That burglar never knew what hit him. This guy rides a bike into our neighborhood, thinking things are easy pickings here, and he rides out in the back of a police car.
My neighborhood is quickly gaining the reputation of being the place crooks go to get caught. The hapless crook must not have gotten the memo.
It all began a little after 7 AM as I was out walking the dog. As I neared home, I saw this guy riding towards me on a bike. Since I walk this way every other day, I’m usually quite familiar with the people I see this time of day but this kid was a stranger. Nevertheless, as he approached I gave him a friendly “good morning,” and he cheerfully replied. Cheerful greeting or not, I decided to get a close look at the clothes of this stranger – just in case.
Later this morning I had reason to remember the kids’s description. A sharp-eyed neighbor had called 911 after seeing a kid ducking between cars in my neighborhood this morning. She also took the time to let the neighborhood know through the neighborhood email list. Instantly, 300 neighbors knew this kid was a break-in suspect and he was in our neighborhood now. I responded to my neighbor’s email with a description of the kid I had seen. I also called the dispatcher to relay that information to police in the area.
Once I had the kids off to school I had a few minutes before I needed to go to work so I climbed into the car and drove around, hoping to find the suspect. I came upon an officer parked on Timber near Robin Hood and told him of an abandoned bike I’d seen nearby. He knew about the bike said the suspect was probably in the middle of a larceny. The officer hoped to be nearby when the kid returned so he could bust him.
After getting an update from the officer I drove on through the neighborhood, just driving through in case I happened to see anything. I didn’t really expect to see anything, of course. I really didnt’ know what I was doing. I figured it would be some sort of miracle if I even saw the guy.
It turns out I got a miracle and then some! I turned onto Banks Street and looked to my left. There was the suspect in my neighbor’s driveway and leaning against the front door of a van! He had what looked like a dipstick in his hand and was manipulating it through the van’s window. He was trying to unlock the door!
I grabbed my phone and was talking to the 911 dispatcher about the larceny in progress when I rolled back up to the officer waiting nearby. I told the dispatcher to hang on as I yelled out my window.
“He’s at Oakview and Banks right now!” I said, gesturing behind me. “He’s breaking into a white van!”
The officer sprang into action, squealing tires towards Banks! I decided to come around from the other side to see what happened. By the time I returned to Banks Street, I saw the van’s driver side door hanging open and the suspect was already in handcuffs! I felt like cheering!
Thinking about it later, I realized that communication made this arrest possible. So many people had pieces to this puzzle that if those pieces had not been shared, this guy would still be out there breaking into homes and cars. I didn’t call the cops when I first saw the kid because just being a stranger on a bike isn’t exactly a crime. My neighbor did call the cops, though, when she saw him acting suspiciously.
What’s more, the cops shared plenty of info about the suspect with my neighbor, who then took the time to share it with the neighborhood. Now we all knew who to look for and roughly where he was. I happened to have a moment I could spend looking for the suspect and an officer was conveniently parked nearby in anticipation of an arrest. It could not have been easier for the officer to catch this guy red-handed and arrest him.
This perp is at least the third break-in suspect who has been busted by my sharp-eyed neighbors since we moved here four years ago. I think that explains why break-ins around here have become pretty rare.
Word is getting around that you don’t mess with East Raleigh, and particularly the neighborhoods of Belvidere Park and Woodcrest. It’s where crooks come to get busted!
Wow! Impressive!