ELMIRA-AREA FAMILY RECEIVES POLICE AWARD

Spotting marijuana in their field and aiding in the arrest of the
suspects netted an Elmira-area farm family citations from the
Waterloo Regional Police Services.

More than a year ago, Randy Martin and his daughter Jessica Lynn
stopped two men from planting marijuana in their cornfield.

They were honoured for their conduct at the Citizen Citation Awards
at a recent banquet.

Martin's wife said her husband was shy about receiving the award but
soon warmed to the idea of being honoured for his heroism.

"It felt good to be at the banquet," said Bonnie Martin. "They had
about 13 awards that night to other people who had helped police
officers. It felt good to be part of that, to help out the police
officers to make this a better community to live in."

Martin and his daughter's citations were earned when two men were
discovered in their cornfield last June.

When the men ran off, Martin discovered they had left behind a cooler
filled with marijuana plants.

The family immediately called their neighbours, police officers who
were off-duty at the time.

Sgt. Mike Hinsperger, who was a constable at the time, confirmed
there were 36 marijuana plants in the cooler, which would have
fetched a street value of $36,000 upon maturity.

After the cornfield was searched, Hinsperger joined Martin and his
two children in their truck to search the area.

Martin spotted the two men sitting on a lawn outside an Arthur Street
residence. When he slowed the truck outside the house the two men
ran, enticing Hinsperger and his neighbour to chase after them.

Hinsperger nabbed one of them 150 metres off the back field nearing
the highway. While one was caught the other fled on foot. A canine
unit tracked the area for two hours looking for the second man who
was eventually identified in a suspect lineup.

"Randy took the initiative to call [police] for starters," said
Hinsperger. "A lot of people wouldn't even do that. But once we were
called, he took an active role in trying to apprehend them. Not only
did he drive the truck searching for these guys, but he also chased
on foot and assisted with arresting these guys. It could have been a
dangerous situation if both these guys had decided to turn on me."

Upon capturing the first suspect, Hinsperger found himself in an
awkward position. Since he had been off duty at the time of the
incident he didn't have police tools with him.

"The lady living at the house, she wanted to find something to bind
him with, since I obviously didn't have any equipment with me," he
explained. "So she found a ball of bailer twine. He was bound with
that. When the police officer arrived he took the twine off and
placed the handcuffs on him."

Back at the Martin farm, Bonnie had called the police when the men
first took chase. Until they arrived Hinsperger relied on Jessica
Lynn Martin to document the situation.

"Jess was inquiring what she could do to help as opposed to a lot of
people who would simply stand back."

A Grade 8 student at the time, Jessica Lynn had been sitting in the
truck's backseat with her younger brother until the suspect was
apprehended. She took note of Hinsperger reading the suspect his
rights to counsel and the criminal caution. She took down his name
and recorded what the suspect said until on-duty police arrived.