JASPER, Indiana - In an incredible coincidence of timing, a fleeing burglar took a giant leap of faith and landed right in the long arms of the law, literally. Trent Carie, 21, was inside the Main Street Restaurant & Bar when a passing police officer spotted him and suspected a robbery was underway.

According to Sgt. Mike Fowler, Carie ran from the store and jumped over a tall fence only to land in the arms of another officer and a trooper who had just arrived at the scene. Carie is believed to be the culprit of at least a dozen burglaries of several businesses in the area in recent weeks.

I have been a police officer for 24 years. I work for the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office in Louisiana.

In April 1997 till April 1998, while I was assigned to the Detective bureau, I was working an undercover sting operation buying stolen property while the crooks thought I was running a legitimate business. I had an occasion to do business with 5 subjects that came in to sell two stolen automobiles, a 1996 Chevy MonteCarlo Super Sport and a 1997 Buick Regal.

I paid $700.00 for the two vehicles. I knew who one of the subjects was because he had sold us other property, but I did not know who the other four were. Four of the five had gold teeth in their mouths and the fifth said he was going to buy some gold teeth with the money I paid them.

Each transaction was videotaped and the five kept moving around so much I was not sure if the camera captured all five. Then I had an idea, I told my partner to watch this and the subjects heard me. I told the subjects to line up in front of the counter placing them in the camera’s view. Then I told them to all smile, and they all complied and I told my partner, “look at all of those gold teeth.”

The subjects started laughing and thought I was showing off their gold teeth, but actually they were smiling for the camera.

What made their arrest easy was when they left my business they went across the street to catch the bus to go home. While at the bus stop they got into an argument and someone called the police on them. When my partner and I left the shop, we saw the police with the 5 subjects. I called the police on the radio and asked why they were there and the office told me he was there on a complaint for a disturbance. I asked him to arrest the 5 for the disturbance and forward a copy of their arrest report to me. The officer sent me the arrest reports and copies of the photographs which were matched up by their names. After the sting operation was over with the five were subsequently arrested for auto theft.

A Bridgeport, Connecticut man learned a valuable lesson when robbing banks: Wait until you get home to count the loot.

Ernest Michaelson, 45, was discovered behind the United Bank on Saturday, moments after it had just been robbed. Police said Michaelson was counting the stolen money when police arrived and was quickly arrested.

Police said Michaelson matched the description of the robber who threatened to start shooting people if he wasn’t given the money.

The suspect fled after a teller handed over about $857 and was spotted by a bank manager as he ran behind the bank.

Police pulled over a weaving van, anticipating finding a drunk driver inside.

What they actually found were two very drunk suspects.

When the officer approached the car he saw an obviously drunk 20 year old in the driver’s seat with an even drunker 22 year old sitting in his lap, facing the wrong way.

The two men were apparently trying to switch seats after pulling over in the mistaken belief that the passenger was less drunk than the driver.

He wasn’t. They were both arrested.

An officer on patrol noticed a broken window at E.A. Johnson Jewelers in Benson, North Carolina. The window had been broken with a brick. According to reports, the officers noticed two necklaces lying on the ground and a black hat surrounded by blood on the window sill. The officer followed the blood trail to Ricky Smith’s home in Gaines Mobile Home Park. Witnesses along the way said they saw Mr. Smith, 35, walking around and bleeding on his way home. The officer found Mr. Smith at his home with severe lacerations. Benson rescue transported Mr. Smith to Johnston Memorial Hospital where he was treated under the watchful eye of another officer. After he was treated, he was brought to the magistrate’s office where he was served warrants for breaking and entering, larceny and possession of stolen property, all felony charges. Bond was set at $15,000.

I am a police officer with the University of Colorado Police Department at Boulder.

I responded to a vending machine burglary and found that the machine had been smashed and all of the product had been stolen as well as the money. While processing the crime scene, I found a wallet that had been dropped by the suspect. I checked the drivers license in the wallet with the student records and found the suspect’s dormitory address. You should have seen the look on the guys face when I returned the wallet to him and told him where I found it.

The next incident involves two young men who decided it would be a good idea to break into the police secured parking garage. Apparently they were going to try and steal a police car or break into one in hopes of getting a shotgun or other police equipment. Regulations require, and for good reason, that all shotguns/rifles be secured in the firearms locker after each shift even though our cars are parked in a secured area. The suspects did not notice the cameras in the garage that were video taping them while they used bolt cutters to cut a hole in the gate. The dispatchers that were monitoring the cameras dispatched officers to the scene. Once inside they were trapped like rats when officers responded.

Authorities said a 19-year-old Daytona Beach man flashed a badge, turned on flashing red and blue lights and pulled over a motorist on Interstate 4.

The problem: the teen-ager was no cop — but the driver he pulled over was.

According to a police report, Daniel Ryan Blais was traveling east on I-4 in the Longwood area when he attempted to pull over another vehicle.

Investigators said Blais rolled down his window to display a silver badge to another driver, and then Blais turned on flashing patrol lights. The two cars pulled into the rest area.

At first, Blais said he was a bond-enforcment agent, police said, but then admitted he was not. The man Blais pulled over was off-duty police Officer David Mixon.

Seminole County deputies arrested Blais and charged him with impersonating a law-enforcement officer.

A woman arrested for having $52,000 in marijuana plants in her home is a drug inspection specialist with the Florida Department of Corrections, officials said.

Part of Sylvia Akridge’s job is to search prisons for illegal drugs and paraphernelia and other contraband, usually showing up unannounced, officials said.

Department of Corrections spokeswoman Debbie Buchanan said she didn’t know whether Akridge was growing marijuana for the prisoners or passing along the drugs to inmates. Inspectors can have direct contact with prisoners, and also have access to their cells, Buchanan said.

Buchanan also said she wasn’t aware of any problems with inspectors providing drugs to inmates.

The arrest wasn’t prison-related, said Rick Zenuch, commander of the special investigation division.

Akridge, 36, was arrested last week by officers from the Gainesville Special Investigation Division, along with husband Alan, 36.

Officers found 52 plants, valued at $1,000 each, in a utility room in Akridge’s home, as well as more than 20 grams of marijuana drying in the sun outside, police said.

High-powered growing lamps and other drug paraphernalia were discovered in the room as well. Akridge faces two felony counts, one for cultivation of marijuana and another for possession of marijuana over 20 grams.

Akridge, who has worked for DOC since 1986, is a senior drug interdiction specialist with the department, Buchanan said.