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Community Corner

Embedded on Berkeley's Southside

By Ted Friedman/Berkeley Reporter
July 14, 2013

Berkeley's Teley Ambassadors "Steal" the Shirt Off a Perp's Back

FIRST PERSON:

The street guy had two Berkeley Telegraph Ave. ambassadors standing over him. They seemed concerned.

Street ambassadors are those brown-shirted (Telegraph colors) guides and helpers, who regularly watch out for the well-being of street people and assist the general public.
 
Ambassadors can only advise. They have no authority to arrest or even detain, with certain exceptions.

Snooping, I learned that the street guy, seated on the walk in the 2500 block of Durant had been accused by a tee-vendor of snatching a red tee.
 Case closed? The vendor describes the tee; the suspect is wearing it.

The shirt was brand new. It's crease folds gave it away.
 
The ambassadors asked the suspect to remove the shirt from his back. The suspect was reluctant, moaning, "but what will I wear? you're taking the shirt off my back."

As the ambassadors folded the loot for return to its owner, I asked whether this was their first crime-solve. It was.

I told then about how I solved a crime when I was an 18 year-old police reporter for my hometown paper in Springfield, Il.

Teley ambassadors are a two-some. One of them had her last day the day after the shirt-return. She would be mortified if I paid tribute to her or, god forbid--named her.

Now her partner must soldier on alone. Roland Peterson, Director of the Telegraph Business District, who hired her, said her replacement has not yet been found.

"She will be hard to replace," he said
                                                                  -30-

Special to Speak Out. You won't read this at berkeleyreporter.com. But we offer, "Wild and Bumpy Berkeley Week," with a nine picture gallery of Berkeley's South Side.  

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