Helicopters In The Air

Here's a good one to be filed under we should be told more by authorities. I was out for a walk with my daughter when we saw a couple of strange occurrences: a police squad car parked along the street that leads into our subdivision and a helicopter flying overhead with a search light. I told my daughter that the police seemed to be looking for someone. Not too long after that, some kid decided to climb up his fence right next to us and scare the living daylights out of both of us. Apparently, the six year-old wanted to escape his back yard, but we thought it might be this person of interest. Problem is, when I checked my neighborhood app later on, there's all kinds of accounts, making it all confusing. In this time, when communication is king, I wonder how someone could know so little about what's happening down the block.


My initial thought was some known criminal was on the run and possibly heading to a relative's house in our neighborhood. Maybe the JSO even thought that person was already in our area. But I didn't want that to be the case, especially if my daughter had to hear my conjecture. So I told her that I wagered someone stole some construction equipment from the Kernan road work. Maybe the police thought it was dumped in our neighborhood for later. Non-violent property crime is easier for kids to handle, I figured.

But I was disappointed that there wasn't some way of being informed. I could have approached the police cruiser, but I'm not sure how the cop might have reacted to someone tapping on her window with the sun down. I figured someone would have the answer on my app by morning, locked my doors, watched the news in case it was something big, and went to bed. Never any communication from JSO to let us know, but I'm entirely sure what I would have expected. I did tell my daughter that reverse 911 calls exist and are used if there's a dangerous person in the area, so I assume this was not the case.

Next morning, and it's time to see what really happened. But my neighbors don't seem to know much more. Someone about 2 miles away claims to have heard arguing and 6 or 7 gun shots. That's a pretty major deal, and I hope she called the police. I don't think anyone could cut two miles through the labyrinth of neighborhoods to get to our area, but I guess it might be the case.

The next answer is that the Ring app reported a burglary in the area. If the police had an idea that the burglars were still hanging around, this would make the most sense. Maybe searching the woods for the stash of goods or the burglars themselves. As I told my daughter, however, if someone doesn't want to be found in the woods around here, they won't get found. Unless the local COPters have some enhanced searching technology that can detect heat signatures. Night vision, infrared, or whatever it is we use. Even then, you could just roll in the mud and wait it out. I didn't see or hear any K-9s, either.

The last possibility was an altercation at an intersection about 1.5 miles away. Then an attempted suicide near the same area. If one of the people involved in the dispute fled to our neighborhood, that could be it. But suicides seem like they stay where they happen. It's not like you're going to attempt suicide and then run more than a mile away to avoid being arrested.

I guess that's where I'm left, with no idea what happened or why JSO was using so many resources in a neighborhood that hasn't seen a patrol car for roughly a year. I assume the police could also be on the neighborhood apps and informing us of specific calls, or maybe there's a lot of information on the Twitter account, but it seems like that if I can get score updates for the Packers, Bucks, and Brewers, then I should probably be able to know why there's a helicopter searching the woods across the street.