Follow-Up

I get dispatched to see a burglary victim about some follow-up information for a report another officer had taken. The guy tells me he just found out his stolen debit card was unsuccessfully swiped at an ATM in a convenience store a few miles away. I decide to go there and see what I can find out.

Since I know the time of the ATM activity, I check the convenience store's surveillance video for that time. Sure enough, I can see a guy repeatedly swiping the card at the machine, but really can't make out much more than that. I ask the clerk about it, and she actually remembers the guy. She tells me he had come in while his car was being worked on at the repair shop next door.

I go over to the repair shop and ask about a guy of the suspect's general description, who would've been there at about the time of interest. The manager remembered him and, incredibly, pulls the paperwork for the job, which has the guy's name, address, and complete vehicle information.

I go out to my squad and run the guy. He has a huge criminal history and recent mugshots. I ask the convenience store clerk to come out and look at the picture, and she immediately IDs him as the person who'd tried to use the stolen debit card at the ATM.

I go back to the station and arrange for a search warrant for the suspect's apartment. Several of us head over there and make entry. No one is home. We search the apartment, and find multiple items taken from the residential burglary I'm doing the follow-up on, and stashes of other property that we're sure come from other recent burglaries. And, of course, there's the requisite dope and paraphernalia all over the place.

An arrest warrant is cut, and the guy is picked up later by night shift officers.

So, from a simple follow-up call and a few OT hours comes the arrest of a guy who will actually enter your home late at night while you and your beloved family are asleep in there, take the stuff you worked so hard for, and do who knows what else if you happen to wake up and catch him in the act.

And that is called "police work".