Joplin Police Officer of the Month located runaway juveniles, solved Vintage Stock, Vapor Maven burglaries

(From the Joplin Police Department)

OFFICER OF THE MONTH
September 2018

Officer Josh Dykstra

On 9-22-2018 Officer Josh Dykstra received information from the previous midnight shift that two juvenile males had run away from a facility in Kansas City, Mo. After running away, the two male juveniles stole a vehicle and drove to Joplin. The juvenile’s whereabouts were unknown at that time.

In the early hours of his shift on 9-22-2018, Officer Dykstra was dispatched to west 28th Street about the juveniles possibly being there.

When he arrived in the area, he observed the stolen truck from Kansas City occupied by two juvenile males. The juveniles were contacted and despite one of them lying about his identity they were detained. The juvenile’s denied ownership of most of the items inside the truck. The juvenile males were then taken to the Juvenile Detention Center for the stolen truck and being runaways.



During an inventory search of the vehicle several gaming consoles were located inside the truck along with other items that are used for vaping. 

When Officer Dykstra located these items, he had recalled that one of the juvenile males had stated that they had found an X-Box near Vintage Stock at the mall on the previous night. Officer Dykstra then went to Vintage Stock and contacted management. The manager said that the alarm had gone off the previous night but ignored it due to ongoing false alarm problems. Officer Dykstra then watched video with the manager and observed his two juvenile suspects burglarize the store during the overnight hours. Property belonging to Vintage Stock was recovered.

Later in the day Vapor Maven reported a burglary that was off Officer Dykstra’s beat. Knowing that it may involve his recovered property, he responded. It was determined that someone had thrown an object through a window, but the manager was certain that no persons entered the store. 

Officer Dykstra took the time to show the manager the property that had been recovered from the juveniles and the manager watched the video again to ensure his store was not burglarized. Officer Dykstra took the time to watch the overnight video with the manager at a slower speed. 

During this process, the two juvenile males were seen entering the store and stealing property. Officer Dykstra was able to return over eight-hundred dollars in property to the manager.

This is only one case that involves Officer Josh Dykstra going above and beyond his duties to assist citizens in need. Due to his diligence, compassion and dedication to his job he was able to recover a stolen vehicle, locate two juvenile runaways and solve two local commercial burglaries. Thank you, Officer Josh Dykstra, for your continued service and dedication to the City of Joplin.

Respectfully,

Matthew Stewart
Chief of Police