A night with the Joplin Police Department

(Note: Saturday night, the Joplin Police Department did its first Facebook ride along, taking its Facebook followers through an evening with the department as it patrolled the streets of our city. The following posts detail just what our officers do. Check out the department's Facebook page and you will also see a number of questions answered from the public as the Facebook ride along continued.)

An officer stopped a vehicle at Kum N Go 2307 West 7th for improper plates. The male in the backseat refused to identify himself.

Unfortunately for him, the officer recognized him and arrested him for seven warrants. The driver was arrested for not being a valid driver. Pax didn’t locate any drugs.

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21 calls

Officers are staying busy, on the 21st call of the shift. Here are a few highlights:

-Suspicious vehicle called in by Love's. Found to be on private property and not stolen

-Officer dispatched to a past tense assault near 5th and Kentucky

-Officer dispatched to a disturbance at an apartment complex in the northeast part of town

-Officer Sandbothe was on patrol at 4th and Schifferdecker and saw a vehicle driving across a parking lot that he recognized we had made previous drug arrests out of.

When the two males saw him, they parked and got out. He contacted them and they pointed to a person working on a parking lot and said he was their boss and they were working on the lot. That male confirmed he was working alone and didn't know them. It was noticed a needle cap was on the ground at the feet of one. 

K9 Pax Alerted to the vehicle and drug paraphernalia was located. Both were arrested and are being transported to jail to determine if they have further drugs or items on their person.

-Several car stops were made for minor violations and warnings deemed sufficient to handle the issues

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Officer Bowline recognized a male who was riding a bicycle at 18th and Maiden Lane and had a Webb City warrant. He was contacted and arrested without incident.

Sgt Davis drove by 14th and Wall and a male saw him and ran up to the house. Sgt Davis drove by a few minutes later and the same happened again. He contacted him to see why he kept running and was found to be in possession of a meth pipe and a bag of meth. When the pipe was discovered, it fell to the ground and the male, in handcuffs, tried to stomp on it but missed. He is being transported for felony drug charges.

An officer is taking a past tense shoplifting call at a store on west 7th. Suspect took items and left in a vehicle.

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An officer stopped a vehicle at 5th and Maiden Lane with 3 females in it for several equipment issues. Female driver arrested for Benton County, Arkansas felony warrant for drugs. Female passenger arrested for Felony Boone County, Missouri warrant for child neglect.

UPDATE: Sgt Davis finished processing the male at the jail from the earlier 14 and Wall arrest. He was found to have a second bag of meth in his underwear and 61 Xanax Pills.

Officers are currently en route to another call of a disturbance.

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Dispatch received a 911 call with commotion in the background and possible fight. Showed a location of B and Main. Officers tracked three people down to A and Wall as phone updated to there. The three were contacted and argumentative. The male didn’t want to identify himself and pulled his phone out to show it wasn’t him that called. He was surprised to see that he had made the 911 call in his pocket. All three laughed with officers and apologized and were only playing around during the 911 call. No action taken.

Officers dispatched to 5th and Jackson for a disturbance. Arrived to find 5 people out front yelling. A female said a male threatened to assault her. The male then walked away from officers and refused to cooperate. Also threatened to harm officers before being taken into custody.

Officers are en route to other calls more info to come.

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Evening Shift is Still working hard, Midnight shift is coming out to help!

-Officers were dispatched to an address in south central Joplin for a domestic disturbance. An arrest was made, the female hit the male in the chest. Domestic Assault Charges Pending

-An officer was at 4th and Murphy Blvd and witnessed a juvenile ride his bike into the side of a moving vehicle. Juvenile is banged up and his family summoned to scene to get him medical treatment for apparent minor injury

-Suspicious vehicle called in around North and Garden. Officer Rawlins contacted two males in the vehicle in the alley. Both refused to identify themselves. One arrested for a Jasper County Warrant, one for four Joplin warrants

-Officer Sandbothe stopped a vehicle at 7th and Gray for failing to maintain its lane, swerving. After an investigation both the male from Arkansas and female from Joplin were arrested for prostitution.

Our officers have now handled 50 calls for service since 4:30PM

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Final Update: Thanks for joining us!

Officer Roach from midnight shift stopped a car at 10th and Chestnut for lighting equipment. One person arrested for Joplin warrant, another for three Joplin warrants and a felony Jasper County warrant.

An officer responded to area of 2nd and Schifferdecker and took a stolen vehicle report


Officers are on scene investigating a physical domestic assault in the area of Markwardt and Range Line.

Evening shift officers will be busy typing to end their shift from their activities this evening. Midnight shift will be going strong until morning.

Thank you to everyone that “rode along” with our evening shift!