Had the Durham cops responded to that call before the perp gave up, they wouldn't have had to travel far to investigate it: It was occurring right at City Hall, and the perp -- that's police lingo for "the dude committing the crime" -- was the man chosen to lead the Police Department.

Weeks after accepting the job as chief of the Durham Police Department -- thereby saving City Manager Marcia Conner's face and job after months of a fruitless and inept search for a chief -- Douglas Scott balked and backed out of the deal we thought he'd agreed to.

Scott denied my theory for his abrupt, surprising action: that since the embattled Conner was operating from a position of weakness after saving her job earlier this week only by the hairs of her chinny-chin-chin, he had a stronger hand and could stick up the city for a sweeter deal.

"I wasn't trying to sweeten anything," he said. "I'm giving up more than I'm getting. ... I let them know a month ago that the medical benefits package was a deal-breaker."

Scott is an intelligent man, an assistant inspector general with the Department of the Interior, which makes you wonder why he didn't generally inspect his agreement before accepting it.

He told me that he had only "an agreement in principle" with the city and that "what they were offering was so general there was no way I was signing it."

Scott cited as his reasons for staying put the "political hotbed" -- the conflict between the City Council and Conner -- and the city's inability to offer an agreeable medical benefits package upon his retirement. Nobody can blame Scott for wanting to ensure his family's security into his twilight years, especially because, as he said, his wife has medical conditions that would make it difficult to get insurance.

"I thought until last night [Wednesday] that I would be coming there as chief," he said. "All I can say is, 'Shame on Durham if this is all the benefits it can offer its employees.' "

No one has been a bigger critic of the city manager than I. Just last week I urged the mayor and City Council to fire her -- thereby inadvertently assuring her lifetime job security.

But this is one instance in which Conner is not the bad guy.

Scott is -- for allowing himself to be introduced to the city as its new chief, and for then going back and appearing to try to extract additional benefits from the city, after the deal had already been reached.

When I used to hang out in the restroom at Quick's Grill in Rockingham -- waiting for an older friend to buy my pals and me cheap wine that would invariably give us a hangover -- I would see an illustrated sign that said, "No job's done until the paperwork is completed."

The paperwork was obviously not completed this time. That's good, because the city can now use it to wipe the egg off its face as it explains -- once again -- what went wrong.