Law enforcement officers praised
To the editor:
Sometimes all we read in the media are the negative things a small percentage of law enforcement is involved in or the stories that are later proved false. We happen to live in a city, Cape Coral, and a county, Lee County, with about the best law enforcement I’ve seen and a primary reason myself and my family live here. There is example after example of good work that goes unnoticed, unless you are a victim. My son’s business was almost a victim. Here’s an example of great work that occurred in the early morning hours of Saturday, Nov. 18, at about 2 a.m.
My son’s construction business offices are east of I-75 off Daniels in a small industrial park. Four suspects were intent on stealing three of his construction vans full of equipment and apparently a large semi-truck behind but not belonging to his business. They broke a window on one van, broke the ignition, drove it across the street and parked behind another building out of sight and were going back for the other vans and the semi-truck. Fortunately, there was someone working very late in that building and heard the noise. They looked out and saw five masked people get out of the van. He called the Lee County Sheriff’s Department. This alert citizen told my son that, within seconds, Sheriff’s deputies were coming from all points of the compass. The suspects heard the deputies coming and fled to the thick forested side of the road on the south side of Daniels.
The first deputies on the scene immediately set up a perimeter while other resources arrived, the Sheriff’s Air Unit with detection equipment and K-9 officers. Within minutes, the air unit located the suspects in a couple of trees and others on the ground. The four legged deputies, K-9s, subdued those on the ground attempting to escape. They also assisted in convincing the others to come down out of the trees.
So, what could have been a very expensive loss to my son’s business and another business was only a broken window and ignition. This due to an alert citizen and the excellent response, tactics and resources brought to bear by the Lee County Sheriffs Office, our sheriff, Mike Scott, and his very capable deputies. My son also commended the professionalism of the deputies and them communicating to him exactly what had transpired and what he would need follow up on.
Good work!
John Dennis Miehle,
president, Castle Harbour Homes