Not a Police Officer
Tuesday, August 26 at 8:44 p.m. – intersection of 21st and Pearl Streets – Officers responded to a call of a Suspicious Person and were told by witnesses that the person in question had been banging loudly on a residential door near the intersection, claiming to be a police officer. None of the residents had opened the door because the fellow was dressed in “regular” clothes and “did not appear to be a policeman.” [There’s a switch on the TV shows where the detectives walk into a bar, and the bartender, who has never seen them before, immediately addresses them as “officers” because they just “look like cops.”] In this case, the fellow was under 18. He was also reported as having been trying doorknobs on homes in the area. Police detained a subject (who was not a police officer), and he was positively identified by witnesses in the neighborhood. The fellow, a minor from Los Angeles, was arrested for attempted burglary and violation of probation.
Threat of Fire
Saturday, August 23 at 1:36 p.m. – 900 block of 15th Street – Officers responded on a call of Suspicious Circumstances and discovered a man in front of an apartment building yelling out for a woman inside the building. When confronted by a neighbor who also lived in the building, the man had reportedly threatened to set the building on fire. The man, a Los Angeles resident, was arrested and booked for criminal threats and on an outstanding warrant.
Fire Department Report
Tuesday, August 26 at 11:40 a.m. – 1500 block of 11th Street – Officers responded to a call from the Fire Department of an Intoxicated Subject. Firefighters were on the scene with a man who was becoming combative. Police handcuffed the man and later learned that he had pushed an elderly lady to the ground as she was walking her dog. The man, a resident of the Windy City of Chicago according to his identification, was arrested and cited for battery, elder abuse, being under the influence of a controlled substance, and violation of probation. [Did you know that the Windy City takes that sobriquet not from the chill winds blowing off Lake Michigan, but from the 19th century reputation of its citizens for talking incessantly about the greatness of their city? As in “windbag.”]
Speaking of Firefighters
Saturday, September 20 at 8 p.m. to 1 a.m. – 100 block of Wilshire Boulevard, Fairmont Miramar Hotel – Save the date! Though this space is usually reserved for the adventures of the Santa Monica Police Department, its Public Safety brothers and sisters on the Santa Monica Fire Department will be holding their 32nd Annual Benefit Dance and Casino Night – known in other times, and perhaps still in other places, as the Firemen’s Ball. Truly a grand time for all. For tickets and information, call 310.391.7714.
