This has been a busy last week at the Bremerton Police Department as we head into summer.

• Chronic mental illness exceedingly difficult to help

One of the recurring themes we discuss in these columns is the issue of chronic mental illness and the intersection with public safety. This past week, we dealt with two of our most prolific and violent people who fit that description.

Officers Jeff Schaefer and Chris Faidley arrived at an elementary school play field on a report of a man approaching the children there and contacted a man we see all the time, and who is in and out of the system. Officer Schaefer did a nice job of calling for assistance prior to taking the man into custody for an involuntary mental health placement.

Officer Bryan Hall responded to a medical call at a grocery store when he observed a man, with whom all of our officers are very familiar with, walking out of the store. Officer Hall recalled that there was probable cause to arrest the man for having damaged a woman’s vehicle while she was at work earlier in the week. The man had decided to throw rocks at the car, apparently for no reason.

Officer Hall detained the man, which, as the supervisor euphemistically pointed out, is “always entertaining.” The man began spitting at Officer Hall and continued spitting inside the rear of the patrol car. After a spit hood was placed on the man, he was yelling his routine rants at officers.

Employees of a nearby drug store contacted Officer Hall and said the man had just threatened customers and refused to leave the store. He had been yelling at employees and pulled merchandise off of the shelves onto the floor during his tantrum. He then grabbed a one-gallon jug of tea and threw it at the employee, hitting her on the foot. The man left when employees advised they were calling 911, but not before spitting in the face of an employee there.

He is in jail, where his demeanor is not any better. It all comes back to “someone should do something,” but remember that the state continues to reduce its support for mental health treatment, and it is still exceedingly difficult to involuntarily commit people for treatment. So, they are on the street and when they commit crimes or become violent, we get called.

• Purse-snatching suspect in custody

You may have seen a short story in the paper last week about a “purse snatcher” and the fact that officers caught the suspect right after it occurred. Here is the rest of the story.

First of all, “purse snatching” is considered felony robbery under Washington state law, so this is a very serious and very dangerous crime. The incident occurred in the 2100 block of Eighth Street, and officers were in the area almost immediately.

Witnesses directed officers to a nearby residence where the suspect was last seen. Officer Bryan Hall and his K9 partner Ando conducted a track, which went right to the front door of that same residence. The adult female renter of the house was uncooperative, and would not allow officers into her house to check for the robbery suspect or the stolen purse.

Detective Aaron Elton arrived and began the work to get a search warrant. While officers were still surrounding the house, two people came out of the back door of the house. One of them matched the description of the suspect, although the clothing was now different. The two individuals provided officers with what was later determined to be false names.

As they were talking to officers, the suspect decided to take off running through yards and over fences. Witnesses in the neighborhood helped us in tracking the suspect down behind a house on Fourth Street. The man was taken into custody and later interviewed, and he gave a full confession.

The search warrant was obtained from a judge and the purse, credit cards and property were all recovered. The man went to jail for felony robbery and false statements to a public servant. This was a great example of teamwork in getting a successful arrest on a serious crime.

• K9 career day

Last week, School Resource Officer Matt Strombach and Corporals Duke Roessel and J.D. Miller were at Mountain View Middle School for Career Day. SRO Strombach did a great job explaining the job of law enforcement to the students and answering their great questions about the profession. Corporal Roessel and his K9 partner Dusty did a demonstration as well.

— Bremerton Police Chief Steven Strachan