January 27
12:20 p.m.- Officers were advised of a harassing text message complaint. A male party was texting a female party and was calling her names. An officer called the male party and warned him to stop texting the female or he would be arrested. He agreed to cease the texts.
2:37 p.m.- Officers were dispatched to an eastside business for a disorderly conduct complaint. A female party was exiting the parking lot and another vehicle was driving up the same aisle the wrong way. The female asked the other party to move and they refused, which was also followed by a discourteous hand gesture. The other party also said they would be waiting for the female when she exited the store. When the female came out of the store, the suspect was writing down her license plate number. Officers located a phone number for the suspect and a message was left to call. They will be warned for their disorderly actions.
4:51 p.m.- Officer was dispatched to an address to check on a dog that was outside in the cold weather. Officer arrived on scene and located the dog. The dog had shelter, food, water, and appeared healthy. Complaint is unfounded.
7:13 p.m.- Officers were dispatched to a west side business for a shoplifting complaint. The employee had seen the female suspect leave and walk into another business. Officer located the female suspect and questioned her about the theft. She initially denied the theft, but admitted after being told she would be arrested if the stolen property was located. The property had been thrown into the garbage at the other business. The female was cited for retail theft and the property was turned back over to the store.
January 28
1 a.m.- A caller from the Hwy. 51 Truck Stop reported a vehicle nearly struck him causing him to go sideways. He stated he contacted the driver and she could barely stand up and he could smell booze on her breath. The caller reported the vehicle to be heading towards Merrill. An officer located the vehicle as it pulled into Kwik Trip. The officer made contact with the driver who reported the caller had pulled out a knife. A deputy investigated this allegation and it was found to be untrue and the driver admitted she had made it up. She was arrested for operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated after failing standardized field sobriety tests. The officer also located two pieces of straw and a small container containing a white powder residue. These items were sent to the crime lab to be identified.
2:46 a.m.- An officer on patrol located a vehicle that was weaving in the lane and nearly dragging his bumper. The officer spoke with the male who admitted to hitting something at the tavern but didn’t know what. Another officer checked the tavern and couldn’t locate anything damaged. The driver was arrested for operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated after failing standardized field sobriety tests.
8:10 a.m.- A caller reported someone had thrown trash bags into a dumpster rented for remodeling purposes. They had located a name and address in one of the bags. Contact was made at the address and a male agreed to remove the trash rather than be cited. He was warned any further violations would result in a citation for illegal dumping.
2:24 p.m.- A female flagged down a passing officer after she had locked herself out of her house. The officer was able to assist her back inside.
January 29
10:25 a.m.- Officer was responding to an emergency call with his lights and sirens activated. A vehicle in front of him was refusing to pull over and out of the way. The officer obtained the license plate and made contact with the registered owner at his address after responding to the emergency call. The registered owner of the suspect vehicle stated he felt he didn’t have to pull over even after seeing the lights and hearing the siren behind him. The driver was cited for failure to yield to an emergency vehicle.
4:41 p.m.- Officer was dispatched to a threat complaint. The reporting party stated her husband had made threats to harm her and to take her children after they had a verbal argument. The female did not want her husband contacted but wanted the incident documented with law enforcement. She was advised to call if she needed further assistance.
7:18 p.m.- Officers were dispatched to an address for a harassing phone call complaint. Contact was made with the reporting party who stated a male party was calling him and threatening him. Officers listened to the voicemail messages that were left by the suspect and they were not threatening in any way. The suspect was called and advised to stop contacting the reporting party.
9:17 p.m.- Officer conducted a traffic stop on a vehicle that was weaving it its lane and was crossing the center line numerous times. The officer detected an odor of intoxicants on the drivers’ breath and observed other clues indicative of intoxication. The driver was placed through field sobriety tests and failed. The driver was arrested for operating while intoxicated, 2nd offense.
10:07 p.m.- Officer was dispatched to a disorderly conduct complaint. The reporting party stated he had been pushed down by a male party 2 weeks prior to calling tonight. When asked why he waited so long to call police on the matter he said he was called into police for a different matter by the other party and now he wanted to file a complaint. The incident is being forwarded to the city attorney for his review.
January 30
3:30 a.m.- Officers responded to a possible residential fire in the 300 block of W. Riverside Ave. Upon arrival, no source of the reported smoke could be located by police officers or the Merrill Fire Dept. It was possible that a scented plug-in device was the cause for the alarm and observed smoke.
11:30 p.m.- An officer was dispatched to the 600 block of E. 4th St. for a junk ordinance violation. This was the address of a habitual offender of this ordinance and new violations were observed. A citation was issued for the violations.
1:30 p.m.- An officer assisted the Office of Probation and Parole with an offender arrest at their office in the City Hall building. The suspect was arrested without incident.
6 p.m.- Officers were dispatched to the 1000 block of E. 8th St. for a possible damage to property complaint. The complainant suspected a resident family member caused damage to a household item. The complainant requested that the family member leave and they agreed to go. No charges were requested.
11:45 p.m.- Officers were dispatched to a noise complaint in the 700 block of Woodbine Ave. On arrival to the suspect location, apparent underage alcohol violations were discovered amongst other violations. One suspect was arrested for a probation violation. Another was arrested for bail jumping as he was violating “house arrest” rules from his Marathon Co address. Six persons were cited for underage alcohol violations.
January 31
2:15 p.m.- An officer met with security personnel from a local retailer in regards to an ongoing retail theft investigation involving multiple store locations. Arrests are pending.
8:45 p.m.- Officers made contact with multiple vehicles in the Walgreens parking lot due to a long standing problem of loitering at this location against the property owner’s wishes. The parking lot is clearly marked. Multiple people were issued written warnings with an understanding that citations will follow for further violations of the loitering ordinance and/or parking violations.
February 1
1:39 p.m.- A female came to the PD to report a burglary. It was reported that sometime since last summer someone stole a toolbox and tools from the garage.
1:49 p.m.- Two male students were found to be in possession of knives at school. They were referred to social services for possession of dangerous weapons on school grounds.
3:55 p.m.- An anonymous person reported a box of food sitting on a bench near Grand Ave. The officer found the box the food items were in appeared to have come from the food pantry. The food was returned to the food pantry.
7:47 p.m.- A caller reported her 11-year-old daughter was receiving harassing text messages from a girl she used to be friends with. The sender agreed to cease such activity. Both were told to leave one another alone.
11:19 p.m.- A female patient at the hospital was cited for misuse of 911 after she called 911 wishing to be transferred to a different facility. The female was found to be intoxicated and belligerent to hospital staff.
February 2
7:56 a.m.- An 18-year-old male high school student was cited for disorderly conduct after using his shoulder to shove another student.
11:16 a.m.- An officer met with a caller after the caller reported problems with his boss not paying and making threats toward him. It was found there was a dispute over the hourly wage. The employee was advised the matter was civil in nature. The employee didn’t wish for officers to contact the boss in reference to the alleged threats.
2:10 p.m.- A caller used 911 to contact an officer to ask a question. The caller was cited for misuse of 911. The officer answered her questions pertaining to a property dispute.
8:17 p.m.- An officer on patrol stopped a vehicle after observing it driving the wrong way on a one-way street. The 19-year-old driver was suspected of driving while under the influence. He was unable to recite the alphabet and refused further field tests. He was arrested for operating while intoxicated and cited for failure to fasten seatbelt and underage drinking (2nd offense).
10:34 p.m.- An officer on patrol stopped a vehicle he observed operating without the headlamps illuminated. The driver was found to be revoked and had a warrant for his arrest through the Merrill PD. He was cited for operating after revocation and arrested for the warrant.