Was working patrol in the wee hours of the morning when a burglary alarm call came in. It was a machine shop near the rail road tracks. Two other officers and I arrived and could hear that this was an “audible alarm”; that is there was a screeching horn going off on top of the building. Now this was no ordinary alarm buzzer; this was akin to Titanic’s foghorn; so loud it woke man, beast, the dead and some sensitive ears in the Yukon.
The other officers and I chatted outside the business,
“I THINK WE SHOULD CHECK THE BUILDING"
“WHAT?”
“I SAID WE SHOULD CHECK THE BUILDING.”
“I CAN’T HEAR WHAT YOU’RE SAYING.”
"LET’S CHECK THE BUILDING."
“FORGET, IT… LET’S JUST CHECK THE BUILDING.”
I walked around to the rear and saw an open door; so I did what all good cops do when they see an open door- pointed my trusty Sig Sauer P220 .45 auto at it. Obviously, there was no point, anyone who might have broken the door open would have fled long ago, so I holstered back up. Then, I saw someone moving inside, I again drew my automatic, but then thought, “It’s got to be just an employee, no criminal would be here with this alarm” so I again put betsy away, not wanting to frighten the owner or late-night worker. I then watched as the person, who I could now see was some dirty teen-ager; walk out the door with an arm full of tools. Now the pistol came out to stay, and I started calmly telling the suspect to,
“DROPTHETOOLSPUTUPYOURHANDSLETMESEEYOURHANDSNOW!!!”
I got the desired result, seeing a .45 auto pointed at you by a nervous cop usually does the trick... he dropped the tools and put up his hands.
Later, at the station while booking this young man for his crime, we all agreed... deaf people should not be burglars.
