Footsteps in the snow

There was an article in the paper tonight about two youths in London being captured after the Police followed their footsteps in the snow.
Way , way, back, in the late 60's I was night shift at Loanhead when there was a call about 1 a.m. from a bloke who had seen lights flickering inside the then Miners Welfare Club ( the Casino) at Nivensknowe, Loanhead, which was the biggest Miners Club is Scotland at the time. Along with my old sergeant, Willie Wood we made our way there, on what was a clear frosty night with five or six inches snow on the ground. Out the Landrover and we saw new footprints around the building , we were joined by a couple of Traffic Officers from Dalkeith and due to the size of the building which had dance halls, swimming pool, bowling alleys, etc, we took corners to watch while a dog handler was called for. Doggie man and unhappy Alsation dog appeared ( having got it out its kennel), we stuck the dog in the broken window and a short time later one chewed up chappie was heard shouting for help and surrendered quite happily.
By this time the Manager and one of the key holders had arrived, and as the Casino was bang on the beat boundary, the Sgt called out Bill Baxter , the Seafield man whose area we were in, and got him out his bed. Baxter, being seriously annoyed at getting called out when all these other Polis were about , lost the plot when he got there, and sent the prisoner off to Loanhead Police Station with the traffic crew.

We then got down to business, and with a bottle of whisky to quench the thirst took statements from the witnesses. (sort of frowned upon these days)
So, a couple of hours later and a bit cheerier we headed back to the office, charged our man, sent him off to the cells at Dalkeith, and Baxter and myself got down to typing the Report, old style - two fingers and no spell check !!! (while the Sgt went off to bed !!!!).

Our man went to court later that day and was fined for the break in.