Smelly Skunks and Teenage Pranks

Brookfield residents kept police chasing the mundane over the last few days — reporting smelly skunks and missing cats, toilet papering houses, and contacting police about suspicious vehicles and photographers.

There were also a number of complaints about traffic lights being out last Friday, creating a dangerous intersection at West Capitol Drive and North Calhoun Road. One caller said that he had just driven through the intersection and that cars were flying through because there were no temporary stop signs. Another caller asked police to do traffic control at the intersection.

But take this to the bank: If you are lurking around suspiciously — or even if you aren’t — someone will probably call the police in Brookfield.

Take the man who was snapping photographs of the rainbow outside the store at Brookfield Square mall on Sunday. A woman called police and alleged he was taking pictures of her and children. Police showed up and looked at the man’s photographs. There were no pictures of the woman or children. He said he was testing the white setting on his I-phone by taking pictures of the bookstore’s brick wall.

Another man drove to Brookfield from Nebraska to celebrate his mother’s 90th birthday, but her house was full, and he didn’t want to pay for a motel, so he pulled into a restaurant parking lot in the 2800 block of North Brookfield Road and fell asleep in his car.

Then there was the guy who just wanted to have a chat with his girlfriend in a car parked along a gravel road in the 16100 block of West Greenfield Avenue. A New Berlin officer had told Brookfield police the man made several turns to avoid him and quickly pulled into the gravel road. But when Brookfield police talked to the man, nothing was amiss.

Other Brookfield police reports from the past few days and over the weekend include:

• Police pulled over a second offense drunken driver near Target at 12700 block of West Bluemound Road. The driver was about to back into a squad.

• A woman reported that her boyfriend came over to watch a movie and left with some of her cash in the 3100 block of Cullen Drive.

• Refrigerator equipment was stolen from in the 17300 block of West Capitol Drive. It was worth $8,800.

• A woman tried to steal shoes from Famous Footwear, 17300 W. Bluemound Road.

• A Walgreen’s employee asked police to perform a welfare check on a female customer who had bleeding sores on her legs and a vehicle loaded with smelly garbage.

• A resident asked police to check on a woman who was going through a Dumpster outside an estate sale for four hours in the 4500 block of North Calhoun Road. She was gone when they arrived.

• A man who lives in the 13600 block of Tremont Street reported that several credit cards had been opened in his name after his identification was taken from a credit card company’s database.

• A woman called police to report a skunk spraying her house in the 18700 block of Anita Court. She was given the number of the humane society.

• A person was reportedly removing items from a Dumpster in the 16900 block of Gebhardt Road, but when police got there, they noted the Dumpster was overflowing.

• A woman who lives in the 4500 block of North 161st Street called police about a dispute over a bicycle. She said a man had given it to her if she went to Alcoholics Anonymous for help with her drinking, but now he wanted it back, saying she was drinking. She said it was hers, and he had a problem with drinking.

• Police assisted two people who were kicked out of their taxi cab with no way home because they were arguing. They were trying to walk from Brookfield to Germantown.

• A woman reported she was a victim of “junior-senior wars.” Her house was toilet-papered, and lawn furniture was thrown in the trees and her pool. A large “J” was painted on her driveway with hair paint.  The incident occurred in the 3400 block of North 129th Street. The woman asked that the vandalism be reported as a matter of record.