Determined effort by the team

Early Monday morning's burglary of Scheel's All Sports was a frightening and frustrating affair. The frightening part was the thought that at least 84 firearms and a large amount of ammunition had been stolen in a brazen burglary of a large, well-secured, and tightly alarmed sporting goods store. Among these were some particularly powerful weapons: 4 DPMS tactical rifles, a Desert Eagle .44, a S&W .460 XVR, and scores of .45, 9MM, .40, and other handguns. Having this arsenal in the hands of criminals caused every single Lincoln police officer to cringe.

The frustrating part is that despite the alarm and the security gate, we weren't notified of the alarm until 2:12 AM, about 32 minutes after the burglars entered. After the alarm drop, the monitoring company notified the store manager, who drove to the shopping center, discovered the burglary, then called us. The burglars had a full eight minutes to pack up a trunk-load of goods valued at tens of thousands of dollars, and drive leisurely into the night.

All day, everyone from raw rookie to seasoned veteran had this crime on their mind, but later on Monday, one of our most experienced and skilled investigators developed some key information that led to a search warrant. Our SWAT Team served the warrant at around 10:00 PM, and introduced themselves to two suspects who were holed up in an apartment surrounded by loaded guns and ammo. Twenty six guns, including all the assault rifles, were recovered there, and by the end of the night, we had arrested a third suspect and recovered four more guns at other locations.

There are more than 50 pistols still missing, though, and we are all concerned. Our officers, detectives, and investigators will continue to work hard on this. Tuesday night, we made a fourth arrest, and recovered a stolen car that we believe may be connected to this gang. None of these suspects is a stranger to the police. Their ages are 16, 17, 17, and 18. More arrests will probably follow, as these guns surface. Citizens are getting a glimpse into something every Lincoln police officer knows well: this is not a quiet little city where nothing much happens. Under the surface and after most people in bed, we're no different than any other big city: we have a hard core criminal element, a thriving drug problem, and more soul less gangsters than the general public realizes. Our biggest fear is this: as time goes by, the guns are dispersed to the four winds and into the criminal subculture we see so regularly.

There is a silver lining in this dark cloud for me. When the major crime occurs and the fire is in the breech, the officers and employees of this department pull together with a determination that is an incredible thing to witness and be part of. I can't possibly explain how gratifying it is to see the laser-beam focus of everyone to do everything they can to contribute. Whether it's a school resource officer, a patrol officer across town, a checks and fraud investigator, or a records technician, everybody is on the case in whatever way they can contribute. Teamwork is a thing of beauty.