Chattanooga Pulse

A weekly roundup of the newsworthy, notable and often head-scratching stories gleaned from police reports from the Chattanooga Police Department, the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office, the Bradley County Sheriff’s Department and the Dalton Police Department.

• With the holiday season fast approaching, Chattanooga Police have decided to step up their crime prevention tactics with a simple test of honesty. Last week, undercover officers posing as shoppers would leave a purse sitting on the trunk of a car and walk into a retail store.  Eight people were arrested after officers spotted them helping themselves to the unattended purse.  On a positive note, officials noted that around 35 people took the purse and went into the store to hand it over to an employee in an effort to return it to the owner.  As always, police urge all shoppers to be extra aware of their belongings when trying to get a head start on holiday buying.

• What do you do if you find yourself unable to pay your cab fare?  In the case of one local cab driver, he took matters into his own hands when a passenger informed him that she did not have the $22 fare—he refused to turn over her groceries until she could get the money.  The passenger instead called the police, accusing the driver of theft.  Officers questioned the driver, who explained that he would be more than willing to return the groceries once he was paid.  The woman said she would get her husband to pay the bill when he got off work, and officers declined to file charges against the driver.

• There are many ways that drug dealers transport their illegal products.  Sending them through a parcel service, however, is not a very effective method, as all the major parcel companies have detection systems alerting them to suspicious packages.  When they do locate such a package, they inform authorities.  Such was the case last week when undercover officers delivered a package to an Old Pineville Road resident and then arrested a man once he took possession of the parcel, which contained 15 pounds of marijuana.  During the subsequent search, they uncovered two large marijuana-growing operations in the house and a nearby residence, resulting in more than a quarter million dollars worth of narcotics taken off the streets.

• One of the responsibilities of owning a dog is to take it for a walk on a regular basis.  However, while the dog doesn’t generally need any clothing, it is a good idea for the owner to be properly attired when taking the pooch for a walk.  A man on Atlanta Drive called police after he claimed his neighbor had decided to take his dog for a walk au natural.  When authorities arrived at the residence and questioned the man, he answered the door wearing only a pair of shorts.  He did, though, deny that he had been outside in the nude.  Since officers could not corroborate the neighbor’s claim, they merely advised the man to wear a bit more before leaving his house in the future.