Two Abington police officers prevented a commercial burglary in Keswick and are being recognized by the police department, reports Dino Ciliberti for The Patch.

At 1:59 am on July 23, Sergeant Joseph Fallon and Officer Andres Diaz patrolled the Glenside section when they spotted a suspicious man near the 7-11 on Easton Road and Keswick Avenue. The man quickly fled at the sight of them, and the officers tracked him down.

During questioning, the man displayed odd behavior. The officers noted work gloves sticking out of his pocket and a walkie-talkie actively receiving transmissions. Initially, the man gave false identification. The officers were able to identify the man as a South Philadelphia resident. The man had no reasonable explanation for why he was in the area.

Further investigation connected the man with an active warrant for a jewelry store burglary in Collegeville. Additionally, the man didn’t have a wallet, cell phone, car keys, or an explanation for how he got into the area. What he did have were work gloves, rubber gloves, a headlamp, and a pocketknife.

After the man was arrested, he admitted that he was preparing to commit a burglary before the officers stopped him.

“Officers recognize that it’s hard to know the crimes or events that are prevented through proactive, intelligence-based, community-oriented, policing,” the Abington Police Department said. “But in this particular incident, we know definitively that a commercial burglary was prevented by the excellent police work of Sergeant Fallon and Officer Diaz.”

Read more about their savvy police work on The Patch.