Hard Crimes to Solve

Hard Crimes to Solve

Burglaries was one of the hardest crimes to solve. I think the national solve rate was about 15%. They’d either have to leave something at the crime scene that you could identify them by later, or carry something away that you could trace back to them. And that didn’t always happen.

We would look near the scene of a burglary. Sometimes they would stash their stolen goods in a secluded area nearby, and sometimes we’d be lucky enough to come upon their stash and we’d stake it out. And then when they came back for it we’d make the arrest.

We had a burglary at a saddle shop at the fairgrounds where they kept horses and tack. So, I made arrangements to stake the place out. I went in, was dropped off, and just barely got there –… out near the city dump – and they come to pick up the saddles.

And it was in the woods, with quite a bit of brush that concealed the area well. As they stepped in, I stepped out. And as they stepped in one of them said, “g.d. where’d you get ‘em?” And they said, “fairgrounds.”

So, I made the arrest there and anxiously waited for a cruiser to come by to assist me.