Cops Corner: Longboat Key

Dec. 1
Neighborhood watch
1:06 a.m. — 5800 block of GMD. Suspicious Vehicle. A woman reported that the occupants of a gray-colored pickup truck appeared to be watching her load her vehicle.

Lost and found
11:12 a.m. — 4000 block of GMD. Property Found. A woman stopped police to tell them that she found a wallet at a table at the nearby tennis courts but was unable to locate the owner. Police located the owner, who had been playing tennis and confirmed that nothing had been taken from the wallet.

Dec. 4
Expiration notice
1:05 a.m. — 200 block of GMD. Traffic Violation. Police stopped a man who was driving 55 mph down Gulf of Mexico Drive and found that his license had expired earlier that year. Police issued a citation to the driver and warned him not to drive until he renewed his license.

Dec. 5
All gassed up
7:57 a.m. — 6500 block of GMD. Gas Leak. After police responded to a report of a possible gas leak, a woman told police that her husband had used their gas grill the night before but did not properly shut off the tank.

Working orders
4:11 p.m. — 600 block of Juan Anasco Drive. Code Enforcement. A resident complained that a group of four teenagers was going door-to-door selling magazine subscriptions. Police found one of the teens and told him about the town’s soliciting ordinance. The teen said that he would notify his boss of the requirement.

Special delivery
5:11 p.m. — 600 block of Emerald Harbor Drive. Code Enforcement. A Houston man told police that he and several others were dropped off on the island to sell magazines door-to-door. The man told police that he would inform the others that they need a permit to solicit orders and that they could not work past 5 p.m.

Leak source
6:24 p.m. — 4100 block of GMD. Gas Leak. Police responded to a report of a strong smell of diesel fuel in the water behind an office building and found that the strongest odor was coming from a 1966 Chris-Craft boat. Police notified the owner, who said that possibly some fuel had spilled into the bilge after he had had the engines serviced. He agreed to turn off the power to the boat until it was determined that there was not a leak.

Dec. 6
Caring for a commission
3:57 p.m. — Intersection of Broadway and Longboat Drive South. Soliciting. Two men told police they were collecting money to purchase care packages for soldiers and would receive a 20% commission of any money they raised. Police gave written warnings to both men for soliciting without a permit.

Dec. 7
Drop the oranges and no one will get hurt
1:49 p.m. — 6800 block of Longboat Drive S. Trespassing. Police warned two men after they walked onto a property and one of them picked four oranges from a tree. The property owner told the man to drop the oranges and then called police to ask that the incident be documented, although he did not want police to issue a trespass warning.