OUTSIDE PERSPECTIVES

So, what happens when it’s Halloween weekend, you have a full costume on, and something serious happens? 

My wife and I found out last week.

It was Thursday night, and we had won tickets to go to the KDWB radio station Halloween party at Mystic Lake. 

As I mentioned in a previous column, my wife loves Halloween, so we didn’t do a lazy costume. My wife decided we would be glitter bombs/fairies.

She decided I would be all decked out in glitter from head to toe, including my beard and hair. I was even equipped with a crown. 

She had an important matter to handle at work the next day, so she didn’t go all out that night. 

It was a great time dancing, and then, when there was a break in the action, I looked at my phone to see there were multiple missed notifications on my Ring doorbell. I checked and saw a swarm of police officers knocking on the door and wandering around our property. 

Using the app–in the middle of the event center–I yelled out, “Can I help you?”

An officer working the crime scene heard me and, puzzled, asked if anyone was home. We explained we were at Mystic Lake. He then asked for my number.

I had been in a hurry to catch the bus to meet my wife when she got out of work and inadvertently left the lights on in my living room. Finn, our dog loves to look out our big front windows, so I left the blinds open for him. The officers rightfully assumed someone was home, and that we may have been hurt. 

While we were still at the casino, he called and told me there was an incident next door which then impacted our house. Considering it is an ongoing criminal investigation involving our neighbor, I won’t go into detail, but it was not good. 

Concerned about our dog, and since the party was about over, we hopped in our car and drove an hour home. 

In the meanwhile, the officer called us back and let us know he was needed elsewhere. He also let us know there were no less than 14 officers working the scene. His sergeant was there as well, so we could speak to him. 

Now keep in mind, as we later learned, the sergeant on the scene was considering his options to break down our door, as no one was answering. 

He explained later on that evening it was a decision he would have had to make and live with, no matter how it turned out. He explained the thought process of going over the pros and cons of such an action. 

As someone who has been the primary public safety reporter wherever I’ve worked the past decade (we now have the best one in southeast Minnesota, Kay Fate), this was actually quite eye opening to me. 

Oftentimes, as reporters, the extent of our experience with covering law enforcement is based on public information, like what is in criminal filings or police reports. We don’t often get a front row seat into some of the things considered when handling something like a call with the possibility of injured people inside a home. 

We pulled onto our street, and no joke, we saw no less than a half-dozen cops huddled on the sidewalk. As we learned, they were going over their gameplan to literally walk the streets canvassing properties for potential video footage or possible witnesses.

We have street parking, so we pulled up to our "unofficial parking space” and saw all of their heads turn in concern of who it was, since the officers were actively looking for a vehicle that happened to be vaguely similar to ours. 

I opened the door, and in my full glitter outfit, went over to let them know we were residents and wanted to speak to whoever the boss was on scene. 

My wife and I gathered our stuff we checked on our dog (he was fine), and then put him in the guest room and let the officers in to assess for damage. 

They left, and when the sergeant was available shortly after, he came and spoke to us for 10-15 minutes and helped put some of our concerns at ease, while also answering our questions. 

I give credit where credit is due. The officers who were there were very professional and were empathetic to our concerns. As many of you who have done stories with me know, I ask a lot of questions, and I am ruthless. When it comes to my family, I am even more so. You can imagine how intense the questioning was. My wife also asks a lot of questions for her profession but is a little more even keel than me. 

It's a very unfortunate reality that too many people decide to resort to violence to work out their “beef” or “issues,” and it puts a lot of people at risk and in uncomfortable situations.

But I was sure glad to have sympathetic officers tending to the situation, who didn’t judge us (at least while we were there) even though I was decked out in glitter.