Cops Corner: Sarasota

June 22
NOT RINGING ANY BELLS
6:03 a.m. — 500 block of North Conrad Avenue. Suspicion Person. A woman reported a man was ringing her doorbell and knocking on her front door. The woman said she did not answer because she did not recognize the man. The man then walked to the neighbor’s house before coming back to knock on the front door again. Officers were unable to locate the man in the area.

TOP SHELF
3:50 p.m. — 3800 block of South Osprey Avenue. Petit Theft — Shoplifting. A grocery store manager reported two men ran out of the adjoining liquor store with four bottles of vodka valued at $203.96. The manager said store personnel are not allowed to pursue shoplifters once they leave the store.

June 23
DRIVE BY
7 a.m. — 2100 block of Bahia Vista Street. Dispute/Fight. A man said that, as he was biking to work, he cut across lanes of traffic to get to the south side of the road. The driver of a nearby car became mad at him and started to verbally abuse him before leaving the area. The man wrote down the woman’s tag, but no records were found in the police computer system. An officer advised the man to call police if the woman returned and caused more problems for him.

CATALYTIC CATASTROPHE
6:48 p.m. — 2100 block of Princeton Street. Burglary — Vehicle/Vessel. The delivery drivers at a dry-cleaning service noticed their vehicles were making excessive noise. Upon further inspection, the drivers discovered three vans were missing catalytic converters. The vehicles had been fine when they were dropped off the night before, they said. Adjacent businesses had surveillance footage of the area, which showed a white SUV parked near the vans for three hours during the night.

June 24
BLENDING IN
10:33 p.m. — 1700 block of Shoreland Drive. Suspicion Person. A man reported he saw a male wearing a green shirt and red pants walking through the neighborhood “as if he was casing the homes.” Officers checked the area several times in the hours after the call, but were unable to locate the man.