On Dec. 2, an officer made contact with a complainant regarding a stolen parking permit. The complainant said they parked their vehicle, a 2005 Chevy Cavalier, in the Towers Hall parking lot on Nov. 20 around 8 p.m. 

The complainant said they returned to their vehicle on Nov. 22 around 3:30 p.m. and noticed their UW-Eau Claire R-stall parking permit was missing. They said their passenger side door was unknowingly left unlocked.

The complainant said the sleeve in which the permit was placed on the windshield was intact, but it appeared to be stretched out, as if someone had reached into the sleeve to remove the permit and had a hard time doing so. 

They said they looked around their vehicle and didn’t observe anything else to be missing. They said they didn’t know who would’ve taken the permit, and they didn’t give anyone consent to take it. 

The complainant said they purchased a replacement parking permit from parking services for $15. The officer answered any of their questions.

No further information was given at the time. 

Later, on Dec. 9, an officer conducted a follow-up on this case, as they were informed that the stolen parking permit had been located. 

The permit had been displayed in a black Chevy Cruze. The parking office noted the vehicle had been registered with the parking office to a subject, however the parking office said the subject has a valid parking permit for the Bollinger Lot. 

The parking office said they issued the vehicle a 200 dollar parking ticket for use of a fraudulent parking permit. 

The officer contacted the subject, introduced themselves and asked if they could meet with them in person about the case and the subject said they could. The subject asked if they should bring the parking permit and the officer said they should. 

The officer met with the subject at the department and spoke with them in the interview room. The officer told the subject it appeared they knew what this contact was about, and they acknowledged this. 

The subject admitted they still had possession of the Bollinger Lot permit, and that after they received the parking ticket, they replaced the original pass in their vehicle and moved the vehicle back to the Bollinger Lot. 

The officer asked the subject how they obtained the pass. They said someone had sold it to him the week of Thanksgiving. The subject said while they were walking to class, a man bumped into them and then struck up a conversation. The subject then said the man offered them the parking pass, and they bought it for 200 dollars cash. 

The officer told the subject that the story didn’t make sense and didn’t sound factual. The officer then asked the subject if they normally go around buying items from strangers, to which they replied no, but they wanted it so they bought it. 

The officer told the subject again that the story didn’t seem accurate and asked them to describe the male who sold them the pass. The subject began to describe the person, but stopped mid-sentence and said they wanted to start over. 

The subject said they wanted to be honest and admitted they stole the parking pass. They said they had gone around pulling on door handles and found that one vehicle’s passenger door was unlocked, so they took the pass from the vehicle. 

The subject said they don’t normally do this, they were just looking to take a pass. They said they were mad they had to park in the Bollinger Lot and were frustrated with how far away their vehicle is while others get to park closer to the residence halls. 

The subject apologized for lying and taking the pass. The officer said they appreciated their honesty. The subject agreed to being admitted into a diversion class for theft in lieu of a citation. 

The parking office is now considering revoking the subject’s parking privileges in the Bollinger Lot as well. 

No further information was given. 

On Dec. 3 at around 6 p.m., an officer was dispatched to Haas Fine Arts regarding missing Apple AirPods. The subject said they were able to track their AirPods through an app on their phone. They said the app showed the AirPods were in close proximity to Haas Fine Arts.

The officer and subject traveled to Room 139 where the subject made an announcement to a class that was in session in that room, but they were unsuccessful in retrieving the AirPods. 

The subject said they received the AirPods as a gift and estimated them to be about 130 dollars. The officer told the subject to check the Lost and Found within Haas or contact professors to see if someone had turned them in. 

No further information at this time. 

Dirks can be reached at [email protected].