On the night of July 23, Denver TSO Martin Martinez was off duty and anxious to get home after a long shift. “It had been a pretty steady, normal day in Denver,” said Martinez.
As he walked to his car in the west garage, he noticed someone pulling on a car door handle. Clearly this person was checking to see if there were any open doors. Martinez moved to a different vantage point to further observe this suspicious activity.
Martinez said, “I kept between cars to keep a low profile so I could continue to observe the action.”
When the suspicious person finally found an open in a Range Rover and climbed in, Martinez took action.
“He climbed in the vehicle and looked around,” remembered Martinez. “I was thinking that it could be his car, but just in case, I took down the license plate number. Once he exited the vehicle, he tried to access different cars, and that’s when I called the emergency number on the back of my SIDA badge. I called a second time to confirm that he was breaking into vehicles and followed him down to the [Denver Regional Transport District] train platform.”
“The party was arrested and jailed for criminal trespass,” said Corporal Dave Shultz of the
Airport Police Division. “[The suspect] was also arrested the day before while prowling cars in the west garage. It was because of Martin Martinez’s perseverance and alertness that we were able to capture a serial criminal at the airport.”
Martinez received a congratulatory letter from the Denver Airport Police and will be officially recognized at a future event. Denver police also recognized him on their Colorado mobile app.
“TSO Martinez represents everything we want to see in our Officers,” said Denver STSO Zachary Johnson. “He is vigilant and has great attention to detail. He represents the agency in a matter with upmost professionalism. As his supervisor, I have seen firsthand how effective and efficient of an Officer he has grown to become. We greatly appreciate that he is a part of our team at TSA DEN.”