[Venturi]

Wow. PDL, reading your post was like I was reading a transcript from 1996 when I came home one evening from work to find my place burgled and ransacked. TV, stereo equip, all my camera gear minus the tripod, jar of change, etc. They left the remotes for the TV, VCR and stereo sitting on the coffee table and didn't touch any of the computers that were mere feet from the TV. Police came out and dusted for prints, took photos and an inventory of what was gone. And then basically said "sorry, but there's almost nothing else we can do."

I didn't have a lot of camera gear then. Just a K1000 that was a graduation present and a couple 3rd party manual zoom/tele lenses; don't even remember exactly what they were. Thing is I was ticked about the TV and stereo stuff, and pissed about them kicking in the back door. But I was devastated about the "cheap" Pentax camera gear and the rolls of film in the camera and bag.

That's the day I completely walked away from photography for 12 years.

I know exactly how you feel right now; I've been there and I empathize completely. But whatever ends up happening just do not let these punks steal your passions along with your stuff.