Thursday, August 26, 2010

Officers have knack for catching burglars in the act


This morning I presented Certificates of Commendation to Officers Rick Hulme and Daniel Quiles, who work in our East Patrol Division. As you'll read in their story below, they've developed quite a talent for interrupting burglaries in progress and catching the perpetrators:

In one week, Officers Rick Hulme and Daniel Quiles interrupted three burglaries in progress and arrested five suspects.

Their streak started on January 22, 2010, at a vacant hotel in the 7900 block of East 40 Highway. They saw a truck backed up to the hotel’s maintenance doors. As they approached, they saw a man start running. Officer Hulme took off after him while Officer Quiles went after a man who’d gone running in another direction. The officers got both of the suspects into custody and discovered they’d broken into the hotel and had stripped a significant amount of copper power lines out of the building, causing significant damage. The owner of the building wanted to prosecute, and both suspects were charged.

Six days later on January 28, 2010, Officers Hulme and Quiles were dispatched to 31st and Bellefontaine about a business burglary in progress. They arrived quickly but kept quiet so as not to scare off any potential suspects. They found a truck backed through a roll-up garage door on the front of a tire store. They asked for additional officers and then approached the garage door. They surprised two suspects who were attempting to steal and load a new engine into the bed of their truck. They took the suspects into custody without incident.

The very next day, January 29, 2010, Officers Hulme and Quiles saw a pending call for service in the 5100 block of Raytown Road about another potential non-residential burglary in progress. They started heading that way before being dispatched. They met with the manager of Croft Trailers who said he’d received an alarm call, and the building had been broken into before. The officers found a point of entry for suspects and requested a canine unit to help search the building because it was so large. A short time after a canine officer and dog arrived, the suspect fled from the building on foot and was taken into custody by Officer Quiles and his supervisor.

Sergeant Scott Simons said Officers Hulme and Quiles “have seemed to develop a knack for interrupting burglaries in progress.” In the seven months before this January 2010 streak, they’d interrupted and made arrests in four other burglaries.

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