Thursday, May 1, 2014

What would you do?

The story starts with a citizen who found a diamond ring in the parking lot at Target. Erin called the police, and turned the ring over to the officer who was assigned the call for service, Jason. He took the ring to a nearby jeweler on his beat, who confirmed that it was not only the real deal, but a rather nice rock, and quite valuable. Jason tagged it into the Property & Evidence Unit as a found item.

The next day, Toby, a civilian employee in the Property & Evidence Unit, was processing the incoming items when the ring caught her attention. Surely, she thought, someone was heartbroken over this loss, but who? She took the ring down the hall to one of our crime analysts, Marie, who publishes a weekly PowerPoint that loops in the off-hours on the big monitors in the briefing rooms. By chance, I happened to be in the Crime Analysis Unit when Toby brought that ring in, and I remember thinking that the chance of finding its owner was about nil.

Wrong again.

A couple of weeks passed, when this past Monday the second shift duty commander, Danny, noticed a call in the pending queue on the status monitor concerning a diamond ring lost by a couple from Ohio while visiting Lincoln back on April 12. He reminded Brian, the on-duty field supervisor, of the recovered ring from a couple weeks ago. Brian, in turn, alerted Trevor, the officer who was assigned the lost item report. Trevor obtained a photo and the GIA report on the ring from the owner in Ohio, took that to another jeweler on his beat, and confirmed the identity.

Thus, the ring resides safely in the police evidence room, awaiting a return trip by the couple, at which time it will be reunited with its owner. Great work by Jason, Toby, Marie, Danny, Brian, and Trevor--but especially by Erin, the citizen who found the ring and did the right thing when no one was watching. That, folks, is the definition of character.

Case numbers B4-036197 and B4-030806.


8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yay Erin! The true measure of a person's character is what they do when no one is watching.

Anonymous said...

Great story, Tommy. Always refreshing to see that honest people still exist.

Anonymous said...

Erin is an amazing young woman/mother/wife who follows the leading of the Holy Spirit.
"The integrity of the upright will guide them...." Proverbs 11:3

Anonymous said...

You ever notice how many times Toby is involved in one of these "connections"? Everyone involved in this did a great job.

Tom Casady said...

2:19,

Yes, I have noticed. There's a detective mind in there!

Chuck Sinclair said...

I would like to commend not only Erin, who is an amazing young woman, but also the LPD in the way they handled the entire situation. Also Lancaster County sherif deputy William Woody Woodruff who suggested to an old friend who had almost, but not quite, given up that he contact LPD and file a report. Officer Trevor Schmidt took the report and in our minds went above and beyond the call of duty. Within two hours of my call, we had 100% confirmation that the ring Erin found belonged to my wife. And thanks, to you, Tom Casady, for sharing Erin's story. There are lots of great people left in this world. And in Lincoln. Erin is one special young lady and deserves all the praise she receives. And thank you, again, Erin, from the bottom of our hearts.

Anonymous said...

I love a happy ending!

SconnyGirl said...

I worked with Toby. She is awesome! Great work everyone involved!! And extra kudos to Erin for doing the right thing.