A blind widows purse was stolen on her first trip to the citys central library Aug. 15, and she hopes others can prevent the same from happening to them.
Cathy Browne is trying to rebuild her life after her husbands untimely death in March. The 57-year-old public relations professional has her first paid writing gig since her husband of nearly 30 years died, and she wants to ace the assignment.
Working at home is too distracting and her local South Hill library is small and noisy, so Browne travelled to the branch at Robson and Georgia, secured a spot on the sixth floor, fired up her laptop and hunched over her keyboard, she said, like Linus from the Peanuts comic.
Three hours in, Browne reached for her small, black purse that shed leaned against a glass wall and tucked behind her backpack. It was gone.
Browne had previously occupied another table. At one point she glanced up to see a mammoth antelope staring at her as a person held up a big book shielding his or her face. Browne thought it strange.
In the panic of her missing purse, which contained $85 in cash, credit and bank cards, her monocular, house keys on her late husbands keychain and her blind bus pass, Browne didnt look to see if the animal portrait lover was around.
It took Browne, who doesnt see with her left eye and retains 10 per cent of her vision in her right, time to find her bearings. She visited the main information desk, lost and found and then security, where an officer eventually said she could fill out a report.
And that was it, she said. I mean, here I was in a puddle, not even anyone offering me a box of Kleenex, and of course I had none.
She still had her cellphone and called a friend to fetch her, having no means of getting home.
She called her banks from her friends car, only to learn 15 transactions had quickly been made on one credit card. Scum who stole my purse hit Best Buy, Future Shop and a lot of 7-11s, tweeted Browne, whos been dubbed the Fairy Godmother of Vancouvers social media scene. If U C anyone with an armload of electronics and Slurpees, Tackle em.
Browne also contacted police.
She reached her landlord to let her in at 10 p.m. She propped furniture against her doors, slept with one eye open, and hired a locksmith the next day.
Browne believes the long strap on her purse made it easier to snatch. She plans to curl straps around her feet in the future, carry fewer cards, sit in more open areas and to ask more questions the first time she visits a new place. She didnt realize the central library offers lockers on its seventh floor.
Browne says public institutions need to improve their security to serve an aging, more vulnerable population.
Diana Guinn, director, neighbourhood and youth services for the library, said the central branch has seen a recent increase in thefts. Womens purses and wallets have vanished from study carrels in the afternoon and early evenings with seven reported incidents in the past month. Staff have been asked to circulate more in recent days and victims can report thefts to workers on each floor.
Twitter: @Cheryl_Rossi
