Tulsa Officer walking again because of fallen Dallas Officer
Wow! What an amazing story.
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Tulsa Police Officer Ron Neal
Tulsa Police Officer Ron Neal thought his law enforcement career might be over when he suffered a severe knee injury while arresting a combative drunken driver last year.
But later he would learn that a Dallas police officer who died in the line of duty could give him a second chance.
In October, a surgeon reconstructed the torn ligament in Neal’s knee using an Achilles tendon from an organ and tissue donor.
“At that time, I knew nothing about the donor. I was just happy to have the surgery,” Neal said.
Neal learned the story of the donor in November, and as he learned more about him, it seemed that fate had brought their two families together, he said.
Dallas Police Department Senior Cpl. Victor Lozada died on Feb. 22, 2008, in a motorcycle accident. At the time of the crash, he was part of the motorcade protecting then-Sen. Hillary Clinton during a presidential campaign visit to Dallas. Lozada was 49 years old.
Senior Corporal Victor Lozada, Dallas
His wife, Theresa Lozada, reached by phone at her Texas home on Wednesday, said she and her four children, ages 9 through 22, unanimously agreed to donate his organs and tissue. They relied on his belief in helping others and doing the right thing.
“When my husband passed, at the hospital bed, they came to us and asked me if we would want to do that,” Lozada said. “I told my children that I was not going to do it unless we all agreed.”
The older children all said yes, but the 9-year-old boy hesitated at first.
“Then
In all, 61 recipients received donations from her husband, she said. She perceived the news that one of the recipients was a police officer as a sign that came to her during a troubled time, she said.
“It was right before Christmas. I was upset, and it was a hard time with the holidays. I prayed and asked Victor to give me a sign that everything I was doing was right — that it was what he wanted,” she said.
That is when she got the phone call informing her that Neal was a police officer and that he had agreed to her request to meet the recipients.
“That, to me, was like Victor was saying I was doing the right thing and everything was all right,” Lozada said.
Neal said he had mixed feelings when he learned that the donor was a police officer.
“I am happy that the program exists to give people a second chance of resuming normal activities, but I am also very sad that an officer was killed in the line of duty,” Neal said.
On Sunday, Neal will travel to Dallas to meet with the Lozada family and to attend a dedication ceremony his department will have Monday marking his death a year ago. Lozada’s picture and a plaque will be hung at the station where he worked.
“It is going to be emotional. This happened to a fellow officer, and it is a daily reminder of the dangers that we face as police officers,” Neal said. “Hopefully, his wife and her family will see that even though he passed away, he still lives on and his duties as a police officer are carried on through me.”
Neal, who worked 20 years on patrol without any previous injury, is working light duty now. He will find out next week whether he is well enough to return to patrol.
Every year the company that handled Lozada’s organ and tissue donations, RTI Donor Services, chooses a donor family to represent it in the Tournament of Roses Parade on New Year’s Day. Last year the company chose the Lozada family, and Theresa Lozada rode on a float in the parade.
“It is a wonderful experience that people are being able to use things that he is not able to use right now,” Lozada said. “But it is also bittersweet.”
Moved by the experience, both Neal and his wife signed up to be organ donors. And as they get to know the Lozada family more, they are learning that they have more in common than law enforcement, Neal said.
“It was a strange coincidence that the date of his death was also my wedding anniversary,” he said.
Also, Lozada joined the Dallas police force on Neal’s wife’s birthday.
“We agree that it was like fate intervened in some way,” Neal said.
Link
Cumberland County Sheriff’s office adds 3 new officers
The Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office is now fully staffed after three new sheriff’s officers were sworn in Friday.
New officers Mark Church, Brock Howgate and Ronald Cusano were given their badges at a ceremony, after pledging to uphold the law and not use the office of the county sheriff “illegally, criminally or unjustly.”
The three men will begin 20 weeks of training on Monday.
Cumberland County Sheriff Robert Austino said that, with these latest officers being sworn in, the sheriff’s department is now fully staffed with 57 officers.
Another addition to the sheriff’s office will be a bomb-sniffing dog arriving from North Carolina next week, according to Austino.
The K-9 officer, paid for through a $5,000 grant through the county office of emergency management, will attend 12 weeks of training along with its handler.
It will fill a vacancy left when two of the department’s dogs were transferred to Millville Police Department last year.
Sheriff Department halts K9 Unit
The Belmont County Sheriff’s Office is no longer using canines as part of its regular operations, but it’s a decision that may not be permanent.
Sheriff Fred Thompspon said he made the decision last Friday as a move to save the office money. A recent lawsuit was also filed by a former deputy who is seeking payment for the cost of caring for his K-9, and that legal matter – one of many faced by the sheriff’s office in recent years – put the icing on the cake when it came to the sheriff’s decision to suspend the K-9 program.
“For the time being, I disbanded the canines because of this economics crunch,” Thompson said. “Hopefully when the economy picks up a little, we’ll get back in the canine program, but with everything going on here I thought it was wise to cease the canine operation.”
Food, veterinary care and training of canines are all things that the sheriff said are costly. The need to have multiple deputies on some scenes to transport prisoners was another reason.
“Having a canine at a call meant they couldn’t transport a prisoner because the dog was in the back seat,” Thompson said. “That right there is going to save money, because we won’t have the cost of having a second deputy going out to the same call to load up the person he just arrested and transporting the person to jail.”
It doesn’t mean however the county won’t be entirely without canine units. Instead of using their own canine units, Thompson said his office will turn to other county law enforcement agencies, such as the Martins Ferry, Bellaire and Powhatan Point police departments, all of which have their own canine units.
“If we need a canine, we can call one of their officers with the canine,” he said. Since taking office, Thompson said the number of sheriff’s office canine units has decreased from four down to two.
One of the unit’s handler and the dog went to the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office. The sheriff said Joe Kress took employment there, and the Belmont County Sheriff’s Office sold his K-9 and the K-9 cruiser to Monroe County for a minimal price. Subsequently, Kress filed a lawsuit in Columbus seeking money because he was not given the proper time off to care for the dog.
Another deputy no longer wanted to be a handler, Thompson said. Of the remaining two, one is Ringo, who has been with the office several years.
“He’s about 12 years old and he’s to the point where he’s looking at retirement,” Thompson said.
The other canine is Greta, a German shepherd who can still be called into service as needed, the sheriff said.
“She is a good tracking dog who can run on a scent,” Thompson said. “In the event we do a search, we can call (Deputy Ron Miro) to bring out the dog.”
Even though the canines will not be used for law enforcement, Thompson noted the handlers would get to keep their dogs.
Oy!
I’d say “what was he thinking?!” but it’s very apparent he wasn’t…..
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SoCal robbery suspect tries to become policeman
A San Diego County man wanted for a store robbery was arrested after he showed up to take an examination to become a police officer, authorities said.Romeo Montillano, 40, was arrested Wednesday for investigation of robbery, making criminal threats and grand theft. He remained in the San Diego County jail on Saturday on $110,000 bail, according to the county sheriff’s Web site.
Investigators had identified Montillano as a suspect in a Dec. 8 robbery at a Chula Vista Kmart where a man stole a television, DVD player and telephone, then beat up employees who confronted him in the parking lot, police spokesman Bernard Gonzales said.
A short time later, investigators learned that Montillano had signed up to take the February Police Department entrance exam, Gonzales said.
Police called to Montillano, who apparently was unaware he was being sought for the robbery. Montillano said he was in Las Vegas but would return for a Feb. 18 orientation for police applicants, Gonzales said.
Montillano didn’t show up but called police to apologize and explain that his car had been impounded in Las Vegas, Gonzales said.
In a later e-mail, Montillano told officers that he planned to take a bus and would be there for the police exam.
On the day of the test, Montillano signed in and was arrested, Gonzales said.
Gonzales said as Montillano was being taken into custody, he asked whether he would still be able to take the police exam. Told he couldn’t, Montillano asked whether he could reapply and take the test later.
Police Supporters March Blindfolded at Broad and Olney
The officers in Philly have been getting battered left and right lately, so what a great show of support for them. How rarely do you hear the words “we have faith in our police department” these days?
Thanks for sending the story link, Luke.
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Participants in a blindfolded "faith walk" in support of police in Phildelphia
On the same day that the alleged killer of Philadelphia police officer John Pawlowski was transferred from a hospital bed to a jail cell (see related story), a blindfolded “faith walk” in support of police was held in the area where Pawlowski was killed.
The message the marchers wanted to convey: we cannot remain blind to violence against police.
Lt. Bill Di Guiseppe of the 35th Police District says he’s thankful for the show of support on Thursday by participants in the blindfolded solidarity walk:
“And I think it shows that we need to be together and help each other and not one person can do it all.”
Fallen officer John Palowski was on the minds of those who attended. Kofi Asante, of the National Comprehensive Center for Fathers, says the man accused of killing Palowski at one time tried to join their organization:
“He came to our organization to be part of our father program. He was ineligible. We worked to make him eligible and by the time that happened, we couldn’t get in contact with him anymore.”
Asante’s reaction when they heard of the Palowski murder?
“We just cried, because we thought that maybe there were two lives that we could’ve saved.”
But he says the walk makes the group strong and sends this message:
“We have faith in our leaders, we have faith in this city, we have faith in the police department, we have faith in ourselves and in God to turn this violence around.”
(Photo by KYW’s Hadas Kuznits)/LINK
Marion County Sheriff’s Office wins at “SWAT Olympics”
Two years ago, when the Marion County Sheriff’s Office SWAT team built itself an obstacle course, little did the team members know that worldwide recognition would follow.
Once all the telephone poles, cargo nets and other obstacles were erected, the training could begin.
And did it ever. 
The Special Weapons and Tactics team recently took first place in the five-man obstacle course event at the SWAT Round-Up International competition, or SWAT Olympics.
Sixty agencies from around the world met in Orlando for the five-day event in December. Marion walked away a winner – barely – in the competition’s most-watched event.
Sgt. Jon Turner, 30, Sgt. Carlton Curtis, 35, along with Deputies Ben Adams, 32, Cody Hoppel, 24, and Josh O’Carrol, 25, edged out the Federal Air Marshal Service by 0.18 seconds.
“The excitement of being the best team out of all those elite groups that were down there means everything to us,” said Curtis, who has been on the SWAT team for seven years. “A lot of time and effort went into our extensive training.”
In previous years, the unit was average at best during its annual competitions with other agencies. Some years it didn’t even participate. A tough training regimen simply wasn’t there.
Enter Mickey Marotti, the director of strength and conditioning at the University of Florida.
Credit Chief Deputy Towles Bigelow and his connections with Trinity Catholic High School head football coach John Brantley III, a former Gator quarterback whose son, John IV, is in his second year as a UF quarterback.
The elder Brantley set up the meeting with Marotti and a group of the SWAT members a few months before the 2007 competition.
Marotti, who began at UF in 2005 after serving the same role at Notre Dame since 1998, gave the group training manuals complete with exercises and nutritional guidelines that would give the SWAT team the fuel it needed. Then, it was up to the team to put in the work.
The team finished fifth in 2007, proving that a first-place showing the following year was not out of the question.
“It’s just awesome to see the guys achieve what they did,” Marotti said. “If I were a Marion County citizen, I’d feel safe knowing that those guys are training their tails off trying to become better [public servants].”
Following their win, Brantley arranged another trip for the SWAT team to visit and thank Marotti for his help on Feb. 11. Marotti offered some new pointers before the group toured the athletic facility and played catch in The Swamp with the current Brantley quarterback.
“Being a football coach and knowing what our guys have to go through, it’s pretty neat to see our law enforcement guys out there working hard and taking first place in something like this,” the first-year Celtics coach said. “If it helps them better protect our community, then it’s a win-win for everybody.”
Adams, who runs the first leg for the team, admitted that the course his squad runs through is the toughest obstacle course he has ever seen, which is really saying something, since the 32-year-old spent 10 years running through similar courses in the Marines and Army.
All five team members begin the course in succession, climbing, jumping, bending and crawling their way through 17 grueling obstacles toward the finish line.
“The biggest thing they taught us up there in Gainesville is that in order to be a champion, you have to be a champion in everything you do,” Adams said. “And there’s a place that knows something about being a champion.”
While a majority of the teams the Sheriff’s Office beat were from Florida, five other states and 11 countries were represented, including Hungary, Sweden and Bosnia.
In the first four days of the Round-Up, the teams competed in different events involving hostage situations and different rescue exercises. The Sheriff’s Office, which fielded two teams, finished 13th and 46th overall.
Aside from their personal workout schedules, the team trains for the event several times a month, more frequently as the competition approaches.
The SWAT team’s home course closely mirrors the one in Orlando where the Round-Up competition is held at the Orange County Sheriff’s Office. The SWAT team’s commander, Capt. David Faircloth, believes the luxury of having a similar course paid off for his team, which has about nine men who can finish off the obstacles within 3 1/2 minutes.
“Without a doubt, [having the same course] has been a key,” said Faircloth, who believes Marion and Orange counties, along with Camp Blanding near Starke are the only courses in Florida that share identical layouts. “Familiarization played a big part in our guys being ready.”
While Curtis admits knowing the course backward and forward is advantageous, the team’s success all points back to Gainesville.
“Being like the Gators – staying on top of our training all year long – is only going to help us reap the benefits on competition day,” he said.
And just because Faircloth’s group dons law enforcement gear and not NFL uniforms on Sundays doesn’t mean they’re not athletes on a team. Quite the opposite, says Chief Deputy Dan Kuhn.
“All the guys are great athletes. They have to be. When SWAT is called, circumstances are serious. They’ve got to carry their gear [about 40 pounds] and move quickly. All team members are required to move like a well-oiled machine.”
See a video of the competition on the Sheriff’s Office Web site.
Budget crisis make take out SWAT, K-9
Strategies to accomplish that involving law enforcement may mean disbanding special teams ranging from SWAT to K-9 units, reducing the ranks of school resource officers, eliminating community service officers and crime analysis, wiping out the traffic enforcement unit, cutbacks on narcotics and gang units, and discontinuing un-reimbursed support for school district functions ranging from sports games to Every 15 Minutes. It is part of a laundry list that Police Chief Dave Bricker has devised that could help a 15-member citizens budget advisory panel advise the City Council on what to cut next.
The city has already put in place cost saving strategies expected to bridge half of the projected $11.3 million deficit expected to develop in the fiscal year starting July 1. City Manager Steve Pinkerton emphasized Thursday the exact size of the deficit “is a moving target that changes daily.” He added, though, that staff will base the final budget proposal it prepares for the 2009-10 fiscal year on revenue trends in April plus parameters adopted by the council with the help of the 15-member committee.
The $11.3 million deficit is based on spending trends at the start of the current fiscal year using updated revue trends from December. The city will not be in deficit territory this budget thanks largely to a $6 million infusion into the general fund of bonus bucks paid for residential sewer allocation certainty.
When several members of the committee indicated they didn’t favor cutting back law enforcement’s presence, Bricker made it clear that it wasn’t that easy.
“We’re (the police department) only the most important thing in the city until your toilets don’t flush,” Bricker said underscoring the importance of all city functions.
Bricker said reductions that may have to be taken would be done with the goal of “protecting our core business – having a black and white unit respond to (priority) calls.”
Bricker said that while all functions of the department are important the most critical in terms of fighting crime as it happens is a presence on the streets,
Bricker noted Manteca has experienced a 3 percent drop in crime in the past year while nearby cities have seen virtually the opposite. He credited the department’s “hard working and dedicated officers” plus the ability to harness technology to allow officers to work smarter.
The department is authorized 119 employees and has 13 vacant general fund positions including a captain, a sergeant, four police officers, four community service officers, a dispatcher, a support services manager, and a booking officer. Those vacancies account for $1 million in savings that are factored into the roughly $5.5 million deficit reducing steps being put in place for next year.
The department is also delaying hiring five additional Measure M police officers due to a drop in the half cent sales tax recipts. He noted that Measure M funding now accounts for 10 percent of all of the department’s sworn front-line personnel.
Bricker said he judges effectiveness of the department not on officers per 1,000 residents but in the average response time to various calls.
The department’s goal is to respond to priority one or life and safety calls within three minutes. Currently the department accomplishes that goal 90.2 percent of the time.
For priority two calls, which are stable but could worsen and become priority one if not handled soon, the goal is to respond within 30 minutes. Manteca officers are meeting that goal 87.5 percent of the time.
Priority three calls for general service – “there are the ones where someone wakes up and discovers a lawn gnome has been stolen,” Bricker said – have a 60-minute response time goal. They currently reach that goal 79.2 percent of the time but often the wait for an officer can go two to four hours due to more pressing calls.
LA Officers lose appeal on financial disclosure
A federal appeals court decision on Friday will allow the Los Angeles Police Department to enforce a rule aimed at curbing corruption among narcotics and anti-gang police officers by enforcing them to disclose personal financial information.The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied a motion by the Los Angeles Police Protective League to halt the requirement. The court’s order upholds a ruling last year by a federal judge who said there was no proof that blocking the plan would benefit the public.
The police union, which filed the motion after the department announced it planned to implement it last June, warned that such requirements would drive away experienced officers, hurt morale and disrupt recruiting.
The financial disclosure plan was mandated by the U.S. Department of Justice after a scandal in the late 1990s involving misconduct by anti-gang officers from LAPD’s Rampart division.
The Police Department said the appeals court’s decision was expected and plans to implement the rule within 30 days. It will affect about 500 officers.
The union’s president, Paul M. Weber, said the “intrusive requirements will put officers and their families at risk, while having no demonstrable positive outcomes.”
The union said some officers threatened to quit or asked to be reassigned rather than complete the disclosure forms. Weber said the union will counsel its members to use their own judgment when filling out forms with sensitive information.
Oakland police chief’s last day in tough job
Oakland Police Chief Wayne Tucker retires Saturday leaving a police department that has made strides toward reform but is still plagued by scandal.
Some community leaders are eager to see Tucker leave while others said he became a scapegoat for a dysfunctional city government.
Mayor Ron Dellums, who like Tucker has faced criticism for being slow to make Oakland safer, has praised the outgoing chief’s leadership and has launched a national search to replace Tucker.
Tucker, hired in 2005 by then-Mayor Jerry Brown, cited conflicts with the City Council as his reason for retiring early. He could not be reached for comment.
Assistant Chief Howard Jordan, a 20-year veteran of the department, will serve as acting chief until a permanent replacement is named, a process that officials said could take up to four months.
Tucker in January announced his retirement hours before four members of the City Council were to hold a news conference calling for a vote of no confidence on Tucker’s performance, primarily for not driving down crime.
“In a word, his administration has been a failure because it has failed to deal with the overriding issue of violent crime,” said Oakland resident Don Link, a former member of the city’s community policing advisory board. “We need a chief who can provide a strategic plan for reducing crime. Until then, the department will continue to go in circles.”
Maya Dillard Smith, a member of the citizens’ advisory committee overseeing the implementation of Measure Y, a 2004 police and violence prevention parcel tax, said Tucker failed to improve the department’s community relations across diverse neighborhoods.
“We need a visionary leader who understands the concept of community policing,” Dillard Smith said. “It involves day in, day out engagement of the community free from political confines.”
On the contrary, Sgt. Dom Arotzarena, president of the Oakland Police Officers Association, said Tucker’s legacy will be improving the professionalism of the department.
Chiefly, Tucker led the implementation of reforms mandated by a settlement stemming from the 2000 Riders scandal where officers were accused and later acquitted of planting evidence and beating suspects.
Arotzarena said the reforms led to better supervision of rank-and-file officers in the field and reduced the likelihood for corruption. “We didn’t always agree with the chief, but our interactions have been very professional. I’m sorry to see him leave,” he said.
Scandals in department
The latest department scandal surfaced in January when the head of police internal affairs, Capt. Ed Poulson, was put on leave while the FBI looks into whether in 2000 he kicked a drug suspect who later died and whether he ordered subordinate officers at the time to lie about it.
Tucker has said that the suspect’s death predated his arrival and that he promoted Poulson to head internal affairs because he was the most qualified candidate.
In addition to the Poulson investigation, the city announced it intends to fire nine officers and two sergeants for allegedly lying to obtain search warrants in drug cases.
Tucker also was accused by a veteran police lieutenant, Lawrence Green, of promoting former police union President Bob Valladon to the rank of acting sergeant to sweeten his pension benefits in exchange for tabling a no-confidence vote.
The department also has weathered criticism for its handling of the investigation into the August 2007 slaying of journalist Chauncey Bailey in downtown Oakland, believed to be an assassination by members of Your Black Muslim Bakery.
Improvements cited
Supporters credited Tucker, who previously served as assistant Alameda County sheriff and was a 38-year veteran of the sheriff’s office before becoming Oakland’s top cop, for hiring more officers than the department has ever had, bringing the force to 830 from about 700 in 2005.
They also praised the chief for leading the department’s move to 12-hour patrol shifts and an area command system aimed at bringing more accountability, cracking down on crime hot spots and solving vexing neighborhood issues.
“He’s done an excellent job reforming the Police Department,” City Administrator Dan Lindheim said.” We have a much more professional department. Crime is still unacceptably high, but it’s lower than when he came in.”
But Council President Jane Brunner said there are still too many robberies and a lack of follow-through on investigations. Brunner, who was one of the four council members ready to cast a vote of no confidence, said she is eager to see the next chief quickly implement data-based crime fighting.
“The chief had no crime-fighting strategy,” Brunner said. “I’m looking for a chief who is trained in an urban setting. I personally believe it should be somebody from the outside.”
OHP troopers recover 721 stolen vehicles worth $5.2 million in 2008
Stopping vehicle thefts always has been a priority of Ohio law-enforcement officers, but the effort has taken on additional importance as it relates to preventing other crimes in Ohio, according to the Ohio State Highway Patrol.
OHP troopers, along with local law-enforcement officials across Ohio, are well aware that criminals travel in stolen vehicles amidst unsuspecting and law-abiding motorists, as they carry out their criminal activities.
OHP troopers recovered 721 stolen vehicles last year, valued at $5.2 million, with 555 of those recoveries resulting in apprehensions, according to OHP Lt. Mike Harmon, commander of OHP’s Saybrook post.
OHP’s top auto-larceny enforcer for 2008 was Trooper Dan Jesse, who is assigned to the post. Jesse recovered 16 stolen vehicles valued at $97,940, which resulted in the apprehension of 17 suspects.
In addition to recovering stolen vehicles, last year troopers made 5,244 misdemeanor criminal arrests and 1,540 felony arrests, through their enforcement efforts, and arrested 4,467 persons who were wanted on outstanding warrants, of whom 967 were wanted felons, according to Harmon’s press release.
According to federal sources, vehicle theft is the second most profitable crime in the United States, surpassed only by the trafficking and sale of illegal narcotics. Ongoing efforts by OHP troopers continue to reduce auto thefts overall and are having a significant impact on related crimes across Ohio, Harmon said.
State troopers recommend people take the following precautions to protect their vehicles from break-ins, which could lead to the theft of the vehicle itself or of property inside the vehicle: (1) Never leave your car running, or leave the keys in the ignition, when it is unattended. (2) Keep your car doors locked at all times. (3) If you have a garage, park your car inside and lock the garage door. (4) Don’t store packages or valuables in plain sight. (5) Park your car in a safe well-lit or well-traveled area at night. (6) Have your vehicle identification number etched into the windows and major parts of your car, to make your car harder to resell on the black market. (7) Avoid parking your car in a long-term parking lot, and (8) Remove any portable electronic devices, like compact-disc players or GPS navigation systems when you leave your car.
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