Middlesex Community College
Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) Program
Fall 2008-Spring 2009 WAC Student Writing Contest Honorable Mention:
Chance Joyner for "Cause for Alarm"
Assignment Details here
ENG 170 – Crime and Punishment in Literature
6 April 2009
Cause for Alarm
Ascending the narrow stairway of a Sunapee Street apartment building in Newport, NH, Officer Mike Jones could hear the music blasting from Matthew Miller's stereo. It was past ten o'clock on a cold Tuesday night, and everyone in the building must have been awake, plugging their ears to drown out the piercingly pulsating music. One of those exhausted residents had called police to complain about the blaring noise, and Jones quickly responded.
The music broadcasting from Miller's apartment was deafening. Jones touched the door lightly with the palm of his hand, the wood trembling under his fingers like a nervous puppy. Jones sharply rapped on the door. Receiving no response, he banged on the door harder, not wanting the booming bass beat to drown out his knock. The volume muted. Jones could hear heavy footsteps clunking toward the door. The footsteps stopped, and after a brief moment of silence, someone spoke from behind the door.
"Who's there?" shouted Matthew Miller.
"Newport Police," responded Jones.
"One moment," called Miller from behind the closed door. He picked up a loaded shotgun and swiftly jerked open the door. "What do you want?" he sneered, pointing the shotgun at Jones's chest.
Behind Miller, pistols and rifles were haphazardly scattered on a table similar to the way pens and papers might be strewn about a cluttered home office. A small, diaper-clad child crawled between the legs of the table. Jones could not see anyone else in the apartment, but he did not want to rule out the possibility.
"What the hell do you want?" Miller said, raising the shotgun to Jones's eye level.
Jones did not draw his firearm. He did not want to antagonize Miller further, especially not with a small child playing dangerously close to an arsenal of deadly weapons in the background. "I'm just here because someone called to complain about the loud music," Jones calmly told Miller. "Put the gun down, sir."
Miller hesitated, but then lowered the gun and put it on the floor.
"Just keep the music down," Jones said. "There won't be any trouble."
Miller slammed the door in the officer's face. Jones waited outside the door, expecting to hear Miller crank up the stereo again. Sure enough, he heard the music's volume increase, but this time it was nowhere near as loud as the cacophony that practically cracked the crumbling plaster in the apartment building and prompted the initial call.
Jones was thinking about the baby playing near the firearms, likely loaded, on the living room table. One tug of the tablecloth could bring the guns crashing to the floor. And what if one went off? Worried for the child's safety, Jones called the station to investigate Miller's background. To Jones's dismay, there were no outstanding arrest warrants for Miller. Miller, thirty-four, was a convicted felon, though. He had committed several violent crimes in the past, some of them involving police officers. This did not surprise Jones since he personally had experienced Miller's brash boldness when he stared down the barrel of Miller's shotgun. Because Miller was a felon, his possession of firearms was illegal. Jones obtained the necessary search and arrest warrants.
With the warrants secured, Jones now had to find a way to safely apprehend Miller. Miller's violent past with law enforcement could lead to a deadly standoff if his capture was not expertly executed. Jones discussed various methods of action with Newport Police Chief David Hoyt. They decided to dress themselves as firefighters to safely enter the building, take custody of the child, and arrest Miller without endangering anyone else in the building or themselves.
Hoyt phoned Fire Chief Wayne Conroy and carefully went over all details of the risky plan.
"Other departments might not like this, Dave," Conroy told him.
"I know, Wayne. It's risky," Hoyt said. "But I would rather answer concerns from fire organizations as to why we did this than answer questions from the media as to why innocent people were injured or killed."
Conroy was more than willing to assist the Newport police with safely apprehending Miller. He offered to help in any way he could to avoid a risky confrontation with Miller and his arsenal of deadly weapons.
Conroy agreed to supply the police department with fire equipment and a fire truck. Conroy would also accompany the officers to the scene to coordinate the evacuation of the building. The procedure had to look official so as not to draw unwanted attention to the officers disguised as firemen. On early Wednesday morning, all of the equipment had been delivered as promised, and backup was ready to assist Newport Police with Miller's capture.
After suiting up, Jones, three other officers, and chief Conroy traveled to the Sunapee Street apartments. Holding the baby, Miller watched through his window as the fire truck arrived at the scene.
The costumed officers activated the building's alarm and began evacuating the residents. Jones, Conroy, and the other officers proceeded to Miller's apartment and knocked on the door. They could hear some muffled shouting from inside. Someone else was with Miller today, and the voice sounded female. Jones had not heard anyone else in the apartment the previous night, but it would have been hard to hear any conversation over the earsplitting noise.
The officers watched as the knob turned and the door slowly opened. A woman, damp hair clinging to her face, peeked through the one-inch crack. "What's going on?" she asked.
"We're investigating a carbon monoxide leak, and we need you to evacuate the building," Jones told her. "Is there anyone else in the apartment with you?"
"Just my boyfriend," she told the officer. "Matt!" she shouted. "It's just the fire department. We have to leave. There's a gas leak. Bring the baby."
The woman shut the door briefly to unhook the chain, and then she stepped into the hallway. She was wearing torn jeans and a baby-vomit-stained tank top. As one of the officers escorted her to the stairway, Jones looked into the apartment and saw that the weapon-covered table was now clean.
Miller, still carrying the baby, emerged from a room in the rear of the apartment.
"Sir, there may be a carbon monoxide leak in the building," Jones told him. "We have medical assistance downstairs to check everyone out and see if you've been exposed. Please let us check the baby first for dangerous levels of carbon monoxide exposure."
Miller passed the child to Jones, and the other officers immediately sprung into action. They turned Miller around to face the wall, swiftly handcuffing his hands behind his back. "Sir, you have the right to remain silent…" began one of the officers, reading Miller his rights. They removed Miller from the building without further incident.
Jones gently handed the child to another officer before entering the apartment. After a thorough sweep, he did not find anyone else lurking in the apartment. He did, however, find Miller's cache of firearms and other paraphernalia: Pistols, shotguns, rifles, a Kevlar vest, and a night vision scope for one of the rifles were stashed away in a closet. Miller was charged with threatening a police officer and illegal possession of firearms.
After the arrest, news quickly spread that Newport Police had dressed as firefighters to apprehend a dangerous criminal. Many people, including Portsmouth Fire Chief Christopher LeClaire, criticized the department for reckless behavior, saying their actions put real firemen in danger in the future. "When the line gets blurred, it creates a very dangerous situation for us," said LeClaire.
Were it not for Officer Jones and Police Chief Hoyt's fast thinking and innovative approach, the situation with Matthew Miller could have been much more severe.
"He was a great danger to the public. We knew that if we were to walk into that building then he would resist, and possibly put everyone in that area, including police, in grave danger," Hoyt said. "This was the best scenario that we could've hoped for, and it was accomplished without any problems."
Sources
Associated Press. "Arrest Ruse Fires up Firefighters." Worcester Telegram & Gazette. 6 Mar.
2009. 6 Apr. 2009 <http://telegram.com/article/20090306/NEWS/903060403/1052/
RSS01&source=rss>.
Fahey, Tom. "Firefighters Hot Over Police Ploy." Union Leader 7 Mar. 2009. 24 Mar. 2009
<http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=Firefighters+hot+over+police+
ploy&articleId=4b094cc0-0b91-4fca-8d86-0cd112c36164>.
Ramer, Holly. "Firefighters Decry Police Smokescreen." Nashua Telegraph. 6 Mar. 2009. 24
Mar. 2009 <http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090306/
NEWS02/303069903/-1/XML07>.
Senz, Kristen. "Police Use Firefighter Fake-out to Arrest Man." Union Leader 5 Mar. 2009
24 Mar. 2009 <http://www.unionleader.com/pda-article.aspx?articleId=c2217b73-ef64-
4d07-924a-317d7caeac1e>.