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Young Aaron Kazuta and even younger Rob Feenan were on patrol. They stopped in Gastown to deal with a fellow who was causing problems. A quick check on the computer system determined that there was an outstanding warrant for his arrest. After making the broadcast, rob stood the portable radio on the roof of the car to leave both his hands free while they were handcuffing their prisoner. A wagon was called, arrived onscene, but he was across the street. Rob and Aaron both walked with the prisoner over to the wagon, forgetting all about the radio on the roof of their car. After doing the necessary paperwork and putting the guy in the wagon, they walked back across the street, where Rob quickly discovered his radio was missing. Stolen right off the roof of their police car. Of all the nerve.
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Of course, not too much was said about this, and the first indication I had that something was wrong, was during a radio broadcast, when a strange voice came over the air, drowning everyone out. I was the Acting Sergeant for the afternoon shift crew, and Aaron and Rob were on days. I got a message on my computer from the communications center Sergeant saying that they had received an annoymous call telling us who might have our missing radio.
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I sent out a message on the computer to advise units to be on the lookout for the described male and be aware of the fact he had one of our radios. Of course, I poked a little fun too. I had been told that Aaron Kazuta had lost the radio, and being the caring, sensitive lot that we are, everyone started poking fun at him.
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I got a frantic phone call later from Aaron denying that they had lost a radio. His exact words were, "I didn’t lose the radio, my partner Feenan did". Well it’s traditional that the senior partner in a car, takes the heat when things go bad and while Aaron only has a couple of years on the job, Feenan has only one.
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Pete Sadler from my squad, found the described suspect and had a little discussion with him. He told the crook that he knew that he had the radio, and that it would be in his best interests to turn it in. Pete gave him an hour to complete the recovery, since the suspect said that he didn’t have the radio, but he was very confident that he could get it. An hour and five minutes later, the suspect very sheepishly walked into police headquarters and turned the radio over to Pete.
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Pete let it be known, via a scrawled
message on the blackboard, that he now had the missing radio, and that
if Feenan and Kazuta wanted it back, it would cost them a 24 pack of Old
Milwaukee beer. After much hemming and hawing the next day, Feenan and
Kazuta coughed up a pack of Budweiser. Unfortunately for them, it wasn’t
the required 24 pack, but a 15 pack. Pete gave the radio back, but, I expect
there will be a lot of razzing going on over the two young guys being so
cheap. The beer will be put to good use at our next squad party.
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