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| SHERIFF 'DEPUTIZES' 3 JUNIOR SLEUTHS |
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3 JUNIOR 'SLUETHS' GET ‘DEPUTIZED’ BY DEKALB SHERIFF
DECATUR, Ga. – “Is this badge real gold?” “Is it just like your badge?” “Where is your gun?” These are questions that three junior sleuths asked DeKalb County Sheriff Thomas Brown when he visited their home Friday July 28, 2006, to officially dub them honorary lieutenant colonels -- deputies in the sheriff’s “on-call” posse. Siblings Rachael,11, Chase, 8-1/2, and Reese,6, Freeman’s recent sting operation to catch a campaign yard sign thief in their DeKalb County neighborhood earned them honorary deputy certificates and junior deputy badges.
“You are good at catching criminals, and when I form a posse in the future to catch bad guys I will call you,” Sheriff Brown teased.
The Sheriff’s Office learned of the three budding detectives from a WXIA-TV/11 Alive news report. According to Reporter Denis O’Hayer’s broadcast, the children took action to solve the problem of a county commission candidate’s campaign sign repeatedly disappearing from their yard. They amassed the necessary spy equipment, including binoculars, two-way radios, and their dog. They set up surveillance from an upstairs window of their home, until late one July night they spotted the culprit. Realizing that the young detectives had caught him cold after they yelled, “Alert, alert, attack!” the thief began to run.
An online report (11Alive.com) says the children and their parents, Hank and Rachel Freeman, did get the thieves’ license plate number, which they gave to the police. However, an interview with the man whose name matched the tag was inconsequential; he denied having anything to do with the dastardly deed, and police found no discarded signs that they could link directly to him.
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