If people can take the time to write complaining letters, I thought I could definitely take the time to write a commending one. Vestavia Hills Police Department We had this crazy week last week when our sons truck was stolen. So what did I do? I wrote about it... Dear Vestavia Police Department, Chief Dan Rary and Mayor Zaragoza, This past week, my sixteen-year-old son’s pickup truck was stolen as he and his buddies took ten minutes to jump in the Cahaba River behind Mountain Brook High School to cool off after 105 degree football practice. When they returned, the truck was gone with backpacks, football equipment, school notebooks and supplies, iphones, watch, credit cards and drivers license to name a few. It was devastating to my son—to lose something that way, to thieves who meant to use his personal possessions for ill use. We didn’t sleep much the next few days—we changed our locks (they had our address and keys), upgraded our alarm system and thought about the two men and one woman who had stolen his truck and were driving around Birmingham for drug stops and partying. They were using my credit card at Walmart, gas stations and even a shoe store, until it stopped working. But through this credit card use, we were able to obtain video of them in the truck and using the credit card. It was a team effort led by Sergeant Donald Bradley of the Vestavia Hills Police Department. The boys had seen the perpetrators hanging around the river and could describe them; the credit card purchases let us obtain video, the police were given tips from people I don’t know and don’t need to know, and then there was the cooperation of The Birmingham Police Dept. Officer Bradley apprehended the three of them in a motel near the airport (I wish I’d been there to see it). Officer Bradley was relentless in his pursuit of these men and one woman. I don’t know who they are: I’ve seen pictures and felt a shudder of disgust but also of sadness. What becomes of someone, how do they become so callous that they can steal a young boys’ truck, throw away his school supplies and football equipment? Sell his phone? Strip his truck for money, rip off mirrors and take the attached toolbox with his fishing poles and supplies? Of course there is the feeling of innocence-lost in our young boys, but there is now also an increased awareness that we all need to have about our surroundings and our world. It’s easier, I know, not to think about what is around the corner or even a block away, but just because we don’t think about it doesn’t mean it’s not there. Our boys, our teenagers, often “complain” about the police, believing the cops are out to get them, give them speeding tickets and make their life difficult. That is, until this week. Now our boys understand that the police are there for them, to protect them and help them. The Vestavia Police department was relentless in their pursuit of justice for our boys (and the community). The boys know that the thieves were caught and are in jail, and this is because the Vestavia Police Department did their job. We do have the truck back in the driveway, but it’s not the same truck at all, just like we aren’t the same people at all. The truck has been altered, a little broken and shattered, stripped in places, but that can be fixed. A truck is only a material good easily replaced or cleaned. But not the boys – they are now more aware, less secure and less innocent than they were last week. They appreciate the police and what they do behind the scenes, and they understand that we don’t see what we don’t want to see because the police see it for us. We don’t deal with what we don’t want to deal with because the police deal with it for us. Never before, even in this small act of a car theft, have I been so aware of our fragility as a community with our teenagers. And I’m grateful for men like Sergeant Bradley and the VHPD. Along with the relentless and astute efforts of Sgt Donald Bradley, there was a team of men, fine policemen, and I want to commend them, to thank them name by name. To Officer Brad Scott, Officer Virgil Kinnell, Sgt. Lee Goodwin, Sgt. Steve Gurley, Sgt Robert Owens, Officer Rob Wilson, Officer Humphrey and Officer Cooper I offer our families immense gratitude. To Officer Hardin, thank you so much for answering all my questions and helping us sort through the “evidence”. With Gratitude, Pat and Patti Henry
Posted on: Tue, 26 Aug 2014 12:35:07 +0000
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