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In Montana recently, Bozeman Police Officer Mark Ziegler got a all for shoplifting from a local store. While there really is no such thing as a "routine call," this one seemed to fit the bill. Upon arriving at the grocery store, employees told Ziegler that a 32-year-old man had stuffed food and pens, pencils, maybe markers, and other things into his pockets. Case closed. The cop arrests the shoplifter, cites him for theft and then releases him. Officer Ziegler had asked the man why he had been stealing during the arrest. "He was really upset," Ziegler told reporters with the Bozeman Daily Chronicle. "Basically, he told me he's having a hard time and can't provide the food for his family right now, so that's why he was stealing."
Ziegler had already taken the man's address during the arrest. When he released the suspect the cop asked for his phone number. "I told him, 'Give me 15 minutes,'" Ziegler said. Officer Ziegler made a quick stop at Wal-Mart where he picked up few frozen pizzas and delivered them to home of the man he had just arrested.
"Obviously, as a police officer, I have a job to do, but we're still human, too," Ziegler told the Chronicle.
When the officer handed over the food, the shocked man shook his hand and thanked him for understanding, Ziegler said. It's the kind of feel-good story the media loves and a lot of people would have had no problem getting their name and mug in the paper if they had done something similar. Ziegler didn't say a word.
The 33-year-old officer has been on the Bozeman force for three years. He is a K-9 handler and works nights. But a Bozeman Chronicle reporter was at the 911-dispatch center that night. She overheard tidbits of the officer's report that he was going to buy the man some food.
The Chronicle wanted the story whether or not the cop wanted any attention for his good deed.
"These guys, they just don't really brag about things like that," Acting Police Chief Marty Kent told reporters in an interview. "It wouldn't surprise me that he wouldn't say anything."
Ziegler doesn't buy the idea that he did something out of the ordinary. "It's just what we do to take care of each other," he said.
In a time when movie stars adopt humanitarian pet projects precisely to generate the kind of publicity Officer Ziegler didn't care about, it's nice to know that there are still some folks out there that show compassion to their fellow man simply because it's the right thing to do. Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites        
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