The action that impressed the community watch organization occurred earlier this year, in April. Jack had been told by his customers that there had been lots of break-ins in the neighborhood where his route is located, and they had asked him to be on the look-out for any suspicious activity. "This wasn't a problem because I am always suspicious," Jack said.
For several days, he noticed the same group of three young men walking through the neighborhood. On this particular afternoon, he spotted them again, but they couldn't see him. One stayed in front of a house to act as a look-out while the other two jumped over the back fence in order to gain entry.
Jack called the police, who soon arrived in full force with the K-9 unit. The look-out ran away, but the two who had entered the residence were captured by the police and identified by Jack.
One of the young criminals attempted to deny his involvement, but a women's change purse filled with silver dollars was found when the police patted him down. The victim later identified the purse as one of her stolen belongings.
Jack is hesitant to have it seem as if he did anything extraordinary. "I don't feel unique in having done this," he said. "Mail carriers do it all the time."
The result of Wood paying attention to his surroundings and making the effort to alert the police was that 20 previously unsolved break-ins of cars and homes in the Sherwood Park area of Huntsville were put resolved by catching these criminals. Two are now in prison; the look-out was never identified.
This is certainly not the first time that Wood has gone out of his way to assist his customers. In addition to this incident, in his 30-year career with the Postal Service, he has also retrieved an inhaler for an asthmatic woman who had collapsed in her driveway gasping for breath, and called emergency services for en elderly gentleman who had fallen and was close to death.
"It's all about route ownership," Wood said. "That's a common phrase among carriers. It means caring about and taking care of the neighborhood that you serve."
When asked if he had any advice for those of us who wish to avoid being the victims of crime, Wood, a former military police officer himself, said, " Remember that if something doesn't seem right, it probably isn't."
Postmarks gives a special thanks to Lisa Hefner, who contacted us about Jack's accomplishments.
