It was about 11:00 pm when the radio that had been silent since I called into service, suddenly came to life. I was advised that an intruder alarm was called in by an alarm company, the home owners were out of town. I responded that I was en route from the park, the other unit on the road with me advised me that he was about 2 minutes away from me.

We met at the top of the street and rolled in dark. Rolled in dark is cop speak for arriving on scene with all the lights on your cruiser off. That way the bad guys will not see your headlights sweep across any windows as you pull into the driveway. This residence was huge, not unlike a mansions that you have seen on TV or in the ritzy part of your city and had a long winding driveway. We parked our units far enough from the house and waked to just short of the front door.

I advised the dispatcher that both units were out and on foot. We checked the front door for signs of forced entry and found none. My partner would knock on the front door and I would be waiting at the back door. So weapon in hand I made my way to the rear of the residence, I even kept my little flashlight off so as not to alert anyone watching of our presence. My partner advised me he was going to knock on the door, I was hidden just off to the side of the rear door.

Suddenly the rear door opened and I saw a figure silhouetted by the light from inside the house, and there was something it its hand. I jumped up from my hiding place and trained my weapon and powerful combat light on the shadow figure and yelled, "Freeze". The light illuminated a rather attractive middle aged female with a cordless phone in her hand. She turned her head and yelled over her shoulder in a good natured voice that reflected surprise, "Honey, there is a police officer back here with a gun on me."

Her husband responded, "There is one up here too." They were the homeowners and had forgotten the code to deactivate the alarm as it was brand new. They were in the process of calling the alarm company when we interrupted them. They were so happy with the speed of our response that the next day they called the Chief and we both got "Atta boys".