Cop Stories

I remember a time in the mid '90s, in Chinquapin, LA  (No, Chinguapin isn't a real place).  A gas station on the south side of town and a guy stops in about midnight to fill up his vehicle, a Ford Econoline van.  No windows, just a basic delivery van.  White, it looked like a crackerbox on wheels.

He goes inside to pay for his gasoline before he pumps it and when he comes back outside, the van is gone.  Stolen.  He goes inside and reports his van stolen and they call the police.  Luckily, a Chinquapin PD unit was close by and rolled into the store in less than a minute.

The police officer, a seasoned veteran (we'll call him Cop A) of small town policing, interviews the victim, gets a description of the vehicle, and calls it in.  In just a few minutes, there is another call on the radio.  Cop B has the vehicle shut down, about two miles away, and it appears to be out of gas.  Cop A puts the victim in the police unit to take him to identify the vehicle, and sure enough, as they roll up, the victim identifies the vehicle as his.

Cop A and the victim get out of the unit, and the victim positively identifies his vehicle.  The car thief is in custody in the back of the cruiser, charged with Theft of A Movable, being the vehicle in question.  Cop B asks the victim for the third time if he's absolutely, positively sure that the vehicle is his, and the victim identifies the vehicle as his.  Produces his registration from the vehicle glove box, which is checked against his driver's license.  Sure enough, he's the registered owner of the vehicle.

At which time Cop B puts the victim in handcuffs and reads him the Mirada warning.  Cop A is considerably confused until Cop B explains that the rear of the panel van contains a fully working meth lab, bubbling happily away.  The car t hief is charged with car theft, and the victim is charged with Production of Methamphetamine, which carries a much stiffer sentence.

Sometimes it doesn't pay to ist your vehicle as stolen.