Small Town Misfit

Brooklyn, OH
A pair of 19-year-old Cleveland men took a demolition derby-style cruise through the aisles of a local grocery store in the wee hours of the morning on Aug. 13, and ended up in jail after police eventually chased them down. Workers said the men were using the store’s motorized carts to race through the aisles, knocking over displays. When security workers escorted them to the door, the men bolted for a nearby field. Police established a perimeter and apprehended the suspects about 20 minutes later.

Found in the Brooklyn Sun Journal

Strongsville, OH
Some kids talking about gas-guzzling vehicles apparently struck a nerve with a passerby, who yelled at them and defended her right to drive one.

A man called police last Thursday to say that while at Borders, his grandchildren were talking about high gas prices and people who drive gas hogs.

A woman then screamed and gestured at them, saying she drives a Hummer. She left the parking lot in a 2007 model.

Officers told the man it wasn’t a police matter, but he said he was concerned because they woman had taken down their license plate number.

Found in the Sun News

Atlanta, GA
An officer responded to a fight call on Joseph P. Lowery Boulevard. A 24-year-old woman said she was punched by a man she calls her “grandfather,” but he is just a family friend. The woman said she just took a pregnancy test and discovered it was positive. Then she said her water broke when she fell to the floor. Medics said this was improbable because she “just found out she was pregnant and she may have urinated on herself,” an officer wrote. The woman described her “grandfather” as a man with a long goatee and gray cornrows. He left before police arrived.

Found in Creative Loafing

Amherst, NY
A South Union Road resident heard a noise outside and dialed 911. She hung up when she realized it was the newspaper delivery.

Found in the Amherst Beeландшафт

Myrtle Beach, SC
On Aug. 18, a Carolina Forest man went to a barbecue, and as he was reaching toward the grill, the property owner’s dog bit his right hand and pulled down. The dog’s owner pulled the dog off the victim and EMS transported the victim to the hospital.

Found in the Sun News

Tracy, CA
3:59 p.m.: A man on the 2100 block of Wildflower Court reported an ongoing problem of people peeing on his roof.

Found in the Tracy Press

Tracy, CA
1:58 a.m.: The night auditor at the Motel 6, 3810 N. Tracy Blvd., reported a guest continually calling and saying that he was on hallucinogenic mushrooms, locked in the bathroom and that there were things coming out of the walls. A guest two doors down from the man said that he had broken through the wall. Police managed to phone the man, who said he was high on cocaine and mushrooms. A woman from the hotel said she thought the man was prank calling the police and reported no damage to his room.

Found in the Tracy Press

Tracy, CA
3:01 a.m.: A caller on the 200 block of West Carlton Way reported an ongoing problem with a couple that is having sex against a fence outside his apartment. Three people were watching the couple partake on this particular night.

Found in the Tracy Press

Amherst, NY
On Denise Drive, a female reported that her ex-boyfriend followed her home. She said he did not enter the house but was sleeping in the hot tub.

Found in the Bee News

Waynesboro, GA
A 16-year-old Waynesboro boy was arrested after he showed police too much crack.

According to a report filed at the Waynesboro Police Department, the teen was walking around Magnolia Acres last week with no shirt and sagging pants which showed most of his underwear.

Chief Investigator Gene Boseman said that as a crowd gathered, the boy was told several times to pull up his pants and put on a shirt. Instead he said a few choice words and completely dropped his drawers.

When officers tried to apprehend him, he ran around the neighborhood acting “facetious” and pretending it was a joke.

Finally, he turned himself in on numerous charges including indecency and obstruction.

Investigator Boseman said police plan to cite anyone spotted with sagging pants.

“If you come to Waynesboro with your pants hanging down, we have a charge for you,” he said.

For first-time violations, juveniles will be officially warned and their parents notified, he said. After that, they’ll be charged. Those over 16 won’t get a warning.

Found in the True Citizen

Charlotte, NC
A 46-year-old woman said she was assaulted by a family member for moving furniture in his house without permission. The woman was a guest in her relative’s home and took it upon herself to do a little remodeling. When her relative saw what she did, he got angry and tried to push a china cabinet on her.

Found in Creative Loafing

(Bear with me while I get serious for just a minute dear readers.)

We live in an age of data. And the safety, transparency, and integrity of no data is more important than the information our government collects about us. In a time of shrinking civil rights, expanding government power, and increased surveillance of U.S. citizens, it’s unnerving to learn that a law enforcement agency is refusing to turn over standard public records to a city newspaper.

But that’s exactly what’s happening in “Rio Grande” (Northern), New Mexico. The sheriff’s department is using a new computer system to track crime in the area, and they’ve stopped providing the Rio Grande Sun with detailed reports of local calls. Furthermore, the Sheriff refuses to give Sun reporters access to the computer system because of restrictive new “Homeland Security” laws that keep the press out of certain law enforcement office areas. Apparently the reports could be printed on hard copies, but they would fill hundreds of pages, and the law enforcement officials are unwilling to expend those resources.

At a superficial level, this is a shame, as the Rio Grande Sun police blotter is some of the most entertaining reading on the internet. Evidence:

9:42 p.m. – A man said someone stole his goat. He’d had problems before with his neighbor’s stealing the goat and had fixed his fence, he said, but now they had evidently found a new way to get his goat.

But the real crime here, is that the Rio Grande Sheriff has shutdown what should be a fundamentally transparent part of any government. Residents of New Mexico now have far less information about the crimes committed in their neighborhoods. Individuals who deal with the police are now deprived of a public record of their ordeals. Journalists no longer have the police blotter as a lead-generator, so that they can chase developing stories about crime and law enforcement.

I’ve been reading the Rio Grande police blotter now for about three years, and it’s clear that the law enforcement officials there have their hands full. Drug use and trafficking, rampant alcoholism, and domestic violence fill nearly every report. And the police don’t always come off peachy in the reports, which I assume is a major reason they’re now withholding this data. After doing this blog for several years, I have an immense amount of respect for law enforcement officials all over this country, but I can not condone a systematic information shutdown by these agencies.

Right now, the Rio Grande Sun’s website is down—I think it was hit hard by some hackers last night. But as soon as it comes back up, I’ll post some links to places where readers can send letters that will hopefully be read by the officials in Rio Grande.

I’ll be following this story closely, so check back for any developments. Let’s get the Rio Grande Police Blotter back where it belongs: in the hands of the readers of the Rio Grande Sun.