The Police Blotter
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Police Blotter - 11.13.08 |
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Written by Pulse Staff
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Tuesday, 11 November 2008 22:36 |
• Another prostitution sting, another story making national news. Chattanooga police conducted a prostitution sting in Highland Park and East Lake that rounded up eight prostitutes and two pimps, including one who was marketing his own wife. Undercover officers posing as “Johns” made the rounds of known prostitution hangouts and were quite successful in getting offers from the working girls. The story, including mugshots of all those who were arrested, quickly made the rounds of various Internet blogs and websites nationwide, several of which have made a habit of covering Chattanooga prostitution arrests. We’re sure that this isn’t the image the Chamber of Commerce and various tourist groups want to share with the rest of the country, but the fact is that many online observers have taken a noted interest in our criminal underworld.
• Undercover officers are not only trying to clean up the streets of prostitution, they are going after drug dealers as well. A task force comprised of officers from the BATF, Bradley County Sheriff’s Department, Cleveland City Police and the 10th Judicial District Drug Task Force have completed a month-long undercover investigation resulting in the arrest and indictment of more than 20 people involved in the sale of crack cocaine and marijuana. Additionally, investigators were able to solve 30 outstanding burglary and theft cases in Bradley County, Cleveland, Meigs County, and Polk County. Good to see so many agencies working together to help make our streets safer.
• It is always scary to read a report of another home invasion, a once-again growing problem in this area. But there is often comedic justice in how some inept home invaders conduct their burglary attempts. A Bradley County couple reported to deputies that a trio of men invaded their home last week after knocking on the door. In the ensuing melee, both of the residents were able to escape the house unharmed, but one of the invaders was not so lucky. He was struck in the head by a baseball bat swung by one of his fellow invaders. Deputies were able to track him down to a local hospital, where it was quick detective work to arrest him and his two hapless compatriots, who will likely never be selected for the prison softball team.
• The Midtown Music Hall is without their beer license for a week after an incident involving six underage drinkers, and a seventh who tried to prevent the arresting officer from taking one of her friends into custody. Officer John Collins had visited the club at the invitation of the owners on a recent “college night” and noticed six youths drinking. When he asked them for identification, several of them produced fake IDs, leading all six of them to be arrested. While he was escorting them out of the club, another minor started to fight with Officer Collins, leading to fisticuffs involving several of the club bouncers and ending with the minor escaping during the confusion. The Beer Board handed down the weeklong suspension, and owner Peter Waddington has decided to no longer allow anyone under the age of 21 into his club. |
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Written by Pulse Staff
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Wednesday, 05 November 2008 14:25 |
• Even though gas prices are falling at a near mind-boggling rate, there are still those out there who are either unwilling or unable to pay for filling up their tank. A gas station on Highway 153 last week was victimized but such an entrepreneur, who tried backing away from the pump after filling up to prevent the clerk from seeing his tag—unsuccessfully, as it turned out. But what caught our eye was the description given to officers of the suspect: a skinny white male in his early 20s with a toboggan and a long, pointy goatee. Either there was a ’60s Halloween costume party and he was dressed as a hippie, or someone has been watching way too many “Dobie Gillis” re-runs and wanted to look just like Maynard G. Krebs.
• If you’ve ever been tempted to pull a fire alarm, kindly resist the temptation unless you enjoy spending time behind bars. Such was the case for a young man who thought it would be amusing to pull a fire alarm at a large Hixson apartment complex. Six Chattanooga fire companies responded to the alarm and were understandably annoyed to discover no fire. Unfortunately for the merry prankster, there were witnesses, who quickly pointed him out to authorities, who arrested him and charged him with reckless endangerment and making a false report (the pulling of the fire alarm). He was released after paying a $2,000 bond and will have plenty of time to lament his lack of an appropriate sense of humor once he faces a judge.
• There are, sadly, many reports of petty theft and shoplifting every week around the city. However, some of the reports raise more questions than they answer. Such as the case of a Brainerd Road convenience-store robbery last week, during which a man made off with two cases…of Star Burst candy. Not only that, but he dropped one of the boxes, spilling the delicious chewy candy packets across the floor—and then stopped long enough to scoop up most of the wayward treats before running from the store. The clerk was able to write down the tag number, which helped police track down the owner of the getaway vehicle.
• The Police Blotter would like to take a moment to send out thanks to State Representative Vince Dean and State Senator Andy Berke, who combined with other members of the state legislature to pass a bill renaming a section of Interstate 24 to honor slain police officer Julie Jacks. The section of the highway goes through the Fox sector where Jacks patrolled before she was shot and killed on May 6, 2002 in a struggle. Speaking before the City Council, Rep. Dean summed the tragedy up well, “She is one of our heroes in Chattanooga. She made the ultimate sacrifice to make Chattanooga a safer place to live.” |
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Police Blotter - 10.30.08 |
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Written by Pulse Staff
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Wednesday, 29 October 2008 19:17 |
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• Some people have some serious trust issues. In what appears to be a case of a husband wanting to keep track of his wife’s whereabouts at all times, police were called to the parking lot of a medical office on Gunbarrel Road after someone noticed a man apparently placing some sort of device underneath a car. The office was evacuated as the bomb squad removed a suspicious device from underneath the vehicle, and then detonated it for safety reasons. It was determined that the device was in fact a GPS unit. The owner of the car was questioned when it was determined that her husband matched the description and he was subsequently arrested.
• Some thieves aren’t very good at planning things through. Such was the case of a wannabe-car thief on Mercer Street last week. A security guard at a local business said someone broke into the back parking lot, knocked out the window of a Mercury and attempted to drive it off the lot. However, the not-so-bright criminal had not taken into account how he was going to get past the security fence enclosing the lot, and after repeated unsucessful attempts to ram the car through the fence, gave up and walked away from the scene.
• If you ever wonder what police are doing when they are driving around town, here’s one answer. An observant officer patrolling E. 23rd Street noticed a window broken out at a traQnsmission shop. Upon investigating, a juvenile was found hiding underneath a work bench. In his possession were ten sets of keys which he had taken from a work board. He was apparently trying to figure out which one unlocked a Cadillac in the fenced lot. The keys were returned, the window was boarded up, and the juvenile got a free ride in a not-as-fancy-as-a-Cadillac Ford Crown Victoria straight to the jail.
• When is a BB gun not a BB gun? That is a question facing police officers after they responded to a call on 13th Avenue. A women claimed that while riding her bicycle down the street, she heard several “loud pops” and then felt a pain in her back. She suspected that she had been shot at with a BB gun, and directed officers towards a nearby group of kids. Officers were unable to find any type of gun, BB or otherwise, and were perplexed until the heard the same “loud pops”…at which point they realized the sounds were coming from a nearby oak tree which was shedding acorns. |
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Police Blotter - 10.23.08 |
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Written by Pulse Staff
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Wednesday, 22 October 2008 19:35 |
• Sometimes when times get tough, getting out the house and heading to a sports bar seems like a good idea. However, when you are 6 years old, this tends to have older, more responsible people a bit concerned. Police were called out to a Brainerd sports bar after a “headstrong” 6-year old who was apparently off his medication decided to run away from home. When police arrived, the child led them on a foot pursuit until he was corralled and after some argument convinced to get into a police car and taken home.
• With economic times getting tougher, identity theft is on the rise. Which means people need to be a lot more cautious when giving out personal information, especially their social security number. Which, unfortunately, is not what happened to a Highway 58 woman who said a man called her house claiming to be from her employer and needed to get all her personal information to “update the files.” After she gave him the info, she found out that “Michael” did not work for her employer.
• Police work is not all about catching drug dealers and handing out speeding tickets. Sometimes, it involves acting as a neighborhood peacemaker. Officers were called out to a Dana Lane resident dispute in which a couple had refused to return a basketball that had bounced into their yard. After much discussion with the couple and the neighborhood basketball players, officers got the ballplayers to move the basketball goal to the other side of the yard and were able to safely secure the release of the basketball.
• It’s bad enough when someone steals from your store. It’s even worse when the damage caused by the thieves far exceeds the value of the merchandise stolen. Such was the case for an East 23rd Street storeowner victimized by a pair of young men who knocked out a window to steal approximately $20 worth of candy and ice cream. Losing the merchandise was bad enough, but the cost to replace the window tallies at around $500. And for those who wonder why shoplifting leads to higher prices, this is far from being an uncommon problem. |
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Police Blotter - 10.16.08 |
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Written by Pulse Staff
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Wednesday, 15 October 2008 19:48 |
• A recent roundup of prostitutes has made national news. The CPD ran a prostitution sting this past Friday in the East Lake and Highland Park neighborhoods, arresting a total of 21 people. Two of them turned out to be men dressed as women, and the press release from the department included photos of all 21 arrestees. Those photos have been picked up by various national websites, including one news aggregator that has decided to run a “Photoshop contest” where people are asked to give the alleged prostitutes a virtual makeover. Talk about adding insult to injury, or rather insult to arrest.
• Speaking of adding insult to injury: “Um, about your car, honey…” That is likely how a rather unpleasant conversation is going to start out this week, after a woman reported a car stolen from her work parking lot near Eastgate Town Center. The woman told police that she had been driving her boyfriend’s car while he was incarcerated in the county jail. She had finished her shift at a local call center, only to discover that instead of her boyfriend’s car, all that remained was a pile of broken safety glass. Some people just have no luck.
• Coyotes in Chattanooga? It’s more likely than you think. The furry predators’ population has been growing, and combined with the continued outward expansion of housing developments into the county taking over their habitats, more and more homeowners are coming face-to-face with the hungry critters. That’s what happened to one startled woman on Lee Avenue in the East Brainerd area last week when she walked out of her house and was confronted and then approached by a coyote. She retreated inside her home and called police, who were able to make certain her property was varmint-free by the time they arrived.
• In movies and on TV, you often see dramatic escapes by criminals from courtrooms. In real life, however, these escape attempts very rarely succeed, as one fleet-footed man discovered. He had just pled guilty to a domestic-disturbance charge in general sessions court when he bolted. He attempted to get into an elevator, but ended up losing his shoe and fell, sliding across the floor where he was easily retaken into custody by court officers. The clincher: He originally would have faced just 90 days in jail, but now faces a two-year sentence for the attempted escape. And even if, by chance, he had kept his shoe on, the elevator he was racing towards in his bid for freedom had been out of service for more than a week. |
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