All information below is obtained from the Orange County Sheriff’s Department (OCSD) website. The calls represent what was told to the deputy in the field by the radio dispatcher. The true nature of an incident often differs from what is initially reported. No assumption of criminal guilt or affiliation should be drawn from the content of the information provided. An arrest doesn’t represent guilt. The items below are just a sampling of the entries listed on the OCSD website.
Compiled by Eric Heinz
January
DISTURBANCE
Calle Amistad, 100 Block (7:43 p.m., Saturday, Jan. 7)
A woman said a man dressed in a gorilla suit was constantly ringing her doorbell. When she answered the door, the man growled at her.
SUSPICIOUS PERSON/CIRCUMSTANCES
Avenida Vaquero/Camino Capistrano (11:03 a.m., Sunday, Jan. 29)
Police were called to a report of a man in his late 20s wearing flannel pajama bottoms and carrying a 6-foot-tall tree. When the caller asked him what he was doing with the tree, the man replied, “I am carrying it to the apocalypse.” The caller said the man was also very aggressive toward him.
February
PETTY THEFT
El Camino Real, 400 Block (2:30 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 9)
Someone known to the area stole a pair of underwear.
March
DISTURBANCE
El Camino Real, 700 Block (2:06 a.m., Saturday, March 4)
A man kicked the caller’s ATM and then started smoking inside the restaurant.
CITIZEN ASSIST
Camino de Estrella, 500 Block (11:42 a.m. Monday, March 20)
A woman said someone was hacking into her cell phone. Dispatchers thought she sounded as though she was on drugs, but she said she doesn’t do drugs. Dispatchers said she sounded “very erratic,” talking about not having children and that there was a “man inside her phone.”
April
BURGLARY ALARM-AUDIBLE
Calle Frontera, 2600 Block (12:10 a.m., Monday, April 17)
A man said a church’s burglary alarm has been going off for hours and that this happens every night. Dispatchers told the man police officers cannot cut the wires to the alarm, and they suggested he call the church when it is open, but he refused.
SUSPICIOUS PERSON IN VEHICLE
Calle Campanero, 800 Block (6 p.m., Thursday, April 27)
A man said a suspicious man had been walking through his neighborhood for a few days asking women to marry him.
May
DISTURBANCE-MUSIC OR PARTY
Escalones, 100 Block (7:58 p.m., Saturday, May 27)
A loud mariachi band was performing on W. Canada, but no singers were heard, the caller said.
CITIZEN ASSIST
Ola Vista, 2300 Block (1:03 a.m., Sunday, May 28)
A woman who was driving for Uber said the wrong customer got into her car and was very drunk. The woman who entered the car told the driver she didn’t know her address and the driver didn’t know what to do with her.
June
SUSPICIOUS PERSON/CIRCUMSTANCES
Calle Agua/Camino de los Mares (7:32 p.m., Saturday, June 3)
By the Ocean Hills condominiums, police were called to a report of a suspicious man who the caller said was following them. The suspicious man then harassed residents at the clubhouse. The caller heard him yell out, “I am the police.”
Editor’s Note: On June 12, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department stopped including detailed summaries for each of its sheriff’s blotter entries. Residents can still access the sheriff’s blotter at OCSD’s website, but can only view the type of calls the department is responding to, as well as the date, time and location of each call.
In lieu of the detailed blotter entries, OCSD officials announced in June that a transition to an interactive crime map was in the works. OCSD said the new software, called Crime Mapping, would provide residents with the same information the current blotter does—type of call, date, time and approximate location—but would not include details like before. That software has yet to be implemented.
Members of the public who are seeking detailed information about specific blotter entries are now required to submit email requests to OCSD’s records department at prarequests@ocsd.org.
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