Montana Officer Helps Man He Arrested

[SBG]

He delivered food to a man he cited for shoplifting

Bozeman Police Officer Marek Ziegler was called to Van's IGA last Friday night to check on a shoplifting report. The 33-year-old officer has been on the Bozeman force for three years. He is a K-9 handler and works nights, from about 9 p.m. to 7 a.m.
When he got to the grocery store on North Seventh Avenue, employees told Ziegler that a 32-year-old man had stuffed food and "pens, pencils, maybe markers, things for his kids" into his coat.
The officer arrested the man, cited him for theft and then released him.
But the story didn't end there.
Ziegler had asked the man why he had been stealing.
"He was really upset," Ziegler said this week. "Basically, he told me he's having a hard time and can't provide the food for his family right now, so that's why he was stealing."
Ziegler already had the man's address, but asked for the man's phone number.
"I told him, 'Give me 15 minutes,' and I went and got him some food."
Ziegler ran to Wal-Mart, picked up a few frozen pizzas and delivered them to the man's house.
"Obviously, as a police officer, I have a job to do, but we're still human, too," Ziegler said.
When the officer handed over the food, the man shook his hand and thanked him for understanding, Ziegler said.
And then Ziegler kept the story to himself.
However, a Chronicle reporter was at the 911 dispatch center that night. She overheard tidbits of the officer's report that he was going to buy the man some food. The Chronicle sought out the story. Ziegler wasn't seeking attention for his good deed.
"These guys, they just don't really brag about things like that," Acting Police Chief Marty Kent said. "It wouldn't surprise me that he wouldn't say anything."
Ziegler shrugged off the idea that he had done something out of the ordinary.
"It's just what we do to take care of each other," he said.



http://www.officer.com/web/online/To...rested/1$51080

[CoeburnCane]

Good story. I've become pretty jaded with law enforcement in general, a lot of those guys can be major *******s and not think twice about it, but this is what officers should strive to be on a daily basis. "To serve and protect" has become a lost credo to a lot of officers nowadays from what I can tell, esp. the serve part. Glad to see this guy hadn't forgotten that.

[Unchained]

Glad to see a non- law enforcement hater thread on here for a change. There are alot of good ones too folks.

[ms pemberley]

Very touching story, especially since the officer and the thief were pretty close to the same age.

I wonder if there was no help for the man or if he was too embarrassed to ask. I'm not judging, but it just seems we see more and more of these. Why can't we reach out and help those who really need it?

[Unchained]

Very touching story, especially since the officer and the thief were pretty close to the same age.

I wonder if there was no help for the man or if he was too embarrassed to ask. I'm not judging, but it just seems we see more and more of these. Why can't we reach out and help those who really need it?

In this day and age with the economy in the crapper,and folks not getting raises (if they are lucky enough to have a job) colliding with the cost of living soaring through the roof,look for stuff like this to only get worse. Desperate times call for desperate measures. You see folks doing things they wouldn't do because they feel they have no choice. I'm not saying that this is right,but I can understand.