U.S. Parks, minuments have lax security www.privateofficer.com

Many worry about U.S. Parks and Memorials lax security www.privateofficer.com

Washington DC April 29 2008

by:David B. Offer
Few sights are more inspiring than the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument and the Jefferson Mem-orial at night.
Walking up the marble steps to gaze at the oversized lighted statue of Abraham Lincoln is always profound. I’ve done that several times; the feeling never diminishes.
Anyone who shares that feeling, including — I assume — Maine’s congressional delegation, should be outraged at a recent report disclosing that the U.S. Park Police is failing to protect these national icons, or the Statue of Liberty in New York.
The inspector general for the U.S. Department of the Interior found that the park police are badly trained and badly led.
Police leaders “continue to state that icon security is a top priority; however, their actions indicate otherwise,” the inspector general said.
Despite concerns that terrorists might target these national symbols, police staffing levels are lower now than they were six years ago. Worse yet, inspectors found officers who were supposed to be on duty were away from their posts, some reading newspapers or sleeping.
Guards hired from a private security company are supposed to augment the park police. The inspector general found that “there is little, if any, cooperation and communication between the two groups. … Officers told us that many of the security guards spoke little English and had little, if any, contact with USPP officers.”
Inspectors who visited the monuments in Washington found that “the security guards appeared disinterested in their duties, reading the newspaper, talking on cell phones, or congregating in groups. At times, we also found that guards were conspicuously absent from their posts. As a result, they provided little visible deterrence.”
Inspectors visited the monuments 40 times over three months at various times of the day and night. Often they were unable to find any guards. Sixty- eight percent of the time minimum staffing levels were not being met.
The response of the assistant chief of the park police to these findings is astounding.
He said having police officers visible “is a sign of defeat” and that “terrorists are not incredibly sophisticated people.”
They would not have needed to be sophisticated to do terrible things at these treasured monuments.
“On one occasion, we found that a grate securing the stairs leading to the area below the Washington Monu-ment had been left open and unattended for approximately 20 minutes. On another occasion, an unidentified visitor placed a large suitcase against the Washington Monu- ment’s south wall. The suitcase was left unattended and unchecked for over five minutes before being reclaimed by the visitor. We also found that the visitor centers located in both the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials were continuously left unmonitored and unprotected.”
While park police and security guards may not be protecting the national monuments, they do seem able to protect themselves against un-wanted publicity. One inspector was detained after attempting to photograph a park police officer working on a crossword puzzle inside the Jefferson Memorial.
A closed circuit television system is supposed to be a major part of the security for the monuments, both at the Statue of Liberty and in Washington.
Inspectors found it was ineffective.
At the Statue of Liberty, one officer must monitor 96 TV cameras on a panel of television monitors for a 12-hour shift while answering telephones and dealing with anyone who is arrested. During one inspection in Washington, “we found no officers monitoring the CCTV system.”
An incident in August 2007 makes it clear that our monuments are vulnerable. Costumed protesters carrying backpacks climbed the stairs at the Lincoln Memorial. They then climbed into Lincoln’s lap and hung a banner.
A review of the tapes from the TV cameras found that no park police officers were at their posts in the monument’s chamber when the incident occurred. “When officers did arrive several minutes later, they appeared to turn their backs on the protesters and put greater effort into forcing tourists out of the statue chamber.”
Contract guards “appeared confused and ill equipped to address the problem. Security guards were pictured standing among onlookers, watching the incident unfold.”
The inspectors also reported that officers are poorly trained, that they do not have adequate equipment (including bulletproof bests) and that many have not taken annual firearms tests.
Auditors found that the agency “did not use sound business practices for planning, accounting for and monitoring the use of funds.”
It is no surprise that average morale is terrible and getting worse.
Park Police Chief Dwight E. Pettiford doesn’t see it that way. The monuments, he said, “are still standing.”
“No one has missed a check” he said. “Morale is what you make it.”
So are competence and leadership.
Pettiford was relieved of his duties last month. He remains chief, but is now works full time with a group that has been formed to deal with the problems noted by the inspector general.

Police charge 3 with shoplifting, drugs www.privateofficer.com

MILFORD MA April 28 2008

By: Bryan Hill

Security News Magazine

www.privateofficer.com – Police said they responded to several theft calls and arrested two area residents after two separate shoplifting incidents Thursday afternoon.
A third person was also summoned to face a drug possession charge.
Erik L. Somerville, 48, of 4 Waterfall Lane, Milford, was charged with shoplifting at the TJ Maxx on East Main Street at about 2:40 p.m after loss prevention agents nabbed him as he tried to steal several items.

Agents detained Somerville until police arrived..

In the second incident, Phyllicia N. Revell, 17, of 30 Turner St., Apt. A, Norfolk, was charged with shoplifting at the Kohl’s department store on Rte. 109.

She and a companion, Matthew Johnson, 19, of 43 Southgate Road, Franklin, were also charged with one count each of possession of a Class E drug after police found they had Celexa, a prescription drug.

Celexa is an anti-depressant.

Johnson was issued a summons on that charge
Security agents here also stopped the two after they had seen them shoplifting numerous items and attempted to leave the store without paying for them.
All three posted bonds and are scheduled to appear in court.

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Job applicant’s brother shoplifts during interview www.privateofficer.com

SPRINGFIELD MO. April 28 2008

By: Bryan Hill

Security News Magazine

www.privateofficer.com — When applying for a new job, it’s nice to have support from your loved ones. Something quite the opposite happened to a woman from Springfield.
Authorities here say that on Friday afternoon, the woman went with her boyfriend and 8-month-old son to Kohl’s department store on East Independence Avenue to fill out a job application.
“The boyfriend, who is the suspect, was supposed to stay in the car and watch the child. Instead he put the child in the carrier, walked in the store and began stealing,” said Lt. Kirk Manlove, a spokesman for the Springfield Police Department.
Police say the 22-year-old man then left the store with the child and stolen shirts in hand but Kohl’s security staff stopped him in the parking lot. They escorted him back into the store and that’s when police say that he dropped the infant and ran.
Employees called police, who was able to find the male suspect nearby and took into custody.
Officers said that they have arrested the man on suspicion of theft and second-degree child endangerment.
Police said the man is not the father of the 8-month-old child, who was safely returned to his mother.
Police did not release the shoplifter’s name or if he had made bond in this case.

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Ga. prison guard arrested for drugs, sex with inmate www.privateofficer.com

FORSYTH, Ga. April 28 2008

By: Rick McCann

Ntl. Assoc. Private Officers

www.privateofficer.com Authorities say that a prison guard has been arrested this week and is behind bars after being charged with five felonies, including having sex with an inmate and trying to sell marijuana to work.
After conducting an investigation, officers were led to Heather Nicole Hunnicutt , a corrections officer who was arrested on Wednesday and charged with a slew of serious offense. Charges include sexual assault against a person in custody, crossing guard lines with contraband, possession of marijuana and possession of marijuana with the intent to distribute.
Authorities say they were tipped off by inmates after hearing someone was smuggling drugs into Al Burruss State Prison.
Hunnicutt had been working for the Georgia Department of Corrections for about a year. The prison, located off Interstate 75 just north of Forsyth, houses 300 male medium security inmates, a boot camp and a juvenile facility.

The 25-year-old officer is the second female corrections officer to be charged with having sex with a male inmate in as many months. The earlier arrest was at a county jail facilityin the metro Atlanta area.

Hunnicutt is being held in the Monroe County jail on $50,000 bond.

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Police cut SRO program www.privateofficer.com

Tucson Az. April 28 2008
The Tucson Police Department will eliminate a 46 year old program next month. For the first time since 1962, it’s eliminating its school resource officer program. Starting in July those officers will be moved out of schools and onto the streets.
Sgt. Fabian Pacheco, a TPD spokesperson, says, in fiscal year 2008, TPD will spend $2.8 million on the school resource officer program. Next year, he says, police can’t afford to do that. The department needs those officers elsewhere.
Today 15 Tucson Police officers walk the halls of TUSD schools. They do a variety of jobs, investigate child abuse and bullying and provide crime information. Their purpose is to prevent crime.
Sgt. Pacheco says, “It’s tough economic times and the Police Department has to do what many other businesses are doing.”
Pacheco says TPD is short 27 officers on the streets. He says moving school resource officers there will improve officer safety and increase response times to crimes.
Pacheco gives examples, “Like your burglaries, auto thefts and things like that where people have traditionally waited long periods of time before they see an officer there.”
Warren Allison, who is TUSD Coordinator of School Safety, says losing police officers will cut TUSD’s security in half.
Allison says, “It makes it harder to keep our students and staff safe.”
He worries school crime will increase because he says school resource officers prevented crime. “If you’re {police} not going to do prevention, you’re going to need even more people to answer calls,” he predicts.
Students, parents and staff at Roskruge Bilingual Magnet Middle School, 501 E. 6 Street, don’t want to see their SRO go.
Flor Gomez, a parent and cafeteria worker, says, “There’s more safety with him here.”
Gomez’ son Jose Derma, an eighth grader, says, “If they weren’t here, then a lot of people would be fighting.”
Jennica Schoppenhorse, an eighth grader, says, “If somebody’s bothering you or they’re threatening you, you can tell him and then he can take care of it.”
Sarah McDaniel, Jennica’s mother and a cafeteria worker, says, “It’s just asking for a big problem to happen. I don’t want Columbine or something like that happening here in my town.”
TUSD Safety Coordinator Allison doesn’t know yet how the district will make up for its loss of police officers. He says the district will develop a plan before school starts in the fall.
TUSD isn’t the only district that will lose its police officers. Flowing Wells, Amphi and Vail school districts each have one Tucson Police school resource officer. Sunnyside has three.
Tucson Police eliminated another program too in order to put more officers on the streets. In March it eliminated its seven person vice unit.

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Security officer alerts police to hostage situation www.privateofficer.com

Oakland Ca. April 28 2008

By: Bryan Hill

Security News Magazine

www.privateofficer.com

A private security officer on patrol of an apartment complex heard a disturbance and after investigating found that a man was holding at leat one person against their will in the apartment.
Police said the gunman who barricaded himself inside a condo building at Oakland’s Jack London Square and held his wife and two children hostage surrendered early Saturday after an all-night standoff, police said.
The suspect, a 41-year-old parolee whose name was not immediately released, gave himself up without incident at 4:25 a.m. and was being interviewed by police. His children, ages 3 and 5, were not harmed, and his wife was being treated for a minor injury, authorities said.
His arrest came after a nine-hour standoff at the Sierra Condos at 311 Oak St.
Police received a call from a security officer about 7:30 p.m. Friday reporting some kind of domestic dispute in a fifth-floor apartment, said Sgt. Reggie Brown. The security guard said the man was armed with a large knife or a meat cleaver.
There had been reports of a woman and children inside the unit with the man, and some residents reported hearing children screaming in or around that location.
Officers came to the scene and tried to get through the door, but someone inside fired a shot at them, Brown said. No one was hurt, but police backed off and called in the SWAT team and negotiators, in an effort to make contact with the man and persuade him to come out peacefully.
Police cordoned off four blocks around the scene and would let no one in the area come or go. Police partially evacuated the fourth and sixth floors of the eight-floor building.
By early Saturday, police were able to make contact with the gunman and persuade him to give up, authorities said.
A woman who lives two doors down from the apartment said she was on her way to a meeting when she saw SWAT officers running down the hallway, telling her to stay inside.
“I’m very scared,” said Liliana Nakamura, speaking by cell phone from inside the building. “There are police running down the hallway pointing guns toward our door.”
She said she called the front desk and was told not to come out.
“This is totally shocking,” she said. “They’re not letting us know what’s going on.”
People who were evacuated milled around the area, talking on cell phones to friends still inside.

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Correction officers nabbed in drug sting www.privateofficer.com

New York City NC April 28 2008

Kyle T. Greene

Ntl. Assoc. Private Officers

www.privateofficer.com
Seven current or former New York City correction officers were arrested on Thursday on charges of taking bribes and trying to smuggle illegal drugs to prisoners at Rikers Island, the authorities said.
The roundup was the city’s third crackdown in five years. Seven workers at city jails were arrested in 2003, and six were arrested in 2006.
Tips from other jail employees and from inmates led the authorities to focus on the latest suspects, the Department of Investigation said in a statement.
Undercover agents posing as friends or relatives of inmates paid bribes of $100 to $1,500 to six correction officers and gave them marijuana and fake cocaine or fake heroin to deliver. The seventh officer who was charged was assigned to screen mail for contraband. No inmates actually obtained drugs in the investigation, officials said.
Rose Gill Hearn, the Department of Investigation commissioner, said that the officers “are charged with violating their duty and jeopardizing the safety and security of the city’s jails.”
Martin F. Horn, the city’s correction commissioner, said, “If true, these charges are an insult to their brother and sister officers and a blemish on the well-earned reputation of the vast majority of our officers.”
The correction agency has imposed several measures to prevent illegal drugs from entering the jails, including random monthly testing of 5,000 of the system’s 14,000 inmates, the use of drug-sniffing dogs, and a device to detect trace amounts of drugs on visitors.
Three of the suspects had been fired for unrelated reasons, correction officials said. They were Daniel Marin, 27, of the Bronx; Anthony Narcisse, 24, of Manhattan; and Andrew Plaskett, 28, of Jamaica, Queens.
The other four suspects were suspended from their jobs upon their arrests. They were Daniel Bethel, 43, of Brooklyn; Joseph Constantino, 50, of Mineola, N.Y., the mailroom screener; William Delgado, 27, of the Bronx; and Tamar Peebles, 20, of Brooklyn.

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Father holds daughter captive 24 years www.privateofficer.com

VIENNA, Austria April 28 2008 — Police have found a woman missing since 1984, who told authorities that her father had kept her in a cellar for almost 24 years and that she had given birth to seven children after being repeatedly raped by him.
The 73-year-old father was taken into custody, Franz Polzer, head of the Lower Austrian Bureau of Criminal Affairs, told reporters Sunday.
Authorities found the woman Saturday evening in the town of Amstetten following a tip, Lower Austria police said in a statement.
The 42-year-old woman told police that her father began sexually abusing her when she was 11 and locked her in a room in the cellar on August 28, 1984.
During the 24 years that followed, she said she was continually abused and gave birth to seven children, one of whom died several days later.
In 1996, she gave birth to twins but one died several days later because it was not appropriately cared for. Her father had then apparently removed the corpse from the cellar and burned it, the statement said.
Police said in the statement that the woman appeared “greatly disturbed” psychologically during questioning.
She agreed to talk only after authorities assured her that she would no longer have to have contact with her father and that her children would be taken care of.
DNA tests are expected to determine whether the man is the father of the six surviving children, according to police.
The Austria Press Agency said the three boys and three girls ranged in age from five to 20. One of the children, a 19-year-old woman, was being hospitalized in very serious condition, according to Austrian broadcaster ORF.
Sunday’s developments recalled another case that shocked Austrians in the summer of 2006, when a young woman escaped after being largely confined to a tiny underground dungeon in a quiet Vienna suburb for more than eight years.
Natascha Kampusch was 10 years old when she was kidnapped in Vienna on her way to school in March 1998. Her abductor, Wolfgang Priklopil, threw himself in front of a train just hours after her dramatic escape.

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On The Job; Bank officer praised www.privateofficer.com

On The Job: Bank officer praised by many www.privateofficer.com

The Jeffersonian.com

By Pat van den Beemt
Townson MD. April 27 2008
It’s a warm April day, and most motorists have their windows down as they pass through Jackonsville on Jarrettsville Pike.
A FedEx truck passes the Bank of America branch, and the driver honks and waves. Soon after, a woman in a green van toots her horn and waves, too. Every now and then, a driver yells out, but the words are swallowed up by the traffic.
The object of this attention is Carl Tilghman, a guard at the bank. Passersby know he will be standing outside the bank during the day, no matter what the weather — good or bad, hot or cold, snowy or sunny.
And they know he’ll wave back. Every time.
“I’ve been here three years and eight months, and I guess by now people know I’m out here,” Tilghman said, standing in bright sunlight near the bank’s front door. “I don’t know everybody who honks, but I know the names of hundreds of people who come to this bank.”
At 6 feet and 200 pounds, wearing a black cap, sunglasses, a bullet-proof vest under a white shirt, a sidearm, black pants and black boots, Tilghman, 32, is an imposing figure. Doing sit-ups and push-ups, plus running each week helps him stay in shape, ready to react to any hint of trouble.
But the formidable exterior belies a faith that prompts him to treat everyone with respect.
“People may look at me and see me as macho or militant, but I believe I can reach people with love and kindness,” he said. “It’s like a revolving door. You display that kindness to others, and they will to you, too.”
Steve Moran, who managed the Jacksonville branch until last week, when he was transferred to Brooklandville, praises Tilghman.
“He remembers everybody’s name and has this demeanor that’s very professional but personal, too. He is a very deep person,” Moran said.
One of Tilghman’s biggest admirers is bank customer Ed Zenker, of Jacksonville.
“I know politicians who don’t get as much attention as Carl does,” Zenker said. “He has a certain charisma, and he is genuinely interested in people and what they have to say.”
Kim Coppola, whose husband co-owns the Strapasta restaurant in the nearby Manor Center, got to know Tilghman during her daily bank runs. A shared interest in the National Football League has created a certain friendly friction.
“I’m an Eagles fan and Carl likes the Patriots,” explained Coppola, who presented Tilghman with a box of Kleenex after the Patriots lost in the Super Bowl. “Sometimes I’m late for where I’m going because I stay and talk with Carl,” she added.
Tilghman says he enjoys his job with the Wackenhut Corporation, a Palm Beach, Fla.-based security company with an office in Linthicum — but hopes his future will involve another kind of vocation.
He grew up in Randallstown and dropped out of school in 1992, shortly after his father died. He drifted for nine months, until prayer put him back on track, he said.
“I went to my church, and people prayed over me, and I felt my grief and depression lift,” he said. He went on to get his high school equivalency degree, then served in the Marine Corps for four years, leaving as a lance corporal.
Next, he joined the Baltimore Police Department and was assigned to the city’s Northern District as a patrol officer. But he quit after two years when his police duties interfered with his ability to attend church services on Sundays.
Tilghman then joined Towson University’s police department and began taking classes.
“I originally wanted a degree in criminal justice, but I realized I had to respond to the passion and desire within me to serve God,” he said. He now is majoring in religious studies and taking a course on ancient civilizations. His goal is to get a Master of Divinity degree and become a preacher with an apostolic or Pentecostal church, he said.
Tilghman lives near Loyola College in Baltimore and attends the Church of the Redeemed of the Lord, one mile away on Old York Road. He is single, “waiting for God to bless me with a wife.”
Over the years, he has taken missionary trips to places such as South Africa and Trinidad and would like to take others, he said.
“In five years, I’d like to be ministering the Gospel of Jesus Christ in this country or around the world,” he said. “My overall aim is to show the greatest love and passion to others.”

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Police cut services during budget woes www.privateofficer.com

Atlanta GA. April 28 2008
By: Rick McCann
Ntl. Assoc. Private Officers
www.privateofficer.com

Police in communities across the country are canceling services such as alarm response, non-injury accident investigation, response to minor non-”in progress” incidents and even their highly acclaimed and heavily budgeted school resource programs.In an effort to make do with the budgets that city governments are giving us we have no choice, one police chief said.

My department needed 30 more officers, 20 more patrol cars, computers, radio equipment and what we got was 5 new positions and no cars.

At least five police departments are considering pulling the plug on officers in schools so that they can be moved back to the street.

In Tuscon Arizona, that’s exactly what will happen starting next month as they end a program that they’ve used for 46 years to reduce school violence, have positive interaction with teens and reduce drug use. Now there’s little doubt that the school system will suffer with the police officers gone from the schools.

Sgt. Fabian Pacheco, a TPD spokesperson, says, in fiscal year 2008, TPD will spend $2.8 million on the school resource officer program. Next year, he says, police can’t afford to do that.

The department needs those officers elsewhere.Today 15 Tucson Police officers walk the halls of TUSD schools.

They do a variety of jobs, investigate child abuse and bullying and provide crime information. Their purpose is to prevent crime.Sgt. Pacheco says, “It’s tough economic times and the Police Department has to do what many other businesses are doing.

Pacheco says TPD is short 27 officers on the streets. He says moving school resource officers there will improve officer safety and increase response times to crimes.

Other schools are also on the brink of ending their school resource officer programs as budgets get tighter and the need for officers on the street increases.

Some argue that serious crime like murders and robberies is down a police supervisor said, but take a look at the true stats and you’ll see it’s really not.

Murders are again climbing, property crimes like burglaries and thefts are skyrocketing in some areas and aggravated assaults and rapes are also beginnning to climb rapidly.Gangs are another serious problems that most departments have he said.

Not just in L.A. or Detroit or New York but in rural areas, small cities and bedroom communities the bloods, crips and MS-13 are claiming territory and taking lives to do it.Now the gas crunch is another serious issue Sgt. Becton said.

We now have across the board orders to park and walk at least thirty minutes every three hours unless the officer is on a call.

In Charlotte North Carolina, Nashville Tennessee and other areas, police are spending more time riding bikes and even horses to save fuel.
Officers everywhere are forced to park their patrol cars and wait on a dispatched call.

Rather than being proactive, we are going to have to sit back and be reactive and just go to the calls that we’re sent to.

The bottom line Becton said is the public either must be willing to pay for top rated law enforcement services or do without the non-emergency police services that the public has come to expect.
Money is tight, gas prices are high and cities are strapped for cash and we’re having to do more with less Becton said.

Of course the police will still come when you call the supervisor said, but it may not be as fast as you’d like or need.

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Teen charged with murder of family www.privateofficer.com

Teen charged in murder of family www.privateofficer.com

from the State.com

EASLEY SC April 28 2008 — Nathan Dickson was going through a rough patch in his life. The teen and his live-in girlfriend had broken up and he was dealing with tension from moving back in with his parents a year after graduating high school and going out on his own.
Still, the 18-year-old politely answered questions on a visit to a friend a week ago, according to the friend’s mother. Dickson text-messaged the same teen Friday, saying he was going to ride four-wheelers with friends.
Less than 12 hours later, authorities say Dickson gunned down his father, stepmother, 19-year-old stepsister and 14-year-old brother at their Easley home Saturday morning. He has been charged with four counts of murder, leaving friends and neighbors trying to grapple with how the quiet teen who loved video games and sports and always called women “ma’am” could be capable of the largest killing spree officials in this county of 180,000 can recall in at least 50 years.
“I can’t put my finger on what happened,” said Melissa Funk, whose 16-year-old son, Robbie, was good friends with both the suspect and youngest victim. “It’s not what I’ve known him to be.”
Authorities won’t talk about what might have prompted Dickson’s shooting spree or whether he is talking to investigators. “I’m going to have this case tried in the courtroom, not out on the streets,” Anderson County Sheriff David Crenshaw said Sunday.
Dickson is the only suspect in the case and more charges could be filed against him, Crenshaw said.
Crenshaw said he does not think the teen has an attorney.
The sheriff said he can’t remember ever dealing with the teen before Saturday’s quadruple homicide.
The killings unfolded in a one-story house with tan siding and bright blue shutters in a wooded neighborhood about five miles from Easley. A plastic tricycle and basketball goal were overturned in the yard Sunday.
An orange notice stuck to the front door warned of biohazard material inside and recommending calling someone to clean up before entering.
Just to the left of the front door is a window for the laundry room where authorities say 14-year-old Taylor Dickson was found behind a clothes dryer, apparently trying to hide from his brother. The blinds were up and the inside pane of glass had a fist-sized hole in it. The outside pane was not damaged.
Deputies found Taylor’s body last, a few hours after someone called 911 Saturday morning to report a man injured in the yard of the home. Samuel Andrew Dickson Jr., 46, died as paramedics arrived. Officers then went inside and found the bodies of his wife, 46-year-old Martiza Hurtado Dickson, and his 19-year-old stepdaughter, Melissa Giliam Salazar.
All were shot to death. Authorities would not say how many times they were shot or release other details.
Neighbors said the family was quiet and kept to themselves. Joyce Allen’s husband worked with Samuel Dickson, who went by the nickname “Andy.” The elder Dickson was an electrician with Vulcan Materials, a company that provides crushed stone, sand and gravel for construction.
Dickson didn’t say much at work, keeping to himself. Most of Allen’s memories are of him with his sons.
“He was crazy, crazy, crazy about those kids,” Allen said. “I’d see him running up and down the road, taking them to ball games.”
Taylor Dickson had just made one of the junior varsity baseball teams at Wren High School a year after failing to make the cut. His father, who had coached his youth teams, was so proud he bought him several Wren High school shirts and caps, said Melissa Funk, whose son was friends with the Dickson boys.
Funk said she thought the two brothers seemed close. When word came that four people were dead inside the home, Funk said she figured the fourth victim might be the stepsister’s boyfriend, and Nathan Dickson and his brother escaped with their lives.
“I figured we’d find him safe with Taylor, or that it had to be something else,” Funk said.
Neighbors said they didn’t see Martiza Dickson much. She was a native of Colombia and worked as a translator. Melissa Salazar graduated from high school last year and was going to technical college, Funk said.
Funk said her 16-year-old son is taking what happened hard. He had been hanging around with Nathan Dickson since the two families moved into the neighborhood about five years ago. Dickson’s younger brother would tag along too.
“He’s heartbroken,” Funk’s husband, Robert, said. “Those were his only friends in the neighborhood.”
Dickson graduated from high school last year and moved in with his girlfriend, working a series of fast-food and restaurant jobs. The two broke up and Dickson moved back in with his parents about two weeks ago, said Funk, who wasn’t sure if he had found another job before the killings.
The last time her son saw Dickson was Friday evening in the driveway. Funk said her son told her that Dickson’s eyes were bloodshot and he looked like he needed to sleep. Dickson later sent a text message to him saying he was out with friends, Melissa Funk said.
Sitting on her couch the day after the killings, Funk recalled with tears in her eyes the only time she remembered Dickson getting in trouble. She was coming to pick up her son at the high school and the teen was sitting outside the principal’s office.
“I said, ‘Nathan, what are you doing here?’ And he said, ‘Mrs. Funk, I have holes in my blue jeans.’”

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Security officers will strike at Kaiser www.privateofficer.com

Security officers to strike at Kaiser www.privateofficer.com

Atlanta Ga. April 27 2008
Courtesy Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Jennifer Kelly, 213-300-3336
Friday, April 25 2008

Inter-Con Security Officers to Launch Strikes at Kaiser Hospitals Across California, Defend Civil Rights

Officers Issue 10-Day Notice of Unfair Labor Practice Strike

Oakland, Calif. – Security officers at Kaiser Permanente hospitals are ramping up their fight against employer Inter-Con, today issuing 10-day notice of an unfair labor practice strike in California to defend their civil rights. Inter-Con workers held the first-ever strike by hospital security officers last month in response to Inter-Con threatening, intimidating, and spying on workers who were trying to form a union for better conditions.

“We wanted a union for better pay and benefits—just like other workers inside Kaiser. But instead we’ve got Inter-Con violating our civil rights. We go to work every day to protect these patients and employees, but we have no protections ourselves,” said Warren Chauvin, Fremont.

Momentum from the first strike has built as Inter-Con continues to break the law and violate workers’ civil rights. Officers also filed more federal charges today against Inter-Con, and workers are preparing to protest Inter-Con’s unfair labor practices at several Kaiser healthcare facilities throughout California on May 6, 7, and 8. The facilities include locations in the Bay Area, Sacramento and Los Angeles and could cover more 240 workers—more than double the number of the first strike. Officers will also hold their first national solidarity activities at Kaiser in Colorado, DC, Ohio and Virginia during the California strike.

Inter-Con officers work for poverty wages, many making as little as $9/hour while at Kaiser. Many Inter-Con officers cannot afford the family healthcare coverage and do not have paid sick days. By comparison, facility janitors have free family healthcare, make a minimum of $11.50/hour and accrue paid sick leave.

“Without paid sick days, many of us are forced to work while we’re sick. If I were to have to miss even one week I would be in danger of losing my apartment,” said Dale Brown, Sacramento. “Plus I’m a single mother, and the insurance plan is too expensive for me to enroll my two kids.”

“I work to protect patients and hospital workers, but can’t event take a day off when I’m sick because we don’t have sick days,” said LaRonda Lynch, Compton.

Since November 2005, 1,500 Inter-Con security officers at Kaiser Permanente in California have been working to improve security and working conditions by forming a union with SEIU. They are the only workers at Kaiser—either direct employees or subcontracted—who do not have a union, fair pay, free family healthcare, paid sick leave and more.

Worse, Inter-Con still owes security officers $4 million in recovered wages for requiring employees to work off the clock. The money was part of a settlement issued in Sept. 2007 for a class-action lawsuit against Inter-Con.
With 1.9 million members, SEIU is the largest and fastest-growing union in North America and the largest property services union, representing more than 250,000 security officers, janitors, and other service workers. SEIU United Service Workers West represents 10,000 private security officers across California.

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Police capture suspects in security officer assault www.privateofficer.com

Reno NV. April 27 2008

By: Rick McCann

Ntl. Assoc. Private Officers

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Police announced that they have made three arrests in case that began as a shoplifting Thursday but quickly turned violent as one of the suspects beat a security officer.

The Reno Police Department responded to the Mervyns at 6895 Sierra Center Parkway about 7 p.m. on a report of a shoplifting that had just happened.

Police were told that two of the men went into the store and shoplifted about $1,000 worth of clothing and then ran out of the store.

A third suspect was waiting in a dark blue Dodge Durango and as security agents attempted to detain the suspects. At that time police said the third suspect attacked the security officers, police said.All three suspects then got into the vehicle and fled, police said.

Officers on the scene notified other officers of the descriptions of those involved and the Regional Gang Unit responded and looked at the video surveillance tape and were able to identify the suspects, police said.

Police later arrested two of the wanted subjects in Sparks and the third person in Reno. Police said that at the time of the arrests some of the clothing items was recovered.

Arrested on suspicion of burglary, grand larceny, robbery, possession of stolen property and conspiracy were Erik Joseph Barajas , 19, Carlos Antonio Vides, 20, and Cezar Gabriel Vides , 19.
There was no further information given on the security officer’s injuries or if any of them were treated at the hospital.

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US Marshal’s capture man wanted on child sex charges www.privateofficer.com

U.S. Marshal’s capture man wanted on sex charges www.privateofficer.com

Hays County Texas April 27 2008

The Hays County Sheriff’s Office has sent the following news release:

Arrest/Indecency with a child 4-25-08

On 4-25-08, at approximately 3 p.m., the U.S. Marshal’s Service, working in cooperation with the Hays County Sheriff’s Office arrested Prakashanand Saraswati, DOB 01-15-29, known to his followers as Shree Swamiji, at Dulles Airport in Washington D.C. He was transported to Alexandra, Virginia where he is in custody at this time.
He was arrested on indictments alleging twenty counts of indecency with a child/sexual contact. The indictments stem from an investigation that began in August 2007 by the Hays County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigations Division and the Hays County District Attorney’s Office. The indictments were issued in April 2008.
Saraswati has waived extradition and arrangements will be made to transport back to Hays County.
Saraswati is the founder of Barsana Dham Center located on FM 1826 in Hays County.
Due to the integrity and sensitive nature of this investigation, no further information will be released at this time.

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Security officer aids in capture of burglars www.privateofficer.com

Tampa Fla. April 27 2008

By: Bryan Hill

Security News Magazine

www.privateofficer.com
Deputies arrested two teenagers Friday morning after they burglarized Durant High School, smashed vending machines and broke into students’ lockers, according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office.
The Sheriff’s Office say that they were called by a security patrol officer who had spotted several subjects breaking into the school.
Riley James Reynolds, 18, of 809 Jerry Smith Road and Anastasios Mastorides, 17, of 2814 Laurel Leaf Drive were charged with burglary and criminal mischief.
Investigators said the teens entered the school at 4748 Cougar Path in Plant City about 3:18 a.m. through an unlocked window and went into the boys’ and girls’ locker rooms.

Four vending machines were damaged and cash had been taken from them.

In addition, 25 students’ lockers were damaged and the contents were tossed onto the floor.
Responding deputies surrounded the area where the security officer had seen them flee to and Deputy James Woods and his dog, Cowboy, tracked the teens to a nearby orange grove, where they were found inside a vehicle and arrested.
Reynolds was taken to Orient Road Jail. Mastorides was taken to the Juvenile Assessment Center, officials said.

Deputies recovered $139 taken from the vending machines.

The damage to the lockers and vending machines was estimated at $3,500.

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Macy’s employee arrested in refund scheme www.privateofficer.com

Skoie IL. April 27 2008

By: Rick McCann

Ntl. Assoc. Private Officers

www.privateofficer.com Investigators with the loss prevention department of Macy’s and the police have arrested a Macy’s employee today after an investigation into a refunding scheme.

Police say that Benjamin Vazquez, 36, of 9050 Lacrosse, Skokie, was arrested on felony theft charges stemming from an investigation conducted by store loss prevention agents.
Vazquez is scheduled to appear in court April 18 on a felony retail theft charge resulting from incidents between the morning of June 23 and the night of April 9 in Macy’s at the Old Orchard mall.
Police said Vazquez, a Macy’s employee, refunded merchandise that he had stolen from the store and that was not his own and then credited his credit card account.
The internal investigation showed that Vazquez took more than $50,707 from last June to April.
Authorities call this a large retail theft case but would not say if any other employee of Macy’s was involved in this refund scheme.

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Officer arrested during drug sting at school www.privateofficer.com

Police officer arrested during drug sting at school www.privateofficer.com

PINEVILLE, LA. April 27 2008 — A Pineville police officer has been arrested in connection with an undercover drug operation that took place at a Pineville elementary school — at least part of which was somehow broadcast on a police scanner frequency.

Pineville Police Patrolman First Class Raymond Eli Smith, 37, of Pineville, was booked with conspiracy to distribute powder cocaine, authorities reported.

Smith was also charged with malfeasance in office, officials said.

Rapides Parish Sheriff Charles Wagner said Smith met with a informant working for authorities around 2 p.m. Wednesday in the parking lot at Lessie Moore Elementary School while Smith was on duty.

The two talked of a trip to Detroit to sell and distribute cocaine, valued at $25,000, Wagner said.

Their conversation was heard by at least two media outlets and members of the Alexandria Police Department.

“That could be an extremely serious problem,” Sheriff’s Assistant Chief Herman Walters said, referring to officer safety.

“We need to sit down and talk with the (officers) involved and see if they did anything differently to try to determine what happened.”Asked why the Sheriff’s Office allowed an undercover operation to take place on school grounds, Wagner said it happened “spur of the moment.”“It was something we had to act on to take care of it to make sure that this cocaine did not make it into the school,” he said.

A Rapides Parish Sheriff’s Office corrections officer also has been arrested in connection with the undercover operation.

Marcus Mandrell Taylor, 35, of Pineville, was booked with conspiracy to distribute powder cocaine.

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Security officer shoots robbery suspect www.privateofficer.com

St.Louis MO. April 27 2008

Kyle T. Greene

Ntl. Assoc. Private Officers

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A St. Louis police officer moonlighting as a security officer at a restaurant shot and killed a would-be robber early Friday, police said.
The suspect was identified as 37-year-old Brett Holloway of Waynesville. The officer’s name was not released. He is a two-year veteran of the department. He was placed on paid administrative leave pending an internal investigation.
The episode happened at 1:25 a.m. at a Denny’s restaurant in south St. Louis. Police gave this account:
The officer was working a second job as a security guard at the restaurant and was seated at the counter, in his police uniform, when the suspect came in.
Police said Holloway pulled a stocking down over his face, pulled out a handgun and pointed it at the officer and workers at the counter. The officer drew his gun and fired several shots at the suspect.
Holloway fell behind the counter still clutching his weapon. The officer ordered him to drop it, but when the suspect refused, the officer fired several more shots.
Holloway was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead. He was identified through a driver’s license found in a vehicle at the rear of the restaurant.
No customers were inside the restaurant the time. The officer and employees were not hurt.
The shooting was the latest of several in recent years involving gunfire between St. Louis police and suspects. Police Chief Joe Mokwa said Wednesday that while crime in the city is down sharply so far this year, assaults and violent crimes against officers are up from a year ago.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Web site, STLtoday.com, reported Holloway was on parole after serving 12 years in prison for several robbery convictions out of St. Louis and St. Louis County.

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Security guard, teen arrested for plotting Columbine style attacks www.privateofficer.com

Mishawaka Indiana April 27 2008

Kyle T. Greene

Ntl. Assoc. Private Officers

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A 16-year-old boy in Indiana and a 33-year-old man in Ohio plotted by e-mail to wage coordinated attacks in the two states using guns and explosives, law enforcement authorities said Friday.
The teenager, whose name has not been released, and the man, Lee M. Billi of Lakewood, Ohio, are in custody.
The teenager sought Mr. Billi’s help in buying a TEC-9 semiautomatic handgun, noting in an e-mail message that it would be “awesome” to carry the same weapon used by Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold in the Columbine High School killings of 1999, according to a statement by Michael A. Dvorak, the prosecutor in St. Joseph County, Ind.
Mr. Billi and the boy planned to carry out their attacks on Sept. 11, 2008, Mr. Dvorak said. The plot involved simultaneous assaults in two states: The teenager planned to attack his school, Penn High in Mishawaka, Ind., near South Bend, while Mr. Billi would attack an unknown target in Ohio, the authorities said.
By e-mail message, the pair agreed to research how to make explosives, discussed obtaining “weapons of mass destruction” and talked about ways to obtain schematic drawings of the teenager’s high school, complete with the location of security cameras, according to Mr. Dvorak’s statement. There was no indication from the authorities how Mr. Billi and the boy met.
The boy was detained on Tuesday after a school police officer discovered his writings on the Internet expressing support for the Columbine shooters, Mr. Dvorak said. At his home, the police found more than 100 knives as well as several dangerous and illegal snakes, which were confiscated by animal control officers, according to Mr. Dvorak’s office.

The boy had searched the Internet for information on how to make propane tank bombs, and had written references in notebooks to killing large numbers of people, Mr. Dvorak said.
The boy was denied release at a detention hearing Friday morning and was being held at a juvenile justice center in South Bend, said Peter J. Nemeth, Probate Court judge in St. Joseph County.

After the hearing, Judge Nemeth said he believed that the boy was a danger to himself and others, and ordered him to undergo psychological evaluation.
No arraignment date has been set for the teenager, Judge Nemeth said. The prosecutor plans to charge him with conspiracy to commit murder. Mr. Billi is scheduled to be arraigned Monday morning, said Ryan Miday, a spokesman for the prosecutor’s office in Cuyahoga County, Ohio.
Mr. Billi worked as a security guard, said Lt. Gary Sprague of the Lakewood police.

He was arrested early Friday morning, said James Packwood, 15, a resident of the building who saw the arrest. The police said they had confiscated three boxes of handgun ammunition from his apartment.
Several neighbors said Mr. Billi seemed friendly but rarely spoke. “Lee was roly-poly, kind of dorky,” said Laura Budny, 53. She said she and Mr. Billi would complain about mice in the building and neighbors who left the front door open in the winter.

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Gang members arrested for murder at Va. mall www.privateofficer.com

Springfield VA.April 27 2008

Kyle T. Greene

Ntl. Assoc. Private Officers

www.privateofficer.com
Two alleged MS-13 gang members have been arrested and charged with the late-night December 2007 murder of a Springfield man in the parking lot of the Cerro Grande restaurant at Springfield Mall.
Rafael Parada-Mendoza and Hosman Perez-Amaya, both 21 and both formerly of Fairfax County, were arrested in Texas on March 14, 2008.
A federal grand jury indicted the pair in Alexandria on April 25.
At 1:45 a.m. on Dec. 2, 19-year-old Christian Argueta left the Cerro Grande Restaurant, which is also a nightclub, just before it closed at 2 a.m. Argueta and two suspects started arguing in the parking lot, and Argueta was shot and killed.
Since the incident, county police have been trying to establish a link between the shooting and a Nov. 30, 2007, Springfield stabbing at a Pizza Hut along Commerce Street.
The indictment charges that Parada-Mendoza, also known as “Chevi,” and Perez-Amaya, also known as “Dandy,” belong to the Pinos Locos Salvatrucha clique of the street gang Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13.
Argueta was an alleged member of rival gang South Side Locos. Justice Department officials maintain that the suspects committed the murder to “maintain and increase their position in the gang.”
Both suspects are natives and citizens of El Salvador, according to Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs records obtained by the FBI. According to the search warrant affidavit, at least one of the suspects, Parada-Mendoza, was ordered deported on Feb. 23, 2006, but “failed to appear for deportation as required.”
An FBI investigator interviewed an alleged MS-13 member present at the nightclub the evening of the homicide. Each interviewee attested that Parada-Mendoza admitted to them that he had killed Argueta.
“In addition to interviewing [the informant], my colleagues and I have interviewed two other people who told me that ‘Chevi’ was a member of MS-13 and admitted that he shot the victim outside the Cerro Grande. In addition, my colleagues interviewed another cooperating witness who said Chevi possessed a gun and showed the gun to that cooperating witness,” the affidavit said.
The pair have been charged with murder in aid of racketeering, attempted murder in aid of racketeering, conspiracy to commit murder and assault in aid of racketeering, use of a firearm during a crime of violence resulting in death, and possession of a firearm by an illegal alien. The maximum sentence for the murder in aid of racketeering charge is death or life imprisonment.

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