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Woman charged with robbery after tussel with store security www.privateofficer.com
Woman charged with robbery after tussel with store security http://www.privateofficer.com
A Washington Boulevard woman may not have realized the seriousness of her tussel with loss prevention agents at an area store but she soon learned as she was charged with robbery, criminal trespass and possession of drug paraphernalia and transported to a cold jail cell.
The store security officer said that he saw Amy Jo Heasley, 40, pick up a tent and windshield wipers from the Wal-Mart store shelves about 4:30 p.m. Friday and try to leave without paying for them.
The security officer said he went after her and tried to escort Heasley back to the store office and she pushed him and a fight ensued. He tackled her and Heasley scratched his arm.
According to police, she had already been previously ordered to stay away from the store. Police found a suspected crack pipe in the car that Heasley had driven to the store.
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Purse snatcher nabbed by security-poice at Wal-Mart www.privateofficer.com
Purse snatcher nabbed by security and police at Wal-Mart http://www.privateofficer.com
The elderly woman went to Springville police recently to report that she had been shopping at Wal-Mart when she was robbed. Police received surveillance tapes from the store loss prevention department which showed a woman distracting the elderly woman while a man walked up behind her and snatched the purse. The man and woman then fled, according to a court affidavit.
The elderly woman was scared and told security. A Springville officer who was in the store on another matter helped security look for the thieves, but they were not found that day.
After viewing the surveillance tape, officers identified both people and had the victim identify them through photo lineups.
As they were going through the photos, the 25-year-old male suspect called the officer on his cell phone and allegedly admitted that he and his girlfriend had taken the purse, according to the affidavit. The officer told him to come to the police station to talk about it, but he never came.
The man was attending 4th District Court Thursday for another hearing and was arrested as he left. He was booked into the Utah County Jail for investigation of theft and unauthorized possession of a credit card on $25,000 cash-only bail
Records show the man’s girlfriend was booked into jail Friday afternoon on similar allegations
14 Yr old crashes stolen car, kills 1 injures 3 www.privateofficer.com
14 Yr old crashes stolen car, kills 1, injures three http://www.privateofficer.com
DeKalb County police said a 14-year-old was driving a car that crashed early Sunday morning, killing another teen and leaving the driver and three other youths injured.
Police say that the accident happened along eastbound River Road near Waldrop Road at about 1:30 a.m. when the young driver lost control of the vehicle, which left the road and struck a utility pole, said Mekka Parish, a DeKalb police spokesman.
Authorities s ay that when they responded to the 911 calls they found that the driver of the vehicle was fourteen and that one of the passengers who died was also a fourteen14-year-old male.
The other teens were taken to local hospitals with injuries that were not life-threatening, Parish said.
Police tell us that charges are pending against the driver, and that they will include serious felony level charges.
Authorities declined to release the driver’s name, the dead teen and the three others in the vehicle.More information will be released in the coming days authorities said.
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Schools consider replacing police with security officers www.privateofficer.com
Schools consider replacing police with security officers http://www.privateofficer.com
Because SROs have already been assigned for this upcoming year, a revised contract will be presented for the 2009-2010 school year, in which middle school officers could be replaced with security guards.
The district budgets more than $530,000 for its nine officers, according to LCPS finance director Terry Dean.
Todd Gregory, LCPS safety coordinator, said the district was looking at a number of less expensive options to put “more eyes and ears to help prevent the unknown that may be brewing out there.”
“We pay 50 percent of the officers’ salaries,” Gregory said. “Instead of (one police officer), I could have two or three campus guards with the same training and giving me more coverage and (better) response time to danger.”
Gregory said Albuquerque schools had been using their own guards, to good results, for more than a decade and that he still wanted to maintain a police presence for classroom presentations and counseling availability.
“We want to increase our security for more people,” Gregory said. “We do not want to sever the relationship with the police department. We’ve had a great relationship
for years and we want to continue that.”
Superintendent Stan Rounds said school resource officers mostly work preventing fights, getting kids to obey, dealing with traffic and making sure buses and parking lots are supervised.
“SROs on campus, just like security, are deterrent as much as interventionists,” he said.
Rounds said there would still be situations requiring an armed officer — like if a high school student brought drugs or a gun onto campus or if a trespasser needed to be removed — but that police already respond speedily.
“We don’t feel like you’re compromising safety at all,” Rounds said. “We have them almost instantaneously.”
Rounds also pointed to the success in Albuquerque and said taking officers out of the schools would help the police department put them where they are best needed.
“It wasn’t that we didn’t like what the city was doing,” he said. “Albuquerque’s security officers are now actually commissioned officers and in some cases, they carry firearms.”
Las Cruces Police Officer Kiri Daines said nothing will change this upcoming school year. Daines said the officers have only been full time at the schools for three or four years but that, no matter the arrangement, “the safety of the student is paramount.”
“Right now, we’re just going to focus on this year. When it comes up, we’ll see exactly where we stand and what the needs of the school are and come to a consensus at that point,” Daines said. “The police department doesn’t have a preference, as long as they’re deployed and being efficient.”
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Store clerk shot and killed over $5.00 T-shirt www.privateofficer.com
Store clerk shot and killed over $5.00 T-shirt http://www.privateofficer.com
Police said that a convenience store clerk was fatally shot by a man who was demanding an extra large T-shirt.
The shooting happened at the Quick Stop Food Mart #2 in southwest Atlanta and witnesses say that it was all over nothing.
Elliott Glass, a witness told area reporters and police that the shooter walked into the store and asked for a white T-shirt size 5X. Glass said that when the clerk turned to give the man the shirt, the man pulled a handgun and started to shoot and then just calmly walked out of the store.
He shot him like five times, four or five times, at point-blank range for no apparent reason,” said Glass.
Glass said he called 911 but said the operator put him on hold. Then he ran out to the street and flagged down a police officer.
Emergency personnel responded to the scene but the store clerk who police have not yet identified publicly, succumbed to his injuries.
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The store clerk was identified Monday evening as Obi E. Onyemaechi, 48, of College Park, according to the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office.
“I was afraid he was going to shoot me, but I guess he must have run out of bullets because he was steadily clicking the gun as he walked out the door,” said Glass.
“The guy was my friend you know. He was a good guy. He helped everybody around here. Senseless killing, he killed the man for no reason, you know,” said Glass.
Authorities say that they are checking for security camera footage and acting on information that they have obtained thus far in the investigation.
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Shoplifters nabbed after fleeing store www.privateofficer.com
Shoplifters nabbed after fleeing store http://www.privateofficer.com
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Rising gas cost causing service problems for security companies www.privateofficer.com
As the price of fuel continues to increase across the country, security companies, particularly alarm dealers and private security firms especially those with patrol divisions are struggling to compensate for lost revenue at the pump.
Law enforcement agencies nationwide have felt the squeeze for months and changed how many departments patrol their communities. Many turning to greater uses of bile patrol, golf carts, foot patrols and even horses.
The solution for many private companies has been to adjust their rates or make their customers pay an additional fuel surcharge in an effort to help offset the skyrocketing cost of doing business.
In certain cases, however, taking these types of money-saving measures have either not been effective enough or have forced customers to look elsewhere for their security services.
Greg Valdez, CEO and co-owner of CBI Security, a guard services firm based in Salt Lake City, Utah, said that he’s been forced to raise his rates on alarm companies, who use the company’s guards to respond to reported disturbances in the city.
Though they needed to charge $35 per alarm response to offset their fuel costs, Valdez said he didn’t feel right raising rates that high on his clients and adjusted the price to $25.
“All the client does it pass that off on their client, so we actually took 20 percent less and settled on $25,” he said.
Before the recent fast-paced rise in fuel prices, said Valdez, the price of an alarm response would have fluctuated between $15 and $17.
Despite the increase, Valdez said that they have lost very few clients and that many of those who left came back shortly thereafter due to the quality of service they received.
Richard Hillabrand, the CEO of Regional Protective Services said he had to increase his fuel budget almost by 60% as his patrol cars are under contract to patrol their clients 6-8 times per shift as well as respond to activated alarms. We have thirty patrol cars and eight supervisor vehicles rolling almost around the clock.
In an effort to keep the alarm patrol division running at CBI, Valdez said the company recently purchased four mopeds and three bicycles for officers to use, which should help reduce their monthly fuel bills. CBI has also purchased two motorcycles for their growing two-wheel division.
Prior to the spike in gas prices, Valdez said his company’s fuel bill averaged around $13,000 a month, but that has recently increased by more than 60 percent to an average of nearly $21,000 per month.
At some larger standing post sites, which are places where CBI guards work a full shift at one particular location, the company has implemented a carpooling van service to take employees to and from work.
“What that does is the employees pay a little, we supply the van, the driver and the gas, and some of the clients chip in as well,” Valdez said. “That has really helped a lot; our employees have appreciated it.”
There are still instances, however, that require guards to drive a vehicle which can carry the necessary emergency equipment when needed. For those types of situations, CBI security officers are driving Chevrolet Malibu’s, which not only can carry those needed supplies, but also get good fuel mileage.
Several years ago, Valdez said that they tried using hybrid vehicles for patrols, as well as what he calls “glorified electric golf carts” at stationary facilities. The vehicles and carts spent so much time charging, however, that according to Valdez, they were actually cost prohibitive and unreliable.
The CBI CEO also said that they own several “flex fuel” vehicles, which can run on either ethanol or regular unleaded gasoline. The problem is that fuel stations carrying ethanol are few and far between and the cars are now running predominantly on regular unleaded gasoline. Ethanol has consistently cost less than traditional petroleum-based gasoline.
Rising fuel costs has also affected how CBI recruits and retains new employees. While hourly salaries have increased to try and make employment at the company more lucrative, yearly raises have actually been less than what they would have, according to Valdez.
If gas prices continue to rise as they’re projected to, Valdez said that they will have no choice but to park their patrol service.
“Sadly enough, if the fuel costs go up another 50 cents, we will have to suspend our patrol service,” he said. “I know that some of the larger alarm companies would say ‘Here, we’ll pay more,’ but the other ones wouldn’t and it just wouldn’t justify the costs to run for [only] a couple [alarm firms]. We’re hoping it doesn’t get to that point, but I have a feeling it’s going to. I can tell you this much, this company will not have a profit this year because of fuel.”
As their fuel bill increases, Fiske said that they will have to keep passing off the difference to their customers.
“We’ve absorbed about all the increases that we can absorb internally and we’re going to have to continue to pass it on to the consumer. Just as the grocery stores reflect the price of food and vegetables for transportation bills,” he said. “We are seeing it billed to us as we are in turn having to bill it to others.”
According to Fiske, Smoky Mountain Systems has seen an overall reduction in business, but he attributes that mainly to the overall downturn in the economy rather than as a result of any added fuel surcharge.
While neither Valdez nor Fiske says they have experienced problems with their employees improperly using gas cards, an executive with one of the largest, nationwide alarm and electronic systems installers, who asked that he and his company remain anonymous, said that they have not been as fortunate.
The business, which has a fleet of 2,600 service vehicles, has had numerous problems with technicians attempting to take advantage of the current situation by filling their own cars or their relatives’ cars up at the company’s expense.
The source estimated that about 10 percent of their total fuel bill, which is currently running around $2.2 million per month, could be attributed to theft by employees.
Restrictions have now been placed upon the company’s technicians to try to curb the losses incurred by fraud.
“We limit the number of times a day that (technicians) can pump gas, we limit the total single dollar amount that they can do or the single number of gallons they can pump because we know there is waste out there,” he said.
Our source said that the company also uses exception reporting to manage fuel expenses. The exception reporting is configured such that if an employee fills up at an unusual time of day, the company will know and subsequently be able to track that person’s activities to determine if the purchase was fraudulent.
One employee was bold enough to pump 70 gallons of gas during one transaction, according to the executive.
“When we pulled him in to talk to him, his excuse was he wanted to take his girlfriend to dinner that night and didn’t have money to take her, so he figured he would give people a good deal on gas for cash,” he said
While fuel thefts have taken their toll, the business has also been hampered by the fact that they’re locked into certain contracts, which don’t allow them to add a fuel surcharge to customers.
According to a short-term energy report released this week by the Energy Information Association, the price of regular unleaded gasoline, which is currently hovering around a national average of $4.11 a gallon, is expected to remain over $4 a gallon until the fourth quarter of 2009.
Arson fire kills two children in Georgia www.privateofficer.com
Arson fire kills two children in Georgia http://www.privateofficer.com
Oxendine said his office, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, the Macon-Bibb County Fire Department and the Macon Police Department were investigating the blaze that broke out early Monday to determine whether it was set.
Oxendine told The Associated Press in a telephone interview that he believes “somebody in the neighborhood heard something or saw something that would prove to be valuable.”
Macon-Bibb County Fire Department Sgt. Will Newsome says firefighters learned two children still were inside the burning house when they arrived just after 4 a.m. Monday.
Newsome says firefighters rescued the two boys from a back bedroom in the house and tried to revive them.
Bibb County Coroner Leon Jones says the two were pronounced dead at the emergency room of The Medical Center of Central Georgia. They are identified as 2-year-old Hezekiah Harris and 4-year-old Tydarious Harris.
Firefighters say the boys’ mother sustained a burn on her shoulder. Oxendine says the mother, her boyfriend and three other children escaped unharmed.
Oxendine’s office is offering a reward of up to $10,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of persons responsible for the fire.
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Life insurance needed by all security officers! www.privateofficer.com
Life insurance needed by all security officers http://www.privateofficer.com
By: Rick McCann
Ntl. Assoc. Private Officers
www.privateofficer.com
Recently we were made aware of a situation regarding a private security officer who was killed on the job in the line of duty and their lack of a will, life insurance or savings to support his family that was left behind.
While investigating this sad situation, we were asked by the spouse not to identify his name because they are considering litigation against his employer. So from this point on we’ll refer to him as Tom.
As a way to support his family while he was in between jobs, Tom took a job as a security officer in a big city, some 40 miles from his small town home. He worked any and all assignments given to him including construction sites, car dealerships and places that unless you drove a tank, you wouldn’t roll through after dark. For $9.00 an hour he worked seven days a week and never turned down a chance to work more overtime.
On a chilly evening while rain fell and a fog began to roll in from the Gulf, Tom made his foot patrol of a large industrial building under construction. He’d worked it before and although it was packed full of goodies to steal, he never had a problem and on this night thought it would be no different. But it was different. Very different. Tom never made it home again.
Several thugs looking for copper and anything else that they could steal and sell for a few bucks jumped the unarmed father of four and beat him to death. He had no cell phone, no 2-way radio and no one to call out to but God. No one heard his pleas for help that night and for whatever reason the Lord decided to let Tom come on home and never sent help that night.
After the shock of his death settled in and the family and friends had left his spouse’s side, she sat quietly worried and afraid and at wits end. How would she feed her children? How would she pay the rent on their mobile home and what about the funeral?
There was no life insurance. No financial aid from the company that Tom had been willing to run ragged for and risk his life without much thought. They said they were sorry for his death and put another guard in his place the very next night without blinking an eye or considering the dangers that this new employee might also be in. It was all just business they told her. They had a contract to fulfill and a client that had a right to expect security coverage regardless of the tragic death of Tom.
Somehow, this woman has managed to survive and a local church donated the money for Tom’s funeral including a burial plot and casket. But times are still tough as the wife makes due with her $7.50 hr fast food job, a little help now and then from family and friends and much prayer.
This story should serve as an alarm bell to anyone, especially someone employed in a high risk position such as a security officer, police officer, firefighter, and anyone who isn’t a millionaire.
PLEASE BUY LIFE INSURANCE! The monthly premiums on a term life insurance policy of $10,000-$50,000 isn’t much. If you have to give up your diet cokes or cigarettes or sweets to pay for this, it’ll be all worth it when the time comes to use it!
You don’t need anything more than whole life term insurance. Don’t fall for the sales pitch!
MAKE OUT A WILL! It doesn’t matter if you don’t have much. If you own a car, a house, land, a boat, a trailer, have any stocks, bonds or savings you need a will! And it needs to be a legal one and should be filed with the court!
Update your will anytime there’s a change in your income, property or marital status.
Even a will that you buy on line might be sufficient as long as you have someone notarize it.
You don’t need to hire an expensive attorney to get a will done!
Last but not least, if at all possible, try to have a 401K or retirement savings account as well as an emergency savings account. Even if you can only afford to put fifty bucks a month in it or less it will all help. It adds up fast and if something does happen to you, your family will have some funds to help them in the early stages of trying to financially do without your income.
PLEASE TAKE THIS MATTER SERIOUS AND CONSIDER DOING SOMETHING TO PROTECT YOUR FAMILY!
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Austin police employee charged with theft of funds www.privateofficer.com
Austin police employee arrested for theft of funds http://www.privateofficer.com
Blue Santa is a non-profit organization that works with APD and other community organizations to deliver toys and food to needy families in the area for the holidays.
Police said 51-year-old Nicholas Medina, a civilian supervisor in the department’s “Operation Blue Santa” program, stole $959.17 in Wal-Mart gift cards in December 2006. Medina is also the Blue Santa board treasurer.
According to documents made public Monday, the Blue Santa organization purchased some turkeys from Wal-Mart on December 15, 2006, but they were inadvertently overcharged $959.17.
Wal Mart refunded that amount in the form of gift cards.
When Medina was later questioned by Blue Santa board members as to where those gift cards were, he said they were “locked up”, according to the affidavit.
When an investigator pulled the receipts from the gift card transactions, he noticed they were not typical Blue Santa purchases.
The affidavit states Medina admitted to another board member that he made purchases with the gift cards for his own personal use.
The Austin Police Department is refusing to comment on this investigation, but Blue Santa volunteers say this is an isolated incident in the organization’s 30 plus years in the community.
“It certainly caught us off guard,” said Operation Blue Santa volunteer Bunny Bennett. “We were not ready for this and we’re devastated both personally and professionally about what’s going on. But my belief is in this community and we’ve always said “you can trust us”- and that’s what we’re saying- you still can trust us.”
Medina resigned from the Austin police department on July 10. He worked as a civilain supervisor at APD for nearly 20 years.
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Off-duty deputy interrupts robbery www.privateofficer.com
Off-duty deputy interrupts armed robbery http://www.privateofficer.com
The incident occurred at S. Gessner and Beechnut around 1:40 a.m.
When the deputy walked into the pharmacy, he saw an armed black male with a stocking over his head.
The suspect had four employees and an armed security guard at gunpoint and had taken cash from the front register
“Pretty bold to walk in when you’ve got an armed security guard standing there and he goes ahead and carries on with his robbery,” HPD Detective Fil Waters said.
The deputy pulled his weapon, and the suspect ran out the door with the money.
The suspect and the deputy exchanged gunfire as the suspect fled, but no one was hit.
It was unclear how much money the suspect got away with.
A homicide detective at the scene would not elaborate on why the security guard didn’t stop the suspect, saying only that he removed himself from the situation.
Police are still searching for the robber.
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Shoplifter leaves wallet behind at store www.privateofficer.com
Shoplifter leaves wallet behind at store http://www.privateofficer.com
At 4:52 p.m. on Saturday (July 5), officers Corey Farina and James Foss were dispatched to Banana Republic at the Derby Street Shoppes on a report of a shoplifter.
The officers were provided a description of the suspect who left in a Toyota Corolla. Foss headed toward the Route 3 on ramp and Farina went to Banana Republic.
Foss saw the Toyota entering the northbound on-ramp and stopped the car.
Meanwhile at Banana Republic, the clerk told Farina that a woman in her late 20s or early 30s had placed merchandise in a tote bag and then took a handbag and left the story without paying. When confronted outside the store, the women allegedly said she was just going to show the items to her mother and then return to pay for them. There was an older woman in the car.
The woman handed the merchandise back to the clerk and fled in the Toyota. As it turned out, the woman had left her wallet with her identification in the tote bag.
After stopping the car, Officer Foss could see clothing in the back seat with the price tags from other stores. Officer Farina went to the scene and said the woman fit the description the clerk had provided. The officers placed Danielle Gabree, 29, of 30 Gavin Way, S. Boston, under arrest for shoplifting. The older woman, who was the passenger, could not drive the car because her license was suspended, police said.
The car was towed and a subsequent inventory revealed that $1,000 worth of clothing in the back seat had been stolen from J. Crew, Ann Taylor, Coldwater Creek, Victoria’s Secret, J Jill, the Children’s Place, Talbots and Banana Republic.
Gabree was charged with shoplifting over $100 and receiving stolen property. The other woman was not charged.
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Police arrest suspects in armored car theft www.privateofficer.com
Police arrest suspects in armored truck theft http://www.privateofficer.com
Detectives from Montgomery County Police 4th District Investigative Section, along with the assistance from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Prince George’s County Police, and detectives from the Montgomery County Police Major Crimes Division – Robbery Section, have been investigating the report of a theft from an armored van that occurred Saturday, July 5 in the area of Westfield Wheaton shopping mall parking lot in Wheaton.
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