Law Roundup: Stakeout uncessary after key produced for vehicle

Did he lose his keys or something more ominous? That was the concern of a person who called the Kalispell Police Department while watching a man in a hooded sweatshirt trying to get into a blue Volkswagen.

The man had been fiddling with the door of the car for about five minutes when he produced a wire, the caller said, but it didn’t look like he knew what to do with it. The caller told police he would stay to keep an eye on things, but the stakeout ended early when the formerly suspicious man’s grandfather walked up with a key to the vehicle.

A man warning passersby of the dangers of hell got a warning himself from police officers.

Someone got tired of looking at an abandoned vehicle, telling officers it had been in the same spot for six months.

Following up on a sick dog, officers reported the animal was out of home quarantine and appeared healthy.

A forgetful shopper called police after leaving her purse in a cart at the store. She told officers that she watched the store’s surveillance video and saw a white van pull up. A woman hopped out and took the bag. She said she would wait at the store for police officers.

Loss prevention personnel at another store thought they caught a pair of shoplifters, but it turned out they were unsure if anything had been shoplifted. Still, they had the offending individuals barred from the property.

Officers checked in on a man reportedly laying on the sidewalk. A caller said they thought he was drunk, but he told officers he was just sleeping.

Someone spotted a pedestrian walking around with a bottle of alcohol.

A hamburgler was reported at a local store. Employees said he walked out with meat stuffed down his pants. They provided police officers with surveillance footage.

A missing person turned out to not be missing after all.

A woman walked out of a store with an orange bucket and power tools without paying.

Someone asked for extra patrols of the neighborhood after seeing the same red truck parked outside for the past couple of nights.

An apartment dweller reported seeing drug deals go down all day long.

A man needed police help while breaking up with his girlfriend.

Someone was going through a “blessings box.” They left after officers arrived.

A store employee worried about two cars parked each morning by their place of work. They thought the people in the cars were sleeping at the location overnight. They asked that police officers remove the two if possible. When approached, the people in cars explained that they were transients camping out overnight in that spot because the lighting and fencing made it safer. They agreed to leave.

A property manager reported receiving threatening text messages.

The owner of several parking spaces wanted a vehicle towed.

Someone wanted police officers to contact a juvenile that appeared in a video throwing rocks and a basketball at rabbits. Police unsuccessfully tried to reach the child’s parent.

The president of a homeowner association asked police officers to remove an abandoned pickup truck from the neighborhood. However, investigating officers thought the truck looked too well cared for to be abandoned. When they told the president that, she said she had called on behalf of another homeowner. She said she would get to the bottom of it.

A person cleaning up a public park found about 20 needles and wanted to know what to do with them. In response, police decided to add extra patrols to the area at night.

Someone noticed a lot of speeding drivers on their street and wanted to know if police could make an extra patrol and maybe bring the traffic trailer with them.