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CT. hospital won’t fight security officer union attempts www.privateofficer.com
Norwich, Conn.Sept 11 2010 — The William W. Backus Hospital is pledging to cooperate with a security guards union voted in this week, the first union in the hospital’s 117-year-history.
“We’re not protesting the vote,” Shawn Mawhiney, director of communications, said Friday. On Thursday, security officers, switchboard operators and shuttle bus drivers voted 30-6 to be represented by the International Union, Security, Police & Fire Professionals of America. One ballot was ruled questionable.
The vote involving the Michigan-based union is expected to be certified Thursday by the National Labor Relations Board, according to John Cotter, who works in the NLRB’s Hartford office. Absent an objection from the employer, certification usually takes eight days, Cotter said.
The same group of workers considered affiliating with a different union — the United Federal of Special Police and Security Officers — last year. But that union withdrew its election request after encountering what union leaders classified as resistance from Backus employees in other departments. Administrators said they weren’t involved in the resistance
Backus is not aware of any other union activities on its main Norwich campus or satellite offices, Mawhiney said. The union can be fitted in to the hospital’s mission, he said.
“Our security staff chose union representation,” Mawhiney said in a written statement. “We will continue to work with all our employees, and the third-party organization that has been selected to represent security staff, to continue to provide quality health care.”
Leaders of the 40,000-member union, known as the SPFPA, could not be reached Friday for comment. Its Connecticut operations are supervised by its Eastern office in Rahway, N.J.
The union will represent a small percentage of Backus’ 1,800-employee work force. Backus is the largest nongovernment employer in Norwich.
Backus and other Eastern Connecticut hospitals have warned they will likely have less money for reinvestment, such as salary increases, because of national health care reform policy. Backus managed to boost its fiscal 2009 profit margin to 4.38 percent from the recession-battered 1.25 percent of 2008, but Mawhiney sees the margin coming under pressure because of federal and state government policies.
Source:Norwich Bulletin
Naked man Tased dies www.privateofficer.com
King County Wa Sept 11 2010 Kings County Sheriff’s Deputies are investigating the death of a man who became non-responsive shortly after being arrested.
Officer say they were called out to the Santa Rosa Rancheria, just after midnight Friday for reports of a naked man under the influence of drugs.
The man was said to be trying to crawl on top of a Tribal Security Officer’s patrol car, causing security to taser him and pepper spray him.
By the time Kings County Sheriff’s Deputies arrived on the scene Tribal Security was still trying to arrest the suspect. Once the man was finally detained, Sheriff Deputies noticed he was not breathing. Officers performed CPR on the man, which EMS crews continued once they arrived.
The man was transported to Hanford Community Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead a short while later.
An autopsy is scheduled for Friday afternoon.
NYPD auxiliary officer creates history with restored police cars www.privateofficer.com
New York City NY Sept 11 2010 GLENN SOKOLOFSKY, perhaps the closest thing New York City has to a curator of police car history, recently recounted an interesting story about the New York Police Department’s early patrol cars.
Authentic period details include a calibrated speedometer and two-way radio.
They were convertibles, he said.
“They had to keep the top down, and the police officers had to wear their hats,” he explained. “That was the only way you knew it was a police car.”
Mr. Sokolofsky added: “There was no lighting equipment on the roof or anything. They would actually have to have the order of a superior officer to put the top up, even if it was raining.”
Mr. Sokolofsky owns five patrol cars, all replicas of vintage models. For the past 10 years, he has organized the annual car show of the New York City Police Museum. He has driven his cars up Fifth Avenue for the Columbus Day Parade and used them to take wounded soldiers returning from Iraq on tours of Manhattan.
On this scorching summer day he stood in a parking lot with one of his police cars, decked out in bodyguard casual: short sleeve shirt, dark slacks and sunglasses. A Bluetooth headset was clipped to one ear. On the stark flat topography of Floyd Bennett Field, there was little prospect of shade to fend off the blazing sun.
“It was just in Delaware for the new police memorial,” he said, referring to his first replica, a 1972 Plymouth Fury I.
Mr. Sokolofsky, 49, works for the city and serves on the auxiliary police squad on Staten Island.
The project of building the Plymouth he drove that day began in 1998, when, on a tip, he heard about a vintage siren still available in an alarm store in Chinatown.
It was one of those chrome bullet-shaped sirens used by the New York police department when Mr. Sokolofsky was a boy in Brooklyn. Even the store’s employees were not sure they had such an item. “They said, ‘No, we don’t have them; we haven’t had them for years,’” he recalled.
Mr. Sokolofsky persisted, urging the employees to search further. Finally, they went to the basement, where they found two.
Mr. Sokolofsky restored the sirens, bolted one to a board and put it in a box. “Everybody thought I was nuts,” he said. What are you going to do with it? his friends asked. “I told them I was going to build a police car.”
The Plymouth is not the blue and white familiar to New Yorkers today, but green and black with a white roof and trunk, the colors of the department’s cars from 1929 to 1972.
The official department flag has green and white stripes. “All they say is that it’s the traditional and sentimental colors of the department,” he said. “I personally think it’s because most police officers back in the late ’20s and early ’30s were Irish,” he said.
Mr. Sokolofsky was born and reared in Brooklyn and lives in the Mill Basin area. A former machinist, he has worked on vintage American cars all his life. After seeing a friend’s vintage police car, he considered building one.
Nostalgia also played a part in the decision. “I grew up with these cars,” he said. “The Kojak series was on — all of this stuff that was on TV, I grew up with it. I just thought it would be neat to recreate one of these cars.”
Mr. Sokolofsky found the Plymouth a couple of years after buying the siren. It was a standard passenger model that had been owned by an elderly woman in Oklahoma City. After her death, the woman’s relatives, who lived on Long Island, sold the car to Mr. Sokolofsky for $1,000.
“Very low mileage car, no rust on it,” he said. “The local dealers did all the service on it. The car was in great shape.”
He spent two years and $15,000 restoring the Plymouth and transforming it into a convincing police car clone, doing most of the mechanical work himself. For historical accuracy, he researched back issues of the police department’s internal magazine, Spring 3100 (“the number you called before 911,” he said). He used newspaper clippings, accident reports from the period and a police department driving manual.
He also found a genuine 1972 New York police car in New Jersey, but it was in sad shape. “You’ve got to imagine that when they took the cars out of service in New York City back then, they were in bad shape,” he said. Still, it served as a model for his restoration. The former owner also kept copies of the old door decals, which came in handy.
The ’72 Plymouth is a convincing sight, but it never served on the police force.
“We took a photocopy of it to Kinko’s,” he said. “And I gave it to the decal lady, and she started to fix everything.
“She goes, ‘This is uneven.’ I said, ‘It was drawn by hand in 1960 — don’t change anything. I want it exactly the same.’ She says, ‘The banner on there is uneven.’ I said, ‘Someone drew it by hand.’”
Mr. Sokolofsky reupholstered and refinished the car’s interior and equipped it with a Motorola two-way radio, an auxiliary police-issue speedometer, mechanical switches for the siren and roof lights — he had the original company remake them — and a vintage radar gun, part of which hangs out of the window when in use.
“That’s the old cancer unit,” he joked.
While the Plymouth is a replica, it is close enough to the real thing to impress former cops. “The best part is when you find someone who actually drove a car like that,” he said. And some New Yorkers, he added, “remember being in the back seat.”
He enjoys the crowds his cars attract. Curious onlookers from all walks of life — from “an 85-year-old woman getting gas to kids who never even saw them” — want to talk, he said.
He has had as many as eight police car replicas, but he sold a few, including lookalikes of a Detroit patrol car and a cruiser from the Los Angeles Police Department. His collection now is entirely made up of New York cars, among them a 1973 Plymouth Fury (“The first year with the blue and white color scheme,” he said) and a replica of the ’61 Plymouth used the 1960s comedy series “Car 54, Where Are You?”
The police “weren’t exactly thrilled” with the show, he said, as it made the force look comical.
“They shot it in the streets in the Bronx,” he continued. “The studio was actually set up as part of the precinct. Remember Grandpa Munster? He was in the show as a police officer. So was Herman Munster” — or at least the actors who played them, Al Lewis and Fred Gwynne.
Mr. Sokolofsky also has a 1951 Plymouth coupe that was done up as an emergency services car. A couple of years ago, he bought a 1967 Plymouth Fury, which resembles his 1972 car.
“It was one of the prop cars from ‘American Gangster,’ so I wound up buying it,” he said. “I couldn’t resist.”
Source:NY Times
Former church teacher arrested for lewd molestations www.privateofficer.com
Investigators say he sold his house, packed up his things and purchased a camper.
“We didn’t have any clear information on where exactly he was because he was mobile,” said Lt. Dan Huff with the McClain County Sheriff’s Office.
Elledge is facing six counts of lewd molestation.
Investigators say he sexually abused six girls between 1998 and 2006.
The sheriff’s office says a judge set Elledge’s bond at $25,000, which he posted and was released.
Lebanon Valley College officer struck on vehicle www.privateofficer.com
Lebanon Valley PA Sept 11 2010 A Lebanon Valley College public safety officer was injured Wednesday morning when he was struck by a van while on bicycle patrol in Annville Township, Lebanon County, Annville Township police said.
Sean T. Frawley, 32, of Annville, was assisting Annville police with traffic control around 10 a.m. for a wide load traveling south on White Oak Street when police said he was hit by a van driven by Joe K. Spencer, 56, of West Oak Street in Palmyra.
Frawley was transported by First Aid and Safety Patrol ambulance to a local hospital for treatment of unspecified injuries, police said. No details on Frawley’s condition were available.
Source:Patriot News
Mobile police officer suspended for sexual contact with prisoner www.privateofficer.com
Mobile Al. Sept 11 2010 A Mobile Police officer has been placed on administrative leave for allegedly having improper sexual contact with a woman who was under arrest and in his custody.
Officer Jonathon Anthony, assigned to First Precinct Patrol, is accused of having sexual contact with a 26-year-old woman, according to a news release from the police department.
“This type of action violates the oath of office and is the type of behavior that will never be tolerated in the Mobile Police Department,” Mobile Police Chief Michael T. Williams said in the news release.
Police officials received a complaint against Anthony on Sept. 3 and launched an internal investigation, which is ongoing.
Officer Chris Levy, spokesman for the Mobile Police Department, said more information will be released to the public “as it becomes available.”
Source:AL.com
Security officer murderer gets long prison term www.privateofficer.com
years in Nevada state prison in the 1998 slaying of a Tropicana casino security guard.
Clark County District Court Judge Jennifer Togliatti sentenced Jose F. Martin on Wednesday following his guilty plea in April to murder, kidnapping and burglary with a weapon charges in the shooting death of 44-year-old Elroy Arokium.
The shooting occurred in February 1998 after Martin was thrown out of a dance party where a fight broke out at the Tropicana.
Police say Arokium wasn’t involved, but was shot in the back when Martin returned with a gun.
Martin was arrested in Mexico, but successfully fought extradition. He was arrested in San Francisco in 2004.
Source:KOLOTV.com
NY woman pepper spray, assault Wal-Mart security www.privateofficer.com
New Hartford NY Sept 11 2010 – Three Syracuse women were arrested in New Hartford after police say they attacked a security guard with pepper spray and a baby carrier.
Police have arrested Tayonda Durham, 25; Billie Goode, 28; and Harlyn McBean, 29, on multiple charges including criminal possession of stolen property, grand larceny, and criminal possession of an anti-security item.
According to the police, security guards saw the three women attempting to exit Wal-Mart with over $1,100 worth of merchandise. When the security guards tried to detain the women, Goode swung a baby carrier at him with her 3-week-old baby still in it.
Meanwhile, Durham pepper sprayed a guard and also several bystanders. The women escaped the Wal-Mart in McBean’s vehicle, a blue 2005 Chevy Impala. The security guards reported the license plate number to the police, who alerted other agencies.
State Police officers pulled over the women on the New York State Thruway and detained them until New Hartford Police could arrive on the scene to arrest them.
New Hartford police also discovered other bags containing stolen merchandise from Victoria’s Secret, H & M, and Gap stores located in Sangertown Square, New Hartford, valued at over $1,000.
One Wal-Mart security guard was transported by Edward’s Ambulance to St. Elizabeth’s hospital for further evaluation due to an allergic reaction to the pepper spray.
Individually, Durham was charged with unlawfully possessing or selling noxious material and criminal contempt. Goode was charged with endangering the welfare of a child. All three suspects were remanded to Oneida County Jail in lieu of bail. A felony exam is scheduled for the defendants next week in the Town of New Hartford Criminal Court.
Source:WSYR.com
Wal-Mart security assaulted by fleeing shoplifter www.privateofficer.com
BERWICK, LA Dept 11 2010 A man accused of eating food inside a store without paying for it and running away after hitting a security guard when confronted about stealing was arrested Wednesday afternoon in Berwick.
According to the St. Mary Parish Sheriff’s Office, Albert Hebert, 46, was booked into the parish jail on shoplifting and simple battery charges around 3:30 p.m.
His bond was set at $1,500.
Deputies said security cameras at Walmart captured video of Hebert putting food in a shopping cart, but then eating some of it as he walked through the store.
The sheriff’s office was contacted about what happened and a deputy drove to the store to investigate further.
Investigators said a security officer detained Hebert on suspicion of shoplifting, but he hit the guard and ran out of the store.
The deputy and security officer chased after him and other deputies were contacted.
They eventually found the suspect and took him into custody.
Source:WAFB.com
Downtown security patrol makes arrest www.privateofficer.com
Santa Cruz CA. Sept 11 2010 One of the First Alarm security guards hired to augment downtown policing helped make an arrest Wednesday, the first time the guard patrols have led to an arrest since they started working Pacific Avenue on Saturday morning, Santa Cruz police Lt. Larry Richard said.
The guard found Beth Doherty, 49, drinking an alcohol beverage on the 100 block of Maple Street just before 2 p.m., Richard said. Doherty was arrested on suspicion for public intoxication. She also had a warrant for the same charge and was booked into County Jail, police reported.
One First Alarm guard is patrolling downtown 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily. The program is a one-month pilot project to increase safety and reduce crime in the downtown business district. Three guards received training in municipal codes and were equipped with police radios. They have no police powers, but can call for backup from Santa Cruz officers when needed.
The program costs $5,000 and is funded by the police department.
NY teen arrested for selling marijuana at local mall www.privateofficer.com
NEW HARTFORD, N.Y. Sept 11 2010 New Hartford police say 19 year old Paul Pomichter of Cold Brook has been charged with attempting to sell marijuana to a shopper who was eating in the food court.
Police say the patron advised Pomichter that he was not interested and after pomichter walked away the patron advised a mall security officer of the incident.
Security then contacted the New Hartford police officers at the mall who located Pomichter and stopped him.
Police say they found five baggies of marijuana on Pomichter and charged him with attempted criminal sale of marijuana and unlawful possession of marijuana.
