2 MORE CHARGED WITH OFFICER’S DEATH www.privateofficer.com

2 More Charged In Death Of Security Officer http://www.privateofficer.com

ALBUQUERQUE NM Oct. 16, 2007 – Two more men have been arrested in the beating death of a security guard for an Albuquerque car dealership.
Police allege 18-year-old Joshua Santistevan and 18-year-old Jeremy Dominguez were involved in the assault.
Fifty-one-year-old Susan Schmidt was found lying in a pool of blood September 4th near a car missing its wheels.
She died Saturday.
Twenty-one-year-old Damian Gallegos and 20-year-old Gary DiBenedetti were arrested earlier.
All four are charged with an open count of murder, kidnapping, robbery, burglary, conspiracy to commit burglary, tampering with evidence and receiving stolen property.

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Security Firm Faces Discrimination Charges www.privateofficer.com

MINNEAPOLIS MN. Oct. 16, 2007 – Twin Cities security firm Hannon Security Services, Inc., unlawfully exposed private security officers to race-based discrimination and hostile working conditions, according to charges filed by five workers.
The security officers filed charges with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the Minnesota Department of Human Rights Oct. 1, Service Employees International Union Local 26 announced. The union, which represents security officers, janitors and window cleaners in the Twin Cities, has supported organizing efforts by Hannon workers. The charges describe illegal workplace practices against African-American and immigrant security officers and suggest a clear pattern of favoring white applicants in the security firm’s hiring policy. “While working for Hannon I thought we could hire a former Somali coworker of mine who was a very good officer — but I was told by Hannon that they didn’t want to hire any of ‘his kind,’” said former Hannon security officer Chris Frazier. “That’s appalling to me.” Hannon’s hiring and employment practices are racially- and nationality-motivated, according to the EEOC charges. White officers were offered better-paid, more senior positions within the company, despite lacking the experience or training of their African-American and immigrant counterparts. Meanwhile, minority applicants with years of security experience were not offered promotions or advancement opportunities in favor of white security officers with less experience, the charges allege. Workers also charge that white security officers were offered higher starting wages and advanced more quickly through the company’s promotional structure than minority security officers with similar credentials. “I can’t believe that when I applied to Hannon, I was given an entry-level position starting at $10 an hour, while a white applicant with absolutely no security experience was offered a supervisor position at $12.50 an hour,” said Renita Whicker, an African-American security officer with five years’ experience. “I thought those days were behind us.” Investigation of the charges is expected to take several weeks.

Cops Take Over Campus Security www.privateofficer.com

Cops Take Over Campus Security http://www.privateofficer.com

SPRINGFIELD OH. Oct. 16, 2007— The city’s police department will provide security for Clark State Community College after the school’s police chief, sergeant and seven part-time officers resigned.
Clark State’s police chief Lynnette Rodriguez submitted her resignation two weeks ago to take a position at Wittenberg University, beginning Monday, said Jennifer Deitsch, Clark State spokeswoman. The police sergeant and part-time officers also gave written notices at various times within the past two weeks.
People that left before or after me did that on their own,” she said. “I did not orchestrate anyone to follow me.”
The Leffel Lane campus became part of the city police department’s jurisdiction after it was annexed this spring, said Springfield Police Chief Stephen Moody. City police will patrol both campuses and respond for service.
“We’ve also spoken with the administration about working events, say at the Kuss Center or Turner Studio,” Moody said. That service, along with athletic events, would be handled by off-duty officers such as those who patrol the summer arts festival.
College police records show only a handful of minor incidents at either campus over the past two years, consisting mostly of suspicious vehicles, suspicious activities and personal property damage. The college reported no serious crimes, such as robberies or assaults, during that period.
“It’s a safe campus and we don’t anticipate that will change,” Deitsch said.
Student Amber Hunt, of North Lewisburg, said she was a little concerned about the lack of on-site officers.
“If something happens it will take the police a little longer to get on site,” she said as she walked to her car after class.
Ali Midgley of Springfield said she felt safe enough on the Leffel Lane campus because of its out-of-the-way location.
“I’d be more concerned if I had to come downtown (to the South Limestone Street campus) at night,” she said.
Rodriguez was named an officer in 1994 and chief in 2004. Prior to that, security was provided by students in the college’s law enforcement program, Deitsch said.
“This gives us the opportunity to reassess, seek different solutions,” she said.

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Angels Aren’t Flying Well in Music City by; Rick McCann www.privateofficer.com

  

Nashville TN. Oct. 16, 2007

There are 14 men and women — armed only with martial arts training, handcuffs and a commitment to keep Nashville’s streets safe — walking the roads, alleyways and recesses near the Cumberland River on Saturday nights.
They are Nashville’s Guardian Angels. On Sunday the organization’s somewhat controversial founder Curtis Sliwa came to town to pronounce six of them fully trained.
“This is a big moment for Nashville,” said Sliwa, “The moment where a well-trained and committed group of ordinary citizens begins the work of helping to reclaim this city’s streets.”
The group actually began its patrols several months ago, concentrating on Lower Broadway, Printer’s Alley and recesses near the river, said Rodney Bakken, the Nashville Chapter’s leader.
The goal: glean experience from the downtown patrols while recruiting more volunteers and community support in east Nashville. Then, expand the group’s patrols into the areas of east Nashville near McFerrin Park.
Calls for a Nashville chapter initially came from east Nashville.
The group needs to grow larger, more adept at diffusing conflict, at recognizing situations in which the Angels can and should intervene, and hopefully to become more racially and ethnically diverse, said Bakken.
The men and women at Sunday’s ceremony were mostly in their 40s and white.
The group also needs to gather community support for patrols, said Robert Thornton, one of the trainees who graduated Sunday. Thornton, 28, a cable industry worker known on patrol as “Thorn”, believes the group will get there.
The Guardian Angels, an unarmed citizen volunteer corps, was formed in 1979 by Sliwa, a nighttime manager at a Bronx fast-food restaurant who wanted to do something about the robberies he saw on New York City’s subway system every night.
Sliwa believed that a dedicated, highly visible, well-trained group of citizen volunteers could make a difference.
Angels train 6 months
Guardian Angels now walk the streets in nine countries and about 90 American cities.
Each one trains for about six months in martial arts, the law and the organization’s philosophy. Guardian Angels carry handcuffs and are prepared to make a citizens arrest if needed, Thornton said. That hasn’t happened here yet, Thorton said.
“A lot of people think we are out here, a bunch of tough-guy vigilantes, but that’s not really what we are about. We’re just ordinary people that want to do our part to be sure people feel safe.”
Since beginning its patrols in Nashville, the group has helped police search for a gun used in a shooting, stopped or intervened in an average of five fights per week and put a number of inebriated would-be drivers into cabs, said Thornton.
But it is the group’s willing-to-engage attitude that sometimes simultaneously wins it accolades from communities and reserved acceptance or even opposition from law enforcement.
In February when plans to form a Guardian Angels chapter in Nashville became public, Metro Police Chief Ronal Serpas said that, while he believes the Guardian Angels have done good work, he worries about the group’s hands-on practices.

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Robber Gets 20 Years For Shooting Bank Guard www.privateofficer.com

MOBILE, Ala. Oct. 16, 2007— A Mobile man who shot and wounded a Prichard bank guard during a robbery in April will spend nearly 20 years in prison.
Chief U.S. District Judge Ginny Granade on Thursday sentenced 25-year-old Leanthony Lee Bettis to 19 years and seven months in prison and also ordered him to pay back the $506 he stole from Commonwealth National Bank and make about $1,510 in restitution to the security guard he shot.
Immediately after entering the bank, Bettis sprayed the lobby with bullets, hitting security guard Emanuel Mose in the leg. Mose was able to return fire once with his revolver before retreating into a back room.
The nature of this offense showed a callous disregard for human life,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Gina Vann, who argued for the sentence, the maximum penalty under advisory guidelines. “He walked into a bank firing before he even knew who was there.”
Defense attorney Bill Scully, who said his client will appeal, argued that the 10-year mandatory minimum sentence would have been sufficient.
“Mr. Bettis is a young man. He’s looking at a very long sentence,” Scully said. “What he’s known in his short life is prison. … He hasn’t had much of an opportunity to learn better.”
Jurors convicted Bettis in July of bank robbery, conspiracy to commit bank robbery and using a firearm during a violent crime.
Bettis’ co-defendant, Rayford Gene Rivers Jr., reached a plea agreement with prosecutors and testified against Bettis. Rivers was sentenced to a little more than eight years in prison.

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Thief Turns Gun On Security by; Rick McCann www.privateofficer.com

CHARLOTTE N.C. Oct. 16, 2007
Police have identified the man who allegedly robbed the Nordstrom store at SouthPark Mall on Monday and then went on the run while officers on foot and in the air tracked his whereabouts. Police say that Monday afternoon a man they now know to be James Fields entered the store and officers say that Fields immediately headed for the fine jewelry department where he began stealing a quantity of jewelry from the department store.
When security personnel approached Fields, they say he pointed a handgun at them and then fled on foot.Officers chased the suspect into a neighborhood off Park Road, just north of Fairview Road but was not able to locate him. Charlotte police spent several hours combing the area with police dogs, shotgun toting officers and a helicopter above but could not capture him.
Fields is still on the loose.

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Shoplifter Faces More Serious Drug Charges by; Rick McCann www.privateofficer.com

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. – Oct. 16, 2007 A man detained Friday by loss prevention officials at Wal-Mart in Martinsburg for allegedly attempting to shoplift baseball cards was later found in possession of a large amount of heroin, $1,535 in cash and two mobile phones, according to Berkeley County Magistrate Court records.
Chad Lee Lamp, 26, of 3028 Winchester Ave., was arraigned by Magistrate Jo Ann Overington on one felony count of possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance.
Overington set a $50,000 bond for Lamp, who Martinsburg Police Department Patrolman D.L. English said in a complaint was convicted of shoplifting in March 2005.
Though the drug was individually packaged, English said the man denied he was selling it, and denied that the money belonged to him, according to the officer’s complaint.
Lamp also told police he didn’t have a job, English said.

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Casino Security Nabs Man Wanted In 3 States by; Rick McCann www.privateofficer.com

MASHANTUCKET, Conn. Oct. 16, 2007 – Police say a Pennsylvania man wanted in three states has been captured in a parking garage of Foxwoods Resort Casino as a result of an alert casino security agent who was on routine patrol.
Forty-three-year-old Frank G. Czerwinski Jr. of Easton, Pa. is wanted by the FBI on several charges including armed robbery, aggravated assault and violation of probation for crimes in Virginia, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The FBI had notified state police in Montville after a cell phone call by Czerwinski placed him in the Foxwoods area earlier Sunday. A Mashantucket Pequot security agent spotted a 1998 Buick on the fifth floor of a parking garage that was similiar to the one the ssupect was reportedly driving.
The officer radioed for additional back-up and area police were notified.

State police and the casino unit confronted Czerwinski, who reportedly was sleeping in his car. Czerwinski was charged with being a fugitive from justice and faced a court appearance Monday.

The arrest of this wanted fugitive was a direct result of an alert casino officer and our well established good working relationship that our departments have said one state trooper.

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