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Police arrest group of 5 for shoplfting incident www.privateofficer.com
LEICESTER, Mass July 30 2011— A group of five suspected shoplifters were arrested Saturday evening at the Leicester Wal-Mart and charged in connection with the theft of a wide variety of merchandise from the store.
Leicester Police Chief James Hurley stated that the incident began around 7:30 p.m. Saturday night when Wal-Mart Asset Protection contacted the Leicester Police Department Dispatch Center and reported that there were several individuals inside the store actively shoplifting.
Working with Wal-Mart’s Asset protection personnel LPD officers were able to view some of the shoplifting as it occurred.
The responding officers also put a vehicle that they believed belonged to the suspects under surveillance. When the suspects left the store with the shoplifted merchandise they were followed to the motor vehicle where they were taken into custody.
At the time of the suspects arrest there were two infants and a toddler present. Police identified the suspects arrested and their charges as follows:
Omayda Velez, 41, 5 Morton Court, Worcester, MA
1. Shoplifting by Asportation + $100
2. Conspiracy to shoplift
BillMary Cruz, 20, 260 Union Ave. (apt. # 41), Framingham, MA
1. Shoplifting by Asportation + $100
2. Conspiracy to shoplift
3. Receiving stolen property over $250
4. Receiving stolen property under $250
Eric Valentin, 26, 5 Morton Court, Worcester, MA
1. Shoplifting by Asportation + $100
2. Conspiracy to shoplift
David Ortiz, 21, 260 Union Ave. (apt. # 41), Framingham, MA
1. Shoplifting by Asportation + $100
2. Conspiracy to shoplift
WillMary Cruz, 21, 5 Morton Court, Worcester, MA
1. Shoplifting by Asportation + $100
2. Conspiracy to shoplift
Four of the five suspects are related and the fifth is in relationship with one of the suspects.
Hurley stated that the three children who were present during the arrests were turned over to a relative who came to the scene and took custody of the children until the suspects were bailed.
The chief indicated that he was not surprised by the presence of the children during the shoplifting incident and indicated that often suspects believe the police will not arrest them if they have small children with them during the incident.
The LPD will be making the appropriate referrals regarding the children.
Hurley also indicated that the individuals arrested Saturday are suspects in several previous shop-liftings at the Leicester Wal-Mart and that additional charges may be brought in connection with those cases.
The arrests were made by Leicester Sgt. Joseph Fontaine, Officer Craig Guertin and Officer Ron Tarentino.
Police charge shoplifters with burglary www.privateofficer.com
They are Rolanda M. Turner, 36, and Ladell D. Williams, 41. They were charged Thursday.
Bail on each was set at $60,000.
Allegheny County child enforcement agent arrested for shoplifting www.privateofficer.com
Pittsburgh PA July 30 3011 Scott police arrested the manager of the Allegheny County child support enforcement unit on suspicion of shoplifting about $530 worth of merchandise from Wal-Mart and other stores.
Robert J. O’Shea, 55, of Crafton, was charged Wednesday with three summary counts of retail theft and one misdemeanor count of receiving stolen property stemming from the Saturday incident, according to a police affidavit.
O’Shea makes $72,179 in his position for the courts. His job status is listed as “inactive,” but he has not been fired, court administrator Ray Billotte said.
A Walmart employee spotted O’Shea leaving the store and confronted him as he was loading goods into his white Mercedes-Benz, according to the affidavit. O’Shea said his brother was inside the store and had paid for the items, which included four solar lights, two packages of paper towels, light bulbs and batteries.
O’Shea then fled after the employee asked him to come back inside, according to the affidavit, and the employee jotted down the license plate and called police.
When police checked O’Shea’s car at his home, they found additional items he admitted to stealing from Lowe’s, Shop ‘n Save and other stores, the affidavit says.
O’Shea declined to comment
Shoplifter gets 25 yrs to life prison term www.privateofficer.com
VICTORVILLE CA July 30 2011 A man convicted of shoplifting about $150 worth of hygiene products was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison under the Three Strikes law.
A loss prevention officer spotted Julius Craig Johnson, 43, shoplifting at the Walmart in Victorville on March 2, according to San Bernardino County Sheriff’s officials.
Investigators found three containers of body wash and three of deodorant in his jacket pockets and Olay products underneath his pants. He was wearing two layers of pants and tied the bottom pair at his ankles to hide the stolen items.
A jury convicted Johnson in June of second-degree commercial burglary and petty theft with three priors. He had two strikes from felony convictions in Sacramento — burglary in 1989 and robbery in 1990.
Judge Eric Nakata sentenced Johnson on Thursday morning.
Under California’s Three Strikes law, people convicted of any felony who have been previously convicted of one or more violent or serious felonies can be sentenced to 25 years to life in prison.
Johnson also has drug, grand theft, petty theft and burglary convictions.
According to his probation officer’s report, he had been employed by a Walmart in Baldwin Hills until he left because of his drug use.
Source:vvdailypress.com
Former Westfield Wheaton mall guard guilty in trafficking juvenile for sex www.privateofficer.com
Cooper Kweme, 31, of the 400 block of Hannes Avenue in Silver Spring, admitted to contacting a 16-year-old girl from Arlington, Va., in February to work as a prostitute after meeting her on Tagged, an online social network targeted at teens, according to the criminal complaint.
While the maximum sentence for a juvenile sex trafficking charge is life in prison, prosecutors agreed to recommend a lower sentence under the terms of Kweme’s plea agreement.
“The government agreed that it would recommend the mandatory minimum of 10 years at sentencing in October,” said Peter Carr, a spokesman for the prosecutor’s office. “We can only make a recommendation, however; [U.S. District Court Judge Anthony J. Trenga] will make a final determination based on what he sees fit.”
Sentencing was set for Oct. 21, Carr said.
Jeffrey C. Corey, Kweme’s defense attorney, could not be reached for comment Friday afternoon.
Kweme, who also goes by Jason Pathers and Jason Forhee, was also facing charges for transporting a minor to engage in prostitution and the production of child pornography when he was indicted July 25, but those charges were dropped under the terms of the plea agreement, Carr said.
Kweme ran The Empire Service in Washington, D.C., Virginia and Maryland from October until his arrest, according to federal court documents filed in Alexandria. Prosecutors said Kweme ordered the victim to have sex for money with eight men in Virginia and Maryland in April. She said in the complaint that she was once threatened by Kweme with a Taser in a hotel parking lot.
The girl said she believed Kweme was a law enforcement officer because he wore a blue or black uniform with a bulletproof vest with the word “police” printed on it and carried a gun, according to the complaint.
Kweme posted sexually explicit photographs of the girl online, according to the indictment. He was arrested by Arlington County Police on June 1.
Source:gazette.net
Former New York Yankees pitcher commits suicide www.privateofficer.com
The body of Irabu, 42, was found at 4:25 p.m. PDT Wednesday, county sheriff’s Sgt. Michael Arriaga said.
“He was found dead by an apparent suicide,” he said.
Irabu lived in Rancho Palos Verdes but it was not immediately clear whether it was his home, the sergeant said.
Other details were not immediately released.
Messages left at the county coroner’s office were not immediately returned.
In May 2010, Irabu was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol in the Los Angeles suburb of Gardena.
Police said he was stopped after his car drifted outside of traffic lanes and he nearly collided with a parked car.
He posted $5,000 bail but it was not immediately clear whether he was criminally charged.
Horse drawn carriage hit by tractor trailer-4 dead www.privateofficer.com
Quinton OKLA July 29 2011 Four people are killed, including two children, after their horse drawn carriage was hit from behind by a semi. The Oklahoma Highway Patrol says the crash happened Wednesday night about 10:45 on State Highway 31 in Pittsburg County, 4 miles west of Quinton.
Investigators say the horse drawn carriage was traveling in the middle of the road when it was hit.
The report says a 4-year-old and a 5-year-old as well as two adults died in the crash. OHP identified the deceased from Quinton as 38 year old Paul Ogden, his daughter 5 year old Meckennen Ogden, 28 year old Lee Ogden, and 4 year old Emma Ogden. All four were thrown from the carriage on impact of the crash and died at the scene from their injuries.
OHP says one passenger in the carriage, 18 year old Colby Finch of Texas, survived but was critically injured. He was flown to a Tulsa hospital and listed in critical condition with head injuries.
The driver of the semi was identified by OHP as Marvin Bowen from Foyil. The report says the 38 year old man was not injured.
Source:AP
Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek robbed-security nabs suspsect www.privateofficer.com
SAN FRANCISCO CA July 29 2011 — “Jeopardy!” host Alex Trebek is scheduled for surgery after he snapped his Achilles tendon while running after a woman who he says stole cash and other items from his San Francisco hotel room.
The 71-year-old Trebek tells reporters he spotted the woman in his room around 2:30 a.m. Tuesday, chased her down and confronted her.
He was on crutches Wednesday when he hosted the National Geographic World Championship at Google headquarters.
San Francisco police Lt. Troy Dangerfield says hotel security apprehended the suspect and recovered some of Trebek’s belongings.
Dangerfield says 56-year-old old Lucinda Moyers was arrested on suspicion of felony burglary and receiving stolen property.
After his scheduled surgery Friday, Trebek is expected to be in a cast for six weeks.
On Thursday, Moyers was ordered to stay at least 150 yards from the “Jeopardy!” host and his wife.
A judge Thursday also set Moyers’ bail at $625,000, noting that the two-time convicted burglar could face an extended sentence under California’s three-strikes law if she’s found guilty again.
San Francisco Superior Court Judge Jeff Ross said a public defender would be assigned to the 56-year-old woman. She appeared in court in an orange jumpsuit but won’t enter a plea until her arraignment set for Monday morning.
Source:ktvu.com
Vancover college professor found dead www.privateofficer.com
VANCOUVER Canada July 29 2011 — The woman found dead in her Vancouver home on Tuesday night has been identified as Melanie Alexis O’Neill, a Simon Fraser University professor.
Police discovered O’Neill’s body in her residence, one of three suites of a home in the 100-block of West 13th Avenue, around 10:30 p.m.
A concerned acquaintance had asked police to check on her welfare after not having heard from her lately, said Vancouver police spokesman Const. Lindsey Houghton.
O’Neill was an associate professor in biophysical and biological chemistry at Simon Fraser University, having joined the faculty in 2005.
Jon Driver, acting president and vice-president academic and provost of SFU, said the university was “distressed” to learn of her death.
“Melanie was well liked and respected by her peers, who noted she displayed amazing strength and conviction in her research in biological chemistry,” Driver said in a statement.
“She was considered a pioneer – one of only a few scientists internationally researching how humans use light to synchronize their metabolic and behavioural patterns with the outside world.”
O’Neill won the Career Investigator Award, Scholar, from the Michael Smith Foundation for health research in 2005.
A man detained by Richmond RCMP in connection with the homicide on Wednesday was transferred to VPD for questioning and released without charges, said Houghton.
It is not known what the man’s relationship was to O’Neill, or how police were first alerted to him. He is still considered a person of interest, Houghton said.
Dave Kite, who lives two doors down, said a Caucasian woman who appeared to be in her 30s had just moved into the suite, on the main floor of the large triplex, about three weeks ago.
“We didn’t know her very well, but we saw her walking around a few times,” he said.
Helen Hutton, also a nearby resident, said the incident was shocking.
“It’s a little oasis in the middle of the city,” she said of the street, where large trees formed a canopy overhead.
“It makes me extremely nervous, but I can’t help but feel it’s an isolated incident.”
Forensic investigators were at the scene Wednesday.
O’Neill’s body was removed at 12:15 p.m.
The homicide is Vancouver’s ninth of 2011.
Source:www.vancouversun.com
Homicide victim left undiscovered at L.A. Veterans Affairs campus for week www.privateofficer.com
LOS ANGELES CA July 29 2011 — The FBI has been called in to handle a homicide at the West Los Angeles Veterans Affairs campus. The body of the 56-year-old man was left undiscovered for a week at a time when VA officials are receiving heavy criticism for their management of the campus.
The remains of Jose Luis Plascencia were discovered on June 30 when a groundskeeper was trimming foliage near a stadium, the Los Angeles Times reports. Initially, investigators suspected no foul play, but it was later determined by the Angeles County coroner’s office that Plascencia’s neck had been cut.
The West Los Angeles VA facility has its own police force with about 55 officers.
FBI say that on-duty Houston police officer escorted drug shipments www.privateofficer.com
Aikens, 46, was arrested as he got off duty this morning at the HPD Central Jail on Riesner.
FBI agents and Internal Affairs Division officers took his gun from him, along with his car keys, as they arrested him on felony charges of abusing his badge and possessing cocaine.
Assistant US Attorney Jim McAlister said Aikens was under FBI surveillance when he used his patrol car to escort and protect a shipment of 7-kilos of cocaine during a sting operation last month.
He’s accused of accepting a $2,000 bribe in exchange for providing security for the supposed drug couriers, but those pushers were actually undercover agents taking part in the sting. There was no other dope involved, McAlister said.
Two hours after his arrest, Aikens was brought before US Magistrate Judge Mary Milloy for his initial appearance, where he said he expects to lose his job over this.
Sgt. Aikens will also lose his apartment, he said, because he told the judge he was living rent-free at an apartment complex on Antoine in northwest Houston, in exchange for providing security at the complex.
Such security arrangements are common within HPD and most other law enforcement agencies in the Houston area.
Aikens posted a $50,000 unsecured bond, which means he was released from custody without forking over a dime.
Judge Milloy allowed him to spend a few days removing his furniture from his free apartment, but she ordered him to live with his sister in Houston pending the outcome of his trial.
Aikens, who joined the Houston Police force in June 1992, was earning nearly $55,000 base salary according to recent city payroll records. But he told the judge today he only had $2,500 in the bank and could not afford to hire a lawyer.
The judge appointed a public defender to represent him, but ordered him to cough up $1,000 to defer some of the cost.
As he stood before the judge, his hands were crossed behind his back and he could be seen fidgeting with his fingers as the judge spoke to him.
When she asked if he wanted to invoke his right to remain silent, Aikens answered, “At this time, yes ma’am.”
He told the judge he may have left a weapon in his personal vehicle parked outside the jail, and Milloy responded, “Get your keys and get that weapon secure. If you have a weapon, I will revoke your bond.”
The sergeant said he understood.
He said he wasn’t sure the weapon was still inside his car because, “I’m assuming they took it out…..They asked me at the time where my gun belt was,” Aikens said of his arrest.
HPD Headquarters said he was placed on Relieved of Duty status with pay upon his arrest, which means he has no police authority while he’s out of jail on bond.
He was scheduled for arraignment on Thursday, August 4th, when the judge said he could enter a plea of not guilty. He faces 2 felony indictments that could bring 30-years in prison if he’s found guilty. He’s charged with Possession with Intent to Deliver Cocaine, and a violation of the Hobbs Act, which means using the color of authority for corruption.
Inside the federal courthouse, deputy US Marshals expressed anger at someone tarnishing the badge. One deputy marshal who used to be an HPD officer said, “He’s a piece of s—. He affects our badges and everyone with a badge with this.”
Fellow HPD officers said a review of the department’s Internal Affairs history shows Sgt. Aikens has been suspended from duty without pay for a total of 87-days, which is an astonishing number.
Suspensions without pay are levied only after Internal Affairs investigations are completed and wrongdoing has been confirmed by the department. It was unclear how many sustained violations of departmental rules accounted for that 87-days worth of suspensions, and it was unclear if he had overturned any of those suspensions by filing appeals.
One HPD supervisor pointed out that Aikens was promoted to the rank of sergeant within the past year or so, despite the lengthy list of violations of police department policy.
In court Aikens said he has a 17-year-old daughter who lives with her mother. He was paying $600 per month in child support, he told the judge, so she ordered him to find another job within the next 10-days.
He was arrested in uniform, but Marshals said he was being released without his HPD shirt on. He was told to wear his undershirt only when he walked out of the courthouse to meet his superiors who had confiscated his car keys.
Aikens also asked prosecutors to return his cell phone. “That’s the only phone I have,” he said, adding that it had numbers stored for calling family members to alert them to his arrest.
Prosecutors said other arrests were possible as agents continued trying to crack the drug-operation that prompted the undercover sting. There were no other officers arrested, and prosecutors said they did not know of any other officers who were suspected of helping the drug ring that led to the sting.
Source:Examiner
Seven time convicted indecent exposure suspect nabbed maturbating at Seattle mall www.privateofficer.com
King County WA July 29 2011 A Seattle man seven times convicted of indecent exposure-related crimes is now accused of exposing himself at an Auburn mall.
King County prosecutors contend Kenneth R. Libke, 54, was caught pleasuring himself as he drove a Jeep around the SuperMall parking lot. They go on to claim he appeared to be following women around the lot.
On June 2, a SuperMall security officer watching the parking lot by camera spotted Libke in his car. Believing he appeared to be preparing to shoplift, the security officer continued to watch Libke as he drove around the lot.
According to charging documents, the security officer was able to view the inside of Libke’s vehicle. Libke, prosecutors contend, was naked from the waist down and masturbating.
“(The security officer) became physically ill at the actions she had witnessed and almost vomited,” an Auburn detective told the court. “(She) was very concerned about the visibility of the driver’s actions since his windows were not tinted and any pedestrian walking past his vehicle could have looked in and seen him.”
The security officer contacted Auburn police and provided a copy of the surveillance video.
Investigators also spoke with a man who said he’d seen Libke’s Jeep in the mall parking lot on several occasions since December 2010.
According to the detective’s report, the man said he noticed the Jeep because it was often driving around the lot as though the driver was looking for women. After spotting a woman, the Jeep’s driver would drive near her and slow down.
Police were able to link the Jeep to Libke, a registered sex offender with convicted several times for indecent exposure and lewd conduct. He was previously convicted of nearly identical conduct at the Alderwood Mall parking lot in Lynnwood.
Libke has been charged with felony indecent exposure. Prosecutors contend he acted with sexual motivation.
Source:www.seattlepi.com
Four arrested for TV thefts in Michigan www.privateofficer.com
CLINTON TOWNSHIP, Mich.July 29 2011 – Clinton Township police arrested four suspected of trying to steal five flat screen TV’s at Walmart on Hall Road and Romeo Plank.
On Tuesday night, Walmart security observed the suspects loading up a shopping cart with flat screens valued at $5,136 retail cost according to Captain Richard Maierle from Clinton Township police. Walmart security made a call to Clinton Twp. police alerting them to the situation.
Donte Manning, 23, of Pontiac, pushed the loaded cart out of the store while Christina Hollis, 19, and Danique Johnson,20, and an unnamed juvenile male assisted in the attempted theft. One of the suspects pulled up to the store in a van and were attempting to load the flat scenes inside. As the suspects were attempting to load the television sets, Clinton Township police arrived and took all four into custody.
The suspects were charged with first degree retail fraud, a five-year felony, and conspiracy to commit retail fraud.
Bond was set at $10,000 cash or surety in 41-B District Court in Clinton Township.
Maierle said Walmart has surveillance photographs of at least two and possibly three other suspects who got away in another vehicle.
He said the photos of all of the suspects will be distributed among store security along Hall Road to see if the suspects were involved in thefts at other stores. The pictures were not released to the media at this time.
If you have any information on this case, please contact Clinton Township Police at 586-493-7800.
Source:WXYZ
Randolph County teacher arrested for having sex with student www.privateofficer.com
RANDOLPH CO., Indiana July 29 2011– A teacher in Randolph County, Ind., has been arrested for having a sexual relationship with a student, police said.
Shannon Woodson, 36, a teacher at Greater Randolph Interlocal Corp., was taken into custody on Thursday after admitting that she had sex with a 17-year-old student who attends the school, according to police.
The student and Woodson engaged in sexual activity on at least three separate occasions, according to investigators. The two also used marijuana and drank alcohol while at her apartment in Farmland, Ind., police said.
Woodson was being charged with child seduction. She faces up to three years in prison and a maximum fine of $10,000, if convicted.
Source:whiotv.com
Atlanta police tapping into private business cameras to monitor crime www.privateofficer.com
ATLANTA GA July 29 2011– Smile. If you’re in Atlanta, in public places, you’re probably on camera, and police are watching you.
It’s the same in many other Metro Atlanta cities, as well, which are relying on surveillance cameras more and more to try to prevent crime and catch criminals.
Now critics are questioning Atlanta’s decision last week to spend $2.6 million in federal grants to expand the city’s surveillance camera network to an unprecedented level.
What Atlanta is doing is entering into contracts with private businesses that have their own surveillance cameras.
As a result, the city is beginning to network thousands of private and public surveillance cameras, with live views of practically everywhere, to monitor and record live video at the city’s 911 Center.
Debbie Seagraves of ACLU Georgia does not trust the government to protect the privacy of innocent citizens. She quickly dismisses the old argument that says, “As long as I’m not doing anything wrong, I have nothing to worry about from the government watching me all the time on all those surveillance cameras.”
“I just have to say that when you give someone, some entity, the power to watch you at every moment, if they want to see something wrong, they will,” Seagraves said. “And that’s the danger… I’ll say once again, wrong is often in the eye of the beholder.”
Seagraves said cameras don’t reduce crime; criminals just move to less affluent areas where there are no cameras.
But Col. Wayne Mock of the private police force “Midtown Blue” disagrees. Mock said that Midtown Blue, along with Atlantic Station, just signed “memos of understanding” with the City of Atlanta, making them among the first private security organizations to allow Atlanta Police to tap into their dozens of live cameras 24 hours a day.
Midtown Blue has had its cameras in place throughout Midtown Atlanta since 2005. Mock said they DO reduce crime.
“There’s a substantial crime reduction in Midtown, and there will be a substantial crime reduction all over Atlanta with Chief Turner’s program taking cameras all over the City of Atlanta and putting them in the 911 Center… Cameras, what do they do? They’re actually police officers. That camera is actually a police officer sitting on the utility pole. Now we have them mounted in the street, on traffic poles. It’s actually a police officer there, it’s actually his eyes recording.”
Col. Mock believes the more cameras that there are — recording everything going on in public — the fewer places criminals will have to escape in order to commit crime out of camera range.
Here are excerpts from 11Alive’s separate interviews with Seagraves and with Mock on Wednesday.
Debbie Seagraves
Executive Director
ACLU Georgia
I’m not sure what the safeguards are in these “memos of understanding” with private businesses. Who keeps the data? What are the limits on how it can be used? How long is it kept? Who has access to it?
We, I’m afraid, have become victims of surveillance creep. Loss-of-privacy creep. It’s coming upon us a little at a time and occasionally there’s a bump in the road where people are a little upset about being X-rayed to the point of appearing nude in an airport. But we’ve become so used to the idea that government can see us anywhere at any time. I don’t know when we got comfortable with it. But, apparently, it had something to do with a time when we became afraid of terrorists. And the surveillance did increase.
What’s happening is that our ability to surveil our citizenry is quickly outstripping our ethical safeguards about what we do with that information and with that technology. There have been reported incidents in other cities of police officers using surveillance data to stalk ex-wives, girlfriends, to stalk people who have visited a gay bar, to go back and attempt blackmail. There have been all kinds of things that have happened with these kind of surveillance cameras. I’m not saying those things are going to happen in Atlanta. What I’m saying is that just because we can do something doesn’t necessarily mean we should do something.
I don’t believe that the City of Atlanta or anyone else can show us evidence that this [expanding of the surveillance camera network] is a better way to spend money than hiring another cop, and giving the cops on the beat better equipment and better access to what they need to actually do community policing. In fact there’s a lot of evidence that that is exactly the best way to spend money, to invest in your policemen on the beat, in training and in equipment.
[People always say, "If I'm not doing anything wrong, I've got nothing to worry about."]
I just have to say that when you give someone, some entity, the power to watch you at every moment, if they want to see something wrong, they will. And that’s the danger. Will you get to the place where, with these high definition cameras… that you have to be careful about what you read in public, how you dress in public, how you interact with other people? Do you want to be a person who has to look over your shoulder and think every moment about every word you say and everything you do? I’ll say once again, wrong is often in the eye of the beholder.
So now what you’re talking about is private entities gathering information [with their own surveillance cameras], and now they are using it and sharing it in concert with a governmental entity that has an enforcement power. So I’m not saying they shouldn’t do it, I’m saying we don’t have the proper safeguards in place to ensure that it isn’t misused and abused. You know, there’s no guarantee that you’re going to be safe from someone [monitoring the videos] who just decides they don’t like how you dress, they don’t like what you did, you look suspicious, you talked on the street with somebody that was under surveillance. We don’t have the proper safeguards in place, and our technology is outstripping our ethics.
There’s also no evidence that it cuts down on crime within a city… it moves it to less affluent areas. Which is why we should consider whether or not it’s a better use of our dollars to put more cops on the street in areas where people need them.
__________
Col. Wayne Mock
Public Safety Manager
Midtown Blue
Well, they’ve been a major factor in crime reduction.
We signed an MOU [memo of understanding] with Atlanta, and we’re real excited, because our cameras, our 48 cameras, and the Atlantic Station cameras that are under North American Properties… are among the first ones in [Atlanta's] 911 Center. We’re excited about that. That gives the operators and their new system the ability to monitor — to dispatch officers and monitor locations at the same time. It’s a great entity. It’s going to [result in] a major crime reduction, a major public safety factor.
I’m not sure there’s an issue [of government intrusion] there, at all. We’ve talked about Big Brother before. We video, we’re on the public right of way, we’re set totally toward your public safety as a citizen. We don’t listen, we don’t monitor, we don’t do any audio whatsoever; everything we do is video. We record, look and the dispatcher constantly looks for your safety… So it’s a win-win situation for everybody.
People know that they’re being monitored, they’re being viewed… The fact that you know that the camera’s there, and the fact that you know that Atlanta police officers out of the Midtown Blue operation are going to respond within two to three minutes of this issue, [makes everyone safer].
Some of these cameras catch as many as 16 blocks… You virtually, probably, will not get out of range. You can try to get out of range, but if you commit it, you’re going to be caught.
There’s a substantial crime reduction in Midtown, and there will be a substantial crime reduction all over Atlanta with Chief Turner’s program taking cameras all over the City of Atlanta, and putting them in the 911 Center.
You connect a volley of cameras together and you just increase your chance of gathering evidence that judges seem to love in municipal court.
Atlantic Station will be tied in… all the businesses, the buildings in Downtown, Midtown, that will be tied in, Westside Village, College Park… Buckhead tied in with cameras, you’ll have Sandy Springs tied in with cameras, you jump to Dunwoody, you jump to Lilburn, you’re jumping, you’re jumping, you’re jumping. And you just create a safer environment for everybody together in Metro Atlanta.
It still takes a good law enforcement officer to respond, and respond to it. Cameras, what do they do? They’re actually police officers. That camera is actually a police officer sitting on the utility pole… It’s actually a police officer there, it’s actually his eyes recording.
Source:11Alive
Three arrested at North Virginia mall for Grand Larceny-Assault www.privateofficer.com
Security reported that three subjects were involved in stealing items from a store at the mall.
When stopped by security officers, a female suspect assaulted a security officer.
Security officers were able to detain, Raheen Simmons, 30, and Shawntaya Eley, 25, both of Brooklyn, NY, who were charged with grand Larceny.Lanequa Bostic, 26, of Brooklyn, NY, was also charged with Grand Larceny and Assault and Battery.
All three were held without bond.
West Virginia high school closed-principal arrest in meth investigation www.privateofficer.com
Principal Keith Phipps and teacher Jack Turley of the Boone County Career and Technical Center are accused of manufacturing and purchasing material used to make methamphetamine last spring, and both were suspended, said Jeff Huffman, assistant superintendent of Boone County, West Virginia, schools.
Huffman said the methamphetamine traces were a result of the illegal stimulant, which is frequently homemade, being smoked at school, and authorities do not believe the drug was manufactured at the school.
The use of methamphetamine, which can cause brain damage and violent behavior, has ravaged many rural communities.
The drug traces were discovered through testing by the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources.
“Based on the amount of residue found, we felt it was in the best interests of employees and students to go ahead and close the facility while we continue to complete our testing and begin the required remediation process for various parts of the facility,” Huffman said.
Had the methamphetamine been made at the school, he added, “The readings from the test results would be much, much greater.”
The school, which serves as many as 450 students during the regular school year, will remain closed indefinitely.
School officials plan to meet on Thursday to design a plan for decontaminating the building and putting a contract for the work out for bidding.
Macy’s Security blows whistle on dressing rooms www.privateofficer.com
Orlando Fla July 29 2011 Shopaholics beware. The next time you try on a suit or a bathing suit at your favorite store, you may be showing off your birthday suit too.
A former loss prevention officer is blowing the whistle on a dressing room dilemma at Macy’s.
It all started with a tip from a former Macy’s loss prevention officer.
“I knew for a fact that our customers didn’t know that we could see them naked. In 20 years in loss prevention, I’ve never seen anything like this,” he told WKMG-TV in Orlando.
“This” is the fitting room door. He says Macy’s designs them slats up instead of slats down to give security a better view of customers. But it gives passersby a better view too … of you and your pants on the ground. WKMG took undercover video at three different Macy’s stores in Orlando showing men and women in different stages of undress behind the fitting room doors.
“That makes me less eager to shop at their store. It kind of makes me think they assume I’m going to steal something. It kind of cheapens the shopping experience for me just a little bit,”said confessed shopaholic Jaime Hampton of Tallahassee.
“I wouldn’t mind it, if it is in fact, if it helps keep prices low because it keeps shoplifting down. Then it isn’t any different than changing your clothes in front of a lot of other women in the gym, or in a spa, or anything else,” Tallahassee shopper Jill Mercer said.
“It makes me feel very disrespected by them,” said longtime Macy’s cardholder Marion Merzer of Tallahassee. “I think that I understand the need for security for things like shoplifting but I think there needs to be a better way to go about that, than yet another intrusion into our privacy.”
We visited the Macy’s at Governor’s Square Mall. We found that fitting rooms in lingerie and juniors had the “slats up” doors, doors you can easily see through as you walk by, but that was not the case in every fitting room in the store.
A Macy’s spokesperson did not explain if this was a recent change or why it was made. Vice President of Media Relations Melissa Goff did provide this statement:
“Retailers work hard to strike a balance between preserving the privacy of customers, providing customer service, maintaining customer safety in fitting rooms, and deterring the theft of merchandise. We at Macy’s are continually reviewing our policies and procedures to ensure we are serving the best interests of all of our customers. We strive to make customers feel safe and secure at Macy’s.”
Source:WCTV.com
Crazed woman snatches baby from mother-wanted to eat it www.privateofficer.com
LOS ANGELES CA July 29 2011 – A crazed woman randomly snatched an infant from a stroller, slammed the baby into a pole and later said she was trying to break the baby’s arm off “so she could eat it,” Los Angeles cops said Wednesday.
Prosecutors have charged Natasha Hubbard, 36, with aggravated assault and released her photo believing she may have other victims from her wild rampage in downtown Los Angeles last Thursday.
The terrifying incident with the 4-month-old boy took place in a crowded shopping district packed with families, police said.
Detectives said mom Adriana Miranda, 29, was pushing her infant son Alexander in his stroller when Hubbard unbelted the child and grabbed him by the leg.
Witnesses said Hubbard then swung the baby over her head and slammed him into a metal rail of a nearby truck as the mom and the baby’s aunt watched in horror, police said.
The mother and aunt fought off the woman, with the suspect clawing at Miranda as she clutched the baby boy in her arms, police said.
Arriving officers were able to locate Hubbard with the help of witnesses who pointed her out.
She’s now in jail with bail set at $55,000.
Hubbard told detectives that she tried to break off the baby’s arm so she could eat it, police said.
The tiny victim received bruises and scratches as a result of the attack.
AWOL US Army soldier arrested for planning massive attacks on base www.privateofficer.com
Fort Hood TX July 29 2011 A U.S. serviceman is in custody after he allegedly admitted he was planning an attack on his fellow servicemen at the U.S. Army base at Fort Hood, Texas, the same base where 13 people were killed in a 2009 terror attack.
U.S. officials told ABC News an AWOL soldier, identified by the FBI as a Private First Class Naser Jason Abdo, was arrested Wednesday after making a purchase at Guns Galore in Killeen, Texas, the same ammunition store where Maj. Nidal Hasan purchased the weapons he allegedly used to gun down 13 people and wound 32 others on Nov. 5, 2009. According to one senior official, Abdo has also mentioned the name of high profile al Qaeda cleric Anwar al-Awlaki — the same man investigators said inspired the previous Fort Hood attack along with other potentially deadly terror plots in the U.S. — though no direct link between Abdo and Awlaki has been found.
Abdo, 21, allegedly told law enforcement he wanted to “get even” and was targeting Ft. Hood because of the previous attack there, according to law enforcement documents obtained by ABC News. The documents say he did not plan to attack the base itself, but instead planned to plant two bombs at a nearby restaurant popular with Ft. Hood personnel.
He hoped to detonate both at the target location before using a pistol to shoot survivors, according to the documents. Abdo had gone AWOL over the July 4 weekend from Fort Campbell’s 101st Airborne Division in Kentucky over 800 miles away.
Abdo, 21, was arrested Wednesday and agents found firearms and “items that could be identified as bomb-making components, including gunpowder,” in his motel room, according to FBI spokesman Erik Vasys.
When he was arrested, Abdo was in possession of large quantities of ammunition, weapons and what appeared to be the makings of a bomb, according to early accounts from law enforcement. He had also apparently purchased an Army uniform with Fort Hood patches from a local surplus store.
Abdo, reportedly of Palestinian descent, was raised by his Muslim father and non-denominational Christian mother in Texas. In 2010 he told ABC News he was Muslim and should not have to participate in what he called an “unjust war” in the Middle East.
“Any Muslim who knows his religion or maybe takes into account what his religion says can find out very clearly why he should not participate in the U.S. military,” Abdo said then.
Abdo said in 2010 he originally joined the military because he believed he would be fighting a “just” war that would help protect the freedoms of Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan. Months later, however, Abdo said he realized he “wasn’t supposed to be here.”
Abdo filed for conscientious objector status, which was approved by the Secretary of the Army, but his discharge was put on hold after Abdo was charged with having child pornography on his computer, an Army spokesperson told ABC News. Law enforcement sources said investigators began looking at Abdo’s computer files due to “radical statements” he made after filing for discharge and only discovered the pornography then.
On a Facebook page apparently maintained by Abdo, he writes in the most recent post on June 22 that it was two days after the Secretary approved his discharge that he was charged with having 34 images of child pornography on the computer.
“As god says, ‘The end is ultimately with the believers’ Quran,” the post says.
Local police were initially alerted to Abdo by the owners of Guns Galore who reported him as “suspicious.”
A clerk at the store, who identified himself to ABC News as Mr. Ebert, said Abdo came to the store Wednesday afternoon looking for gunpowder and “reloading options.”
Ebert called the police after he said he felt “concerned with the quantity of his request and his general demeanor.”
“There was clearly something wrong with him,” Ebert said.
According to the documents, military officials believe the incident “was likely isolated to the Fort Hood area and the suspect in custody, and that arrest of the suspect has mitigated any further threats related to this incident.”
Abdo’s former lawyer, James M. Branum, declined to comment for this report except to say he hasn’t spoken with his client “in a long time.” Abdo now faces federal charges in connection with the alleged plot.
Source:ABC NEWS
Brothers brutally attack American Airlines pilot for throwing them off plane www.privateofficer.com
Miami Fla July 29 2011 A pair of thuggish brothers brutally attacked an American Airlines pilot after he kicked one of them off a plane for being passed out drunk, officials said.
Jonathan and Luis Baez, both of Las Piedras, Puerto Rico, were arrested at Miami International Airport on Wednesday night for the assault, which left the pilot bruised and bloodied and delayed the San Francisco-bound flight more than two hours.
The scuffle started after a flight attendant noticed that Jonathan Baez, 27, had passed out without buckling his seat belt as the plane pulled away from the gate.
The attendant tried to wake Baez, but he was groggy and appeared plastered on booze or high on drugs, cops said.
After the attendant told the crew that Baez wouldn’t buckle up, the pilot stopped taxiing and turned around, cops said.
When Baez finally came to, the attendant told him he had to get off the plane.
“He was apparently barely compliant at that point,” American Airlines spokesman Tim Smith said. “He was exhibiting symptoms of intoxication. He was not walking well when he went up the aisle.”
Luis Baez, 29, decided to follow his brother, and the two screamed obscenities at the pilot.
“When you fly to San Juan, I will have you killed,” one of the goons shouted, according to police.
Crew members escorted the brothers off the plane, but Jonathan ran back, punched the pilot in the face and then punched a female flight attendant who tried to step in, cops said.
Luis then joined in the vicious beatdown, and the two hoodlums chased the pilot into the terminal, cops said.
Eventually, some passengers and crew members tackled the brothers and held them down until police arrived.
“There was a scuffle … so about three or four of us went out there and tackled the guys,” passenger Ken Venting told KGO television. “So we just did what we needed to do to help out.”
The Miami-based pilot was cut up, bruised and shaken after the attack, police said.
Another pilot showed up, and the 176 passengers and six crew members took off for San Francisco at around 11:30 p.m., two hours after the scheduled take off.
Jonathan and Luis Baez were held at Miami-Dade County jail on $9,000 bond and $12,500 bond on assault and battery charges.
“I think it’s fair to say that both these gentlemen won’t be flying with us again,” Smith said.
Source:nydaily.com
Former LAX police officer gets $1million in discrimination lawsuit www.privateofficer.com
After a weeklong trial in Superior Court in Los Angeles, the jury Wednesday awarded Kathleen Green $925,209 for the gender discrimination she suffered that made her unable to be promoted to captain.
But Green’s claims of retaliation and harassment were denied.
“I didn’t want to file this lawsuit, but I had to stand up for myself and other women at the LAX police Department,” Green said in a statement. “I now hope females in law enforcement agencies will be given the same opportunities as their male counterparts.”
Green, who worked for the LAX Police Department since 1980 and held a lieutenant’s rank for 10 years, alleged that being female prevented her timely promotion to a captain’s position.
She retired last year because, according to her lawyers, “she could no longer take the discrimination at work.”
Joseph Y. Avrahamy, lead trial attorney in the case, said in a statement that he was “very satisfied” with the jury’s verdict and happy the jury “recognized the mistreatment” Green endured at the hands of management of the LAX Police Dept.”
Green’s attorney, Yael Trock, said her client was discriminated against because “she is a petite woman who did not fit the mold of a captain in a law enforcement organization.”
But, she added, “she should have been promoted to the captain’s position several years ago based upon her qualifications.”
Source:L.A. Now
Kansas State Trooper commits suicide www.privateofficer.com
The body of Technical Trooper Ronald Knoefel, 48, was found Sunday near Abbyville in Reno County. Reno County investigators have determined Knoefel took his own life.
Memorials can be sent to:
Ronald Knoefel Children’s Education Fund
c/o Garnand Funeral Home
412 N. Seventh St.
Garden City, KS 67846.
Knoefel had worked for the Kansas Highway Patrol primarily as a technical trooper/public resource officer in Garden City.
He served as the law enforcement spokesperson at the scene of the May, 2007 Greensburg, Kansas tornado.
Funeral will begin at 10 a.m. Thursday at First Southern Baptist Church in Garden City. Graveside service will begin at 5 p.m. Thursday at Abbyville Cemetery
Police investigate dead newborn in motel toilet www.privateofficer.com
Clarksville IN July 28 2011 Police are investigating the death of a newborn found Friday with his twin sister in the toilet of a Clarksville motel room.
Officers found the baby girl Friday afternoon on top of the boy in the bathroom of a room at America’s Best Inn and Suites, said Clarksville Police Chief Dwight Ingle. The girl began crying when she was taken from the toilet, but police were unable to revive the boy, who was pronounced dead at Clark Memorial Hospital, he said.
The baby girl was listed Tuesday in good condition at Kosair Children’s Hospital, in the custody of Child Protective Services, Ingle said.
Neither the twin’s mother, Betsy L. Dalton, 36, nor her boyfriend, Jerry Conrad, 52, who called police to the motel room, have been charged in the case, Ingle said.
According to Clarksville police, the couple told officers they didn’t know Dalton was pregnant.
“It’s a sad situation,” Ingle said in an interview Tuesday, describing the couple as “mentally challenged” and saying he doesn’t believe any “malicious intent” was involved.
Clark County Chief Deputy Prosecutor Jeremy Mull said he will decide whether to file charges once he gets the investigative report from Clarksville police.
Neither Dalton nor Conrad could be reached for comment. Dalton was is in the Floyd County Jail on unrelated charges. Conrad did not respond to a card left at his motel room and did not answer a call to the room.
The babies were found about 3:40 p.m. Friday after Clarksville police were dispatched to America’s Best Inn and Suites, off Eastern Boulevard, Ingle said.
Ingle said he listened to a recording of the couple’s 911 call, and Dalton spoke first and asked the dispatchers to send help. He said Conrad then got on the phone and asked, “ ‘How do you get babies out of a commode?’ ”
Before the dispatcher could respond, officers who were nearby on an unrelated matter arrived at Room 174 and took the babies from the toilet, Ingle said.
He said Clarksville officers asked Dalton and Conrad several times what was wrong before they were directed to the bathroom.
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Clarksville Police Detective Ray Hall, who was interviewed Tuesday with Ingle, said that Dalton and Conrad told officers several times that they did not know Dalton was pregnant.
Ingle said Dalton told investigators that she felt like she had to go to the bathroom, and when she did so she felt what she thought were cramps and then delivered the babies.
Dalton was treated at Clark Memorial Hospital Friday and released to the custody of the Floyd County Jail for parole violations, including failure to report to her parole officer and failure to report a change of address.
She was on probation for a guilty plea made last year in a 2007 theft.
Former Kentucky Medical Examiner George Nichols said the incident is all too familiar.
Nichols estimated that he had one such case a year during his 20 years as Kentucky medical examiner.
He also testified in the 2009 murder trial of Bellarmine University student Kathryn McCoy, who delivered a baby in her dorm bathroom. The baby died and was found in a trash bag in a trash room.
The jury found McCoy guilty of tampering with evidence but not guilty of murder, manslaughter or reckless homicide.
Women don’t realize they are pregnant more often than most people realize, Nichols said. Those women — who may be in denial or simply may not be familiar with labor pains — often deliver their babies on the toilet, he said.
When that happens, the baby can drown in a little as a minute or die almost as quickly from exposure, Nichols said.
Clark County Coroner Edwin Coots said the autopsy was conducted Saturday by the Kentucky medical examiner, but the cause of the newborn’s death hasn’t been determined.
In such cases, Coots said, it can be difficult to make a determination because newborns are so small and fragile, and the required laboratory analysis may not be completed for up to six weeks.
Barbara Anderson, director of the Haven House Homeless Shelter in Jeffersonville, said Betsy Dalton was at the shelter for about three weeks in 2007 and was in and out of the shelter for several months after that, until shelter managers had to tell her not return because of behavioral problems.
“She would get angry and cuss people out” for little reason and often made decisions or acted erratically, Anderson said.
“There are people who need to be watched over, and she was one,” Anderson said, explaining that her shelter isn’t able to provide such care on a long-term basis.
Debbie Flores, a New Albany resident who was interviewed in the parking lot of America’s Best Inn and Suites Tuesday morning, said she came to the motel to express her support for Conrad, whom she’s known for a decade.
She also knows Dalton, Flores said.
Flores said she thinks the couple didn’t realize Dalton was pregnant and, when the babies came, “didn’t know what to do.”
Source:courier-journal.com
Bulloch County Ga teacher charged with rape www.privateofficer.com
BULLOCH COUNTY, GA July 28 2011 A Bulloch County teacher is under arrest for allegedly having sex with a former student.
The Sheriff’s Office arrested Amy Bass Jackson, 35, after the parents of the 14 year old boy came forward alleging that Jackson had slept with their son.
Bulloch County School officials say that Jackson taught 8th grade Language Arts at William James Middle School.
She has since resigned.
In a statement released this afternoon, Superintendent Dr. Lewis Holloway said, “We regret the impact this isolated incident will have on the affected parties and will continue to support them in their efforts to heal. Counselors will be available to students if needed. The School District will continue its efforts to educate every student with rigor, relevance and responsibility.”
Furthermore, Dr. Holloway said that the encounters happened off-campus.
Jackson is charged with one count of Aggravated Child Molestation, three counts of Child Molestation, one count of Statutory Rape, one count of Enticing a Child for Indecent Purposes, one count of Sexual Assault by Persons with Supervisory or Disciplinary Authority, two counts of Computer or Electronic Child Exploitation, one count of Sexual Exploitation of Children and six counts of Furnishing Harmful Material to Minors.
She is currently being held at the Bulloch County Jail without bond.
Source:WSAV.com
Mount Rainier police officer indicted for attempted murder www.privateofficer.com
A 12-count indictment alleges that Gene Gillette, 27, shot a man in the 700 block of Glacier Avenue after assaulting him, touching his genitals and trying to sexually assault him, officials said in a statement.
Two law enforcement sources said that the altercation happened over an attempted sexual encounter in Gillette’s house and that the officer shot the victim as he tried to flee in Gillette’s car. The sources said Gillette lured the victim to the home with a promise of making a pornographic movie with women, but no women were at the house.
Gillette turned himself in to Prince George’s police Tuesday night. Gillette was placed on suspension without pay, and his police powers were revoked, Mount Rainier Police Chief Michael Scott said.
Gillette won top honors from the department. He was named Rookie of the Year in 2008 and Officer of the Year in 2009 and 2010, according to reports by Scott. Gillette also led the department in making criminal arrests and issuing traffic citations in 2010.
The condition of the shooting victim was not immediately clear.
Source:Washington Post
Former Tuscaloosa County, Alabama, Sheriff’s Sergeant Charged with Civil Rights Violations
Mallisham is charged with violating the constitutional rights of three jail detainees by using a stun gun to illegally punish the detainees during separate incidents over a four month period in 2008. The indictment alleges that each of the three detainees suffered bodily injury as a result of Mallisham’s use of the stun gun against them.
Mallisham faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 on each count.
This case, which is ongoing, is being investigated by the Tuscaloosa resident agency of the FBI’s Birmingham Field Office, and is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney D.W. Tunnage of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, along with Assistant U.S. Attorney Tamarra Matthews Johnson for the Northern District of Alabama.
Handcuffed suspect jumps into Oregon river www.privateofficer.com
EUGENE, Ore. July 28 2011- A suspect in handcuffs jumped into the Willamette River as Eugene police arrived to take him into custody from University of Oregon campus safety officers.
The incident happened just before 5 p.m.
Eugene police said officers were picking up the suspect from campus safety when the man ran away and jumped in the river.
Police went after him with the help of firefighters.
He was captured near the Frohnmayer (formerly Autzen) footbridge about 20 minutes later after floating on his back.
Police said the suspect has municipal court warrants for failure to appear in court.
Source:kval.com
Police capture Fort Myers CVS robbery suspect www.privateofficer.com
NORTH FORT MYERS, FL July 28 2011 – UPDATE: Fort Myers police have arrested John Drew in connection with the robbery of a CVS pharmacy in North Fort Myers. Drew faces robbery charges.
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UPDATE: The CVS robbery suspect has been identified as 35-year-old John Drew, according to Lee County deputies. They say that he is in custody and that their investigation is ongoing at this time.
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A man walked into a North Fort Myers CVS Thursday just after noon and stole medication from the pharmacy, according to the Lee County Sheriff’s Office.
Deputies say the suspect, a man in his 30s, walked in the door, went to the pharmacy counter and handed the pharmacist a note demanding medication.
The man waited as she read the note, then the pharmacist gave him the drugs he asked for.
When she handed him the medicine, he took off.
The man was between 5’7″ and 5’9″ tall, with brown hair, wearing a turquoise Miami Dolphins ball cap, a red shirt and blue jean shorts.
If you have any information, contact the Lee County Sheriff’s Office or Crime Stoppers at 800-780-TIPS.
Source2Firstnews
Felons charged in shoplifting incident at Idaho Wal-Mart www.privateofficer.com
Authorities arrested Donavan McComas and Katrina Scanga Tuesday after they tried to steal several expensive items from the department store.
Investigators said they tried to shoplift more than $1,300 worth of electronics and personal items. McComas planned to walk out of the store with a cart, while Scanga stood watch outside. Police said the two used walkie talkies to communicate but employees noticed the suspicious behavior.
“Apparently she was on the radio telling him this is not a good time and you probably need to leave. That is when he left the cart,” said Post Falls Police Department Sgt. Gary James.
Both suspects were released from prison last year in Colorado. Authorities said McComas was already wanted to violating parole.
Both will likely be extradited back to Colorado for sentencing.
