In a Wednesday, photo, a squirrel makes off with a flag from the Toledo Police Memorial in Toledo, Ohio. (AP Photo/Toledo Blade via Toledo Police Dept, Lt. James Brown) 

TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) — Police in Ohio have discovered that small flags being swiped from a police memorial were being squirreled away.

 Two Toledo officers watched on Wednesday as a squirrel quickly snatched a flag off its wooden dowel and ran off with it. Lt. James Brown told The Blade newspaper the bushy-tailed critter was too quick to catch.

Later, police noticed a squirrel hanging out on a tree branch outside a third-floor window at their headquarters building. They also spotted a squirrel's nest made of leaves and branches — and at least two of the little flags.

Brown says at least three of the flags have gone missing in recent days.

He's careful to point out he can't prove all were the work of the same squirrel.

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