Stolen bees and a lack of wind kept the police on their toes
Published: Thursday, Dec 28th 2023, 10:01
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Smelly garbage, no wind and fighting horses: Anyone who thinks the police only deal with serious crimes is mistaken. The most curious police cases from Switzerland in 2023:
EMERGENCY CALL BECAUSE OF NO WIND: A German driver called the cantonal police in Graubünden at the end of November because she was worried that the wind turbine in Haldenstein GR was not turning. However, the police were able to calm the woman down when asked. The reason for the standstill was simply "no wind".
"I HAVE AN APPOINTMENT BROTHER, BYE!": Last spring, the Schaffhausen police were looking for a young e-scooter driver who was clearly speeding. However, instead of stopping as ordered, the young man pulled out his smartphone and filmed the police car driving alongside him. With the words "I've got dates brother, bye!", the teenager said goodbye and sped off through an underpass. The video ended up on social media and caused a lot of amusement. Around a month later, the Schaffhausen police reported that they had been able to track down the 17-year-old.
EVACUATED BECAUSE OF SINKING WASTE: A building in Martigny VS was evacuated in August because the smell of gas was detected in the parking lot of a shopping center. As it later turned out, the smell came from decomposing household waste.
POLICE CALLED FOR NORMAL ANIMAL BEHAVIOR: The St. Gallen cantonal police were called to Rapperswil-Jona because several horses were fighting. However, the patrol that was deployed found four horses grazing peacefully in a pasture. After consulting an animal expert, it became clear that such aggressive behavior occurs briefly when a new horse joins a herd in order to establish the hierarchy within the herd.
CALLED OUT BECAUSE OF A SLEEPING MAN: A two-year-old boy caused the Winterthur city police to be called out at Whitsun. Their operations center received an emergency call in which only heavy breathing noises and a small child could be heard. Because the call was interrupted and no one answered the phone when called back, the police immediately deployed with blue lights. When the patrol arrived at the caller's home, they were quickly relieved: The two-year-old son had been playing with his father's cell phone and had triggered the emergency call. The "heavy breathing noises" came from the father, who had fallen asleep next to him.
TRAPPED HIMSELF: This thief was not very clever: During the second burglary of a detached house in the canton of Aargau, he stole two paintings - and then offered them for sale on an internet platform. The owner discovered the paintings. The police seized them - and arrested the thief.
BEES: In the canton of Fribourg, not only jewelry or cars are stolen, but also bees. Last May, a beekeeper stole 40,000 bees from a competitor and took them to his apiary in St. Antoni. The police were able to solve the case and return the stolen beehive unharmed to its owner in the neighboring municipality of Schmitten.
RESCUED BY THE POLICE: In November, a man in Haag SG missed the closing of a shopping center while he was sitting on the toilet. The St. Gallen cantonal police were able to free him from the locked shopping center.
AIRCRAFT FOUND: Overnight in January, someone dumped the metal structure of a small airplane on a plot of land in Sulgen TG. Thanks to tip-offs, the Thurgau cantonal police were able to establish that it was the skeleton of a Gee Bee R-1, a single-engine sports plane with one seat. However, the police have still not received any information about the owner.
WRONGLY FLASHED: In Bern, the authorities had to pay back around 330,000 francs in fines. Between mid-September and mid-October, 9,604 vehicles were wrongly flashed in the city of Bern. The reason for this was incorrectly programmed software in a new radar system. According to the cantonal police, the four new devices had previously been tested and approved by the Swiss Federal Institute of Metrology (Metas). As a result, around 7200 wrongly issued fines were paid, as the police told the Keystone-SDA news agency on request.
BANKOMATS BURGLED: In 2023, strangers blew up several ATMs during the night to get their hands on money. The perpetrators acted differently on a Saturday afternoon in January at the Gunzgen Süd A1 freeway service area in the canton of Solothurn: they simply loaded the free-standing ATM at the entrance onto a vehicle. It took a few days before the loss was noticed. What the police preferred not to mention was that the machine was not secured.
ILLEGALLY FELL TREES: In May, the Zurich city police arrested a 78-year-old man who illegally felled over 100 trees in the city forest. He was caught in the act. The pensioner confessed and said that he had wanted to provide the redwood trees with more light and warmth. The self-appointed forester had to answer to the public prosecutor's office. The damage to property amounts to over one hundred thousand francs.
NICKERING IN FRONT OF A POLICE WATCH: A 30-year-old man in Oberbüren SG served himself to the police on a silver platter. He was driving home early in the morning under the influence of alcohol. On the way, he parked his car to take a nap. He chose the police station in Oberbüren of all places. A patrol from the St. Gallen cantonal police found him there. A breath sample showed a value of 0.55 mg/l. The man had to surrender his driver's license.
160 KILOMETERS LUNNED IN ONE NIGHT: Border Terrier Lucky made headlines in the summer. The 14-year-old dog escaped on the evening of July 31 in Bern. She was found the next day in Geneva. The animal had covered 160 kilometers in one night.
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