Northwest Flyer Guys – Part 2

There is more to the fascinating story of a speedy arrest in McHenry, Ill. on December 18 (anyone humming the refrain from Alice’s Restaurant yet?).

A felony traffic stop was made by the arriving officers, and three alleged suspects were taken into custody at gunpoint. The reported crime? “Potential” burglary. The real “crime”? Hanging advertising circulars on door handles!

Where did the arrest procedures go awry?

The arriving officer didn’t get the facts. According to the Northwest Herald, a McHenry PD sergeant said, “Someone was rattling door knobs and that they thought it could be a burglar.” Well, it could have been an early Santa Claus.

The officers, unnamed so far in media reporting, made an assumption that a crime had been committed. Does rattling a door knob, if that is what actually happened, constitute an attempted burglary? Or did the resident just hear someone at his or her front door?

Now, we want police to respond quickly – and appropriately! Exactly what did the homeowner tell the police dispatcher, and exactly what did the dispatcher put out on the police radio or computer? My personal experience is that what I have told a dispatcher is not necessarily what a dispatcher then told the patrol officer.

As the owner of Northwest Flyer Guys drove out of the neighborhood with his two employees, an oncoming police officer gave them “the eye”. As his was the only car on the roadway, he pulled over as the cop turned around.

The officer approached the car and ordered the driver out at gunpoint. The driver and the two passengers were ordered to the ground and handcuffed, then placed in a police car, while the cops sorted things out.

I wonder if the police reports indicated that the officers were laughing about what was happening. Some professionalism, eh?

After the police got the “facts”, the owner and one employee were released, and employee Pete Burwell was charged with Disorderly Conduct. Apparently, the homeowner was “alarmed and disturbed” by a sound at his (her?) door. Now, how does a homeowner just happen to come up with the exact wording from the statute for a Disorderly Conduct charge?

Since the police had already drawn guns, handcuffed and detained three people, how important was it that they come up with a charge? Can’t just say, “Oops, sorry, folks.”

When the officers went back to the house from which the complaint was called in, the advertising flyer wasn’t even on the door. It was on the ground in front of the door! So how did the resident hear someone rattle a door???

Northwest Flyer Guys is a recently-formed company that distributes advertising flyers door-to-door. For example, if I wanted to advertise The Woodstock Advocate, I could purchase an 8½”x11”, full-page flyer and have it hand-delivered to 2,500 doors for only $149.00.

Now, let’s say for a moment, that these guys were really crooks and were actually shaking doors to find one open, so that they could go in and rob, steal and plunder. Would three of them walk a large neighborhood and leave flyers with their telephone number on every door?

Well, they are not crooks. Company policy is they don’t open a storm or screen door to hang the flyer on the inside. They are legitimate businesspeople, conducting a legal business, and helping potential buyers to find services they might wish to purchase.

You aren’t interested in the advertising this time? Okay, reach out, pluck it off your door knob or doorstep, and trot over to your wastebasket. Just think of the free cardio-vascular work-out you are getting without driving to the gym!

What should happen next?

The resident should withdraw the charge of Disorderly Conduct. If he or she doesn’t, the State’s Attorney should refuse to prosecute it. The charge should be completely wiped out of the criminal justice system, including records at the McHenry Police Department, McHenry County State’s Attorney’s office, and the Circuit Court records. Will an apology from the McHenry P.D. be sufficient? Not likely.

The recent popularity of Disorderly Conduct charges “alarms and disturbs” me. In fact, my “peace is breached” each time I read of such an application of this charge. Remember Greg Kachka of Island Lake? Remember the village trustee in Carpentersville?

I like good police work. I don’t like what happened in Island Lake, Carpentersville and McHenry!

“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.” (John Philpot Curran (1750-1817), Irish judge and politician)