Police officer honored with Law Enforcement Partner Award

By DAVID TELLER

Staff Reporter

He said he was just doing his job.

Cheney Police Sgt. Bill Benner received the Law Enforcement Partner Award at the annual Construction Industry Crime Prevention (CICP) Program of the Northwest awards luncheon on Feb. 10 in Portland Ore. for extraordinary work in catching a thief taking a $230,000 piece of equipment from a construction site May 7, 2008.

Benner, an eight-year veteran of the Cheney Police Department responded to a call about a possible theft at the construction site that is now The Grove apartment complex on south Cheney-Spangle Road. Initially, an obvious swath of mud and dirt was left on the road from the tires of the articulated front-loader as it was driven from the construction site southward.

Two events happened in quick succession that complicated things for police: the dirt wore off the tires and an intersection in the road came up.

“It was quick thinking on his behalf to use the thermal imager,” CPD Cmdr. Rick Campbell said.

The new thermal imaging device the Police Department had recently received revealed the heat signature still on the road created by the motor of the front loader. The vehicle had turned onto Curtis Road, so Benner turned also and continued to follow.

Campbell said Benner caught up with the thief still driving the front loader a few miles down the road. Benner arrested the driver of the vehicle for theft of a motor vehicle.

Campbell said there were so many contractors out at the site at the time of the incident that he doesn't know the name of the theft victim. Whoever the owner was Campbell said they were very pleased to have it back which resulted in Benner getting the award.

Benner shuns the accolades.

“He did not want to go down (to Portland) for the award,” Campbell said of Benner's reserved personality. “He said, ‘I was just doing my job.'”

Campbell said the theft attempt of the front loader has become a national trend with similiar types of heavy equipment. He said the thief could sell it, under false pretenses, to someone with a lot of acreage and the piece of equipment would likely not be seen again because it would never leave private property.

Benner's effort doesn't stop with the theft he foiled. According to the department's January Monthly Accountability Review (MAR) Benner has also been working with officers to assist them in identification of neighborhood issues that can be addressed through sector-based policing.

Cheney human resources director Diane Showalter said Benner has been a city employee in some capacity, since 1973. She said he was in the Public Works Department (wastewater treatment plant) for 25 years and has been a volunteer firefighter for 33 years.

In other police news, dispatchers received numerous calls about wildlife coming into Cheney during the winter.

Campbell said there is a simple rule to approaching wildlife in the city limits.

“Leave them alone,” he said during a telephone conversation in Jan. 2009

The MAR said that three moose, which have been regularly seen near Salnave Road and Eastern Washington University were relocated by Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife however, there are still numerous deer, two moose, and a goose calling the city home.

David Teller can be reached at [email protected]