Cops Corner

May 7
At least you contained yourselves
9:33 p.m. — 1600 block of Gulf of Mexico Drive (GMD). Fire. Police located a group of people on the beach around a small fire contained in a steel fire bowl. Police took no action against the responsible fire starters.

May 8
Value judgment
11:09 a.m. — 1200 block of GMD. Lost Property. A woman reported a ladies’ gold Rolex and a Greek coin pendant depicting a soldier in a war helmet were missing.

May 9
Beach buddy
1:19 p.m. — 100 block of North Shore Road. Code Enforcement. Police told a Bradenton man that his large dog would have to enjoy the beauty of Greer Island from his boat, instead of the beach.

Get your money back
2:05 p.m. — Off the Key. Boat Fire. A Bradenton man’s boat caught on fire in the Intracoastal Waterway near Sister Keys. Longboat Key’s fireboat extinguished the fire, but the boat was destroyed, because the engine fire caused a full tank of gas to explode. The man told police he had just picked his boat up from a marine repair shop for engine service. But when he noticed the engine was still not running right, he opened the engine hatch to discover a fast-spreading fire. The boat was considered a total loss.

May 10
Polite visitors
11:14 a.m. — 200 block of North Shore Road. Trespassing. Two Canadian men apologized for using private property to access the beach.

Barricade blunder
12:05 p.m. — 100 block of North Shore Road. Trespassing. Police saw a man and a woman climbing over the barricades of the closed North Shore beach access. The couple explained they latched onto the barricades because wave currents became too strong while swimming, and there was no beach left in that area.

Causing a scene
5:52 p.m. — 5600 block of GMD. Bicycle Accident. Police responded to a man lying on the sidewalk next to his bicycle with a group of people staring at him. The bruised and cut-up man, embarrassed by the attention, refused medical attention. But he accepted help getting back on his bike so he could get out of
there.

May 11
Lights out
1:28 p.m. — 5400 block of GMD. Lost Property. A man reported that he believes someone from his homeowners association stole his open-house signs because the association believes he broke an association light while installing the sign. The man says the light actually burned out by itself and he had nothing to do with it.

Safe keeping
1:42 p.m. — 5400 block of GMD. Found Property. Police found a checkbook in the lobby of the police station. After notifying the owner, the woman said her husband had dropped by the station the day before and must have left it behind. Luckily, no one dared to steal the checkbook while on police property.

May 12
Have a seat
2:29 p.m. — 6000 block of GMD. Larceny. Marina employees reported that someone stole two chairs from a boat.

Business dispute
4:02 p.m. — 300 block of GMD. Civil Disturbance. A woman wanted to document a case in which one of her Longboat Key clients is refusing to pay for costs associated with a caregiver service.
Something stinks
6:03 p.m. — 500 block of Bayview Drive. Disturbance. A man told police he “really let his neighbor have it” after seeing him with his two Rottweiler dogs, whose “business” he ignores. Police found the dog owner, who explained that it wasn’t his dogs this time. Police will attempt to contact both parties, who verbally “agreed to become good neighbors.”

May 13
Traffic headache
10:03 a.m. — 5300 block of GMD. Traffic Violation. While sitting in a traffic backup because of the Gulf of Mexico Drive repaving project, an officer took the liberty of running a tag check on the car in front of him. Once the traffic cleared, he pulled the woman over and advised her she couldn’t drive the car until her driver’s license was reinstated.

May 14
Out of sight …
11:54 a.m. — 5000 block of GMD. Vehicle Larceny. A woman reported that someone stole a brown leather purse, a gold leather wallet, a cosmetic bag, an envelope filled with discount coupons, a Blackberry, black diamond earrings, some audio books, several credit cards and two unfilled prescriptions from her Corvette while she was working out. All of the items were in plain view on the passenger seat, and the burglar had the added convenience of a cracked window to aid in the stealing of the items.