I knew I was going to write about this as it happened, I just didn't think it would be so soon. But after reading the account on Badger Blogger of overzealous Sheboygan police officers arresting a grandmother for not promptly submitting paperwork after being bit by her own dog, it seemed the time was ripe.
Somewhere between midnight and 1am last night I was having trouble sleeping. After tossing and turning for about twenty minutes, I went to my kitchen to get a glass of water. Just about then I heard a woman shouting "Get on the ground! Face down!"
I finished pouring my water and made my way to the front of the house where I saw two police officers (neither Shorewood or Milwaukee), guns drawn, slowly approaching a girl laying in the middle of the street. Within seconds she was cuffed and sitting on a curb.
From what I was able to put together from snippets I overheard from the officers (of course I sat down on my front porch to get a front row seat for the action), the girl had led the police on a high-speed chase through three cities. That only one squad car was present and I hadn't heard any sirens seemed odd, but that's probably a discussion for another day. What truly interested me was the five Shorewood squads that soon arrived and stayed for the better part of an hour as the car was searched and the cops shared the story of the chase.
Now since the arrest was being made in Shorewood by non-Shorewood police, I can understand why a Shorewood squad was on the scene. But considering the girl was already cuffed by the time the first Shorewood officer arrived, I was a bit stunned by all the others that arrived and stayed to literally stand around for such a long period of time.
As Shorewood has seen a rise in muggings and break-ins as of late, and not to forget a string of armed robberies that took place along Oakland Avenue in the past few years, it wasn't very reassuring to see such a seemingly unnecessary police presence in a single spot. In fact, a neighbor who was coming home as all of this took place even mentioned that she thought something must be happening, since on her drive through Shorewood she didn't see any police cars in any of their usual haunts. Imagine her surprise to find that they were all sitting right in front of her house!
(Speaking of haunts, I should also note here that it's pretty much a given that Shorewood police focus most of their attention on the intersection of Oakland and Capitol. After all, it's where they're all but guaranteed to pull a car over for some sort of moving violation.)
In no way am I defending whatever this girl did to get arrested, but I really have to wonder how pro-active Shorewood police are being in protecting the community when they all show up at a crime scene to just check things out. In the past I've been rather complimentary of the department, even if their fast response to calls have been after the fact. But the next time I'm calling the police out to my house to report another break-in to my car or garage, I'll really be forced to wonder if maybe the crime hadn't been commit ed if crooks knew the SPD was actually out patrolling and not just spending it's time where ticket revenue can be generated or all the "action" supposedly is.
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