On Friday, two Northern Star editors and a reporter were returning to the Lincolnshire West apartment complex, 1307 W. Lincoln Highway, when two DeKalb County Sheriff’s squad cars screamed down Lincoln Highway headed east past Fatty’s Bar & Grill, 1312 W. Lincoln Highway.

A moment later a DeKalb police squad car exited the Lincolnshire complex. It moved very quickly and came dangerously close to the Star employees. Where was it headed? A murder scene? An armed robbery?

No, it went to Road Ranger at 125 N. Annie Glidden Road. A short drive and observation showed not only the two county squad cars but also several from the DeKalb Police Department had converged on that gas station.

If one didn’t know any better one might assume a robbery or other serious crime had occurred. This was not the case.

Two employees of Road Ranger revealed during the incident police rapidly converged on one car parked at a gas pump and removed three suspects from the car. They were patted down, searched and ultimately let go. A conversation with the DeKalb police showed they were “responding to a call from another agency.” They suggested a chat with the county sheriff’s police office.

The Sheriff’s office said there was no record of any call pertaining to the above described incident. No record? This is absolutely ridiculous. Citizens in DeKalb and students at NIU, many of whom live near Road Ranger, deserve to know what kind of crimes garner the response of more than five police units.

It looked like something major was going down at Road Ranger and the police have no record of it. Why not? Are they trying to hide something? It appears so.

Besides the perception of some kind of cover up, this kind of response to a non-existent crime raises other concerns.

The recent rash of robberies on and near campus has given NIU students and DeKalbians reason to be afraid at night. If large portions of the police protection respond to nothing, it leaves the rest of the city open to criminals.

If any potential robber had passed Road Ranger Friday at around 2 a.m., their thought process might have been something like, “Oh boy, time to go a-robbin’.”

While it’s not a bad thing the police take their job seriously, it would be best if local police agencies tried to remember one incident may not be the only criminal activity in DeKalb.

Coincidentally, at about 2:11 a.m. the same night a robbery occurred just a few blocks from the scene of the “crime” at Road Ranger.

Perhaps if police had not been so preoccupied at Road Ranger, they might have prevented the robbery.

Agree? Disagree? Contact us at

www.northernstar.info.