Archive
Chattanooga considers stiffer requirements for bar/nightclub security www.privateofficer.com
Chattanooga TN Sept 1 2011 In light of recent downtown violence, the Chattanooga city council is talking about how to improve safety at bars and clubs. They’re weighing options like requiring businesses to have trained security guards.
Summer nights in downtown Chattanooga haven’t been quiet recently. Last week’s fight outside “807″ Fire and Ice is the most recent downtown disturbance. Big Chill Owner Scottie Bowman says it’s been like this all summer.
“What I’ve noticed is people hanging out on the hoods of cars, drinking out of brown bags, if you say anything about asking anybody to vacate the front of your premises, you get a lot of mouth in return so it’s been kind of hard. It’s been stressful,” Bowman said.
Now the city council is researching how to tighten security at downtown clubs and bars. A private security guard addressed the council Tuesday night and asked them to reevaluate requirements for security at nightclubs.
“If we handle this situation like we should, the police won’t get called out to a lot of calls that are unnecessary calls they shouldn’t be called on,” Antonio Boston said.
Councilman Andrae McGary says they’re looking at requiring bars to get paid, trained security and not just hiring bouncers, believing it could help diffuse potentially dangerous situations by having professionals on the scene.
McGary is researching the idea of “entertainment districts” that would have bars in certain areas pay into a fund that gets them extra security.
“Compared to other communities, our standard is actually really low as what we’re asking bar owners and other nightclub individuals to do, and that might be one of the reasons we’re seeing some of the problems we’re seeing,” McGary said.
Whatever the city decides, Bowman says she’s open to it as long as it doesn’t cost too much because downtown trouble has already hurt business.
“Fourteen years ago when I got here, I was the only one on the block. We had no street lights. That’s how vacated downtown was, and I fear we’re headed back there. That nobody is going to want to come here,” said Bowman.
Source:newschannel 9
Dayton school teachers no longer allowed to “friend” students on Facebook www.privateofficer.com
Teachers aren’t permitted to instant message or text their students either, or “respond to student-initiated attempts at conversation through nondistrict approved media, whether personal or professional accounts.”
Many area districts, including Kettering and Northmont, have Internet safety policies, but nothing specific to online relationships between teachers and students on Facebook.
DPS spokeswoman Jill Moberley said the policy sets parameters for use on social networks.
Dayton Public took direction from the Ohio School Boards Association, which is seeing more interest from school districts on the issue.
Kettering City Schools launched a district Facebook page this summer. Spokeswoman Kari Basson said “we do not have anything specific to Facebook and ‘friending,’ but that may be something that will evolve.”
Other districts such as Beaver creek, Hamilton, Lakota and Middletown prohibit staff members from accessing social network sites during school hours and on district equipment.
Hollie Reedy, chief legal counsel for the OSBA, said school districts cannot ignore the use of social media as a tool of communication, but “as with any medium of communication, it can be misused.”
In Missouri, lawmakers banned teachers from having private conversations with students over Internet sites after 87 Missouri teachers had lost their licenses between 2001 and 2005 because of sexual misconduct, some of which involved exchanging explicit online messages with students.
Missouri’s governor wants lawmakers to repeal the controversial law after a judge, concerned about the impact on free speech rights, issued a preliminary injunction blocking it from taking effect.
Many teachers there are protesting the new restrictions, complaining the law will hurt their ability to keep in touch with students.
But here in Dayton, the teachers’ union president welcomes the district’s updated social media policy.
“I think in this age of all this media out there, that’s probably a safe thing for our teachers,” said David Romick, president of the Dayton Education Association. “We hear stories all the time about kids who, for various reasons, (retaliate) against teachers on social media.”
OSBA’s updated sample policy has four sections that districts can choose to adopt or customize, but nothing is mandatory. Suggested language includes:
• District staff who have a presence on social networking websites are prohibited from posting data, documents, photographs or inappropriate information on any website that might result in a disruption of classroom activity. The superintendent/desginee has full discretion in determining when a disruption of classroom activity has occurred.
• District staff is prohibited from providing personal social networking website passwords to students.
• Fraternization between district staff and students via the Internet, personal email accounts, personal social networking websites and other modes of virtual technology is also prohibited.
• Access of personal social networking websites during school hours is prohibited.
The policy further states that violation of the listed prohibitions will result in staff and/or student discipline and that nothing in the policy prohibits district staff and students from using education websites and/or social networking websites created for curricular, cocurricular or extracurricular purposes.
Reedy said OSBA offers options in its policy to allow access through district-sponsored or district-created websites.
For instance, a coach may use it to announce that practice has been canceled.
“Sometimes that’s a one-way communication where the teacher is saying ‘Hey, do chapter 4 for tomorrow.’ It can be two-way, but what it’s doing is separating personal” from business, she said. “It protects the district, it protects the teacher and it protects the students.”
Beavercreek City Schools Superintendent Nick Verhoff said the district’s updated policy includes defining social media as Internet-based applications such as Facebook and Twitter that turn communication into interactive dialogue between users.
“The board authorizes the instructional staff to access social media from the district’s network, provided such access has an educational purpose for which the staff members has received the prior approval from the principal.
“However, personal access and use of social media, blogs, or chat rooms from the district’s network is expressly prohibited and shall subject students and staff members to discipline in accordance with board policy,” Verhoff said.
Patrick Gallaway, spokesman for the Ohio Department of Education, said there is a professional behavior code that teachers are to adhere to, and part of the code states “using technology to intentionally host or post improper or inappropriate material that could reasonably be accessed by the school community.”
“While it doesn’t express that you can’t do this or say this,” Gallaway said, “people should use common sense. … You’re not friends in the classroom. You’re instructors. Your one purpose as an educator is to provide quality instruction for students.”
Source:Dayton Daily News
Louisville teacher faces more sex crime charges www.privateofficer.com
The judge also set a trial date of Feb. 28 for the new charge and a previous charge of harassment with physical contact.
Armstrong overruled a motion by defense attorney Robert Florio to dismiss charges against Donald K. Switzer.
The criminal complaint in June stated that Switzer “unlawfully kept the victim, a minor child, after class and asked him to remain seated at which point the defendant groped the victim’s chest/nipple area, causing the victim to feel apprehension and discomfort.” When the victim asked Switzer to stop “because he was sore,” the complaint said, “the defendant responded that the victim should not say he was sore because it makes him appear weak.”
In court, Florio argued that the touching was simply a pat on the shoulder to urge the student on to his next class.
“My client touched the alleged victim on the chest and said, ‘You better get to class,’” Florio said in court, adding that the contact lacked the “malice aforethought” and was not illegal. “If I pat you on the back in the hallway, I don’t think that that would be a crime.”
Florio also argued that Switzer kept the student in the classroom for two minutes after class ended to discuss why the student had fallen behind in class — and that this was permitted by Trinity’s student handbook. Further, Florio said Switzer’s comment about the student’s soreness was simply “good advice” to avoid taunting from other students.
After the hearing, Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney David Scott said he had asked Armstrong to add the sexual abuse charge after new evidence was uncovered through investigation after the June charges, which he declined to discuss.
Court records from the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office stated that a former Trinity student alleged that Switzer had committed similar touching in the mid-1990s. On Monday, Florio said Switzer denied the allegations from the 1990s.
In court Scott said, “Either the defendant touched him to gauge how the victim would react to this type of touching or he did it for some sort of personal satisfaction.”
While the judge allowed the additional charge and overruled the defense motion for dismissal, Armstrong added “that doesn’t mean we don’t have good issues here.”
Armstrong said the “commonwealth is assuming that people only touch people for two purposes.”
Switzer did not attend the Tuesday hearing. He’d taught at Trinity since 1972, the school’s website said, and was co-chair of the foreign-languages department. He has been on leave from Trinity since February, Trinity President Rob Mullen said.
Regarding the 1990s allegations, Mullen said, “The school has no information on any claim against Mr. Switzer from that time — from before that time, at that time and after that time until this concern was raised by the student in February.”
Source:Louisville Courier Journal
Louisville Metro Police sue after being sickened by toxic mold www.privateofficer.com
The lawsuit, filed Monday in Jefferson Circuit Court against the public works department and the housing authority, claims there could be more than 1,000 potential plaintiffs who suffered over two decades because of gross negligence, fraudulent concealment and “repeated failure to maintain” the building at 768 Barret Ave.
The suit requests that a judge issue injunctions requiring the housing authority and public works to bring the building up to compliance and follow previous orders by the Metro Occupational Safety and Health Administration; create a fund devoted to medical monitoring of the plaintiffs; and create a court-supervised program to provide treatment for the former and current employees.
The lawsuit, which also names housing authority Executive Director Tim Barry and public works Director Ted Pullen, claims the agencies failed to warn workers of the dangers associated with prolonged exposure to toxic airborne mold, failed to remove the mold and repeatedly assured workers the dangers had been abated.
“The housing authority did precisely the opposite of what they are supposed to do,” said George Cochran, an attorney for the employees. “Instead of resolving a problem, they said there was nothing to worry about.”
Claims made in filing a lawsuit present only one side of the case.
Chris Poynter, a spokesman for Mayor Greg Fischer, said the city does not comment on pending litigation.
Barry said he had not yet seen the lawsuit and couldn’t comment on the specific allegations.
However, he said police employees vacated the building about a year ago so workers could repair cooling units, replace carpeting and deal with mold issues.
“It was just time for an upgrade,” said Barry, adding that about 45 employees for the housing authority also work in the building but were not removed. “We have been making improvements.”
Last year, after a number of employees reported worsening symptoms, OSHA tested for evidence of toxic mold and found that HVAC systems were poorly maintained and ordered that the facilities be cleaned, according to the suit.
Last August employees were relocated and have not yet returned, the suit claims.
Most of the employees are due to come back by the end of September, but the lawsuit seeks a judicial determination certifying that it is a safe working environment.
Deputy Police Chief Vince Robison said dozens of police employees, mostly involving administrative functions, were moved from the building during the renovation, but most are supposed to move back once the work is completed.
Messages for several of the plaintiffs left at home numbers and through the police department were not returned.
According to the lawsuit, in the years after the housing authority leased the building in 1993, employees showed physical symptoms of illness, including drowsiness, itchy eyes, skin irritation, headache, congestion and respiratory ailments.
Cochran said attorneys are also looking into the death of a potential plaintiff.
After the city-county merger in 2003, more employees moved into the building and voiced concerns about the air quality; and an on-site inspection and testing by Metro OSHA and a private consultant confirmed toxic levels of airborne mold.
But the housing authority did not implement recommendations or replace any of the heating, ventilation and air conditioning units — or report the findings of the inspections to the employees, according to the suit.
The suit is seeking compensatory and punitive damages, a jury trial
Source:louisville courier journal
Armed robber was on probation for murder of father www.privateofficer.com
LAS CRUCES NM SEPT 1 2011 – A man on probation for killing his father has been arrested after police say he participated in the armed robbery of a mall department store Monday evening.
Richard Alexander Serna, 26, hit his father, 43-year-old Richard S. Astorga, twice in the head with a baseball bat in 2006 at the family’s Moongate-area mobile home after a family argument.
In Monday’s incident, Dolores T. Ontiveros, 35, was reportedly seen hiding two pair of jeans in her purse and trying to leave without paying for the merchandise from the Dillard’s in Mesilla Valley Mall.
A loss-prevention officer attempted to stop Ontiveros but she kept walking out the store, prompting the officer to grab her purse to stop her, sparking a struggle. Serna then approached and allegedly assaulted the officer.
When another Dillard’s employee and a mall security guard confronted the couple, Serna allegedly indicated that he was carrying a firearm and would use it to escape. The employees allowed Ontiveros and Serna to leave the store but followed them across two busy streets to the Target store located off Lohman Avenue, where Las Cruces Police Department officers found and detained them.
Detectives learned that Serna was carrying a box cutter in his pocket.
Ontiveros, who had an outstanding warrant, is being held at the Do-a Ana County Detention Center with bond set at $6,000. Serna is being held on a $5,000 bond.
Serna pleaded guilty in December 2006 to a charge of aggravated battery against a household member with a deadly weapon and served one year in the Do-a Ana County Detention Center before the homicide determination was made and he was charged with second-
degree murder. He ultimately remained at the jail for 3 1/2 years before State District Judge Lisa Schultz made her final sentence, giving Serna a six-year sentence, with the remainder of the time suspended.
The 2006 altercation started several hours into a 30-pack of beer, when Astorga allegedly started berating his wife, according to court documents. When Serna arrived, his mother was crying and his father “got into his face,” according to police reports. After a scuffle, Serna grabbed a baseball bat next to the television and he struck his father twice on the side of his head, spattering the walls and floor with blood, according to police reports.
Astorga was unresponsive and bleeding from above his left temple and was airlifted to University Medical Center in El Paso with severe brain damage. Astorga deteriorated before he died in 2009 at a local nursing home – a death the state Office of the Medical Investigator ruled a homicide caused by complications from the blunt-force trauma three years prior.
Gaston County students mourn loss of teacher killed in crash www.privateofficer.com
Charlotte NC Sept 1 2011 A student in Christina Whelan’s second-grade class lost two teeth last week, on the night before school started for the year.
Last Thursday, Whelan took a photo of the boy in her classroom and broke out laughing at the child’s semi-toothless grin.
Parents, students and friends say they’ll remember that sense of humor, warmth and professionalism as they grieve the death of Whelan, 27, a Charlotte woman who was killed Tuesday morning in a car crash on Interstate 85 in Gaston County.
Whelan was in her first year of teaching at Carr Elementary School in Dallas, after five years at Brookside Elementary in Gaston County.
Gaston County Schools officials have counselors at the schools today, helping students and staff deal with the death.
“A gentle spirit, dedicated professional, and she did a wonderful job,” Ree Threlkeld of Gastonia wrote in an online tribute to Whelan.
It is the second time in a little more than a year that the Carr Elementary community has dealt with death. In July 2010, a student at the school, Austen Minter II, 6, was shot to death by his father, Austen Minter, who also killed the youth’s mother and a sister. Minter then turned the gun on himself. Another daughter, 7-year-old Destiny, also a Carr student, survived.
The N.C. Highway Patrol says Whelan was southbound on I-85, headed to work Tuesday, when she lost control of her car. It slammed into the cement median, then went off the right side of the road and crashed into a grove of trees. Whelan was airlifted to Carolinas Medical Center but died a short time later.
Troopers say it is possible something went wrong mechanically with Whelan’s car, a Toyota Scion.
WSOC-TV is reporting that there was an explosion in the car before it crashed, but a spokeswoman for the Highway Patrol office in Gastonia said Wednesday morning that a report has not been filed, and that a determination of the cause has not been made.
Whelan, who was two days short of her 28th birthday, was engaged. She grew up in Ellwood City, Pa., in the western part of the state, where many of her family members live. She graduated in 2006 from Slippery Rock (Pa.) University and moved to North Carolina to pursue a teaching career.
In the online tributes, one woman from Seattle wrote, “You had an impact on my daughter’s life several years ago. We still have fond memories of our school years in Gastonia.”
And this, from a girl named Brynna in Gastonia, “You are my favorite teacher. You forever will be.”
Source:www.charlotteobserver.com
Park rangers injured, 15 arrested in Muslim melee www.privateofficer.com
Westchester County police and other departments respond to an altercation at Rye Playland on Tuesday.
The park was crowded with Muslims celebrating Eid-ul-Fitr, one of Islam’s two major holidays.
Police from at least nine agencies converged on the park after county police sought assistance in responding to the disturbance, which involved 30 to 40 people.
Another 13 people were arrested, most charged with disorderly conduct. All those charged were released by Tuesday night.
“It’s unfortunate because everybody just wants to be home with their families today,” said Zead Ramadan of the Council on American Islamic Relations.
Parks officials “painstakingly” told the organizer about the headgear ban, said Tartaglia. But he said that the rules might not have been communicated by the organizer to some attendees.
Three accidents on Playland rides that killed two children and a park worker between 2004 and 2007 were unrelated to clothing the victims were wearing. But the headgear ban was among safety rules that went into effect after those deaths.
“It’s a safety issue on rides. If it’s a scarf, you could choke,” Tartaglia said.
Accounts of what happened varied, but everyone agreed the dispute began after parkgoers were told the headgear ban applied to women wearing traditional Muslim head coverings, known as hijabs.
Tartaglia said once word of that got out there were “a lot of unhappy people.”
Tartaglia said park officials were in the process of arranging refunds when members of the Muslim group got into a scuffle with each other.
Ramadan said he could see both sides.
“The people feel like victims, and the police feel like they were just doing their jobs,” Ramadan said. “Personally I think things got a little out of control on both sides.”
Lola Ali, 16, of Astoria said she witnessed a group of girls and women wearing hijabs go to park security to confront them about the headgear issue.
She said the women were upset and yelling. She said the security officers started pushing them away and the girls stood their ground, at which point the security officers grabbed them, pushed them to the ground and handcuffed them.
Men within the park saw this and tried to intervene, Ali said, and the situation went downhill from there.
“They were beating down the girls, then they started beating down the guys,” she said of the security officers.
Earlier, a park cashier told a Journal News reporter that a woman wearing a hijab either pushed or hit a ride operator who forbade her from going on the ride. She said a police officer tried to restrain the woman and the woman’s husband took offense, at which point a multiple-person fight broke out.
Brooklyn resident Amr Khater, who had come to the park about noon with his family, said his family was told about the hijab rule by park employees when they arrived.
“Everybody got mad, everybody got upset,” he said. “It’s our holiday. Why would you do this to us?”
Eid-ul-Fitr marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan. It is a three-day period during which Muslims give to charity and celebrate their completion of Ramadan’s requirements with family and their community.
NY man pleads guilty to killing security officer www.privateofficer.com
KINGSTON NY Sept 1 2011 — A Rockland County man who fatally stabbed a security guard at a drug rehabilitation center in Wawarsing admitted the crime today in Ulster County Court, District Attorney Holley Carnright said.
Richard Giga, 23, formerly of New City, entered a guilty plea to second-degree murder in proceedings before Ulster County Court Judge Donald Williams.
Giga admitted he stabbed the guard, Leland Wood, several times with a knife on Oct. 5, 2010 as he fled from the Renaissance Project drug treatment facility, Carnright said.
Giga had been ordered to attend the drug treatment program following a 2009 grand larceny conviction.
Giga also acknowledged he injured a nurse, Keri Reynolds, by stabbing her as he left the facility.
In exchange for his guilty plea, Giga faces a maximum sentence of 25 years to life in state prison, Carnright said. He remains jailed pending his sentencing, scheduled for Nov. 21.
NC man arrested for assaulting security officer www.privateofficer.com
Allen David Sinclair Jr., 23, of the 900 block of Louisiana Avenue in Bessemer City, pushed the guard in the chest, grabbed his badge and “generally attempt(ed) to grab various body parts” after being told to leave the premises, according to magistrate’s orders.
Officer K.A. Wajda of the Kings Mountain Police Department arrested Sinclair on charges of simple assault and second-degree trespass. Sinclair is scheduled to appear in Cleveland County District Court on Nov. 2.
Kanawha County teacher charged with sexual abuse www.privateofficer.com
CHARLESTON, W.Va.Sept 1 2011 — A teacher from Kanawha County was arrested Tuesday, charged with Sexual Abuse by a Guardian and Child Pornography.
According to a criminal complaint filed in Kanawha County Magistrate Court, 61-year old Maurice White was having an ongoing “romantic” relationship with a 14-year old student.
W.Va. State Police say White is currently a substitute teacher at Valley High School in Fayette County, where the alleged victim goes to school. They also also say he was her former teacher at Gauley Elementary in Fayette County.
According to the complaint, White took the victim to his home in Rand on August 27 and then had inappropriate sexual contact with the teen.
The complaint also says that when White was arrested, Troopers found “numerous” photos of underage children depicted in “sexually explicit” positions.
State Police say when they interviewed White, he confessed to inappropriate conduct with the teen in both Kanawha and Fayette Counties this year.
Both charges against White are felonies. He is in South Central Regional Jail
Armed man at Tempe mall subdued by police www.privateofficer.com
Tempe police said Tuesday that Roger Nelson faces charges of attempted homicide of an officer and armed robbery stemming from a series of incidents at the Arizona Mills Mall on Monday night. Nelson not yet have a lawyer.
Police spokeswoman Molly Enright says police got a report that a man was going the wrong way on a one-way access road, crashed into a tree, and then got out of his car and pointed a gun at them.
Enright says the man then went into the mall and robbed two pairs of shoes from a store before trying to walk away undetected.
But police had formed a perimeter around the mall and an officer tried to stop Nelson because he matched the suspect’s description.
Enright says Nelson then pointed the gun at the uniformed police officer, who then deflected the weapon and wrestled it away during a struggle. Officers used a Taser stun gun and arrested Nelson.
Dallas security officer killed during bank robbery www.privateofficer.com
Dallas TX Sept 1 2011 A security guard was shot and killed this morning during a robbery at a bank in east Oak Cliff, authorities said.
The holdup happened shortly after 10 a.m. at the Bank of America in the 3500 block of South Lancaster Road.
Mario Mendoza said he called 911 after witnessing the shooting from the Church’s Chicken where he works.
“I just saw the suspect fighting with security,” he said, “and then I heard five gunshots.”
Police said the robber took the guard’s gun away and shot him during the struggle. He was taken to a hospital, where authorities said he died.
After the shooting, the robber ran four blocks to Overton Road Holy Trinity Church where he tried to steal a vehicle from Pastor T.T. Terry and John Greer, a repairman fixing the church’s air conditioning.
“I need some keys! I need some keys,” the suspect yelled as he burst into the church, waving a gun, witnesses said.
He grabbed Terry’s keys and ran outside to Greer’s pickup, which he failed to start because he had the wrong keys.
Officers arrived and took him into custody before he could flee. The suspect’s name was not released.
School janitor invesitgated for impregnating 11 year old girl www.privateofficer.com
The search for the answer begins at Child Protective Services. They contacted detectives at the Macomb County Sheriff’s Office who contacted a 28-year-old janitor hired by a private company who worked at Prevail Academy in Mount Clemens.
The 28-year-old man under investigation is not an employee of the school.
April Plant has sent her grandchild to Prevail for the past four years.
Prevail is a charter school with classes from kindergarten to eighth grade.
Plant said she is disturbed by the investigation, but believes administrators at the school put children’s safety first.
Sources close to the investigation told WDIV-TV the 11-year-old girl delivered the baby last month. She is now 12 years old.
It’s not clear if the girl attended Prevail Academy, but WDIV said it was told a family member of the girl had a relationship with the 28 year old man who worked as a janitor at the school.
A school spokesperson said they are cooperating with police.
Fake valet attendant steals womans Jaguar www.privateofficer.com
Norwalk CT Sept 1 2011 A woman’s 2002 Jaguar XL disappeared Monday at Norwalk Hospital after she turned it over to a man posing as a valet parking attendant.
The woman, 81, told police she drove her husband to the hospital for a medical emergency, and after he exited the car, went to the valet parking area.
She said a man approached her and said her car was too nice to be parked in the regular lot. Instead, he said, he would take it to a special lot.
He asked the woman to give him her blue valet parking ticket, and then, on a blank piece of paper, wrote “34 lot A/B” and handed it to her.
She said she thought the situation was a bit curious, but the man briefly showed her his identity card.
When she left the hospital several hours later, she handed an attendant the paper she had been given and he asked her what it was. The hospital does not have a special lot.
In a statement released Tuesday afternoon, hospital spokeswoman Maura Romaine said the safety and security of everyone at the hospital “is very important to us.”
Romaine said the hospital’s security personnel were working with Norwalk police reviewing surveillance videos.
Memphis school counselor charged with rape of student www.privateofficer.com
MEMPHIS, TN -Sept 1 2011 – A Bartlett school counselor was charged with statutory rape after police records say she was sexually involved with a student for an entire weekend and gave him alcohol.
Cinnamon Davis, 23, shut her Facebook page down Sunday after suggestive photos were revealed. Davis’s MySpace page stayed up with numerous photos.
The police investigation into the statutory rape of a student began in May. Davis is a counselor at Varangon Academy in Bartlett, a 7th through 12th grade campus described as a “residential treatment facility for adolescent boys with emotional and behavioral problems.”
According to police, on Saturday, May 28, the victim’s mother told police she had not seen her son since he got out of school the day before. Her 17-year-old son returned home just before midnight that Sunday.
Her son told her he spent, “the weekend with his counselor from school.” The mother went to the school and talked to the counselor identified as Cinnamon Davis.
The mother told police that Davis then walked away and refused to talk to her.
About a week later, police interviewed the student. Records said, “he stated he had been engaged in sexual intercourse with his school counselor, Mrs. Cinnamon Davis … Mrs. Davis had picked him up from a local store and then drove him to her apartment … where she gave him alcohol to drink and had sexual intercourse with him repeatedly.”
Davis’ neighbors said she hopes she finds a new line of work.
“You’re in a position where people look up to you,” said neighbor Eleanor Pitts. “That’s inappropriate. If you have those kinds of behaviors, you don’t need to be in the school system.”
Davis, who is out of jail on bond, faced a Memphis judge Monday morning. She will return to court in two weeks.
Source: WMC-TV
Police say man waving gun around at Tempe mall subdued www.privateofficer.com
TEMPE, Ariz.Sept 1 2011 – A 19-year-old man is facing attempted murder, aggravated assault and armed robbery charges after an incident at Arizona Mills Mall Monday night.
According to the Tempe Police Department, Roger Nelson lost control of his vehicle and crashed into a light pole and a tree north of the mall at Baseline Road and Priest Drive. Witnesses said Nelson was driving fast and going the wrong way on a one-way access street.
Nelson then got out of his car and pointed a gun at people in the parking lot, according to police. Officials said he ran into the mall, displayed the gun and began waving it around.
Nelson went into the Famous Footwear store where he took two pairs of shoes. He allegedly pointed his weapon at the store employee behind the counter.
Police officers and mall security established a perimeter and cleared people from the mall.
A uniformed police officer spotted Nelson walking south from the mall exit and asked him to put his hands on top of his head so he could pat him down, according to court paperwork. Nelson allegedly pointed the gun at the officer’s chest from a short distance away and made comments of his intention to harm him.
The officer deflected the weapon and wrestled it away during a struggle.
The officer deployed a Taser and Nelson was taken into custody.
According to court paperwork, Nelson is charged with one count of attempted murder of a police officer, one count of aggravated assault on a police officer and one count of armed robbery.
Police are working to determine if Nelson is responsible for any other crimes.
Audit shows 85 Atlanta police officers lack authority to make arrests www.privateofficer.com
Atlanta GA Sept 1 2011 An Atlanta Police Department audit has found at least 85 current officers who had fallen short of mandatory training hours and did not have the authority to make arrests.
The findings released Wednesday by the APD were from an internal audit that started a year ago after academy staff found training deficiencies in the files of officers returning to duty after being away for extended periods.
Two weeks ago, when the problem first became public, APD Chief George Turner said he didn’t know whether the training issue could jeopardize convictions or pending cases; that is a matter for the courts.
Turner was unavailable for comment Wednesday but his spokesman, Carlos Campos, said “our time and energy right now must be devoted to correcting the problem.”
For more than two decades, Georgia law has required law enforcement officers to have at least 20 hours of training a year. In 2006 the law was changed to require at least one of those hours cover use of firearms and another hour must focus on the use of force; 55 of the 85 officers had not had firearms or use-of-force training in at least one year.
Officers are not authorized to make arrests in any years following one in which there was a deficiency in training hours until that lost training is made up, said Ken Vance, executive director of the Peace Officers Standards and Training Council, which certifies law enforcement officers in Georgia.
By Wednesday, the training failures had been corrected for all but seven officers, who remained on administrative duty, Campos said.
Some of the 85 officers had gaps in their training discovered as far back as two decades, according to the APD audit.
“Some criminal convictions may be at risk,” said Cristina Beamud, an attorney and executive director of the Atlanta Civilian Review Board, which hears complaints from the public against Atlanta Police Department officers.
“Of course, there’s a good public policy reason surrounding the requirements that officers be trained properly,” Beamud said. “The work that they do involves a substantial amount of risk and much of the training is things they don’t practice every day. It’s troubling that they may not have had powers of arrest and the legal problems that may create, but it’s trouble when officers don’t complete the training requirements because their work is so complex.”
“We’re all on notice now that there is a potential issue,” said defense lawyer Seth Kirschenbaum, a former member of the Atlanta Citizen Review Board.
Still, some defense attorneys said Wednesday that training failures may not necessarily harm pending cases or those that have been closed with convictions.
“Will it ultimately result in throwing out these hundreds and hundreds of cases? I don’t think so,” lawyer Marcia Shein said.
There may be problems if the officer had been told to make up missing hours but didn’t, the lawyer said.
The files of 1,816 active officers have been reviewed and now the audit moves to retired officers, Campos said. The review of the files of reserve officers should take about three weeks.
The officers, not the agencies, are responsible for getting the mandatory training. But POST was installing a new computer system Wednesday that would make it easier for the state to track 59,000 Georgia law enforcement officers, Vance said. Until now, POST has depended on paper files to monitor officers.
The problem is not limited to APD, Vance said. “It’s a problem Georgia-wide. A lot of these older cases are popping up now.”
John Bankhead, spokesman for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, said agents called in to review shootings involving police are seeing more instances where there is a training deficiency.
“There will be a lot of lawyers arguing that without the proper certification they didn’t have arrest powers,” Bankhead said.
In the past few weeks, the Georgia State Patrol identified issues involving 92 troopers. Of those, 24 had fallen short of the required 20 hours of training and another 13 did not get the required annual use-of-force or firearms training. The others simply had not been reported to POST or were clerical errors.
“All are in compliance now,” GSP Capt. Paul Cosper said.
Shoplifter loads up despite uniform police presence www.privateofficer.com
The Hoquiam Police Department reports on opening day several officers along with the chief of police, two crimewatch officers, Police Explorers, and McGruff the Crime Dog were walking around the new store,when a 52 year old Aberdeen woman attempted to steal $198.
A store manager spotted the shoplifter who was quickly apprehended and now faces shoplifting charges.
Police did not identify the woman but say she has been arrested.
Three women nabbed in MN shoplifting spree www.privateofficer.com
WILLMAR MN Sept 1 2011 — Two of three women charged with felony theft charges for allegedly shoplifting more than $1,500 in clothing from Herberger’s in the Kandi Mall made their first court appearance Thursday.
Kelly Kay Potter, 42, of Minneapolis, and Patricia Marie Potter, 62, of White Earth, were both released on their personal recognizance. Both make their next appearance in Kandiyohi County District Court on Aug. 31.
Mussette Ruby Wade, 37, of Brainerd, failed to appear for her Thursday appearance and a warrant was issued for her arrest.
According to the complaint, Willmar Police officers and a Kandiyohi County Sheriff’s deputy were called to the mall around 6:30 p.m. June 30 by store loss prevention officers who had been monitoring the three women. When the store officers approached Wade while she was leaving the store with a bag of clothing, she ran away across the parking lot. The deputy located the woman and she was taken back to the store. The two women were also located on the mall grounds.
The loss prevention officer reported seeing the three women gathering women’s clothing items onto a rack and then putting them into the store shopping bag. The women appeared to be working together and distracting store associates from their activities.
Both of the Potters allegedly signed an incident form from Herbergers admitting to the theft. All three were trespassed from the store. The value of the items was $1,588.
Wade’s criminal record includes felony theft convictions in Clay, Anoka, Stearns and Crow Wing counties, and misdemeanor convictions in Crow Wing, Hennepin, Mille Lacs, Stearns and Ramsey counties.
Source:west central tribune
Two charged with stealing TV from Target store www.privateofficer.com
Target loss prevention told police they saw two men leave the store pushing a carriage with a 19-inch Element LED television in it. The item is valued at $139.99. The store’s loss prevention employees said they tried to stop the two suspects, but the men left the carriage and ran on foot in the direction of McDonald’s.
Police found one suspect in the McDonald’s parking lot, while the other suspect ran toward Best Buy. Salem officers and K-9 units set up a perimeter, and the K-9 unit was able to locate the second suspect in a field between Best Buy and Kelley Road.
The first suspect, Osvaldo Rivera, 25, was charged with theft (shoplifting), and held on $620 cash bail. The second suspect, Jesus Cruz, 33, was charged with theft (shoplifting), resisting arrest or detention, and criminal mischief. He was also held on $620 cash bail.
