Member-only story
Some Cops Called My Friend “Spooky”
A true story of the time Spooky surprised us all
Some cops called him “Spooky.”
His ability to read subtle clues in the dust, follow near-invisible footprints, and find lost kids was near miraculous. When I knew him, he was the only registered police tracker in Wisconsin.
Civilians called him Mukwonago’s Chief of Police.
I called him my friend Tony.
The ancient art and science of reading faint impressions in soil or snow was Tony’s expertise, honed by his lifetime of tracking first animals and later criminals. For this cop, it wasn’t a hobby or a leisurely pursuit. He spent decades with his nose an inch from a disturbance on a gravel road, a tiled kitchen floor, or a leaf-covered forest trail. He claimed the very mind of the criminal he was tracking was in the details he found in the tracks.
The following true story, one of many, demonstrates why Tony was called Spooky.
Before dawn on an August day, Tony was rousted out of bed and called to an upscale home in an affluent part of town. A burglar had entered the residence while the couple were sleeping and made off with a valuable collection of ancient coins.