A recent case of police car theft made us question, "Who is smarter? The policeman or the thief?" While you ponder over this, let us tell you about what happened in Wisconsin. A 34-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of police car theft. While the trial was being processed and everyone awaited the verdict, the suspect looted another cop car. LOL! 

Now who's smarter? Wait before jumping to a conclusion. The suspect, Daniel Barton was first arrested in December 2022 in Milwaukee after a policeman allegedly claimed he stole his car during a traffic stop, per local media outlet WMTV. A report published by WMTV on June 1, 2023 mentioned a video from the Shorewood Police Department in which the incident was captured. Per the report, the video showed the moment the stolen squad drives right past the officers while they were conducting a traffic stop. An unknown police officer is heard saying in the video, "Ah, someone just stole my squad." 

After Barton's initial arrest in December 2022, he was charged with taking or driving a vehicle without the owner's consent. The court records showed that he was issued a warrant in February 2023 for failing to appear in court. According to a complaint reviewed by WMTV, Barton was "giggling" when he drove off and was later found hiding in a dumpster. Haha! Crazy.

The thief seemed to be playing some game of hide and seek with the police as, despite legal proceedings, police arrested Barton again on Tuesday, June 6. Surprisingly this time, it was yet another case involving squad car theft. A man who was put in another squad shouted, "Someone just stole that police car." 

The police flooded the area to catch Barton and a bystander reported, "The suspect set off from there." Around ten minutes later, Milwaukee officers hunted him down as the suspect was hiding inside a gymnasium this time. What a circus! The bloke was caught again. As stated by Wisconsin police officers, Barton had stolen squad cars multiple times. "It's that same person that stole an MPD squad before," another officer said, per WMTV. A trial has been scheduled for Barton's case but the cops are now increasingly concerned about what really motivates thieves to target police vehicles. 

Veronica Serher, an eyewitness, said people laughed at the whole situation and found it entertaining, per Business Insider. And rightly so. It appeared to be a scene from a comedy movie where cops run after a thief, the suspect then runs away with their vehicles and they chase each other in circles. "I feel like it'd be hard to steal a car, much less a police car and the fact that it happened twice is wild," Isabella Puls, another eyewitness, said. Some even said it's alarming how a thief already in custody for stealing charges dared to get away with another cop's vehicle.

Regardless of the underlying cause, police cars are an essential tool for law enforcement in the United States and they shouldn't be so immune to theft.