The following column is based on selected Arlington Police Department logs from Oct. 31 through Nov. 6, 2023.
No arrests were reported.
Excerpts from the Arlington Police log:
Tuesday, Oct. 31
5:33 a.m. – Neighbor Problem. Police answered a call from an Arizona Terrace resident complaining of excessive noise from her upstairs neighbor. Upon arriving to investigate, police determined that the noise had originated from an active 3-year-old. The officers obliged the downstairs neighbor by filling out a formal report but also affirmed that the 3-year-old was within his rights to run around.
4:12 p.m. – Identity Theft. A Russell Place resident reported having received a telephone call from someone claiming to be a Zillow real estate agent. After being drawn into a conversation and finding himself giving out personal information, the man became suspicious and was able to exit the call. Upon reporting the incident, he was advised by police to alert his credit card companies.
Thursday, Nov. 2
12:05 p.m. Identity Theft. A recently laid-off Damon Park resident filed a state unemployment claim only to discover that someone else had already filed one using his personal information. Police informed him he would have to contest the competing filing and that it would be up to him to prove to the commonwealth that he was the rightful designee of his own credentials.
Friday, Nov. 3
Midnight – Missing Person. A Mystic Street resident called police just after midnight to report that her sister had been missing since 4 p.m. the previous afternoon. While apprising the police of the situation, she provided several leads about where the sister might have gone. As Arlington police began a search, which included working with outside police departments because some of the leads pointed to neighboring towns, the woman soon called back to report that her sister had just returned from visiting someone in Waltham and was safe.
5:29 a.m. – Accident with Injury, Unlicensed Driver. Police arrived at the scene of a one-car crash at Regis Road and River Street; a driver whose lip had been cut by his deployed airbag explained that he had been trying to alert someone who was driving without lights by flashing his high beam, but that he had had to swerve his 2005 Mercedes to avoid striking the other vehicle, and as a result crashed into a parked car. The driver declined medical assistance for his lip. When police checked the driver's license, however, they found it had expired. They then issued the man a criminal “application,” meaning that his car had to be towed and that instead of paying a fine he would have to appear in court.
9:58 a.m. – Harassing Phone Call. A Morningside Drive resident reported having received a voicemail purporting to be from the Concord Police Department. The message contained a complicated series of instructions that led up to a demand to donate money. When the resident alerted police, they informed her that it was a verified scam.
5:50 p.m. – Armed and Masked Robbery. A lone masked gunman wearing all green clothes and a mask walked into the AR Enterprise gas station at 85 River St. packing a concealed weapon. After telling the attendant he just wanted some water and going over to a beverage cooler, he pulled the weapon, demanded “all the money,” and walked out with an undetermined amount of cash from the till. K-9 and state police arrived and conducted a search of the area but were unable to pick up a trail. The station's closed-circuit video failed to provide a good view of the robber's face, but as APD spokesman Capt. Richard Flynn explained, the video still perhaps could provide useful information about the suspect's gestures and movements that could aid in identifying him, as well as showing the direction he went as he left the scene. When asked how often a town like Arlington might expect to suffer an armed robbery, Capt. Flynn
said that they are infrequent but that any north suburban town should probably expect to have one sooner or later.
Saturday, Nov. 4
2:03 p.m. – Identity Theft; A Tufts Street resident called police after turning on her desktop computer and finding a popup message putatively from Microsoft informing her that her system had been hacked. After struggling with its complicated directions and at some point realizing that she had just given out personal information to a scam, she managed to exit. While contacting police to report the incident, she remarked that she intended to freeze all her financial accounts.
Sunday, Nov. 5
1:09 a.m. – Malicious Destruction of Property Greater Than $1,200. Someone noticed the sound of a window being
broken and summoned police to the site of a building under construction along Mass. Ave. Two youths fled the scene on bicycles, but police were able to apprehend them. One of the youths then admitted breaking a window. Parents arrived and took custody of the boys. The one who confessed faces a court appearance on a criminal charge. When Flynn was asked how breaking one window could result in more than $1,200 of damage, he said, “One picture window? Nowadays, that's all it takes.”
11:34 a.m. – Injured Animal. Some pedestrians on Mass. Ave. noticed what appeared to be a sick rabbit and phoned police for help. After a few minutes an animal control officer appeared on the scene, but the moment he arrived, the rabbit leapt to its feet, shot off and disappeared.
Nov. 3, 2023: Police blotter Oct. 24-30: Officers fix tempest in tea pot (actually, about a coffee pot)
This column by YourArlington volunteer writer Chris Wilbur was published Thursday, Nov. 9, 2023, based on information from Arlington Police Department daily logs and explanations from APD spokesman Capt. Richard Flynn.
