View from the cop: Crime & punishment
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AJC.com > Metro > View from the cop > Archives > 2007 > January
January 2007
Crime & Punishment
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Crime Prevention Tip: With some thieves working at night to break into cars, put your car keys beside your bed at night. If you hear someone outside trying to get into your car or maybe trying to enter the home, hit the panic button and activate the car alarm. It should scare the thief off and wake the neighbors.
What’s Cooking? Doraville City Jail: Lunch menu Friday: Peanut butter and jelly
Least competent victim A 17-year old male went to the weight room of an apartment complex in the 7800 block of Roswell Road. He went there to sell a dime bag of pot to another 17-year old. When he got there, three men, one armed with a shotgun, came out from a room, forced the teen onto the ground and took $270 cash and his wallet from him. They forced him into his car and drove him to the Kroger at Northridge where they dropped him off and then left in his car. The officers responding were given some information that perhaps one of the bad guys lived in a nearby condo. They checked but did not find anyone related to this crime. You’re a 17-year old in the drug business. You get ripped off and the other bad guys steal your car. Then you call the cops. We don’t want folks stealing your car but honestly, I don’t know how upset I’m going to be over this because after all, you’re a drug dealer.
Yakety yak A 49-year old man was arrested and charged with Disorderly Conduct and Pointing a Pistol after police were called by a wrecker driver who was towing the suspect’s vehicle from an illegal area. The officer approached the suspect who had a hand in his pocket and the other on the phone. The report said the man refused to comply with the order to take his hand out of his pocket. The man was also ordered off the phone. He refused citing to the officer that he was on the phone with the police. The officer then stated the obvious “I am the police” and I guess it clicked so the man put the phone down. The report said the man was very belligerent and boisterous.
Needed: Sense of direction An 18-year old male was arrested for Loitering after an officer observed him hanging around in an area of recent thefts from cars. The subject told the officer he was walking towards the Marta train station. The officer pointed out the train station was in the opposite direction of where the man was walking. The officer noted the man had no money or I.D. on him at the time.
Mind your marijuana manners A 27-year old male was arrested for Possession of Marijuana, Carrying a Concealed Weapon, Obstruction, and Operating an Unregistered Vehicle following a traffic stop. The officer pulled him over and while speaking to him, the defendant reached into his car despite being told not to. It turned out the reason he kept reaching in was that he wanted to dispose of six roaches and some buds on the floor. Emily Post says “Always dispose of marijuana contraband prior to the police walking up to your car.”
Chill, brotherA 34-year old man was arrested for Theft by Shoplifting after he placed a bottle of Frei Brothers Pinot Moir wine down his pants. Why Frei Brother? Let’s see:
At Frei Brothers Winery, we craft our wines in a gentle, traditional style enhanced through modern technology that makes fruit the focus and showcases the best that each varietal and appellation have to offer. Our Pinot Noir grapes were picked in the cool morning, then de-stemmed, but not crushed to retain a significant portion of whole berries during fermentation. After a few days of cold soak, the grapes were allowed to warm and then begin fermentation. Fermentation temperatures were monitored closely to achieve optimum extraction of color, aroma, and flavor resulting in a rich, smooth wine that maintains its earthy characteristics and true Pinot character. Fermentation proceeded with several different yeast strains to give a breadth and depth of aromas and flavors. 100% of the wine was aged in oak barrels for seven and a half months The result: a classically styled, well-balanced Pinot Noir that is best served thirty minutes after removing it from your pants. I know, I’ve said this before but it’s funny.
Chill, sister A woman was stopped for driving in the emergency lane. The officer checked her driver’s license and found it to be suspended. Folks, make peace with the fact that traffic is terrible. Relax and listen to some Enya. Stay out of the emergency lane. It’s called the “Emergency Lane” and not the “Extended Northridge Road Exit Lane” for a reason and if you have a suspended license, you’re asking for trouble.
Swoosh not a good sign A beat-officer working the area of Northwood and Roswell Roads observed a subject he knew as a juvenile gang-banger. He saw the subject talking to some area homeless guys who, when they saw the officer, quickly walked off. Following the officer’s investigation, the juvenile was arrested for Possession of MDMA (Ecstacy) that was found in an Advil bottle. The drug was green with a NIKE ‘swoosh’ symbol on it. (Parents, check your kid’s aspirin bottles now.) The suspect was arrested. The suspect’s car was impounded. More ‘swoosh’ was found in the back seat.
Rent payment tip A man dropped his rent payment into a drop box at the apartment complex. Later he found that the check had been stolen and altered and deposited into a bank account that was later closed. Just to be safe, try and schedule rent payments so you can make the payment directly to the office staff who you know.
Seconds to steal A woman said that she left her purse unattended in a hotel lobby for a few minutes and when she returned, the purse was gone. Folks, if nothing else, if you will just learn from other’s mistakes, you’ll be in a much better place knowing that this stuff does happen. This victim was gone only a couple of minutes. It takes only seconds to steal something. Now, you know this stuff happens, next time you think about leaving something behind, even for a few seconds, reconsider it because now you know. Prior information. It’s a great thing.
Easy to steal Thieves took an IBM Thinkpad laptop, Eddie Bauer DVD player, jacket, and $50 cash from an S.U.V. overnight in the 200 block of West Spalding Drive. The vehicle was unlocked.
Have a great weekend and don’t forget to chill the Frei Brothers.
Stakeouts and the art of conversation
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
On TV, stakeouts are long and tedious. All three minutes of it. In reality, stakeouts are long periods of nothingness interrupted by more nothingness.
It is a way, however, to expand our knowledge and discuss topics that rarely come up during the 9-5 workday—just about anywhere else. Topics include the “existence” category. Topics of existence range from the existence of God to the theory founded in logic, mathematics and geometry that derives the universe as the unique consequence of the impossibility of a state of nothing. Normal stuff.
Stakeouts offer the time to discuss politics, sports, whether or not those UFO videos on Youtube are fake, who’s getting divorced this month and all of the office gossip including whose on the internal affairs sh—list. Other stakeout topics include spam, (not the Internet type), Desperate Housewives, Mike Vick’s water bottle, porn, Iraq, when will Oprah dump Stedman, will Lindsay Lohan be boring after rehab, porn, and the alarmingly high rate of suicide of those who have seen “Big Mama’s House 2—and porn.
Stakeouts are extremely boring. Like fishing, you spend most of the time doing nothing and showing nothing at the end of the night. Many high-level stakeouts fizzle out during the night and the priority of the arrest suffers. You start the night trying to corner a big-time drug dealer but you end up collaring a drunken transvestite who saw you and figured you needed a date. Sometime the well is full and sometime it isn’t.
The dress code for stakeouts is casual. Police goobers, who wear every piece of police equipment known to man soon suffer “equipment wedgies.” It’s no fun trying to run after someone and pull your handcuffs out the back of your shorts at the same time.
Come to think of it, police goobers rarely get to go on stakeouts. They stand out in a crowd. I had a detail once that involved mingling in the parking lot at a Grateful Dead concert at the old Omni. First of all, I was pissed off that my detail didn’t involve going inside where I could watch the show. But if you had to do an outside detail, a Dead concert was the best. The traveling troupes selling beads, tie dyes, little wooden things they claimed were trinkets but resembled pipes, and just about anything else handmade provided the best people watching you could get.
Something else they sold in the parking lot was the occasional acid. LSD was a popular high-school and college drug in the late 80’s and early 90’s. Most of it was blotter acid consisting of 100 hits on a ‘sheet.’ The hits were perforated cuts with a drop of the liquid on it. The paper was marked with a picture and the name usually corresponded with the picture. Some of you may remember Bart Simpson? That night however, I was only there to identify the guy that was supposed to meet our guy the following night up in north Fulton County. It was an easy detail. Unfortunately I didn’t count on the police goober factor.
I gave very specific instructions. Dress as far down as you have ever dressed. Body odor is okay and don’t worry about things like underwear. I made the mistake of not realizing that my partner that night came from the upper crust of fashionable Roswell where everything was color coordinated and dressing down meant wearing the old Gucci’s and the Hugo Boss Man-bag. I showed up ready to blend in and my partner showed up looking like a young Ricky Ricardo complete with a silk puffy shirt and leather vest. Three yuppies ran up and tried to order the prime rib.
So next time you watch TV and the stakeout is full of serious police-talk conversation with super macho cops—well that part is true—and after a full minute or two all the action starts, it’s baloney—unless the drunken transvestite is in there somewhere.
One more thing: For those of you going into detective work and who will soon taking part in stakeouts, don’t forget to unbuckle your seat belt when you get to where you’re going. It’s embarrassing when you can’t get out of the car when it’s time to chase the bad guy.
Crime & punishment
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Question of the week What kind of foods do prisoners eat? I called Chamblee Police to find out: Waffle House: The vast menu at the WH offers today’s prisoner with a variety of choices for his or her in-house dining. Scattered, Covered, and Incarcerated!
Couture crime An employee of a dress store at 7732 Spalding Drive said a couple came into the store on the 11th and walked around as if to shop but to the employee, looked suspicious. After the couple left, the employee found that a St. Johns evening dress was gone. The employee said the female part of the couple came in, with another woman, about a half-hour later. She didn’t say if anything else was missing. The store had a camera system but it was not on. Now you need to shore up these mistakes if you own or operate a business. It’s always the low-tech stuff that bites you.
Car contract changes? The victim said he bought a 2003 Toyota Sequoia from a car dealer. He said that when he got his first bill, it was different than what he agreed and signed a contract to. He noted that the interest rate and the purchase amount were different than what he had agreed to. He said the contract was changed after the fact, and someone signed his name to it.
Irony strikes A man reported that someone accessed his American Express card number and spent $300 on anti-virus software.
Clean out your car The victim’s car was entered but nothing was reported missing. There were five additional thefts from auto reported from this apartment complex location at 6850 Peachtree Dunwoody Road.Obviously someone has been picking on this apartment complex. The primary method of entry was prying door locks and smashing windows during a time frame of 1 and 5 a.m. Remember: In almost all cases, the thieves will look in the car, see something they want, and then smash and grab. They rarely break in, make all that noise, and then start looking around. Take everything of value out of the car. Don’t be lazy.
Movie fan A 28-year old man was arrested and charged with Burglary and Theft by Receiving Stolen Property after police were called to a car dealer in the 7700 block of Roswell Road. They investigated and determined the man had entered the business after hours, and stayed in a certain area of the dealership watching porn all night. The man made a bed on a van seat (that probably should never be touched again) and had pulled some speakers over from the adjacent office. The downfall of porn-man was that he accidentally left his wallet in the office. An employee, upon arriving to work and finding things a bit out of place, had the wallet when the suspect returned to ask if the employee had found a wallet he left behind. The film fan was still on hand when the officers arrived. He said that he was shopping for a truck but that didn’t fly. He is also believed to be the same man who broke into an office in the 7840 block of Roswell Road and watched porn all night there.
Neither rain. nor sleet….nor crazy people The postal carrier on Colquitt Road said that he tried to pull up to an apartment mailbox area but the site was blocked by a woman and her car. The woman demanded her mail. The postal carrier asked her to move the car. She refused so he told her that he would return after he carried out his deliveries in another area of the complex. She grabbed the mail out of his hand and then knocked his phone out of his hand when he tried to call police. She then ran into the apartment complex.
Construction and Renovation SitesBurglars took copper wire valued at over $10,000 from an office area at 8601 Dunwoody Place. There have been several incidents of appliances being taken from construction and renovation sites near the Telfair Gates area. There have been eight incidents of thefts from homes under renovation primarily during the weekend. These locations are spread out and in no concentrated area. Please report any suspicious activities including cars and pesons in construction areas and homes that are undergoing renovation.
A RX for stopping crime Northside Hospital reported a $70,000 Sonosite Micromax Ultrasound machine was stolen from the ground-floor surgical area. Northside Hospital and the surrounding area is being targeted for thefts both outside and inside. This obviously includes the possibility of inside jobs especially in the case of stolen medical equipment. Persons could easily access the area posing as either staff or visitors. Employees of these office and hospital areas should contact staff security and police if they see anything that is suspicious.
NEW STUFF COMING UP Starting this Thursday I’ll be talking about Sandy Springs Police, crime, crime prevention and just about anything else you guys want from 4-5 p.m. The best way to listen is go to www.radiosandysprings.com and go to LISTEN ONLINE and choose your option. Call in!
Crime & punishment
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A 27-year old man was arrested for stealing a bottle of Fire and Ice perfume. What is Fire and Ice perfume? Fire and Ice eau de parfum by Revlon. . Great bottles and scent. It was introduced in 1994 and is flowery tangerine, orange flower and magnolia accompanied by woods, musk and spices, which is a must when you’re sitting in the drunk tank.
An 18-year old man was arrested for stealing two bottles of perfume. He went into the bathroom and concealed them in his backpack and then tried to leave. On his possession at the time of the arrest were a bottle of J-Lo and a bottle of Curve perfume. Curve Is Classified As A Refreshing, Flowery Fragrance. This Feminine Scent Possesses A Blend Of Citrus, Water Lily, And Sandalwood. It Is Recommended For Daytime Wear with your new friends. Nothing says good times with new friends like some J-Lo and some Curve.
A 26-year old woman was arrested after a loud argument in the 8300 block of Roswell Road. This happened on New Year’s Day around 5:30 a.m. The woman and her boyfriend got into an argument and the victim on this report stepped into referee or stop the fight. The defendant, who was very intoxicated, took a swing or two at him. She was arrested and taken to jail, a very fine jail with the faint smell of water lily and sandalwood.
A small business bust An 18-year old man was arrested in the 8800 block of Roswell road after officers found him loitering in business area that has seen some drug activity. The suspect was checked and the officers found a small amount of marijuana on him. In this location, dealers will stash the dope nearby and when they deal, they retrieve it from its location so that they don’t have much on them at one time.
A clean getaway A woman reported that someone took her phone that she left in a booth while she was having her eyebrows waxed. The complainant said there were approximately fifteen people, mostly hairless, in the shop at the time however she did not question any of them about the phone.
Left him flat Someone took the victim’s tire and left the bad one.
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