Corporal Polonsky responded to a couple of shoplifters giving Loss Prevention (LP) the business at a local grocery. As it were, the adult daughter swiped a pack of feminine hygiene products. She left the store with mom and made no effort to pay for them. LP tried to stop Thelma and Louise in the parking lot. When one of the LP agents stopped the daughter, mom jumped in and walloped the agent in the head. Mom's inner bear came out. To the rest of us, she assaulted the LP and rendered criminal assistance. Mom went to jail for those two charges plus some warrants. Daughter went for theft and assault, too. The kicker? Daughter had $20 in her pocket. [Sergeant Jeff Schaefer]

Oops, wrong window.

Officers responded to a burglary in progress in the 1900 block of Burwell Street. A male kicked in a window pane, which oddly did not shatter, and tried to enter the residence. The homeowners had a slight struggle with the male, yelling at him that it was not his house. This seemed to snap that intruder back to reality as he promptly fled down the alley toward Naval Avenue. Units were in the area almost immediately and quickly set up containment. Just as Officer Allan McComas was about to deploy K9 Lokie for a track, the suspect came into view on Burwell Street. Officer McComas caught up with the man, who looked like he had a little too much to drink and lost a fight with a holly bush. One of the victims confirmed the man was the suspect. He went to jail for a malicious mischief charge and trespassing.

"But it's my own car!"

Officer Adam Merritt fielded a call from a local used car dealer. They recently repossessed a silver Dodge Neon which was now missing from their lot. The business reported the vehicle as stolen. Later when approving reports, I realized I saw this car out and about last night. Dang it! Anyway, there was a GPS unit in the car showing it down at the Emerald Queen Casino. Puyallup Tribal Police were requested to go check the parking lot, but the car was gone when they arrived. Officer Merritt did what Officer Merritt does. He spotted that stolen car back in Bremerton at an intersection, pulled it over and arrested the driver. The suspect was also booked for ripping the interior of the car apart to remove the GPS and for drug paraphernalia. He yelled, "It's my own car!" The suspect clearly has no understanding of that whole "possession is nine tenths of the law." And to be honest with you, I don't know what that means either. [Sergeant Schaefer]

From the tiny acorn, the mighty oak grows. 

Officer Adam Merritt was passing through a parking lot of an auto parts store on Kitsap Way when he saw a parked car with no plates. There was a trip permit in the back window that had been laminated. I'll admit, this is brilliant because you can reuse it. Nonetheless, it is illegal. Officer Merritt contacted the occupant, who tried to walk off toward the store as if he was there to buy auto parts. He was persuaded to get back into the car and informed he was not free to go. Officer Merritt ran the name that the suspect provided, but it was returned with physicals that didn't match the occupant. When told that he was under arrest for making a false statement, the guy had the gall to try to start his car and reach for the shifter. Officers pounced and had to fight the guy to get him to quit resisting. They got him out of the car and onto the ground where he was handcuffed. In his pockets were several checks and a vehicle title that were later determined by Corporal Jason Vertefeuille to be stolen in recent car prowls and mail thefts. The guy confessed, saying he gave a friend's name because he had a couple of felony warrants. This simple trip permit violation ended up turning into six charges including three felonies. [Sergeant Schaefer]

Step Brothers 

Officer Tara Munjekovich said she spent two hours of her life she's never going to get back working on a sibling dispute on the east side. Before I go much further, I should probably tell you that the brothers are 19 and 25 years old, residing in mom's duplex. Anyway, they're tired of sharing a room because while one must get up at o'dark thirty to go to work, the other brother plays video games all day. This caused an argument today where they told each other to shut up. Officer Munjekovich suggested they get bunk beds so they have more room for activities. She persuaded one of the brothers to promise to keep his body parts off of the other brother's drum set. While this was going on, mom didn't bother to look up from the Christmas Miracle marathon on the Hallmark Channel. When asked, she basically planned to ignore the situation, hoping it would go away on its own. [Sergeant Schaefer]

"Just arrest me, man!"

Officer Ross Guiney was en route to a noise complaint when he was almost struck head on by a vehicle that veered into his lane. The driver was clearly intoxicated and was arrested. The man failed most of the SFST's and asked if he could just be arrested to get it over with. Officer Guiney obliged and arrested him. He was transported to the office where he blew a .315 on the BAC. He was so drunk he had to be evaluated by a doctor before the jail would book him. [Corporal Mike Nelson]

Reckless driver buys Kitsap Transit a new bus shelter for Christmas.

A guy who just left the shipyard came burning through the curves on Charleston Boulevard near Kitsap Transit. He lost control of his Z that he just bought four days ago and took out a bus shelter and smacked into a pole. Believe it or not, he wasn't drunk. I swear those bus shelters are made out of magnets. I think we lost two or three of them last year to car crashes.



Not really in the Christmas spirit.

A father, his girlfriend and adult son were on the ferry heading back to Bremerton when they heard someone screaming from the open seating area outside of the main cabin. They went to make sure everything was okay and discovered a young couple arguing. For their trouble of checking on their welfare, the woman socked the son in the face. When his father's girlfriend stepped in, she also was punched and knocked to the floor. The wildcat wasn't done there as several other family members stepped in to quell the melee. A poor ferry worker just doing his job also took a shot in the face.

Assault and Pepper

Corporal Vertefeuille handled an assault at local restaurant where a patron, upset about the quality of his and his girlfriend's food chucked a pepper shaker at the cook. According to the diners, their food came under cooked and with a hair on it. The suspect admitted to throwing a pepper shaker and some pocket change at the cook after they got into a verbal dispute with him. [Sergeant Schaefer]

Hero mode activated!

Corporal Jason Vertefeuille and Officer Paul Madison responded to a structure fire on Marguerite Avenue. Officer Madison risked his safety in thick, heavy smoke as he made his way into the kitchen where he located an elderly woman who was trying to find her medications. Officer Paul Madison helped her evacuate the burning structure. Corporal Vertefeuille heard confusion over whether anyone was still in the basement. He tried to access the basement windows but found out they were locked. He and Officer Madison broke out the windows, but then learned everyone had evacuated. Running into danger while others run from it, that's what we do. I'm so proud to work with these two heroes. [Sergeant Schaefer]

Have you ever seen a trip permit filled out properly?

Stop me if you heard this one. A guy with an altered trip permit gets stopped by Officer Merritt...

And that was just the beginning of this guy's problems. It was discovered the trip permit had been "whited out" and reused. In case you don't know how trip permits work, they are a one-time. He had two warrants, was suspended and had no ignition interlock. When asked about the missing interlock, "What's that?" [Sergeant Schaefer]

Pre-Shift Pre-Funk

Officer Forbragd witnessed a driver sail through the pedestrian red light out in front of the Police Department. He stopped the driver who said he thought it was yellow. Officer Forbragd detected that the driver may have been suckin' back on grandpa's cough medicine. The violator said he didn't "think" he had anything to drink today. Do you see a problem here? The best part was that the guy was on his way to work...at a bar.

He failed the FST's and was placed under arrest. At the driver's request, Officer Forbragd grabbed the guy's wallet out of the car. It looked like the driver had been drinking something out of a water bottle. When asked, the driver admitted to having a couple of screwdrivers before leaving the house but was pretty hush hush about what was in the water bottle. The man provided breath samples and was booked into jail for DUI. [Sergeant Schaefer]

Think about it before you press send.

A 54-year-old male looking for companionship responded to an unsolicited message over the Internet. He quickly responded. As the relationship developed, his new friend requested a photograph of a personal body part. Shortly after he snapped and pressed send, he received a demand for cash to avoid further exposure.

Officer Prouse encouraged our victim to block this number and no longer respond to their messages. While the stranger is yet to be identified, our hope is that those reading will not have to learn a similar lesson.

60 minutes of lights and sirens, no victims and an early end to a New Year's Party.

From 2345 to 0045 all available officers, including Washington State Troopers, responded to multiple fights in progress between the Golden Star Restaurant and the Masonic Temple. It was an hour filled with high energy...responsible driving...exceptional police work...and little to no cooperation from the peanut gallery.

Officers initially responded to a malicious mischief in the parking lot of SAARs. Tires were slashed, and beer bottles were smashed. However, the owner of the assaulted vehicle was nowhere to be found. Responding officers eventually determined those responsible for the damage were associated with the New Year's party at the Masonic Temple.

Officer Ejde and Officer George, who were providing off-duty security at the Temple and had already addressed multiple melees (they lost count after seven) were alerted to the possibility of retaliation at the Temple. A car load returned to the Temple and attempted to instigate a new fight in a nearby parking lot. The quick response of officers snuffed this out.

As officers were clearing, Cencom dispatched an assault with injuries at the Golden Star. A customer was reported to have sustained serious injuries during the assault. As every available officer converged on the Star, the crowd was in various stages of disbursement. Amazingly, no one saw anything. Even the victim, who was transported from the scene, was undecided on her status as a victim.

As officers were sorting out the confusion at the Star, Officer George requested all available officers to respond back to the Temple as a new fight was spilling out into the parking lot. All officers who were not tied up at the Star, raced back across town and converged on the Temple. The decision was made to end the New Year's Party early and the Temple was cleared.

Scraping the bottom.

A 30-year-old woman reported that she and her husband separated a month prior only to reconcile just prior to the holiday season. She was mortified when a friend alerted her that someone was posting private pictures of her on the interwebs. Initially she suspected her husband's three-week fling was responsible. After a thorough investigation, Corporal Polonsky collected a confession from the fling's 17-year-old BFF. She admitted to obtaining photographs off a phone and posting them. When asked why she did this, the BFF said she just wanted to be 'petty' because the husband's wife ruined her friend's relationship with the man by getting back together. Hmm...several words come to my mind, but 'petty' is not one of them. [Sergeant Billy Renfro]

K9 Esco at work.

Officer Derek was checking an abandoned building. It appeared someone had fled out the back door. This was a burglary, not a simple trespass. Derek found an ID card inside which belonged to a man who had a warrant for his arrest. K9 Esco and Officer Faidley responded to the scene and began working their magic. I got to view the track from across the water (through my binos) and watched as Esco zeroed in on the back-porch area where the suspect was located hiding under a piece of plywood. He was taken into custody, without incident and booked into jail on his warrant and local charges. Awesome work by K9 Esco. It is so much safer having a K9 point out a hiding suspect. It allows us to engage verbally and no one is injured. [Sergeant Renfro]

Warrant leads to drugs.

Officer Trask was just minding his business when he observed a truck drive into a parking lot with no license plate. He engaged the person with casual conversation and simply asked if he had warrants. He said, "I got a warrant out for my arrest." The man was right. He was arrested on his warrant and a search of his clothing revealed a meth pipe with meth crystals still inside. He was booked into the jail on his warrant and the dope charge as well. [Corporal Nelson]