18 burglaries of law enforcement vehicles in the past week.

[AZTOY]

Police offer $2,000 reward
2002-12-04
By Kenna Griffin
The Oklahoman


EDMOND -- Police are offering a $2,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and prosecution of whoever is stealing items from area law enforcement vehicles.
Oklahoma City police are investigating 18 burglaries of law enforcement vehicles in the past week.

Eleven of the vehicles belonged to the Oklahoma City department, four were from the Oklahoma County Sheriff's department, two were Oklahoma Highway Patrol cruisers and one was an Edmond patrol car.

The Edmond car was broken into Nov. 26 in the 4400 block of Steven Drive in the driveway of an officer's residence.

According to the police report:

It appeared that a pry bar had been used to break open the locking arm on the car's shotgun rack, and the gun in the rack was stolen.

The stolen gun and damage to the car was estimated at $800.

Items stolen from other vehicles included handcuffs, bullet- resistant vests, jackets, badges, stop sticks used to puncture tires during pursuits and TASER weapons.

Oklahoma City police officials said it would be difficult for the items to be sold for profit, but they could be used in crimes.

Anyone with information may call Edmond police at 359-4466.

http://www.newsok.com/cgi-bin/show_article?ID=955917&pic=none&TP=getarticle

Leo cars want are thay thinking? The thieves are asking to get shot.

 

[Ben Swenson]

Wow ... sounds like someone is gearing up for something ...

 

[TallPine]

AQ terrorists, maybe ............ ?

 

[cslinger]

Doubt it's AQ or terrorism related...

I mean this is America, how hard is a 12 gauge to get. Not worth risking the break in of a cruiser since in theory it could blow your local cells location etc.

My bet is your standard jerkweed kids or ganbangers doing it as much for fun as they are for money or items.

I have been known to be wrong on occassion though.

Chris

 

[Ben Swenson]

My bet is your standard jerkweed kids or ganbangers doing it as much for fun as they are for money or items.

Could be, could be. And the "for fun" aspect could explain snagging badges and stop-sticks. Still ... it'd make a better movie if'n the perps were getting ready for a bank robbery or somesuch.

 

[SW9M]

So, are the police and maybe even individual officers going to be held responsible for how that equipment is used?

Some members of this board would say YES!

 

[tyme]

Could be, could be. And the "for fun" aspect could explain snagging badges and stop-sticks. Still ... it'd make a better movie if'n the perps were getting ready for a bank robbery or somesuch.

Most of the items would work for that, but I'm not clear on the badges... how would being a fake cop help carry out a bank robbery?

"We are the police. We're here for your money and the bank's money. Your money isn't insured and your bank will be raising all sorts of processing fees for your accounts after we make it out of here. You can try to be a hero and risk your life..."

On second thought, scratch that.

 

[pax]

Oklahoma City police officials said it would be difficult for the items to be sold for profit, but they could be used in crimes.

Most of those items would add a nice degree of verisimilitude to any sort of officer impersonation.

SWAT-style home invasion, anyone?

pax

It is seldom that liberty of any kind is lost all at once. -- David Hume

 

[WilderBill]

Hmm, I wonder if the officers responsible for those vehicles found themselves thinking what most of us think when that happens to us: "All that tax money I pay for law inforcement and still I get ripped off unless I stand watch over my car all the time, myself!"

 

[MeekAndMild]

There should be a law against this police car shotgun loophole. I'll bet the guys that did this didn't get a NICS check or fill out any forms or leave their social security number or anything.

I wonder how it is that police think they have to carry guns (yuck! guns!) everywhere they go. They must be really paranoid or something. They should try carrying flowers instead. Maybe some nice pink roses to give out on traffic stops, that way they can brighten everybody's day. How can you be paranoid if you're carrying a bouquet of pink roses?