Tybee Breeze

proceed on their way with nothing more than a wet
windshield. Snatching open car doors and
heaving buckets of water inside is not in the spirit
of the parade. People who do so will find
themselves in the backseat of a patrol car, or
possibly our trusty paddy wagon.
2. People who hose down police officers are toast.
3. No water balloons.
4. No pressure washers.
5. Keep the young ones in
tow. Kids darting out into
traffic—even slow moving
traffic—is a tragedy waiting to
happen.
The city will have one of those flashing
information signs on Highway 80 saying
something like: “Water fight ahead. Roll up
windows. Lock doors.” Maybe it will help.
22
Our Hometown Hero...
...this month is Lt. Bob Bryson, our criminal
investigator. While getting warrants signed at the
Tybee Breeze
judge’s office in Savannah, near the end of March,
he spotted wanted car thief Alan Heyward Bland
walking downtown near Drayton and Harris
Streets. His picture had been in the newspaper the
previous week, with stories of his exploits. Bland
had eluded capture for over three years, all the
while managing to steal numerous cars by tricking
sellers into letting him take a “test ride.” But Bryson
also knew Bland from his time on the old Metro
Drug Squad, when the detective used him as an
informant.
Bob detained the fugitive, positively ID’ed
him, and called for backup. Metro patrol units
arrived within a few minutes and took him away,
charging him with multiple felony warrants. A press
release the next day thanked Lt. Bryson for his
assistance.
High Tech Animal Control.
Corporal Heckman attended a five-day
course at the Cobb County Law Enforcement
Academy in north Georgia, early in March. This
course covered all the aspects of modern animal
control operations, including such topics as Wild
and Exotic Animals, State Animal Laws, Cruelty
Investigations, Animal Capture
and Restraint, and Crime
Scene Processing involving
animals.
During the course, Cpl.
Heckman learned of a free offer
for animal microchip scanners.
In case you missed a previous column that dealt
with this subject, here’s what that means. Vets can
now implant a tiny microchip under the skin of
various animals, most often family pets like cats
and dogs. When a special device is waved closely
over the chip, an identifying number is displayed,
linking the animal to its owner. Heckman called the
Bayer Corporation—the same company that
makes the aspirin—and a pair of new universal
scanners arrived in the mail shortly thereafter.
We were donated one scanner in 2006 by
Dr. Patrick Bremer, and we’ve used it ever since.
But it only identifies one certain kind of chip. The
new ones are capable of ID’ing all of the current