Crime-Watch Pays in Fountain Valley

Maybe we admire citizens who come forward to help the police because we get so angry at those who sit on the sidelines.

Sideliners like David Cash of La Palma, who did nothing to help the 7-year-old girl murdered by his friend last year in a Nevada casino restroom. Or party-goers who witness a gang-related shooting, but when the police arrive, suddenly nobody saw anything.

I learned a good lesson about that from former Superior Court Judge James L. Smith. A reluctant witness in a criminal trial had made what I thought was a sound legal argument for not answering a subpoena. Technically, he had never been served.

Smith angrily responded that the witness knew his help was needed. It’s a duty of citizenship, the judge said, to cooperate if you have information that can help the police. His words left an impression on me.

Those who do step forward, with no reward dangled before them, deserve credit.

That brings me to John Howard, 33, and a program put on quarterly by the Fountain Valley Police Department to laud residents like him.

Howard happens to be disabled; because of back surgery, he walks with a cane and has almost no use of his left arm. On Aug. 14, he and his father, David, who was visiting from Wisconsin, saw a hit-and-run accident on Euclid Avenue. John Howard used his cell phone to call police.

Meanwhile, the driver was backing his car away from the scene at a high speed. He plowed into a curb and a parked car, disabling his vehicle so he couldn’t drive away.

A police officer arrived and tried to get the man out at gunpoint, but the man wouldn’t move from behind the wheel of the car, which was still running.

“We could smell gas, and my dad was worried the car might explode,” John Howard said. “So my dad reached into the vehicle from the passenger side and switched off the ignition.”

Things happened fast after that. The officer put his gun away and pulled the suspect from the vehicle. But the man put up a fight. So John Howard, cane and all, jumped on the man’s back. John’s dad joined in, and the four wrestled on the ground. It was John Howard’s father who handcuffed the suspect.

“It was a trip,” John Howard recalled. “But I’d do it again. When you see someone committing a crime, suddenly your instinct just takes over, and you’re in there.”

Howard was among a dozen people honored in Fountain Valley Police Department ceremonies Wednesday.

Police Chief Elvin Miali started recognizing good citizens eight years ago. His officers had told him they thought people who help the police deserve more than just a letter of thanks. They ought to get their 15 minutes of fame too, Miali agreed.

In each instance described at the ceremonies Wednesday, it was clear that the police would not have made an arrest, or recovered stolen property, without citizen help.

Dina Cuppinger, 34, says with a laugh that she and her husband, Bruce, 52, “are known as nosy neighbors.” They have called the police on several burglaries.

On June 25, Dina Cuppinger had returned from a pizza run when she saw a white van parked next door. Because it was a house for sale, it was not unusual to see a stranger such as a real estate agent. But this vehicle seemed out of place, she said. When she peeked into its backyard, she saw a man with a screwdriver in his hand.

Cuppinger became so concerned that she went next door herself, circling the house and observing the man, who by that time was inside.

“We had agreed that if she wasn’t back in a minute and a half, I was to call 911,” said Bruce Cuppinger, who uses a wheelchair.

Their police call resulted in the arrest of a man who had stolen property in his possession.

Said Dina: “Yes, we’re nosy. But sometimes it helps to be that way.”

On July 10, Mark Sheppard, 41, of Huntington Beach drove past a police officer on foot chasing a bicyclist in Fountain Valley.

“I could see he’d never catch the guy, so I motioned the officer that I would follow,” Sheppard said. “In the meantime, I called the police dispatcher on my cell phone.”

That’s the problem with being a crook these days. You never know when you’ll come up against someone with a cell phone. The suspect, a parole violator, was soon arrested.

Mike Escobedo, 44, was awakened Aug. 4 by an apparent burglary next door. Escobedo had been in such a deep sleep that he couldn’t remember the emergency digits 911; he had to wake his wife, Patty, to ask her what the numbers were.

Robert Hoff, 48, a sharp-eyed gas station attendant, had a customer whose credit card wouldn’t work in the pump. Hoff agreed to take a traveler’s check, but he noticed that the signatures on the credit card and the traveler’s check did not match. He called the police.

It turns out that neither of the signatures belonged to the man buying gas. The car wasn’t his either; it was stolen. The customer also had keys from a second stolen car in his possession, as well as property from seven other burglaries.

Hoff’s quick work solved a lot of cases at once.

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You don’t have to be an adult to be a good citizen. Trevor Melker, 12, of Claremont was in Fountain Valley for his brother’s soccer game July 18. Bored with the game, he and a friend took off on their skateboards. They found a black case on a dumpster in an alley.

“We thought we’d hit the jackpot,” Trevor said.

When they saw two loaded guns inside, they headed for the authorities. Also inside the case, and the dumpster, were parts for assault weapons, gun sight attachments and hundreds of counterfeit credit cards.

Chief Miali said of the annual ceremony: “We do this to encourage people to get involved. We tell our residents, ‘Don’t hesitate to call us.’ Even if it turns out to be nothing wrong, if you are suspicious, we want to know.”

The next time you complain about nosy neighbors, just remember: You’re lucky if they are as nosy as Dina Cuppinger.

Jerry Hicks’ column appears Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Readers may reach Hicks by calling the Times Orange County Edition at (714) 966-7823 or by fax to (714) 966-7711, or e-mail to jerry.hicks@latimes.com.