Mountain View Police searching for cruiser stolen during Shoreline concert
By Sharon Noguchi
Mercury News
Posted: 05/23/2009 02:39:20 PM PDT
Updated: 05/23/2009 08:10:02 PM PDT
Car 3006, where are you?
Embarrassed Mountain View police are searching for an errant police car containing a locked shotgun, both stolen Saturday night from a Shoreline Amphitheatre parking lot. Its driver, an unnamed officer, had left the keys in the car when he went to assist another officer while policing a concert, said Liz Wylie, Mountain View Police spokeswoman.
He returned minutes later at 11:15 p.m. and found the black-and-white car missing. Soon after, a Shoreline staffer reported seeing a cruiser "showboating" on Shoreline Boulevard, gunning the engine and speeding.
Police set up checks on streets near the amphitheater. They send up the San Jose Police Department's helicopter. Initially, they were hopeful the Ford Crown Victory cruiser would be spotted quickly, Wylie said. "It's an elephant," she said. "A cop car stands out from a helicopter. It has a white roof."
But even after a huge crowd dispersed from the Nine Inch Nails and Janes Addiction concert, police hadn't spotted car 3006. They searched until about 2 a.m. and on Saturday afternoon sent up the helicopter again.
Now they are thinking the driver, with easy access to Highways 101 and 85, left the area.
Inside the car was a "less-lethal shotgun" that shoots beanbags, Wylie said. Although it was not loaded, the fluorescent orange-and-black gun included about 10 bean bags in ammunition. The gun is secured with a locked bar, she said.
She didn't estimate the value of the car, which is equipped with a radio system, public-address system, a roof light bar, multiple spotlights and a computer for writing reports and accessing a portion of the Web. It enables officers to talk with dispatchers and look up drivers licenses.
The officer hadn't switched on the computer, which requires a pass code, she said. "It's unlikely even a professional hacker could get it," Wylie said. For the thief, "It's not like, 'I think I'm going to instant-message the dispatchers.'½Š"
Police are conducting an internal review, and not releasing the name of the driver of the cruiser, which has a gold star logo on either side and "Mountain View Police" across the back in gold lettering.
They've alerted other departments of the theft, and are seeking the public's help. "It you live in Hayward, you don't often see a Mountain View Police Department vehicle driving around," Wylie said. "If someone sees the vehicle driving outside Mountain View or by someone not in uniform, that's a definite reason to call the police department."
And no, the cruiser isn't equipped with a GPS that would divulge its location.
Anyone with information about the stolen patrol car may call Mountain View Police at (650) 903-6344.
Contact Sharon Noguchi at
snoguchi@mercurynews.com or 408-271-3775. Bay Cities News Service contributed to this report.
