Thanks to a Mercer Island resident’s solid Ring camera footage and a police officer’s stellar puzzle-piecing work, a construction worker was reunited with his large orange, wheeled toolbox that was reported swiped on Jan. 15.

The victim discovered that his Ridgid toolbox was missing when he arrived for work on Monday morning at a residential construction site in the 4000 block of 97th Avenue Southeast, according to Mercer Island Police Department (MIPD) Public Information Officer Lindsey Tusing, who added that the toolbox was stolen over the weekend.

Police officers who had contacted the suspect truck surrounded by a few people during a welfare check on Jan. 14 recollected spotting a similar toolbox sitting in the truck. After reviewing footage from a police car’s dash cam and the resident’s Ring camera, police noticed they had found a match with the truck description and officer Reid Johnston led the way in solving the burglary.

Police executed a search warrant on Jan. 16, located the truck in the 8700 block of East Mercer Way and impounded and towed the vehicle. The stolen toolbox was back in the victim’s presence that same day.

“The reason that they knew that the toolbox was in that truck was because they had contacted that truck prior to the burglary being reported,” Tusing said.

No arrests have yet been made as a handful of people are associated with the truck, said Tusing, adding that detectives are investigating the case.

On the critical Ring camera front, Tusing said that police obtained neighbors’ surveillance footage at several angles facing the construction site. One camera perfectly hit the spot.

“Sometimes you strike some good luck, and so we were able to grab one that was pointed right at that house at an angle we could get a good description on that truck,” said Tusing, adding that the vital footage doesn’t show the tools being stolen, but the truck is in full view.

From Jan. 1-18 of this year, the MIPD has received five burglary calls, four theft calls and three motor vehicle theft calls, according to its Community Crime Mapping program that the department hosts on its web page.

Also on its page, the MIPD offers burglary prevention tips, including some of the following suggestions for residents: Make sure all the locks on the doors and windows function properly and use them; while on vacation, arrange for neighbors to pick up all deliveries and keep an eye on the residence; make sure their alarm company has an emergency contact who can respond to the residence if necessary. In an emergency, residents should call 911, and they can contact the city’s non-emergency 24/7 dispatch center at (425) 577-5656.

In other MIPD news, City Manager Jessi Bon informed the city council and community during a Jan. 16 meeting that two modular buildings will arrive on the city hall site in the next four to five weeks to house police operations. The city will add a third building on the site later this year for the police crew. Most of the police employees have resided in a Luther Burbank Park building during the closure of city hall.

“There’s quite a bit involved in bringing these buildings to the campus, so we have to connect the utilities and the like,” Bon said.