On Monday morning June 13, 1966 at 8:00 AM, I was scheduled to work an extra traffic assignment with C. W. Blakeslee Company. The location was Weybosset and Cranston Streets. I arrived early only to be informed by the Foreman Bernie Kuhn that work on repaving Weybosset Street was cancelled. Bernie stated that over the weekend, vandals had damaged the construction equipment. One large tire on the road grader was slashed and someone filled the gas tank with sand. The battery on the bulldozer had been removed and smashed and the spark plug wires ripped out, All and all, thousands of dollars worth of damage had occurred. The equipment was parked in a vacant lot over the weekend. I offered to stay and try to solve the crime and catch the vandals. Bernie said, Ok Bob. Good luck. We never catch the vandals that damage our equipment. I went to the vacant lot and looked for evidence. Around the road grader were several sneaker prints. I took a pad and pencil and drew the different patterns on paper. Circles, squares and diamond shapes. Taking the different patterns and wear marks, no two are alike. See sample. Also I measured the exact length and width of each sneaker print. At about 3:00 PM, one at a time the neighborhood kids came around. Looking at the damage. One at a time, I checked the bottoms of their sneakers. This is speedy information so no search warrant was necessary. I found 5 of the vandals who admitted to it and they squealed on 2 others. I went to each house and spoke to the parents.They were all home owners and had insurance to cover the damage their children had caused. The total came to almost $4000.00 which C.W. Blakeslee would have lost. I referred each kid to juvenile court. The next morning all the damage was repaired and the repaving of Weybosset Street was completed, making the neighborhood more beautiful and a better place to live. C.W. Blakeslee sent a beautiful letter to Chief McManus. I was commended for excellent police work.
Posted on: Sun, 20 Jul 2014 15:42:33 +0000
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