Wisconsin city’s police no longer chasing gas scofflaws

Over in Appleton, Wisconsin, the police have decided they’ll no longer respond to complaints from gas stations that people have driven off without paying for the gas they just pumped into their vehicle.

In so doing, the police chief gets an entry in just under the wire for the most “interesting” (in a Minnesota way) rationale of the year.

“Oftentimes, when an employee called in a theft of gas, it turned out not to be a theft of anything,” Police Chief Derek Beiderwieden told the Post Crescent. “Really, they became civil matters of somebody taking something without paying for it.”

You know, like theft.

But the police say most of the drive-offs are people simply forgetting to pay and they’ve got better things to do than be debt collectors.

It’s 264 miles to Appleton, Twin Citians. It’s not worth driving there to get free tanks of gas.