Ex-addict suggests Medford cop for TV award
This story originally ran in February 2009, but it really embraces the spirit of PositiveLEO, so here goes…..
Manoah Hall is an avid fan of gritty reality shows “COPS” and “America’s Most Wanted,” but he knows that true heroics aren’t always the stuff of TV drama.
Manoah Hall, left, credits Medford police officer Tim Garr with helping him step out of a life of crime and meth addiction. Hall has nominated Garr for an All-Star award for police officers from TV’s “America's Most Wanted” show.
In fact, he credits Medford police officer Tim Garr with saving his life with a simple conversation.
In September 2007, Hall was caught up in methamphetamine addiction and criminal activity when Garr was called to back up an Ashland police officer dealing with Hall, who was under the influence and causing trouble.
Even though Hall was high that night, he remembers Garr pulling him aside and pointing out that his 5-week-old daughter needed him.
“He talked to me about being a parent and it stuck with me,” Hall said. “When I came down, it was still with me.”
Garr’s point stuck with Hall through drug and family court, through treatment programs, through difficult moments alone.
The conversation has remained a focus throughout his recovery, Hall said.
“I would be in prison if not for that night. This gave me a chance to be a father,” Hall said, noting that the chance was especially important to him because his own father had abandoned him when he was young.
So when Hall — now 33, sober for more than 18 months and a full-time student at Rogue Community College with a fiancee and busy toddler daughter at home — saw that “America’s Most Wanted” was honoring police, firefighters, emergency medical technicians and other professionals on the first line of response in an emergency, he thought of Garr.
Each year, the popular Fox crime-fighting show gives an all-star award to one of those first responders. Viewers vote online over the course of eight weeks to choose eight finalists, and one wins a trip to NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series All-Star Challenge at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Charlotte, N.C., where John Walsh, the host of “America’s Most Wanted,” will present the winner a $10,000 cash award.
Garr responded modestly to Hall’s nomination, even telling a screener from “America’s Most Wanted” that he wasn’t sure he was qualified to be an all-star.
“I said I wasn’t in a blazing gun battle taking out a gang of bad guys or anything, but she said it represented the totality of a law enforcement job,” Garr said.
He decided to accept the nomination, pointing out that it could have been anybody in his department or any department who responded that night and said the thing that made the difference.
“You talk to people and you try to plant that seed,” said Garr, who admits that as a father himself, he strives especially hard to break through in cases involving children. “I knew that if he messed up, he would never know what he was missing.”
Garr, 43, is an Air Force veteran who worked for the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department for seven years before joining Medford police eight years ago. In 2007, he received the Medford Police Department’s life-saving award and a Red Cross Professional Service Award for resuscitating a 5-month-old boy who had stopped breathing.
He is a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars and has organized Medford’s Veterans’ Day parade for the past three years. He is involved in his sons’ Cub Scout and Boy Scout troops, and he’s active in youth and adult soccer leagues.
Oregon law prohibits police officers from accepting cash awards for on-duty service, so Garr will donate any prizes he receives in the all-star contest.
But more importantly, he explained in e-mails announcing his nomination, he wants to share the recognition with law enforcement professionals everywhere who might not ever hear about the difference they make just doing their jobs.
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I’ve voted for Officer Garr several times and you can, too, right here.
Shreveport considers seeking $12.4M to hire police officers
Shreveport City Council members Monday heard the police chief’s plan to apply for a $12.4 million federal grant to hire 100 more officers.
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If the board approves the resolution, Mayor Cedric Glover officially can apply for money, congressionally approved as part of President Obama’s stimulus package.
Hiring all 100 officers would take about four years, or 25 per year, Police Chief Henry Whitehorn said. “I couldn’t train 100 officers a year.”
An additional 25 each year would help keep up with the Police Department’s attrition rate through retirements and resignations. A manpower study Whitehorn directed shows the force is short about 100 officers.
The board will be unable to vote on the measure until early next month. The deadline to apply is April 14, Whitehorn said.
Shreveport will have to pay some money. After the grant money runs out, the Police Department will have to keep the new officers on its rolls for at least a year. That will cost about $4.1 million. Pre-hiring costs and equipment will cost about $1.2 million yearly.
“This is one that we obviously are enthusiastic to move forward with,” Glover said.
“It gives us the chance to be able to get our staffing levels up and to be able to get to that magic number that the chief and his staff and plan has given us.”
Glover said he plans to share with the council today more efforts to secure federal stimulus money for the city.
Last week, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder encouraged mayors to seek their share of $1 billion in grants known as the Community Oriented Policing Services Hiring Recovering Program.
Camden County Sheriff’s Dept. holds memorial for fallen K-9 officer
The Camden County Sheriff’s Department held a memorial for a fallen member of it’s department yesterday.
Sheriff Dwight Franklin says patrol K-9 Muk passed away March 4 after a lengthy battle with cancer.
K9 Muk
Muk worked with Sgt. Bart Sims for the last seven years. The sheriff says Muk was responsible for numerous drug seizures, apprehensions and search and rescue work.
Sheriff Franklin says Muk was a great example of how important K-9 units can be for law enforcement agencies.
“Pennies for Kenny” campaign for Great Falls policeman
The Great Falls Police Protective Association is asking you to help Detective Kenny Prigmore.
Prigmore has served the people of Great Falls for the past 16 years; he’s married and has 2 children, and in May of 2008 he was diagnosed with cancer.
Since then, he’s undergone chemotherapy, had a kidney removed, and he’s now a patient at Benefis.
A raffle is being held to pay for Detective Prigmore’s health costs; prizes include 4-wheeler, hunting rifle, and a limited edition print by Pat Halcro.
Tickets can be purchased at the Police Department, from any police officer, or at Great Falls High School. Winning tickets will drawn on May 16th.
WEB EXTRA: more information about the “Pennies For Kenny” campaign:
Kenny moved to Great Falls with his wife Julie and two children in 1993 and has been an Officer with the Great Falls Police Department for nearly 16 years.
Officer Prigmore has influenced many lives while in several positions within the Police Department to include, Patrol Officer, D.A.R.E. Officer, Law Related Education Officer, Great Falls Housing Authority Officer, and his current position as a Detective assigned to Great Falls High as a School Resource Officer.
The Great Falls Police Protective Association has received donations/gifts that are going to be raffled off. Raffle tickets are going to be sold at a price of $10.00 each or 3 for $25.00. With the purchase of a raffle ticket the ticket holder will have a chance at winning a 4-wheel drive Yamaha 350 Grizzly, a weekend getaway at the Grand Union Hotel in Fort Benton, a Remington Model 700 .243, a Monte Dolack print, a limited edition print by Pat Halcro, and artwork by Andrea Pierce.
The raffle tickets in support of Pennies for Kenny can be purchased by contacting the Great Falls Police Department, any Great Falls Police Officer, Great Falls High School, and the tickets will be sold at upcoming events throughout the City. Cash donations will also be accepted and can be directed to First Interstate Bank, ATTN: Candi Howard.
If you have any questions or would like more information, call Detective Doug Mahlum at 781-8912.
Retirement Fund for Vt. K-9 Cops
Officer David Dewey is headed out to meet up with his partner at the Colchester Police Department, but this officer’s back up has four legs instead of two. Meet Tazor– a 3-year-old Belgian Malinois and full-time employee of the town’s P.D.
“I know that whatever I ask him to do he’s going to do it without question, without hesitation,” Dewey says.
And that’s the way it is for all of Vermont’s 38 police dogs. They find the good guys and the bad ones, illegal drugs, and other crime scene evidence. Their job requires rigorous training and physical prowess while on the job.
“They’re in and out of the cars all the time. They’re jumping over walls and fences, going through streams, going through thick brush and so on. The drug work– a lot of the dogs are up on their back legs scratching and digging and biting where they find the drugs,” Dewey explains.
But that effort often means significant medical issues for these dogs later in life. It can even force a dog into instant retirement when injured on the job. And the injuries are expensive to treat, sometimes cost prohibitive for their human police partners who suddenly become financially responsible for their medical care.
“I think these animals have earned a retirement and their problems that were started, precipitated by their jobs should be taken care of and it should not be up to the handler to be put in a position where they might be faced with a very serious decision whether than can keep this animal around,” says Dr. Paul Howard, of the Vermont Veterinary Surgical Center.
Loretta Walters and her husband, Kirk, agree. Unabashed dog lovers– and grief stricken after the loss of their beloved lab, Lacey, last year– the Shelburne family needed to channel their grief so they started a fund, “Lacey’s Fund” for Vermont’s police dogs.
“Logically you know your dogs are not going to outlive you, but nothing really prepares you for losing them and we miss her every day,” Loretta Walters says. “It was important to do something to just feel better about it. So she left her mark.”
It’s a mark that will help Vermont’s police dogs live out their final days in comfort. Police say it’s a priceless gift from Lacey; her family calls it Lacey’s legacy.
For more information on Lacey’s Fund and the Vermont Canine Police Association:
Lacey’s Fund
Vermont Police Canine Association
PO Box 193
Colchester, VT 05446
802-483-6228, ext. 29
www.vtpca.com
Stabbed K9 on the road to recovery….Go, Earp!
“The last 24 hours have been a remarkable recovery for him,” said Mount Hope’s Sgt. Jess Havin, the handler for the police dog, Earp.
It’s a recovery that Friday afternoon seemed like a long shot after Earp was stabbed by a man who police say had just stabbed his wife to death. Police say that man, 51-year-old William “Tony” Bradley, then came toward officers, who fatally shot him.
In the midst of it all, Earp lost a significant amount of blood and it took a while for the veterinarian to realize he had been stabbed in the throat, damaging his carotid artery. Sgt. Havin said the vet told him later he didn’t expect Earp to survive. “He gave him about a 10 percent chance,” Havin said.
But in the last day, Earp has improved immensely. He’s now alert and eating solid foods.
Still, Earp is being watched closely and continuously for the next 14 days and could still develop an infection. But if he continues on the track he’s going, Sgt. Havin said he may be returning to work.
Earp was slated for retirement next month, but the K-9 training for new dogs is sometimes backed up and if Earp is recovered Sgt. Havin said he’d like him to work, just a little longer.
He’s extremely valuable, triple trained in patrol, narcotics detection and a valued member of a team that searches for discarded evidence, “He found one of our detectives stolen guns which was thrown during a traffic stop,” Havin said.
In the coming weeks, however, that type of work will be put on hold, as both officers work on recovering, both physically and emotionally.
“You spend more time with this dog than you do with your family,” said Sgt. Havin, fighting back tears.
Now it’s the law in Massachusetts: Slow down and move over
A new law went into effect yesterday that will require drivers who spot emergency response vehicles in the breakdown lane of state highways to slow down and move over.
It may sound like common sense, but under the Move it Over Law, motorists will be required, if they can safely do so, to change lanes so that they are not immediately adjacent to emergency vehicles. Failure to do so could result in a $100 fine.
Along with emergency vehicles, such as ambulances or police cars, the new law applies to highway maintenance vehicles and recovery trucks.
Local state police troopers said last week the idea was about time, since they had survived close calls in the past. Troopers said the close calls happen more often than one would think as cars speed by on the highway, sometimes the gusts knocking their hats off their heads.
Massachusetts will be the 44th state to pass such a law, according to Move Over, America
Last week, Massachusetts State Police along with state police Superintendent Col. Mark Delaney, Massachusetts Highway Department Commissioner Luisa Paiewonsky, AAA Southern New England Director of Public and Legislative Affairs Mary Maguire and Massachusetts Organization of State Engineers and Scientists President Joe Dorant held a press conference to detail the change.
Among those in attendance were injured state trooper Dana Cresta. Cresta was nearly killed last October when he was struck by a car while standing outside his cruiser on the Massachusetts Turnpike in Newton. Cresta was taken to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center with serious injuries.
A national organization called Move Over, America, which is devoted to spreading awareness of move-over laws, stated that more than 150 law enforcement officers have been struck and killed by vehicles along the nation’s highways since 1997.
Ozzie Guillen pays tribute to slain Oakland officers
White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen paid tribute to the four Oakland police officers shot during a Saturday traffic stop with an “O.P.D.” written on his uniform cap for Sunday’s Cactus League game at the Spring Training home for the A’s.
“It’s sad when people are working for this country, trying to make it better, and some idiot out there doesn’t realize the job they’re doing for any reason you do it. There’s no reason to do it,” Guillen said. “There’s no reason to take people’s lives when you got kids and you’re working and you’re working to make a living. It should be a hard day for the Bay Area.”
A 26-year-old parolee wanted on a parole violation opened fire on two officers during a traffic stop, killing one and putting the other in the hospital on life support. He was ruled brain dead on Sunday. Two more officers were slain in a shootout that killed the suspect. Oakland police said that never in the department’s history had so many officers been killed in the line of duty in the same day.
“I’ve never seen anything sadder than a police funeral,” Guillen said. “You don’t want to take anyone’s life, especially when it’s a policeman or fireman, or you’re in the Army and [they] take your life away, because you’re protecting this country. And people have to look themselves in the mirror and think about it, how important they are for us.
“We only worry about police when they’re killed. We don’t give them enough credit for making our lives easier. It’s a sad thing when you’re in the United States of America, and you see that over and over, and it should be a sad day, not just for the Bay Area, but everyone in the United States. You don’t want to see it happen.”
Fourth Oakland Officer dies
An Oakland Police officer shot Saturday during a series of gunbattles that claimed the lives of three other officers was declared brain dead this morning, Oakland police said today.
Motorcycle officer John Hege, 41, had been in grave condition after being shot during a traffic stop at about 1:15 p.m. Saturday. He was pronounced dead at noon today, according to Oakland police spokesman Jeff Thomason. Hege’s fellow motorcycle officer, Sgt. Mark Dunakin, died at the scene of that shooting.
Two hours later, a SWAT team exchanged gunfire with a suspect in an apartment on 74th Avenue near Hillside Street. Two SWAT officers, Sgt. Ervin Romans and Sgt. Daniel Sakai, died in that battle as did the suspect, identified by police as Lovelle Mixon, 26.
A fifth member of the SWAT team was also shot, treated for minor injuries and released.
K9 Officer blending personal passion for dogs with career
Only by happenstance did Anthony Lazzaroni stumble into the world of K9 police work, a world full of drug discoveries, public curiosity, suspense, and satisfaction.
As a teenage police cadet in Lansing, Lazzaroni was recruited by the department’s K9 officer to house sit and watch the dog when the officer traveled out of town. An admitted dog lover, Lazzaroni soon became enchanted with both the dog and the profession.
Now a decade into his K9 work with the Monee Police Department, Lazzaroni has scored busts big and small and landed on a dream career.
“It’s special for me to be able to blend my interest in drug enforcement with my love for dogs,” Lazzaroni said.
The same feeling resonates with Bridgeview police officer Russ Allabastro, who has spent the last three years with a Belgian Malamute named Gasper at his side. Allabastro spent 26 years in law enforcement before he landed the K9 spot in Bridgeview.
“I simply put in my application and was lucky enough to be picked,” Allabastro said.
While urban police departments, including Chicago, claim a deep roster of K9 personnel, most Southland departments host no more than two. Many suburbs, in fact, call upon K9 officers from other towns as the need arises. In Bridgeview, Allabastro is the city’s lone K9 officer; in Monee, Lazzaroni is not only the village’s sole K9 officer but also its first. After Monee city leaders approved Lazzaroni’s proposal to start a K9 unit, he began full-time work with Vito, a German Shepard, in 1999.
“It was quite an honor to be the first here,” he said.
First with Vito and now with Duke, another German Shepard, Lazzaroni has performed countless building searches, public demonstrations, and endured hours of training. For Lazzaroni, narcotics searches, the bulk of his work, continue to bring the most interest and satisfaction.
” I enjoy putting Duke inside and then seeing him hit on something,” Lazzaroni said. “I can tell right away when he finds drugs. His body posture changes, his breathing changes, and he starts scratching, which is his sign that he’s hit.”
While Allabastro enjoys doing demonstrations for school and public events, “Gasper’s a playful, people friendly dog who loves to mingle,” he said – the officer also enjoys the unique skills he and his partner add to the city’s law enforcement efforts.
“It’s a great satisfaction when we’re called out to do a track and the dog picks up a scent and leads us to where we need to be,” Allabastro said. “People just look at me and say, ‘You got a great dog there.’ That’s about the best compliment I can get.”
Most police K9 dogs arrive from Europe, where the breeding process is more pure. Duke arrived in Monee by way of Germany while Gasper spent time in Belgium before hitting Bridgeview’s streets. Surprising to many but characteristic of the K9 position, neither Lazzaroni nor Allabastro relay their commands in English. Lazzaroni directs Duke in German while Allabastro speaks Czechoslovakian to Gasper.
The training K9 officers undertake with their dogs is arduous. In addition to extensive officer and dog training in preparation for the position’s demands, officers and their dogs perform a state-mandated 16 hours of additional training each month. Throughout each day, however, dogs and their handlers take small windows of time to work on different skills and refine old ones.
“K9 officers do more training than any other specialized unit in a department,” Allabastro confirmed.
Though a game-like atmosphere often dominates the training, Lazzaroni often needs to inject patience into the sessions. After all, any dog, whether police or personal, will only behave as well as it’s trained.
“You can’t get agitated when you’re training the dog,” Lazzaroni said. “You need to take time and recognize that the dog will have bad days, too.”
The training, by way of formal as well as informal sessions, frequently pays off with results.
With Vito, Lazzaroni once found 39 kilos of cocaine. Just recently, Duke led Lazzaroni to 125 pounds of marijuana. Assisting the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) on a major drug source, Allabastro and Gasper led DEA agents to an assortment of drugs, money, jewelry, and a gun. And last year, Allabastro was called out of training to respond to a burglary in progress. Sent in to find the individuals, Gasper stopped in front of closet, barked, and held the trio of burglars in place – just as he was trained to do.
“After it was done, one of the burglars said to me, ‘I’d rather have you guys shoot me than the dog bite me,’” Allabastro said.
Given the bonds each officer has formed with his dog, the specialized nature of the work, and the thrill of the hunts that often require their attention, the K9 post remains a job neither officer would trade.
“It’s amazing that any department pays a K9 guy to go play with a dog,” Allabastro said, certainly simplifying the work.
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