Bay Alarm

One of the joys of living close to Fourth and Addison SD was that I could walk to work in five minutes. The downside was that being the closest person to the “global” HQ, that I was first on the Bay Alarm list. Someone tries to break in and Bay Alarm calls the cops and me. “There’s a break in at your premises, arrive with keys to the establishment and wait for the police to arrive.”

Well I skated by for six months at the top of the list and then one night a 2 a.m. got THE CALL- break-in in progress, I walked down.

On arriving I was greeted by two Berkeley PD cops. They asked be to open the door leading to the offices and once the door was open one of the cops snorted “we’ll take it from here.” Pushing me  aside, they drew  guns and powered up jumbo flashlights and entered while I cowered  by the door.

Finding no one in the office or warehouse, the cops returned only to hear a radio blast from a second set of cops casing the front of the store and parking lot: “Perp just fled down the outside stairs and is running east.”

The chase was on while I made sure the alarms were re-set and the doors secured before creeping home.

Thus ensued a period of no late night calls until one at midnight six months later. This call was to get myself to the warehouse a few blocks from the store and offices where the down filling operations were located.

I arrived to a wide open main door and total silence. I cautiously poked my head inside. Not a perp in sight but an eerie calm over the place.

Cops arrived and determined the perp(s) were interrupted while breaking in and departed. Nothing apparently missing- doors locked, alarms set and case closed.

So far so good but there was a perp who made in and out with loot. Here’s how it was later determined to have come down.

Said perp slipped into the three-man tent erected on display in the retail area, zipped the door up and stayed motionless as the store closed.

Two hours, the perp emerged and as the motion sensor alarm was going off at Bay Alarm grabbed three sleeping bags and was gone.

I arrived, cops arrived, perp was long gone.