Donuts, charity -- and some unusual calls...

Last week cops remembered those officers who died in duty and then went on the roofs of Dunkin’ Donuts to raise money for Special Olympics.

It was, needless to say, a week that ran the gamut of emotions.

Just like the calls they answer.

It’s not unusual for major crimes to get our attention, but it’s the “other calls” that make you wonder what some people are thinking.

For example, some “interesting” calls to the Buffalo Grove Police include:

*  Cougar time:   A 76 year old woman called police about changing locks to keep longtime roommate out.   He’s 54.

* There’s a pattern here – Twice in two days a man called police because his order at Wendy’s was short chicken tenders.   The second time in two days.  With police in view, the customer was given a full refund after he returned the food and was told he was not welcomed in the restaurant again.  To the relief of chickens everywhere.

*  Keep on truckin' -- A dispatcher from a local trucking company called police to report that he had not been able to reach one of his drivers. Using GPS, they located the truck on I-81 entering Tennessee from Virginia.   No problem, except the driver as supposed to be heading west to St. Louis.

Once contacted, the driver told police the firm was “messing with him” because he had asked for home time.  He had been with the company for a month.  The dispatcher wanted to document the incident because if the truck is not returned, he will seek “further legal options to have the truck returned.”  Assuming they can find it.

* “Fore” play? A resident who lives near a golf course called police after finding some “small shinny things” on the floor.  After examination, the police identified the object as a golf ball.  The shiny things were probably the result of the golf ball coming through a hole in a window in her bedroom. The resident said she occasionally sees people driving around her court (street) “in those little cars”. The officer told the resident it was probably due to a bad golf shot.

*  And they gave her a driver’s license. Police responded to a gas station after a driver drove off with the gas hose still in car. She told police she went in to buy lottery tickets and forgot.

*  Not a live case.  Burglar responded to an alarm at a funeral home. 

*  It’s a what? Police were summoned to a house where a resident, who had just moved in, reported finding a small purse in a bedroom closet that contained what he said was a fetus. Police investigated and reported finding a plastic bag that contained a smoking pipe with a coiled snake design. Police reports say the pipe was deposited in the trash.  No further action.

*  May be time for a new wallet -- An employee of a company the services portable bathrooms found a wallet while he was cleaning a unit.  He said the wallet got stuck in the suction hose.  The employee rinsed the wallet and placed it in a plastic bag before giving it to police.  Good thing.  They did find the owner based on content.  Of the wallet, of course.

*  Any thoughts? Woman came to the police station to report that her children were not wearing coats when she picked them up from her ex-husband at McDonald’s. She wanted it documented for court purposes.  Want fries with that?

*  You can trust your car to… Manager of a gas station called police to report a woman drove off without paying for $36.42 worth of gas.  Armed with the license number, police traced down the offender who said, according to police reports, that “she was trying to teach her 16-year-old daughter how to pump gasoline into their car and that an error must have occurred when she swiped the credit card at the gas pump.”  The woman went back to the station to pay. With a credit card?

* Off track? Police were summoned to the railroad tracks (Canadian northern) to a report of a man trying to gain control to the overhead train control signals. Turns out the man, a Buffalo Grove resident, exercises daily by ski-hiking.  Part of his routine is to use the train signal’s “super structure” for stretching and pull-ups.  He was advised that the Canadian National does not want him on its property.  Or its equipment.

*  Think twice – A 31-year-old Buffalo Grove man contacted police to express concern that an online interlude, which led to Skype, resulted in an apparent extortion.  Seems as though the woman with whom the man was skyping with, described as, according to police reports, “an attractive white, half-naked female” had a male friend who was observing the whole thing with interest, especially since the Buffalo Grove resident told police he “began to remove his clothing and touch himself inappropriately.  The woman’s male friend told the Buffalo Grove man that he had to pay $3,500 or the video would be posted on YouTube and sent to the man’s family.  He was told to send the money via Western Union to a name in the Ivory Coast. Police advised the man not to send the money, unfriend the woman and, oh by the way, don’t engage in inappropriate video chats with strangers.

*  That’s the way the cookie crumbles: A resident called police to report that three cookies were reported missing from her kitchen counter.  She told police there were six cookies on the week before and now, say reports, there were three. She told police she was “scared to go back in her house and would be waiting for our arrival”

There was no sign of forced entry. The woman told police that the overhead garage door was closed, but service door was unlocked.  She told police a co-worker brought her the cookies and she put the cookies on the plate in the kitchen, on the counter.

She said one by one the cookies have gone missing. The resident told police that nothing else is missing except the cooking – except sometimes peanut butter.  Police asked the resident if it’s possible she had eaten the cookies.  She told police she does not eat cookies.

She told investigators that she had taken pictures of the cookies, but did not show officers the pictures.

The resident, who lives alone, has older children and grandchildren, but they do not have a key to the house, the resident said she was going to install a video surveillance system.

The responding office said she was going to follow up with the resident “just to confirm additional assistance is not necessary.”  Read between the lines.