KALAMAZOO, MI -- A local man is praising Kalamazoo Public Safety officers' response to a break-in Monday night in the 900 block of Dwight Avenue.

Charles Thomas, of Kalamazoo, said officers responded within about 2 minutes to a home security alarm that sounded shortly after 10:30 p.m. Monday when the front door to his in-laws' house was kicked in.

Occupants of the house, located between Humphrey Street and East Main Street behind the Kalamazoo County Juvenile Home, were not at home at the time.

Thomas said officers searched every room of the house and its basement, and used tracking dogs to try to trail the perpetrator. They measured the imprint the intruder's foot made in the door in order to try to match that with any suspects they find. They made no arrests, but are continuing to investigate.

Of the officers who arrived in eight police patrol units, three uniformed officers stayed afterward, Thomas said. They used tools that were in the house and some wood to fix the frame of the door. They fixed the door, replaced its hinges and rehung the door. Before that, they had to move furniture inside the house.

A would-be burglar had kicked in the door of the same house last week but was scared off that time by the occupants. The occupants subsequently had the burglar alarm installed, and, with plans to spend the Christmas holiday out-of-town, they used their sofa and other furnishings to barricade the door from the inside.

That necessitated moving the furniture after Monday night's incident.

"They did an awesome job," Thomas said of Officer Ernst Knauff, Sgt. David Juday, and Officer Joe Boutell. "We thanked them for it. And it should be noted. ... It wasn't required for them to do any of that. They're not carpenters. They're not movers."

Donald Webster, assistant chief of KPS, said, "I tell folks all the time I couldn't be prouder of the men and women of Public Safety. They do so many things. They do them quietly and very humbly and they don't do these things for publicity. They do so many different things -- outside of catching criminals and arresting people -- that show the human side of law enforcement."

As caretakers of the house while his wife's sister and brother-in-law are out of town, Thomas said he and his wife needed to secure the door in order to restore the alarm system. The door was broken and would not close when he arrived.

Thomas, who is pastor of New Deliverance Missionary Baptist Church in Battle Creek and a sous chef at Holiday Inn West on 11th Street, said separating the work that some police officers do from that of others is important in light of the recent national attention police have been getting as a result of the deadly incidents in Ferguson, Mo., and New York City.

"If one preacher did something, it doesn't mean I'm going to do the same thing," he said. But he said people get stereotyped.

"Every cop is not bad," Thomas said. "I don't care who they are and what their skin color is."

He said, "The Bible says to give honor where honor is due and that is what I believe. They deserve recognition."

He said they could have gotten back in their patrol cars and headed back to the police station or taken a break.

"They didn't leave until the house was back secure," he said. "They didn't have to do that. That's not their job. That, to me, is going beyond duty."

MLive/Gazette business writer Al Jones may be contacted at ajones5@mlive.com. Follow me on Twitter at ajones5_al.