In rural Pottawotamie county in Oklahoma, the Sheriff appreciates the efforts of armed citizens. I was able to get in touch with the elder Alvin Cleere. His son had captured a burglar by being observant. The son, also named Alvin, had noticed a pickup truck at a property were it did not belong. He checked things out and found that the truck was loaded with stolen goods. From kfor.com . . .
He discovered the truck was loaded with stolen property, mattresses, fixtures even a kitchen sink. His fed up crime fighter pulled the 45 from his pickup.
Alvin held the alleged thief until deputies arrived.
Authorities applaud his bravery and willingness to get involved.
Alvin’s father said that he was very proud of his son, and gave me a phone number to contact him. I was interested because the story mentioned that this was the second time in a few weeks where an armed Alvin Cleere had helped to capture criminals.
In both break-ins, the suspects were wanted on outstanding warrants. I did some searching, but was unable to come up with the first instance in which Alvin used a gun to capture a wanted man in the commission of a crime. It was said to be a home invasion.
When I contacted Alvin, he immediately explained why I could not find the incident on the Internet. It was because no story had been written about it. He only did the interview for the second incident because the sheriff had asked him to do so, as a crime fighting measure.
That was good strategy on the part of the sheriff. Alvin did not wish to talk to me further, but I was glad to learn that the sheriff understands the deterrent effect of armed citizens.
This story illustrates that a great many incidents of the defensive uses of firearms are never reported in the media. In this case we have a home invasion that was investigated by the Sheriff. An armed citizen used a firearm to stop the crime and capture a criminal that was wanted on a warrant. Yet no story was written in the media.
Surprisingly, it’s not his first citizen’s arrest. A few weeks ago, he interrupted another home invasion and captured a wanted felon.
In a rural environment, there are few media outlets. Wonderful stories can go unreported, simply because no reporter is willing to travel to where the story is. People who use firearms to stop crimes are often reluctant to lose their privacy.
It is obvious that Alvin’s .45 was not purchased on the spur of the moment. It looks to be a semi-custom pistol, or at least of very high quality. It makes one wonder if Alvin has a concealed carry permit, was in the military, or has shot competition.
In both of these cases, no one was killed or shot. The case thus becomes one of the vast majority of defensive gun uses where no shots are fired. I called the sheriff office to see if I could find out more details about the first incident. I have not received any return calls at this time.
c2015 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included. Link to Gun Watch
About Dean Weingarten;
Dean Weingarten has been a peace officer, a military officer, was on the University of Wisconsin Pistol Team for four years, and was first certified to teach firearms safety in 1973. He taught the Arizona concealed carry course for fifteen years until the goal of constitutional carry was attained. He has degrees in meteorology and mining engineering, and recently retired from the Department of Defense after a 30 year career in Army Research, Development, Testing, and Evaluation.