OZARK, MO — They say a picture is worth a thousand words.
Or a call to Ozark police.
Moments after snapping a photo of the Ozark R-VI School administrative building, the Christian County Trumpet reporter got a window knock from M. DEEDS, Ozark School Resource Officer.
“Everything okay here?” Deeds asked.
The trusty Trumpeteer assured Officer Deeds that, indeed, his deeds were pure and his hands relatively clean. “But, why did you come up to me?” The Reporter stated the question as obvious as the badge on the uniform.
“We got a call that someone took a picture of the school building.”
Whoa, now. Whaaaaaat??
Pretend you’re watching the scenario play out on social media. You wanna hit the pause and slo mo button, to be absolutely certain of the alleged complaint. Let’s play it back real slow. Perhaps we missed something.
Read the following sentence in the deep, Jolly Green Giant style slo mo voice:
“WEE GOOT A CAALL THAT SSOMMEONNE TOOK A PIICTUURRE OF THE SCHOOOLL BUILLDIIINNGGG…”
Okay, that’s what I thought you said, Officer Deeds.
“Is there any law against taking a picture of a public building?”
The officer instantly shook his head. “It’s just the weird times we live in.”
Weird, indeed…
Deeds checked my ID, asked if I still lived where I do, then asked, “What year is your vehicle?”
(Um, 2007…why? Do ya think I stole this piece of junk?)
As the officer drove off, I noticed he was accompanied by two other patrol vehicles, one was a second resource officer, and the third an Ozark Police officer.
Must be slow on Thursday afternoons in Ozark. Or maybe School Building Photography Suspects require triple the usual response.
At least they know the year of my Ford Freestyle, in case they wanted to buy one for the school patrol fleet..
Weird times, indeed…
11 responses to “Weird Times for Ozark PD and Ozark R-VI Schools”
Good for Ozark PD. Better safe than sorry.
Completely unconstitutional any and I repeat any public government building can be photographed without and cause to have the need of a police officer harassing you. You was nice to show your ID but I wouldn’t have as they already ran the tags off your vehicle. I fully respect our women and men in blue but they should have known it’s perfectly legal to do what you did.
I appreciate hearing that our students are well protected. With the vulnerability of a student body one cannot assume that any unidentified person there has good intent. Thank you Officer Deeds for making that challenge and assuring safety.
Thank you officer Deeds for taking the time and doing your job. Please dont listen to this crap as we do live in times where you cannot trust anyone and should not be an issue to ask a simple question. Protecting our youth was
officer Deeds obvious objective here. Sorry it annoyed this guy but keep doing what your doing cause you never know what a persons intentions are anymore better safe than sorry.
Why didn’t you guys comment on the follow up article? No one is willing to hear more?
You bet! This reporter needs to be brought up to speed on how terrorists do their deeds. It starts with gathering Intel on location, access, protection etc. The make, model, and year of your vehicle could be an important clue. They did their job, good on them! Snark about police doing their public duty is uncalled for.
The weirdest part of this article is why it wasn’t properly edited. You capitalized “reporter”, switched between third and first person narrative, some of your ellipses have 2 periods, and you used adjectives where you should have used adverbs. Maybe you should work on perfecting your own craft before questioning how others practice theirs.
This is a satire site. I’m not perfect, but I do most of my “outside the rules” punctuation and grammar deliberately…
Thank You For noTicIng..
Good grief! The officer was just doing his job, following up on a call. Sure would be different dialogue if something happened later and the neighbor said ” I reported a stranger taking pictures yesterday but the resourse officer did nothing. Refused to even go check it out!” This super sensitivity to every little thing is way beyond overkill in my opinion.
To clarify, this is a satire site. Thank you all for reading! I was in my car and snapped a pic with my phone on a whim. I think on the fly. I don’t work for anyone. I do this all on my own. It’s fun!
One time I was getting pictures for a “Where’s Johnny now?” simulcast in Springfield. It was a about 18 months ago. I swung into the entrance of the Federal mental prison on Kansas and Sunshine, snapped a pic with my phone and immediately a bald dude pulled up and busted me, even though I was a few feet off Kansas Expwy. and 400 feet from the actual building.