National Law Enforcement Appreciation Day: Timmy’s Law Story

Jan. 9 marks National Law Enforcement Appreciation Day, so as a way of celebrating and showing my appreciation of the YPD, I figured I'd share the tale of my law enforcement run-in. No, it's not a bad story, and not an embarrassing story. I've had a couple of those that occurred on the roadside, but all went well and were very professional (at least on their side of the badge).

About seven years ago, I was a victim of a home break-in and burglary. I came home, found my house door open, DVD's scattered all over the house. I ran around to see what all was stolen and found most of the theft was from the bedroom. I immediately called the authorities, then went and checked in with my neighbors to see if they'd noticed or seen anything. As soon as the officer showed up (quite quickly, I might add) he began to take my report. The full story is long, and at times quite comical, if you ever see me doing comedy on stage, I might share the full story about EVERYTHING that was taken. The part that makes me very appreciative of our local law enforcement involves my wife's jewelry.

Like I said, the bedroom was the hardest hit room. Drawers were ripped out, dressers knocked over, and ALL OF MY WIFE'S JEWELRY was stolen. While the officer was filling out the report, he asked me how much my wife's jewelry was worth. I told him that I wasn't really good at that type of thing, so "I dunno, maybe $500?" He wrote it down.

Fifteen minutes later my wife finally arrived home to help me deal with the nights events. I said to her, "Oh, hun, tell the officer how much your jewelry is worth." To which she told me and the officer, "Geez, I don't know, the most fancy stuff is what you've bought me over the years." To which, the officer looked at me, and I replied, "Oh." I then started laughing, "I guess maybe $200 then." (I'm good at finding humor at a dark time). The officer said, "OK, I'll just leave it at the original $500."

Even though our losses weren't worth doing an insurance claim, I was still appreciative of the officer's speed and how he handled the investigation, and how on paper, made me look like a better husband and not a cheapskate.