This Cop Went Undercover as a Pizza Delivery Guy

Police have been known to pose as homeless people, johns, and drug dealers, all in an effort to nip crime in the unscrupulous bud. But perhaps the most creative police tactic we've heard of recently occurred in Rockland, Illinois this week. To put an end to a string of robberies, an undercover police officer there donned a Domino's Pizza uniform and apprehended a recalcitrant thief.

Domino's was just one of several local pizza delivery businesses that were targeted by a local criminal, who was robbing unsuspecting pizza delivery guys. This must be one heartless goon, because delivering pizza is already a pretty thankless task, with low pay, little respect and—as we recently reported—not even car insurance from their employers. Clearly, justice needed to step in and protect the noble gatekeepers of pizzadom.

And so it did. The Rockland police were on it: "Our Crimes Unit put together a plan by using an undercover cop wearing a Domino's uniform. That officer drove to the scene where the delivery was taking place," says Assistant Deputy Doug Pann.

Pann said he became aware of a pattern of armed robberies of delivery drivers a few weeks ago. "We knew roughly the days of the week, about the time of the day it was happening, and we had some similar suspect descriptions," Pann told local WTVO News.

When a suspicious call came into the Domino's on East State Street in Rockland, the undercover police officer in Domino's drag was dispatched. After arriving at the order location, the officer identified himself and the customer took off, running down the street. A brief foot chase followed but the thief-with-the-thing-for-pizza was finally apprehended. Turns out the alleged robber is a mere 17 years old.

People in the neighborhood were impressed with the Rockland police officer's ingenuity in nabbing this pizza-loving criminal: "It was very clever. I'll have to give it to him. I'm glad he was able to go undercover to catch the guy that did this," says Rockland resident Bridgette Traylor.

Pann said the Rockland police have done this type of technique in the past and this is a "pretty common thing."

Tensions among police and America's disenfranchised have continued to run pretty damn high as of late, so it's nice to see that there is still room in the unending law enforcement dialogue for some good ol' fashioned, pizza-centric sting operations.