Nov. 20--TUPELO -- Smart criminal is an oxymoron if you ask Lt. Tim Tate.
Tate has seen and heard a lot of crazy things during his tenure as a police officer and detective and he never ceases to be amazed by the stupidity some people display while trying to commit crimes.
"People just don't think sometimes and when they do it's often not a very good idea to begin with," said Tate. "I remember two bank robberies where we caught the suspects because of dumb mistakes. Once we had a guy to write the demand note on his resume and the other time a guy wrote it on his deposit slip. Just silly."
Tate said he also remembers once when a man went in a store to buy beer and had to show his driver's license. Well, that man robbed the store, took the beer and left the license. He is now serving hard time for all of those mistakes.
Tupelo Policeman Marty Mask has also seen his share of follies and foolishness when dealing with criminals. Mask said often other people are just as surprised and shocked as the officers are.
"Officers responded to a call of a man who had a woman in his apartment and did not know who she was," remembered Mask about one incident. "Sure enough they arrived and found an extremely intoxicated female passed out in this man's apartment. He said he had gotten back home to find her passed out on his sofa and he couldn't get her awake and didn't know who she was. Needless to say, she was carted off to jail where she was identified and incarcerated."
Mask said safety checkpoints also provide humor for officers at times.
"On one such occasion officers were operating a checkpoint when a vehicle suddenly on approach turned around and sped off the other way. One officer jumped in his car not realizing another officer had placed an arrested person in the back seat," said Mask. "The officer about jumped out of his skin when he looked in the rear view mirror and saw someone looking back at him from the back seat."
Before crazy encounters reach police, they often are called in at Lee County 911. Tanya Mayo is a communication leader at 911 and has had plenty of weird calls while on the job.
"I remember a call came in once that was just odd," said Mayo. "The caller called in and said you won't believe this but there is a miniature pony walking down South Gloster with a red bow tied around his neck," recalled Mayo. "The pony was a birthday gift that walked away from the party at Bumpers on South Gloster. That was a good one."
Mayo remembered another call that came in that sounded very serious when a woman reported a man had come through her home and run out the back door. The woman said the man had stolen items from her and when the dispatcher asked what was taken, she answered a box of Little Debbie Zebra Cakes.
But the call that took the cake, so to speak, was when a call came in on a drug complaint.
"We had a person to call in to 911 to report that a drug dealer had sold them bad drugs," said Mayo. "Now that was an actual call."
Copyright 2011 - Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal, Tupelo
