Archive
Mall security foils burglary www.privateofficer.com
By: Rick McCann/Staff
PRIVATE OFFICER NEWS
http://www.privateofficer.com/
A security officer foiled a break-in at a Northland Jewelry Store early Monday morning according to police.
The security officer was on patrol when he spotted the burglary and notified the police.
Numerous police units responded and made netry into the mall where the security officer pointed out their whereabouts.
Four juveniles are in custody and have been charged with various criminal offenses.
Crime scene investigators are trying to determine how the suspects got into the mall.
Dallas cop fired for sending nude pics to student www.privateofficer.com
Bryan Crews, 30, will appeal his firing, his attorney, Haakon Donnelly, wrote in an e-mail.
“The department should be ashamed of its actions and methods of investigation into this officer’s personal private life, which has nothing to do his status as a police officer or on-the-job conduct,” Donnelly wrote.
“We further believe that members of the department investigating the underlying complaint – initiated by Officer Crews’ wife in the course of divorce proceedings – engaged in misconduct in obtaining and reviewing alleged information and evidence, which taints the entire investigation as well as his termination.”
Kunkle declined to comment, citing the likelihood of litigation. The case was an unusual one for the department because it involved sexually explicit images that the officer had saved on his personal cellphone.
The internal affairs investigation started in late February after Crews’ wife gave authorities his private cellphone memory card, ticket books and other evidence. Crews’ wife told officials that she believed some of the sexually explicit images to be child pornography, but the investigation found no evidence that the images were of minors.
The investigation also found:
•That Crews personally kept dozens of unauthorized photos that he’d taken of crime scenes, which investigators concluded violated departmental policy.
•That he sent nude photos of himself to a 17-year-old North Dallas High School student while she was in school on three different days; that he took several nude photos of himself in which his police uniform could be seen in the background; that he received and saved several sexually explicit videos on his phone while on duty; and that he received nude photos from a female sergeant, which were taken on police property while she was on duty.
•That he showed nude photos, including those of female police employees, to other police officers while on duty.
•That he sent and received excessive personal text messages and phone calls while on duty. In January 2009, records showed that he sent or received about 850 text messages and engaged in 433 minutes of phone conversations with the high school student. The following month, he sent or received 1,045 text messages and engaged in 431 minutes of phone conversations with her.
•That in four separate cases he kept copies of tickets he’d written that he was supposed to have given to violators. Because the suspected violators didn’t know about the tickets, arrest warrants were issued due to the unpaid fines.
Police officials have since had the tickets dismissed. Crews characterized it as a “rookie mistake,” records show.
•That he kept the identification cards of four different people. His wife told investigators that she found four ID cards in the trash. Crews told officials that he accidentally kept the cards and intended to mail them back, but failed to do so. He said he thought he had placed them in the bathroom drawer, not the trash.
Departmental policy requires that officers return all ID cards, either in person if they live nearby or by mail.
“I do not deny all of the allegations, but question the integrity of the investigation, and how the evidence was obtained,” Crews wrote in a statement to internal investigators. “I am not saying that my behavior was OK.”
Crews’ sergeant, who recommended that he receive a one-day suspension, wrote a memo contesting some of the findings of the internal affairs investigation. He noted that in the cases where Crews took photos of crime scenes, he was the investigating officer at the scene.
The amount of text messages and phone calls “may be questionable, [but] I do not believe that the use of his phone interfered with his ability to perform his job at a high level,” Sgt. Paul Morris wrote. “Officer Crews’ activity was over 100 percent of the sector average, and he had no complaints during that period.”
The sexually explicit photos and videos “may be objectionable,” but he wrote that Crews never made them public and therefore didn’t harm the department’s reputation.
Nightclub security officer shot, stabbed www.privateofficer.com
The men’s injuries are not life-threatening, Police Chief Harry Rilling said.
Anthony Franklin, 22, a bouncer at the Greek-American restaurant on Van Zant Street, was shot twice in the back and stabbed once in the stomach at about 1:47 a.m. Sunday, Detective Terry Blake said.
Seventeen-year-old Shaquan Welfare, who police believe was a patron at the club, was shot once in the leg, Blake said.
A representative from Norwalk Hospital said Franklin’s condition “remains serious, but stable.” He is in the hospital’s intensive-care unit.
Franklin may have been trying to break up a fight outside the club shortly before the 2 a.m. closing time when he was shot, Blake said.
The cause of the shooting is still under investigation, he said.
No weapons were recovered, Blake said.
Delaware police officer dies in crash www.privateofficer.com
“We don’t have residents in our town. People may use our facilities just once on a trip from California or England, or they may use our facilities three times a day,” DRPA Chief Dave McClintock said. “He exemplified what we do. He was an ambassador.”
About 1:30 a.m. Saturday, Milito, 40, became the first DRPA officer killed in the line of duty on a bridge, when he was struck by a passing motorist as he ran across five lanes of traffic to do what he did best – help a fellow officer.
The 16-year DRPA veteran was going to assist at an accident investigation on the eastbound side of the Walt Whitman Bridge, not far past the toll booths, when an accident claimed his life, police said.
He was transported by fellow officers to Cooper Hospital in Camden, where he was pronounced dead at 2:06 a.m.
The driver of the vehicle that hit him was taken into custody by Philadelphia police, but he was freed without charges, pending toxicology test results, police said.
The eastbound lanes of the Walt Whitman were closed for five hours following the accident and the bridge was shut for 45 minutes the following night about midnight so investigators could reconstruct the accident, said Ed Kasuba, DRPA spokesman.
Milito, of Upper Providence Township, Delaware County, was single with no children. He loved homemade wine, cooking, his cat and continuing education.
In just one week, he was to start working a day shift so he could complete the three classes he needed to earn his master’s degree in criminal justice at West Chester University, McClintock said.
“He was a very, very smart man and very well-educated,” McClintock said. “He had an overall commitment to his position and to be the very best he could be.”
He was 24 when he joined the force as a quiet young man with the utmost respect for his peers and superiors, McClintock said. Current and former DRPA officers gathered over the weekend to remember Milito.
“He was respected by his subordinates as well as his superiors,” McClintock said. “What I’ve learned is he was loved by the members of this department. He was beyond admired.”
A viewing will be Wednesday in Broom-all, Delaware County. A Funeral Mass will be celebrated at 11 a.m. Thursday at the Cathedral Basilica of Ss. Peter and Paul, 18th Street and the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. The last DRPA officer to be killed in the line of duty was hit by a train in 1974.
Man spits on casino officers, urinates on machines www.privateofficer.com
By: Rick McCann/Staff
PRIVATE OFFICER NEWS
http://www.privateofficer.com/ — Authorities arrested an intoxicated Norwich man after he became belligerent with casino security officers after being thrown out of a nightclub at the MGM Grand at Foxwoods.
Police said Keith D. Emmons, 25, of 303 Mohegan Park Road in Norwich, was forced to leave the Shrine nightclub and began yelling and swearing in the busy concourse area. Security officers responded and confronted Emmons and he began spitting on the security officers, police said. Emmons left the casino and was observed urinating on a soda machine in the parking garage.
Mashantucket Tribal police detained Emmons, who was charged by state police at 1:25 a.m. with breach of peace. Emmons is scheduled to appear Feb. 2 in New London Superior Court.
Shoplifter dies fighting Wal-Mart security agents www.privateofficer.com
By: Rick McCann/Staff
PRIVATE OFFICER NEWS
http://www.privateofficer.com — A shoplifting suspect has died after a fight at a South Carolina Wal-Mart.
Conway police reported Sunday that police got a call about a fight at the store just after 8 p.m. Friday.when officers arrived they found that security officers had tried to stop several shoplifting suspects and that a fight ensued.
Police spokeswoman Catina Hipps says that the Wal-Mart employees tired to detain the two persons involved but that they resisted and began fighting with security personnel.
One of the suspects collapsed at the scene and was taken to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
Horry County Deputy Coroner Tony Hendrick says 41-year-old Dorina Williams of Nichols appears to have died from natural causes, but the official cause of death is still pending.
Williams’ mother says her daughter had asthma but couldn’t get to her inhaler in time. A juvenile suspect was charged with shoplifting.
This is the third shoplifting death involving Wal-Mart security personnel in as many months.
Nine gang members charged with smash and grabs www.privateofficer.com
Officers acted quickly after a group of thieves rammed a Ford Taurus through the entrance to the Focus Clothing Store downtown, ransacked the shop and escaped with $50,000 worth of designer jeans.
The same group then did another smash-and-grab at the E-Z Shop Food Mart on Sylvan Road in southwest Atlanta, police said.
After finding two stolen cars in the Sylvan Road area, police converged on a home in the 700 block of Dill Avenue, Deputy Chief Calvin Moss told the AJC.
“They got over there and found some of the stolen items scattered about outside the residence and found the nine subjects inside,” Moss said. “A search warrant was obtained for the house, and additional stolen property and a quantity of narcotics was found there.”
Moss said the quick arrests resulted from months of investigation.
“Our gang unit has been tracking some individuals for quite some time,” he said. “They know the areas to go to, and they simply followed up on some of the leads they were able to develop from the crime scenes.”
Moss identified the adult suspects as Jarquez Hood, 20, and Deaundrae Williams, 17. The seven juveniles range from 14 to 16 years old.
The smash-and-grab at Focus, on Peachtree Street near Alabama Street, happened just after 2:30 a.m. and was captured by a store surveillance camera.
Owner David Song told the AJC he was shocked because he recently installed a new iron gate over the front glass.
“I never thought about something like this happening,” he said.
Song estimated the thieves caused an additional $20,000 in damage.
Moss said the suspects stole three cars in southwest Atlanta early Sunday to use in the burglaries. Police found a green Ford Taurus and a silver Jeep Liberty but continue to look for a green Pontiac Grand Prix, tag no. BWD-1097.
Anyone who has seen the Grand Prix should call Crime Stoppers at 404-577-8477.
Moss said the suspects could be responsible for other recent smash-and-grabs.
And he urged the public to help police combat gangs.
“We really are soliciting input from law-abiding citizens who know these people,” Moss said.
Police believe 30 Deep started in the Mechanicsville neighborhood near Turner Field. They say the gang has committed commercial burglaries from Buckhead to Gwinnett County, and that members sell drugs, stolen high-end jeans and expensive electronics.
One member is charged with the January 2009 murder of John Henderson, the popular bartender at Standard Food & Spirits in Grant Park.
“What makes them different is they are persistent,” Sgt. Archie Ezell, a member of the Atlanta Police Department’s gang unit, told the AJC last month. “They will go out and do a crime and they don’t mind doing two or three burglaries a night. They’re always on the move, always wanting to do some kind of crime.”
Shooting victim charged with pharmacy robberies www.privateofficer.com
James Matthew Hobby, 30, called deputies to his residence in Clay, claiming an armed intruder shot him.
According to a department press release, while deputies were processing the crime scene, they found items showing evidence of a hidden drug lab in the house. Upon investigation, the lab was used to manufacture ecstasy.
The deputies also found pharmacy pill bottles, which were identified as stolen from local pharmacies.
Hobby, who has a criminal history including theft and drug charges, was arrested Jan. 14 in the hospital. After he recovers from his injuries, he will be moved to the Jefferson County Jail.
Jefferson County Chief Deputy Randy Christian said in an e-mail the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department has charged Hobby in a drug store robbery case. The Fultondale Police Department has also charged Hobby in another drug store robbery.
Christian also said a Rite Aid drug store on Valleydale Road was robbed twice, and he believes Hobby is a suspect in those robberies.
Hobby is a suspect in as many as five drug store robberies in various jurisdictions
