Case closed

For those of you who have been following the saga of our vehicle being burgled last fall, we have a conclusion to the story.

The perpetrator, who was caught when the person to whom he sold our stolen laptop contacted the manufacturer to obtain a recovery disk, plead guilty to two felonies and was sentenced to 5 1/2 years in state prison.  We were given possession of our laptop on Friday afternoon.  All in all, a mostly satisfactory conclusion to a very annoying situation.  (Interestingly, the detective assigned to our case reports that vehicle thefts in the same general area have dropped by more than 50% since this fellow was nabbed.  He had apparently been quite the busy thief.)

Since we are quick to point out egregious police misconduct on this site, we feel it's only appropriate to also note when departments and officers do their job professionally and efficiently with an emphasis on serving the public, as personified in this case by Detective Watson.  To that end, we posted the following letter today to his chief: 

Alan G. Rodbell, Chief of Police

Scottsdale Police Department

8401 E. Indian School Road

Scottsdale, AZ  85251

May 15, 2010

  

Chief Rodbell:

My name is Douglas Hester and I am a resident of Scottsdale.  I am writing to let you know how pleased I am with the excellent service I recently received from one of your officers, Detective Reid Watson #1125.

I was the victim of a vehicle burglary at my home last fall which resulted in the theft of a laptop computer.  Approximately one week after this event I received an email from the laptop manufacturer requesting that I complete a survey regarding a recent interaction with their technical support department.  Since I obviously hadn’t contacted them for service concerning property that had been stolen from me, I called and ascertained that someone had tried to obtain a recovery disk for my laptop. 

I subsequently relayed this information to your Auto Crimes division.  Detective Watson then promptly and successfully used this data to not only recover my laptop, but also track down and apprehend the person who broke into my car (and apparently many others during this crime spree).  The suspect has since pled guilty to felony charges and will be spending some years behind bars thanks to Detective Watson’s hard work and perseverance.

Police administrators such as you are always the first ones to be contacted when things go wrong; it only seems proper, then, that you also be notified when one of your employees does an outstanding job serving our community.  Detective Watson is a personable and highly competent officer who is a true asset to the city of Scottsdale.  If there is an appropriate departmental service award I would be pleased to nominate him for it.

Thank you very much for maintaining such a professional, service-oriented police department.

Sincerely,

Douglas J. Hester

Excellent work, gentlemen.  Our sincere thanks for a job well done.