By Abbie Alford
A pair of thieves picked the wrong house and broke into the home of a Tulsa reserve police officer. They stole his badge and police radio.
FOX23’s Abbie Alford says they tried to hide from the officer’s home security cameras but that plan backfired.
The surveillance video shows a man knew there was a camera on the reserve officer’s front porch so he tried to hide his face and point the camera in a different direction. Turns out he and his partner in crime didn’t hide as well as they thought they did.
If you take a hard look at the man’s refelection, you see the crook with the sideburns has enough time during a home break-in to check out his reflection in a window. He just didn’t realize the security camera is buddy just moved was doing the same thing. "I only put one of them up because we were getting ready to move," says the victim, Tulsa reserve officer Scott Danks.
The one camera was enough to track the crooks shadows into the side of the house. Danks says the suspects broke into the home through a side door and then went straight to the master bedroom. That’s where Danks says they found his police badge and radio. "If you know how to listen, you'd know when they are heading toward the house, when they got dispatched. Having the badge is just a medal of honor. 'Hey I got a police badge isn't that cool?'" says Danks.
Danks says the thieves must have been looking for more police loot because they ransacked his bedroom looking through all the drawers.
Danks believes this wasn’t the first time one of the thieves was in his home. He believes one of the suspects came in a few weeks ago acting like he was interested in buying the house. "He came on in wondered around and told us what a great house this was and a lot of property and how much he appreciated the size of it and wanted to buy it," says Danks. Now the reserve officers says that was a scam but thanks to the surveillance video he’s confident the crooks with his badge will soon find themselves surrounded by a lot more badges.
Danks warns home sellers to be cautious of potential buyers touring the home. This should also serve as a reminder for people to beware of police impersonators.
If an officer approaches you at your front door police say you should ask for his badge and commission card. Police also say you can verify the officer by calling 911 and checking with dispatch. Detectives say one of the suspects may have a lame arm.
If you have any information about this crime call Crime Stoppers at (918) 596-COPS (2677) or text a tip to "CRIMES" (274637) and begin your message with "TIP918" or you can submit a tip online at
The original article on Fox 23 can be found at http://www.fox23.com/news/local/story/Thieves-Target-Reserve-Officer/NWOYfsxf60ygxyRVDWnE_g.cspx.
