Police officers’ passion for doughnuts is one of American culture’s sturdiest stereotypes. But using a helicopter to make a midnight doughnut run has drawn public fire in Albuquerque, N.M., where two as yet unidentified members of the Albuquerque police department (APD) did just that last month, landing near a local Krispy Kreme store in one of the department’s Bell OH-58 Kiowas. While one officer kept the rotor running, the other went into the shop and came back with a box full. A story about the incident in the Albuquerque Journal quoted witness Keith Turner, who works near the Krispy Kreme shop, as saying, “After it landed, I thought, ‘No. They’d better not go and get doughnuts.’’’ Reacting to the resulting community uproar and referring to the OH-58’s crew, APD aviation unit lieutenant Bob Huntsman later said, “Between the two of them, I don’t know how they decided that was a good idea. We’re going to look into it. If they violated policy or procedure, they’re going to get disciplined for it. We’ve worked too hard to make this a professional unit to let lack of common sense tear us down.”