View from the cop: Crime & punishment
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AJC.com > Metro > View from the cop > Archives > 2008 > April
April 2008
Time to take a breather, Rev. Wright
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Is this Reverend Jeremiah Wright on a roll or what?
He’s headed into retirement in a big way and he’s loving all this “in the spotlight” stuff. When you get older you can get away with “off the cuff” remarks but I’m thinking, and I’m sure Barack Obama would agree, his timing is bad.
Hillary must be loving it. I’m sure Barack’s security guys are out there right now collecting her trash looking for canceled checks to Wright.
Wright blasted FOX News and Sean Hannity saying, “His stupid fantasy will keep him forever stuck on stupid when it comes to comprehending how you can love a brother who does not believe what you believe.”
Wright’s comments on Hannity’s inability to love a brother who does not believe what you believe came at some point after he accused the U.S. Government of planting AIDS in the black communities—now that’s a different kind of love I guess. Besides, Hannity’s conspiracy theories are all related to hair products.
Wright called Thomas Jefferson a pedophile. (Jefferson’s attorneys had no comment at the time) and later, as if the reverend didn’t expect criticism of his comments, postured his response to say : ”The most recent attack on the black church, it is not an attack on Jeremiah Wright, it is an attack on the black church.”
Okay, look, I like offbeat characters. They’re one of the spices of life and I’ve seen a lot and dislike very few but I would guess the reverend is getting on our collective nerves a bit. Everyone has a theory about everything. I, for instance, believe that the early Pilgrims invented Armor All but I don’t think of it as a conspiracy.
It just made those buckle-shoes shine. The designated hitter rule? Yes. A conspiracy, but in comparison I don’t believe it had anything to do with pedophilia. See how simple life can be?
Most of us know how the cycle goes. All of the press is looking for the next Rev.Wright sound bite. “What will that kooky funster say now?” Those press people must be saying. Barack Obama used great patience in his first round of responses to Wright’s earlier comments by saying “I understand that he might not agree with me on my assessment of his comments. He is obviously free to express his opinion.
I’ve expressed mine very clearly. I think what he said on several instances was objectionable and I understand why the American people took offense.” Somehow I think Sen. Obama was hoping this polite response would be such that the reverend would read between the lines and take the advice that I think many people are now ready to give which is “Please Sir, it’s been interesting but it’s time to shut the (*&$%) up.
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Things you see (and don’t want to see) at midnight
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Nothing good happens after midnight—unless you’re working a beat car.
Then it’s prime-time.
Welcome to the morning watch.
The hours of 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. shift requires that you get less sleep on average than the other shifts. Court time cut directly into your sleep time and everyday daytime noises such as grass getting cut, dogs barking and in some neighborhoods, random gunfire, keep waking you up. If you can get by on 4-5 hours of sleep then this is the place for you.
Granted, I worked this shift many years ago back when the top grossing movie was “The Empire Strikes Back” and best music artist of the year was Christopher Cross proving that at least we had good taste in movies.
Things would start up right about the time you cleared roll call. The calls from the bars would start rolling in and on Friday and Saturday nights the regulars would kick it up in the clubs or at home after they closed.
One night I was working a beat in the Johns Creek area and looking forward to a slow night since all the action seemed to be going on south of my beat. As the night went on it stayed quiet until about 3 a.m. when I got a call to meet a woman who told the 911 operator that she found what she thought was a rape victim.
The beat car next to me also responded and we found the caller parked in the parking lot of a building up in what is now in the John’s Creek area. The woman said she was driving along the road and saw another woman lying on the side of the road.
She said the woman looked drunk or drugged up but thought that she had been raped and beat up. While the other officer spoke with her, I went to the car to check the condition of the victim. As I approached the car on the passenger’s side, I shined my flashlight and found the victim lying in such a position that her right leg was extended out of the front seat passenger’s window and her left leg was sticking out the passenger side rear window, your basic east-west and a full view of everything in between. I took one look and immediately recognized who this was. We’ll call him Lana. (Yes, him.)
Other than a cut on his head Lana looked O.K. Right about then the driver of the car walked over.
I tried to figure out some clever way to explain who this was but I couldn’t think of a thing so I just said “look” and let the flashlight do the rest. The young woman, having obviously adequate eyesight, gasped and pointed to the difference between her and him, all bunched up in cheap and now torn pantyhose.
Lana was a regular customer who had a fondness of dressing up in pantyhose and sexy outfits and going out for some fun. He had some rather impressive augmentation work done and in all fairness, in a dimly lit room or cab of a truck, Lana represented the other gender quite well.
Unfortunately Lana had a fondness of Quaalude that skewed his common sense in the area of what was and was not a good idea. On this night, Lana had gotten all dressed up and then picked up at a truck stop near Atlanta.
The date probably went well until somewhere around I-85 and, oddly enough, Beaver Ruin Road where the happy couple pulled over for some fun. The truck driver discovered what we call “The Fruit-Basket Surprise” and unfortunately for Lana, didn’t take it too well. Lana was left beat up by a now long-gone good old boy having some serious homophobic issues—a story I’m sure he took or will take to his grave. We thanked the young woman, now very confused, for her help and she was on her way, probably to therapy.
Although Lana didn’t do his / her thing every night there was always something to keep things lively and I miss some of that. I don’t miss the lack of sleep or the court but anyone coming into this profession should spend the first couple of years working nights
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View from the cop: Crack is wack
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
My granddaughter celebrated her second birthday with a princess party. It wasn’t easy but I finally found a men’s size 44 princess costume and so off I went. Turns out the costumes were for the kids only—it was a bit awkward.
Anyway, on the way I stopped by the gas station / convenient store for about $50 worth of gas, about three-quarters of a tank or so. I walked in the store part of the gas station and literally could not find the cashier due to the clutter piled up on the checkout counter.
Apparently this store owner is big on the sales theory that if you pile everything up on the counter, it will have eye appeal since your eyes cannot see anything but the trinkets and other junk staring you in the face. If you are in the market for little NASCAR key chains, lighters with the Bud Girls on them, energy tablets, rolling papers, small energy bottles of who-knows-what, tiny elephant air fresheners, or other items of the personal enhancement category, then this is your flea market from heaven.
As I stood to pay for the gas on the gas pump didn’t want to take my card but had an insatiable curiosity about my zip code—over and over, I had the occasion to look at the little glass mirror display cabinet housing the tiny glass vase holding the cheap rubber and plastic flower. I noted to the clerk that the tiny glass vase looked suspiciously like a crack pipe. He smiled and said “Flower for your lady?”
“Do you smoke the flower or use it as a pipe cleaner between crack hits?”
He smiled and gave me that I-don’t-speak-English look although I just heard him talking on the phone with a thick Brooklyn accent.
“Seriously, it’s a crack pipe isn’t it?”
“No-No, it’s a small flower for your lovely lady.”
“If your lady is a crack head?”
“Ah Ha Ha—you make a joke!”
“Look the pipe—vase, has a hole on each end and a bubble down here on the bottom. See, you put the stem with the crack right here and then light it and then draw it to your mouth right here.”
“No-No—it’s a vase.”
“Okay, why won’t it stand up? It’s rounded off at the bottom and won’t stand up. What kind of vase won’t stand up?”
“Ah, ha ha—you make another joke.”
“Dude, your English was really good on the phone so I’m just asking, don’t you know this is a crack pipe?”
“It’s a vase.”
He had a look like he’s responded to this question a hundred times. He was on autopilot and as bad an actor as he was, he wasn’t going to say anything other than this crack pipe was a vase although he couldn’t look me in the eye.
I know that if or not these convenient stores sell crack pipes badly disguised as flower vases won’t have an impact on illegal drugs but it’s almost like they’re putting in your face. Put a sign on there saying “Crack Pipes” or maybe just don’t sell them.
Well, labeling crack pipes as crack pipes would make them illegal to sell so why not just get rid of them? How much money do they bring in? How do they monitor who buys them? Just get rid of them.
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Crime & punishment
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Some reports filed with Sandy Springs Police over the past week.
Forgery and ID theft
A woman reported that her granddaughter applied for two student loans and listed her as the co-signer without her permission.
A woman reported that someone accessed her credit card number and made unauthorized transactions on it. She believes her monitor of her halfway-house area used the cards to pay for her DUI class.
A man tried to cash a check for over $800 at the Western Union on Roswell Road. The employee checked the number and saw the account was closed and then when he called the name on the check, the woman on the other end said the check had been stolen. (She didn’t report it until the officer told her to.) If you have checks, or anything else for that matter, that are negotiable and are stolen, report it as soon as you can.
The victim applied for a job with a local company. During the pre-employment check, the company representative told her that she had several delinquent accounts. The account fraud totaled over $12,000.
A woman reported that she received almost $400 of unauthorized charges on her credit card. She said this happened after she gave her son her credit card for his online gambling………I said: this happened after she gave her son her credit card for his online gambling…..(In police work, we call this a clue.)
THIS WEEK’S SCAM
(Grammatical errors have been left untouched for your enjoyment)
Retreival Of My Father’s Wealth.
Dear Belove one
Based on your profile, l am happy to request for your assistance because I beleive that you are not going to betrayed the trust which I am going to lay on you Dear Beloved i pray all is well with you and Other members of your family.
My name is Rose, 20 years old and the only daughter of my late parents Mr.and Mrs Mguma , My father was a highly reputable busnness magnet-(a cocoa merchant) who operated in the capital of Ivory coast during his days. It is sad to say that he passed away mysteriously in France during one of his business trips abroad on 12th.November 2005.Though his sudden death was linked or rather suspected to have been masterminded by an uncle of his who travelled with him at that time, but God knows the truth!
My mother died when I was just 6 years old (1994), and since then my father took me so special. Before the death of my Father on November 12th 2005 he called the secretary who accompanied him to the hospital and told her that he has the sum of (USD$17.5 000 000) Seventeen Milion five hundred thousand dollars left in a metalic trunk trunk box, wich he deposited in a Security Company here in abidjan, that he registered it as family valuable items for security reasons, he told the secretary that I should contact the Company for them to know me as his next of kin wich I have did as he instructed,
He also told the secretary that I should not let any of his relations to know about this because he was kiled by them and if they know about it, that they will do nothing but to kill me in other to take hold of every thing, He told her that I should seek for a foriegn partner abroad who will help me retreived the trunk box and also travel with him or her in other to continue my Live and Education and also to start a Bussines relationship with the person whom can take cear of me in the fucture,
My dear, this is why I have come incontact with you in order to help me retreive that trunk box from the Security Companys custody and send it direct to your country and also to make an arrangement for me on how I will come over to your country in other to continue my Live and Education and also to go into bussines relationship with you hence I am still a child and I dont know any thing about bussines,
I am just 20 years old and a university undergraduate and really don’t know what to do. this is because I have suffered a lot of set backs as a result of incessant political crisis here in Ivory coast. The death of my father actually brought sorrow to my life, My dear, I am in a sincere desire of your humble assistance in this regards and your suggestions and ideas will be highly regarded. Now permit me to ask these few questions:
- Can I completely trust you?
2.Can you accept me as your own blood Sister (Or Doughter)?
- What percentage of the total amount in question will be good for you?
Consider this and get back to me as soon as possible with your full assurance that you will not disapoint me in this issue so that i can give you the contact of the Security Company where my late Father deposited that trunk box for you to contact them on how the trunk box will be retreived from their custody and deliver to your country,
Thank you soo much for your understanding and may almighty God bless you and your Family to the Glory of God Almighty, My sincere regards, Miss Rose Mguma. (“I got your Ma-gu-mas right here pal!!)
Okay—Enough
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Message to Lithonia: Stop the silliness
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Wow—This thing in Lithonia is getting very serious. Okay let’s recap:
At a recent city council meeting, Lithonia Mayor Joyce McKibben fired Police Chief Willie Rosser and had him escorted out of the building.
The Lithonia City Council then re-instated Chief Rosser although we’re not sure if anyone was escorted out of the building.
Council apparently asked the mayor and her transition team to leave, perhaps opposed to being escorted out of the building.
Acting on mature instincts, the transition team locked themselves in the City Hall holding their hands up to their ears, all the while making loud noises as not to hear anyone attempting to speak to them.
Police, those unfired, entered City Hall and made all of the transition team members go home and go to their rooms. The cops then escorted themselves out of the building.
A locksmith arrived and changed the locks—perhaps a deadbolt. Deadbolts safeguard your home and family with superior protection against attack by crowbar, hammer, disgruntled political adversaries, wrench, saw, lock pick and kick-in. With that kind of security, you can spend less time comparing brands and more time checking your schedule for booking dates on Jerry Springer.
On Wednesday, two aides to Mayor Joyce McKibben were arrested when the mayor arrived to pick up a new key. Press reports say a tussle developed and injuries were inflicted—evident by the lawyers, standing by just outside the spot where people are escorted to, holding bags of neck braces.
Thursday night the city council rejected, by a vote of 3-2 to reject Councilman Lloyd’s motion to defer all six items on the agenda. With that, the mayor got up and in spite of attempts to get her to return so someone could escort her out, she left. Security was tight. Officers announced there would be no foolishness tolerated including lock-ins and unauthorized escorting out of the building.
On Friday when we had to read all this, we were either really entertained by all its silly mindlessness and foolishness or simply wondering why Lithonia has a city charter in the first place. Ugh, stop all this silliness.
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View from the cop: Who has the lock on “stupid”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It’s been kind of slow here.
With the exception of the two Llamas who fell out of the trailer on I-285 Friday, not much has been going on.
By the way, the Llamas are doing well. One had a bloody lip and the other a swollen eye. Some of you may remember about 20 years ago a cattle truck wrecked on I-285 and Roswell Road. Several cattle were killed but a number of them escaped and for weeks ran amok in the Golden Ghetto.
We received dozens of calls from panicked homeowners who found cows in their back yard. “No ma’am. I don’t think the cow will attack. We haven’t had a cow attack in these parts as long as I can remember.”
It was amazing how long cows could remain relatively unnoticed in the suburbs. I don’t really know if we got them all back. They could be living among us now, living their secret lives.
Eight teenagers were arrested in Lakeland, Fla. for beating up a girl and filming it for show on YouTube. They beat the girl unconscious. The victim’s parents said “These Web sites are creating a space for criminal activity, beating, fights.”
“MySpace, MTV’s ‘Jackass,’ they are enticing our children and desensitizing out children. Now, if they create the best shock video, they are the heroes. They think it is top dollar.”
There’s something about the camera that causes dumb people to not only do the dumb things they do but also document those dumb things on video or photos. I guess it’s the least they can do to make the prosecution easier.
The more technology we invent, the dumber some people become. We’re gonna beat up this kid and film it. Then, we’ll send it and then watch it on YouTube…..and then what?
There was no end to the story? Eight kids participated and not one of them went “Hey wait—they might figure out who we are—oh yeah, the girl, you know, the girl we’re beating half to death knows us…..hmmmm, I’m not sure I’m in.”
In VALLEJO, California, a bride and groom spent their wedding night in jail after cops came back on a second complaint of a loud party. The groom got the booyah! (taser) when he got a little too aggressive. He and his cousin bowed up a bit too much. The bride was taken in for being too hammered. It doesn’t sound like the happy couple would have accomplished too much later that night anyway.
In WAXAHACHIE, Texas, a dentist accused of videotaping his female employees in the changing room with a hidden camera pleaded guilty. Steven C. Durbin, also a city commissioner in nearby Ennis, Tex., got five years of community supervision with deferred adjudication in the plea agreement on a state jail felony charge of improper photography or video recording.
As part of the agreement, Durbin, 50, must attend sex offender counseling, although he doesn’t have to register as a sex offender. Turns out his employees found a video camera in the employees changing area. They confronted him about the patients he videoed as well as the poor quality of the video.
These are the kind of people who, if they don’t get it together, will end up with a toilet seat grown to their butts.
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Crime & punishment
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The incident report:
Robbery
A cab driver reported that he was robbed by a woman, who hailed his cab in Roswell, following what appeared to be a domestic argument between the woman and another man. She walked to his cab and asked him to take her downtown. The driver said that when he reached Central Parkway, the woman pulled a gun on him, made him pull over near a parking deck, and robbed him. The officer, after speaking with the man, advised him that the parking deck area had cameras which may have captured the robbery. The officer also noted that he found an open condom package next to the cab. The victim then said the suspect propositioned him for oral sex and then while he was applying the proper safe-sex apparatus, the woman pulled a gun and robbed him. She then pulled the wiring from his microphone and then while running away, fired the gun. A shell casing was found near the car. There are many morals to this story I suppose. Take your pick.
Burglary
This victim’s second-floor apartment was broken into via a window, meaning the burglar had to climb up to the second-floor porch. He is missing an Apple laptop and i-Pod. (This is a good example of the saying “Never say Never.” The burglar bypassed the ground-floor apartment in favor of the second-floor one. Even if not on the ground floor, don’t forget to use deadbolts and other security hardware.)
Theft
A woman reported that an employee of hers took $300 cash from the cash box and has not been seen since. (We call that a clue.) The man is a convicted felon with a drug problem who may be connected to a stolen car case. The man has no address. The victim said she wants to give him a chance to pay the money back. Drug problem = no money paid back. It ain’t gonna happen.
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