Graettinger: Posse remains vigilant during night patrol

Sun City is eerily silent and noiseless during the post-midnight hours of life in this senior community. Sun City’s primary artery, Grand Avenue is abandoned and barren, there are few cars on the street.

But there is a clamor of sound as the westbound train blows its long-sorrowful whistle as its crosses Grand Ave and 107th. Four cars marked with Posse symbols interrupt the night as they wait for the traffic light to turn green. The quartet move like synchronized swimmers, a ballet of precision as they travel across streets and into alleys, through sleeping malls, past vacant church lots and into closed areas next to the drainage tube that parallels Grand Avenue.

It is the Sun City Posse’s night patrol unit that works in cooperation with the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Department; and because the Sheriff’s Department is stretched thinly, the Posse is MCSO’s eyes and ears, especially at night.

The patrols are not just a dialog about the homeless, because Sun City has had its problems with overnight issues that extend beyond the homeless and includes drug runners who skirt through Sun City on their minibikes on their way to other destinations or to set up middle of the night meets in order to sell their products. And the Posse has been made aware of other illegal activities like overnight thefts of catalytic converters, stolen golf carts and other forms of break-ins and stealing.

Because the Posse is trying to interrupt the nocturnal criminal activities, it was on a recent scorching Saturday night with temperatures at 102 degrees that we all gathered at Posse headquarters at 9:30 p.m. for that night’s briefing; eight Posse members, five men and three women.  Posse’s Operation Officer Lt. Doyle Hood took point describing the street grid patterns that would be combed. Volunteers, Karl Liebann, Perry Johansen, Bob Carlson, Rochelle “Rocki” Fimmel, Deborah Paddock, Danny Moore and Phyllis Konopa took notes and followed along on large maps. The patrol would stretch from Peoria Ave to Bell Road.

While on night patrol, the Posse is looking for anything out of the ordinary, someone cutting through darkened yards or sleeping in public areas. In years past, private businesses and churches have been plagued with problems: a church fountain had been used for bathing, soap bubbles still dancing on the water in the early morning hours; the bathroom at a local golf course vandalized and destroyed; abandoned shopping carts left in parking lots where they do not belong; paper, food and debris that is unmentionable left behind; and clothing thrown in clusters in business doorways.

Over the years, as the concerns about overnight activities increased, the Posse decided to add a night patrol to its regular rotation. Since the Posse is an all-volunteer organization and not a law enforcement agency, it does not have the power to arrest or detain, but it does have the power to notify people when they are on private property and ask them to leave. They carry with them a card in the event they encounter a suspicious person or trespasser on private property that says, “You are on property that has a Trespass Arrest Authorization in place, if you remain, the Sheriff’s Office will be notified.” It is important to note, that in the past few years most businesses in Sun City have cooperated and posted “No Trespass” signs and signed an agreement with the Posse that they would prosecute offenders.

During the briefing, Hood’s instructions were clear: use the buddy system, two volunteers per car and cars always in sight of each other; never exit the vehicle alone; in the event of an incident, take down the license plate number; use spotlights mounted on the vehicles to examine dark areas; do not allow a subject to approach the vehicle; avoid any kind of physical encounter, and patrol at low speeds. If they encounter someone on private property, they are instructed to use the car’s speaker system and position the car so that the dashcam picks up all activity. In the event they must confront someone, the lieutenant explained the “safety” in numbers philosophy. “It’s a show of force, especially when we confront someone who is not where they are supposed to be and they become hostile and belligerent,” he said. “With eight people looking at them, they start to get pretty uncomfortable.” If the problem escalates, they notify the MCSO.

Staffing is a problem because the Posse needs more volunteers.  As a result, the night patrols are random, it can be any night of the week and the Posse does not advertise when it will have a night patrol out, let us face it, even the bad guys read the newspaper. 

But night patrols have had its pluses, because the Posse has been able to assist Sun City residents in need of help, the most recent in May when our volunteers found a man unresponsive in his car in a local parking lot; he was having a medical emergency. They notified the appropriate personnel and waited with him until help arrived. Soon the man was in an ambulance speeding to a hospital.

Soon the shift was over, it was 2 a.m.; the cars followed each other back to headquarters where logs were filled out detailing the night’s activity. Then it was time to leave the patrol cars for private ones and head home. As I watched the nighttime activity of our hardworking and conscientious volunteers I thought of this mantra, “Sleep well Sun City, the Posse is out there for you.”

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