Deseret News | Calm boy calls Salt Lake police on burglars

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Calm boy calls Salt Lake police on burglars

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RE: Anonymouse at 11:40 | 12:04 p.m. Dec. 3, 2008

I will answer your question as to why a parent isn't home with a sick child. When I was old enough and if I was sick my parents allowed me to stay home alone. People have to work to make money. It is rather simple and you may have all the sick leave in the world or none at all. It is not our place to judge the parents.

Way to go Michael. Way to keep your head about you in that situation!

Sandee | 12:16 p.m. Dec. 3, 2008

I cannot believe the negativity here...the child is alive and well. Can we just be thankful for that?

Anonymous | 12:35 p.m. Dec. 3, 2008

Sounds to me like the officer responding put the kid's well being first. He may not have had a back up officer to be able to surround the house. He is supposed to wait for back up but apparently was more concerned about this boy's safety. You cant second guess unless you were there. The boy was very smart and the dispatcher was smart enough not to ask too many questions in this situation but stayed on the line to help him stay calm.

This story needs to be out, children need to hear that they can do things to protect themselves if they use their heads.

The kid is not in danger, he wont be staying home alone anytime in the future. The thieves wont be coming back, you watch too much TV.

Comments continue below

anon | 12:42 p.m. Dec. 3, 2008

Oh Pa-lease....how many people have to leave their sick kids home by themselves? I for one had to, my job would not allow me to take off work for my kid when he was not feeling well, I was a 911 dispatcher and I had to be at work for you all. It is not by choice that people do this, it is by necessity.

Roy | 12:50 p.m. Dec. 3, 2008

How does 2 burglars get away when the cops have the jump on them????
Really!!!
Maybe we need the keystone cops to protect us!

Concerned Citizen | 1:23 p.m. Dec. 3, 2008

I think we're being very judgmental here without having all the facts. Perhaps only one patrol car with perhaps two officers was sent to the scene. Lack of funds for more police officers is probably the problem here - not that the police are overpaid. They risk their lives every day for our safety and protection. Let's thank them instead of belittling them. You don't know what you would have done had you entered the scene as a police officer. Next, the police were not sure how many burglars there were. Perhaps some were still inside holding or harming the young boy. The boys' immediate safety was perhaps the paramount thing on the minds of the police officers. I would hope that the safety of my son would be the #1 priority. The media should be chastised for giving too much information about the family and too little praise for our caring police force.

steve | 1:32 p.m. Dec. 3, 2008

Looks to me like the police botched this call. Maybe they don't have enough cops to handle the calls. You don't just drive up to a "burglar there now" call
like Barney Fife. Sounds like some better training is in order.

WOW | 1:35 p.m. Dec. 3, 2008

I hope all of you writing negative comments about the cops never need one! Yeah, I think it would have been really smart to trap the burglars in the house with the kidï¿½ that seems brilliant! They also thought there were 3 burglars in the house, so the cops were supposed to leave the kid to pursue the 2 burglars while they potentially left the 3rd burglar in the house with the kid. I think the most important thing they could have done was protect the kidï¿½ and thatï¿½s what they did. Iï¿½m glad none of you are putting your lives on the line everyday.

ashamed of u.s. | 1:43 p.m. Dec. 3, 2008

i see young people; and/or needy people get arrested for shoplifting. it is a disgrace to all of us to deny basic necessities to anybody for any reason. next time wal-mart say anything else you need.

Related | 1:44 p.m. Dec. 3, 2008

I am related to this little boy and it gives me cold chills to think of what he went through. His mom had only left him for a few minutes to take his sister to school. People need to not jump to so many conclusions. Way to go Michael! Smart thinking.

to: 'to Anonymous @ 8:12' @ 9:16 | 1:49 p.m. Dec. 3, 2008

** "Sounds to me like you're talking about karma. Not so sure that Newton's law of equal and opposite reactions applies since you're saying what you dish out is the same thing you get back. Maybe you're thinking about "what goes around, comes around." And, hey, proof there is a god? Wow." **

'Wow' to yourself. It looks like you're one of those 'transcendent' imbeciles who gets upset when anyone makes reference to God in public. Like it or not, everything around us suggests a higher power of some kind. By merely mentioning 'Karma' you necessarily imply a divine force beyond our power of understanding. Quit being such a hypocrite.

You mentioned that you're not sure if "Newton's law of equal and opposite reactions applies." Let me help clear up your uncertainty: since Newton's Law in question states that any force receives an equal and opposing force, it is applicable and appropriate as an ANALOGY that the theives will receive retribution (what they put out is what they'll get back) - which is how Anonymous intentended his/her comment, I'm sure. How is this any different from your "what goes around comes around?"
People like you seriously drive me crazy.

You | 1:53 p.m. Dec. 3, 2008

Look at yourself

How could this happen? | 2:03 p.m. Dec. 3, 2008

The police arrive while the burglers are still inside, how could it be that they escaped?

Did the police cover all exits? If not why not?

This is really disapointing performance from the police, or am I missing something?

So Disapointing | 2:07 p.m. Dec. 3, 2008

Its so disapointing that these slime balls were allowed to escape.

I hope they attempt to rob my house while I am there. That will be the last house they rob.

Whatashame | 2:31 p.m. Dec. 3, 2008

Trying to say something positive about the police's procedure during a crime in action but can't find anything good. It is a shame showing lack of training. They did not even catch one of them! I grew up in NYC. Something very similar happened to my sister there. The police arrived at my appartment in two minutes with 5 cop cars and about 10 cops with weapons drawn. My sister was fine under the bed. They flushed him out the house but then the fool decided to fight the cops. They could have shot him for charging an police officer but they just wacked him with their baton and arrested him. SLCPD Please, please get more training.

Anonymous | 2:37 p.m. Dec. 3, 2008

All the people criticizing the police have watched too much Law & Order, etc. Police are to protect and serve....I think they did that in this case.

As for the story...TMI.

GOt away? | 3:47 p.m. Dec. 3, 2008

after the house was surrounded? unbelievable!!

what about | 4:09 p.m. Dec. 3, 2008

You say the Cops are there to protect and serve, but what about the other 25-30 days of the month when there is no protecting and serving to do and they're sitting around nit-picking at innocent people, handing out as many bogus traffic violations as they can give out in a day. I don't know about everywhere else but where i live there are a lot bigger fish to fry when it comes to police work. For example the drug rates are higher than ever where i live and yet recently i've seen more cops hiding from speeders than i ever have. I don't know how their salaries work but the way the cops act where i live you would think they're getting paid by commision on how many tickets they write.

What the? | 4:22 p.m. Dec. 3, 2008

Salt Lake police spokeswoman Lara Jones has more to speak about then the bravery of this young man. Wow. They couldn't catch these guys? This may be one of the most comical stories in months. Maybe comical is not the word, but can we get some cops with a little bravado in this city? I guess, I 'll have to sign up. Seriously, I'm going to.

nice | 4:28 p.m. Dec. 3, 2008

And Becker is asking the police and fire departments to slash their budgets.

Grateful Citizen | 6:22 p.m. Dec. 3, 2008

This issue has two sides. I'm grateful cops are willing to put the safety of the child before a possible capture. Maybe too few officers were dispatched - perhaps because we don't pay the police department enough to have sufficient officers out there protecting the public. The officers arriving on the scene didn't know if other burglars were still in the house and if young Michael was in danger. Before passing judgment, realize it could have been you making the call - would you have worried first about Michael's safety or about chasing down a criminal?
If we're going to criticize, let's criticize the media for swaying public opinion and for giving out too much information.

K-9 | 7:26 p.m. Dec. 3, 2008

Having a K9 unit is the smartest thing for a police force. Sure would have been great in this case.
And to 11:40: a parent doesn't need to be home with an 11 year old. He's old enough to be alone. Obviously.

Lesson 2 B learned | 8:49 p.m. Dec. 3, 2008

Thank goodness Mike survived what could have easily been a life threating situation. And what if it truely was? I surely hope all Public Safety officials took note of this event.

hughmanflyman | 9:01 p.m. Dec. 3, 2008

your kidding. Neither of my comments were posted? I didn't say anything worse than anyone else. Why would you not post my comments?

flibbermajibit | 9:13 p.m. Dec. 3, 2008

Ok why is everyone freaking out about the police not doing their jobs. Calm down we can't catch every criminal in the world, some get away it with what they do. It makes life interesting. And michael is amazing if i was home alone like that I would probably scream. Dumb huh and no one would hear me anyways and I would just get caught.But he was smart. Why did they give us all this imformation about him? The burglars can just find him and hunt him down since he almost got them caught! Goodness have some common sense.

Anonymous | 10:13 p.m. Dec. 3, 2008

Way to go Michael! I hope this shows parents what to teach their kids. Safety should be placed first.

Katherine66 | 11:58 p.m. Dec. 3, 2008

Enough of the cop bashing. The boy is safe and that truly is a miracle. He did the right thing by calling 911 and the boy is alive and well. Too often the story has a tragic ending. As far as the cops go, none of us were there to actually see what happened. You could not pay me enough to be a police officer. We can all say what we would of done, but we were not there and I am sure not too many here would of captured the thieves either. They kept the boy calm and instructed him on what to do...that was by far the most important thing.

Anonymous | 7:53 a.m. Dec. 5, 2008

The police saving Michael is good, but what is the consequence of letting the criminals go. Getting them off the streets and behind bars should have been the highest priority so that more kids like Michael aren't placed in danger from the other home invasions that are sure to occur with these guys running lose. Was it really worth it, if the next child ends up dead?

They should have done it right the first time, because the next time may be too late for Timmy or Julie.

Traveler | 12:22 p.m. Dec. 5, 2008

It seems jumping to conclusions is a national past time. Man the hate and dicontent. I am proud of the boy, his actions and reactions were calm, cool and collected. Everyone seems to be bashing the police, but they did what they were suppose to do, safety first (the childs) then the bad guys. Someone here even took a poke at the parents, do you know what was going on, were they gone 10 minutes to get the boy some medications? The paper just wrote about a scary story that ended well. Not every detail is given, lets cheer the boy, thank the police and hope the bad'ns get theirs in the end.

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2 photos

Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News

Eleven-year-old Michael, whose last name is being withheld, was home alone Tuesday when burglars entered his house. He hid under his bed and called police.

Gallery (2 photos)