Cops and robbers: Thieves swipe police officer statue

He was a member of the family.

That’s how West Hempstead business owner Lou Kahn described the seven-foot tall statue of a motorcycle cop that was stolen from outside his Cherry Valley Avenue warehouse last month.

Kahn purchased the plastic resin statue, which he named Officer Hummel, for about $600 eight years ago at an auction. He said he thought it would make for good advertising to place the statue outside his place of business. Officer Hummel, who wore a helmet on his head and a hand on a gun at his waist, was “a show stopper,” according to Kahn, whose business, Bakertown Valley Inc., specializes in selling antiques and collectibles online.

Anytime Kahn held or went to an event, he took Officer Hummel with him and adorned the statue with signs advertising the business. “He worked for me for about eight years,” Kahn said. “We have people that stop and take pictures with him. When we used to have him in front of the place on Cherry Valley Avenue, many cars would sloe down because they thought it was a speed trap because he looked real.”

Officer Hummel was chained to a telephone pole on Cherry Valley Avenue for the last few years, but, following a request from the Town of Hempstead to move the statue, Kahn chained him to a metal pole outside the front door of his warehouse. Next thing he knows, Officer Hummel is gone.

“It’s kind of funny that I put him in front of my place to protect my place and he’s stolen,” Kahn said.

But in reality, it’s actually quite sad for Kahn. “It’s frustrating because, one, he’s about seven-foot tall; it’s not something you could easily take,” Kahn said. “I don’t know what somebody’s going to do with it ‘cause it’s one of a kind … and he was a part of my extended family.”

Losing Officer Hummel is also sad for Kahn’s employees, many of whom are Hofstra students who have worked at Bakertown Valley for several years and were used to greeting the statue on their way into work. “My whole staff was heartbroken,” Kahn said. “They came in and said ‘Aww. Officer Hummel’s not here.’ I was shocked.”

Although he believes the statue was stolen as part of a high school prank — since the incident occurred on June 17 — Kahn said the thief or thieves were prepared for the heist. “It was a heavy, heavy chain,” he said. “Somebody really had to have some kind of chain cutter to get this chain off.” And, he added, the statue itself weighed about 40 pounds.

Two similar incidents in neighboring communities have led Kahn to believe that pranksters are behind the thefts. A large wooden statue of a Native-American man was stolen from outside a store in Franklin Square around the same time Officer Hummel was stolen. And about a year ago, a well-known bear statue was taken from outside a Garden City store. Police said they do not believe the incidents are related.

Regardless of who took the statue, Kahn wants it back and he’s willing to pay for it: he’s offering a $200 reward for Officer Hummel’s safe return. “It was basically priceless to me because it was part of the family,” he said.

Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-244-TIPS (8477) or call Kahn directly at (516) 489-6004.