of the most cool, calm and
collected people I had ever seen handle a situation like that and I so admire
him. I would be crying, cursing and throwing a tantrum. He cancelled all his
cards and filed a police report with the LA Sheriff. We then went for dinner
when his phone made a strange noise. His Mac book had been located! We both
cheered in excitement and then I asked sarcastically “where is it, Compton?!” and
laughed. “Kristin!” he excitedly replied, “how did you know?!”
my awesome friend Jacob seeing something other than a police station in LA
Jacob called the police
station to find out what to do. We headed over to the LAPD in Hollywood and the
officer told us since we had already filed a report with the Sheriff that he
could not help us. I can see how the different departments don’t want to step
on each others toes, but we had an exact location of his stolen laptop and the LAPD
officer would not help us. Jacob then called the Compton Sheriff and he was
much more helpful. By this time though, too much time had passed since the original
location of the Mac book. By the time we would get to Compton from Hollywood it
would be too late. He told us next time we get a location to come straight to
him in Compton. We went back to my apartment and put the case to rest for the
evening.
The next morning we headed Santa
Monica for brunch. As soon as we sat down and we got our Bloody Marys, Jacob’s
phone got another location of the Macbook! This time it was across the street
from the last location. He ran to the host stand and yelled “I need a cab to
Compton quick!” Everyone was a little confused so he started explaining the
situation. Our cab arrived but was reluctant to take us to where we wanted to
go. He drove very slowly and kept telling us in the 25 years he has lived in
LA, he has never been asked to go to Compton. I was getting a bit nervous
myself since I had been warned several times not to go, but we were going to
the police station, the safest place you could be.
As soon as we got off the
freeway there were bars on all the windows and doors. There were all sorts of garbage
and broken down cars on the lawns. It seemed pretty deserted and gloomy. I’m
still new to California so palm trees amaze me and they seem to make everything
prettier. So if ever a ghetto to be in, there were palm trees that made it a
little brighter. We finally arrived at the police station and bolted for the entrance.
In the 10 seconds we were outside I heard several people yelling something
directed at us, but was just concerned with getting us inside safely.
When we walked in we were
greeted by a woman moaning on the floor. The Sheriffs were all very nice but
they couldn't help us for awhile because they were very busy. It was father’s
day and they said they were especially busy with assaults today. After a couple
of hours they had time to free up an officer and they went to the address to
see if they could find the laptop. When he returned he explained that it was a
house full of “Mexican Gangsters” and they claimed to know nothing about Jacob’s
Mac book. Even though we had a location, there weren't allowed to go searching
through the house without a warrant, which is so ridiculous.
police station greeter
anxiously waiting our turn
I looked at the clock and
realized I had to be at work soon and started to panic that we had to go. The
officers asked how we were getting back and I told them (kidding in my mind)
that we were going to take the metro across the street back to Hollywood. Jacob
looked terrified and officers asked where we were going. I told them Hollywood
and they said we were not taking the train and to follow them. They let us in
the back of the cop car, which was pretty exciting since we were just getting a
lift and not arrested.
The Sheriffs were so cool and
shared interesting stories. I asked them about the worst crime scenes they had
encountered. And one officer showed us pictures of some of the most outrageous
ones. I could see Jacob was over the
moon about it. I thought it was a pretty awesome experience that we found ourselves
in, minus Jacobs things being stolen.
back seat of the police car getting a lift from Compton to work
Unfortunately, Jacob never got his
belongings back. It wasn't your typical sight seeing tour of Los Angeles but we
had a pretty cool adventure. I can now cross Compton off my bucket list of
destinations and forbidden places!
