Turn in the Naughty

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Earn extra nice points, turn in those being naughty

Puyallup police want holiday shoppers to be on the lookout for suspicious activity.

As an incentive, they’ve created the “Dial a Prowler” program in which tipsters can receive gift certificates if their information results in an arrest, the Puyallup Police Department reported.

The department kicked off the holiday “Not in Puyallup” campaign this morning at the South Hill Mall.

This is the first year for the “Dial a Prowler” program in Puyallup. It’s the creation of the department’s problem-oriented policing unit, police spokeswoman Lorri Ericson said.

Here’s how the “Dial a Prowler” program works.

A citizen who sees something suspicious or witnesses a car prowl or theft is asked to call 911. If the tip results in an arrest, the tipster will receive a gift certificate to a South Hill Mall business.

The mall bought signs for its parking lot that advertise the program. In addition, Target, Macy’s, Famous Dave’s, TGI Friday’s, Red Robin, JC Penny’s and The Buckle have donated gift certificates.

Also part of the “Not in Puyallup” campaign, volunteers, police officers and explorer scouts will be patrolling the mall parking lots for suspicious activity. As part of their work, they’ll be evaluating parked cars for their vulnerability to prowlers and thieves. Fliers will be left on the car windshield to let drivers know if they were vulnerable to thieves and why.

The programs will be in place through the holiday shopping season, Ericson said.

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"Officer, arrest that man who is OC so I can get my gift certificate."

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Let's see.... If I wrap up some of the household garbage, in a fairly nice package, and leave it setting on the top of the canopy on my truck,...I think that would be "suspicious". It would also be great to see the face of the thief when he opened the box.

Jim

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Mainsail wrote:

As part of their work, they’ll be evaluating parked cars for their vulnerability to prowlers and thieves. Fliers will be left on the car windshield to let drivers know if they were vulnerable to thieves and why.

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That's so nice of them. Point out the vehicles that are easy to break into and leave detailed instructions for the thief. :banghead:

LoveMyCountry

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It will be entertaining to see how long this lasts.

If you are down there, make sure to report "suspicious" behavior early and often. You can't be too sure. Hey, that guy with a beard could be Osama Bin Laden! The vaguely Arab-looking guy could be a terrorist! Better safe than sorry, I say.

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I find it suspicious that more citizens refuse to carry a weapon...who do I calll and what do I get?

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LoveMyCountry wrote:

Mainsail wrote:

As part of their work, they’ll be evaluating parked cars for their vulnerability to prowlers and thieves. Fliers will be left on the car windshield to let drivers know if they were vulnerable to thieves and why.

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That's so nice of them. Point out the vehicles that are easy to break into and leave detailed instructions for the thief. :banghead:

LoveMyCountry

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They did that last year when I was shopping at the Puyallup Walmart.....my first thought was, "Who the f*** put something on my windshield? That better not be some kind of ticket......" I was puzzled, because I already knew I didn't leave crap out in my car for things to steal...duh...

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Hello? Comrade Officer? I wish to report some suspicious behavior...

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sv_libertarian wrote:

Hello? Comrade Officer? I wish to report some suspicious behavior...

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Yup, more attempts to turn this country into some kind of soviet gulag, where snitches are rewarded!

Utterly outrageous, and beneath contempt, IMO!

TrueBrit.

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I think it's a good program. I'm no used to seeing the police being proactive about stopping crime, usually just reactive. There's nothing wrong with this program, IMO, and it doesn't say that the police will be arresting people just for being suspicious, just that they are encouraging the citizens to let them know about possible car theives and other crime so that they can prevent and stop it. This is exactly what I pay taxes for and expect from the police, I'm just not used to actually seeing a department attempt to live up to my expectations like this department appears to be.



This is a lot more than I expected from the Puyallup "Tribal" Police, so I doubt it's them, since from my experience none of them deserve to wear a badge. Long story, and this isn't the place for it.

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You guys sure sound like a paranoid bunch.

I guess you would rather have people ignore suspected car prowlers or child molesters. Ya know everyone has to earn a living and burglarizing cars is just another job so why rattle the guys cage for getting in a nights work bymaking a "suspicous person" call?

After all big brothers eyes are on all the OC'ers just waiting to harrass you.

If you were bikers this whole bunch would be called 1%ers.

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The notion of paying people to be on the look out for prowlers is what bothers me. Why do you have to give people an incentive in order to do the right thing and report suspicious behavior?

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"Officer, I saw all these people with guns and ammunition and everything near the Fairgrounds! :what:"

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sv_libertarian wrote:

The notion of paying people to be on the look out for prowlers is what bothers me. Why do you have to give people an incentive in order to do the right thing and report suspicious behavior?

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My feelings exactly, Sir! PROPER folks need no such inducements!

Rewards like this give an incentive to embellish, IMO.

TrueBrit.

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TrueBrit wrote:

My feelings exactly, Sir! PROPER folks need no such inducements!

Rewards like this give an incentive to embellish, IMO.

TrueBrit.

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Sir? I work for a living

Agreed, people will embellish when there is a reward. I see the reward is for an arrest, not a conviction. A person can spin a good enough yarn to get someone arrested. Imagine someone lost, driving slowly looking at street signs and house numbers, maybe turning around and driving in circles... I could spin that well enough, make up enough crap to get that guy arrested.

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sv_libertarian wrote:

TrueBrit wrote:

My feelings exactly, Sir! PROPER folks need no such inducements!

Rewards like this give an incentive to embellish, IMO.

TrueBrit.

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Sir? I work for a living

Agreed, people will embellish when there is a reward. I see the reward is for an arrest, not a conviction. A person can spin a good enough yarn to get someone arrested. Imagine someone lost, driving slowly looking at street signs and house numbers, maybe turning around and driving in circles... I could spin that well enough, make up enough crap to get that guy arrested.

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My apologies for the formality, it is just my hybrid Southron/TrueBrit way!

As Hank Jnr says,"We say grace, and we say"Ma'am"......

No worries, mate, good to see that someone else has a hearty suspicion of this kind of questionable program!

Best wishes,

TrueBrit.

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Pure bored sarcasam on my part...

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I can see what you guys are saying about people trying to get non-criminals arrested, just so that they can get a gift card. I can see them lieing to the police about seeing someone doing something wrong. I understand how this could be a bad idea. I was just really excited to see a police department being proactive. I hope this turns out to be a better program than some of us are fearing.

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I think it is good. I think more people know that it is a crime to file a false police report, most think it is illegal to report something false, than know what an actual crime looks like. I think that people are not going to try and make something up to get a gift card because they have more important things to do.

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Bill45 wrote:

You guys sure sound like a paranoid bunch.

I guess you would rather have people ignore suspected car prowlers or child molesters. Ya know everyone has to earn a living and burglarizing cars is just another job so why rattle the guys cage for getting in a nights work bymaking a "suspicous person" call?

After all big brothers eyes are on all the OC'ers just waiting to harrass you.

If you were bikers this whole bunch would be called 1%ers.

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Who in the Hell said anything about child molesters? :cuss:How can you equate them with car prowls? And where did you get the "IF you were bikers" assumption? How do you know who or what we are?

Now, we realize thatyou've only been here for two months and that you haven't participated very much, soperhaps you shouldn't be so quick to lump us all together under such a general assumption. After all you don't see all of us looking at you and shouting Troll.


We are not paranoid. But we are realists. This will just have the sheeple calling every time they see a PWAGAN because they think it's suspicious.

How many suspicious person calls will be over-reaction from people looking to make a quick buck? Ask any police department involved with a "Crimestoppers" program or an "America's Most Wanted" episode how many bogus "tips" they get when a segment is aired. Most of the events aired on "Crimestoppers" generate NO usable leads and AMW gets very few, if any, from their thousands of calls.

Decent people will do the right thing. And need no reward or glory for doing so.