Testi-lying- A True Story

A police officer told me about a burglar that he had collared, rightfully, he believed, for a string of burglaries. The officer went on to say that this burglar had practiced his chosen craft in a certain section of Brooklyn by using a pry bar to open various windows to allow him unfettered entry into various apartment. Part of the evidence collected included the scratch marks made by the pry bar against the window sills. The interesting part was that the scratch marks could only have been made by special tool made for and used by the New York Telephone Company.

The problem for our officer was that the arrested miscreant did not have this special tool on his possession when he was arrested. So the officer stole a similar pry bar from a telephone company truck , and presented it to prosecutors as belonging to the burglar. The D.A's office asked no questions. The cop got his conviction.