Stockton, CA - Police Car Stolen From Outside A County Concert
- Keys Were Inside The Stockton Police Car - Suspect Escapes
June 4,
2011
recordnet.com
A police car was stolen Saturday while parked downtown outside a country concert, but it was recovered within hours in south Stockton.
The Police Department reported there had been no weapons in the car and nothing was stolen from it.
The car was being used to shuttle officers to and from the Police Department, on Market Street, and the Weber Point Events Center, where police were providing security for the KAT Country Listener Appreciation Concert.
Officer Pete Smith, a police spokesman, said the officer assigned to the car had mistakenly left the keys in the ignition. When he returned to the spot on Miner Avenue and Center Street, he discovered the car missing.
It was recovered about two hours later on West Sonora Street in Boggs Tract.
Smith said the thieves appeared to have taken it only for a joyride.
"They took it for a ride, and that's where they left it," he said.
Leaving the keys in the car is not procedure, Smith said, and the officer responsible for the car is subject to discipline. That will be an internal matter and will not be disclosed, he said.
In 2008, a Lodi police car was stolen by a man after he shrugged off the officer attempting to arrest him on suspicion of stealing alcohol. That car was recovered in Stockton after a chase that included a brief stretch of wrong-way driving on Interstate 5.
A police car was stolen Saturday while parked downtown outside a country concert, but it was recovered within hours in south Stockton.
The Police Department reported there had been no weapons in the car and nothing was stolen from it.
The car was being used to shuttle officers to and from the Police Department, on Market Street, and the Weber Point Events Center, where police were providing security for the KAT Country Listener Appreciation Concert.
Officer Pete Smith, a police spokesman, said the officer assigned to the car had mistakenly left the keys in the ignition. When he returned to the spot on Miner Avenue and Center Street, he discovered the car missing.
It was recovered about two hours later on West Sonora Street in Boggs Tract.
Smith said the thieves appeared to have taken it only for a joyride.
"They took it for a ride, and that's where they left it," he said.
Leaving the keys in the car is not procedure, Smith said, and the officer responsible for the car is subject to discipline. That will be an internal matter and will not be disclosed, he said.
In 2008, a Lodi police car was stolen by a man after he shrugged off the officer attempting to arrest him on suspicion of stealing alcohol. That car was recovered in Stockton after a chase that included a brief stretch of wrong-way driving on Interstate 5.