Note to criminals, making police officers chase you is not a good idea.

Everybody makes mistakes. Sometimes those mistakes can land a person behind bars. But you have to take your medicine.

In the last two weeks we’ve had situations where minor crimes were originally committed. But rather than come clean and face the music, the suspects chose to lead officers on a wild goose chase.

Long story short, it did not end well for the perpetrator.

In one situation, officers were led on a car chase through town. The original crime would likely have resulted in officers telling the suspect to move along. However, he chose to flee the scene.

The result was a minor accident, angry officers and a much bigger problem for the driver. Luckily, no one was injured.

Another chase landed a suspect on the roof of a house in Old Town. We’re still waiting to see how that one turns out.

Everyone has bumps in the road. Sometimes the easiest way to deal with problems is to run away from them. But you can’t run forever.

Trying to avoid responsibility for your mistakes will only cause a snowball effect. The problem is only going to get bigger and bigger until you can’t run away from it anymore.

We can all learn a lot from these offenders. Too many times we feel like denying our problems and shortcomings will simply make them go away.

But like criminals who are running from their past mistake, we only make things worse.

There is really only one way to handle problems. You have to meet them head on, find a solution and move forward.

Nobody likes to make mistakes. Nobody likes to admit they have made a mistake. But the sooner people address problems the better.

When you are faced with a difficult situation, remember that the shortest distance to a solution is to go straight to the issue. Running in circles will get you nowhere.