I had to call Second District last week with a stupid problem – a neighbor several doors down had taken my city-issued trash container and wouldn't give it back. I knew it was mine because I wrote down the serial number, and it nearly is impossible to throw trash away if it's not in the container, so I called Second District's non-emergency number.

I was told that "Officers would be dispatched" and I forgot to ask how long it would take for them to get here: an hour? a day? a week? I barely had put the phone down when the officers were at my door.

They were professional and friendly, found my trash container and wheeled it back to my house. Case closed!

On a similar note, I had to call a week ago about a car that that I didn't recognize that was parked so that it blocked the entrance to my driveway. Again, the police arrived within a few minutes of the call, found the owner and asked him to move the car. The entire thing took 15 minutes.

There have been plenty of complaints on this site about slow or rude response, so I thought I would offer a couple of examples of quick, courteous, professional response (which, to be honest, is the only response I've experienced). At times, neighbors have called about loud altercations, etc., and the police have arrived much faster than expected (within minutes). Every time, they handled the situation and were able to calm everyone down without issuing tickets. I think these are great examples of "community policing" at its finest.

Thanks Second District!