If only every day could be like Christmas. Of course, every day isn't, which is what made Dec. 25 one of the outstanding days of the year for police services in Rancho Santa Margarita.
The Orange County Sheriff's Department reported only 10 calls on its blotter report for the 24 hours beginning at midnight, and one of those calls came 16 seconds into the holiday—someone reported hearing a car crash into an object at the park on El Prado.
- Sign up to receive the daily Patch newsletter.
- Follow RSM Patch on Facebook and Twitter.
Apart from a loud party, that was the only call for assistance until 8:35 a.m. when an alarm went off at a business on Arroyo Vista.
The rest of the morning calls were for a disturbance in which a woman's sons—ages 18 and 25—got into a fight; a missing 4-year-old wearing Batman footie pajamas with a cape (the child was found within seven minutes of the 9-1-1 call); and a caller who feared someone walking across Santa Margarita Parkway Bridge was going to jump (he didn't).
More than 5 1/2 hours passed before a minor traffic accident at Interchange Plaza at 3:49 p.m., and then nearly seven hours passed before a disturbance on Aliento in which someone who looked like a skinhead was banging on windows at 10:46 p.m.
The easy day ended with a traffic stop at 11:25 p.m.
The day before Christmas, there were more than twice as many calls, 21, for assistance. Through 5:15 p.m. on Dec. 26, there were 15 such calls.
