When Bob Ferguson, now a retired police officer in Indiana, responded to a burglary call from a gun store, he learned that the thief had stolen thirty rifles, several handguns, and a number of shoulder holsters, then made a clean getaway. There were no witnesses, no surveillance cameras, and virtually no clues. It seemed this case would be chalked up as a loss.
But Ferguson noticed a set of skid marks on the road where someone had obviously peeled out. He followed his instincts and the skid marks. They led him to a corner, where he found another set of skid marks. Farther up the road were another. The marks mysteriously ended in front of an apartment building. Ferguson entered the building, looked around, and headed upstairs.
Outside the door to an upstairs apartment the officer discovered a leather loop that looked exactly like the leather loop on his own shoulder holster. He knocked on the door, and a man in his early twenties answered.
Ferguson poked the leather loop in the suspect’s face. “Where did you get this?”
The suspect responded without a blink, “From breaking into the gun store.”
Ferguson’s quick thinking and the criminal’s quick answer led to quick justice—and a whole new meaning to the phrase, “Keep me in the loop.”