Crime Highlights - March 2009
In March a Walker officer arrested a suspect at a motel in the City
on several warrants. The investigating officer handcuffed the individual
and placed him in the back seat of the patrol vehicle while he completed
his investigation. The suspect was able to manipulate his handcuffs from
behind his back to the front. He then forced his way into the front seat
of the police vehicle and stole it. The two State troopers who were
backing our officer up observed the suspect back the car up and attempt
to ram the troopers with the Walker police vehicle and sandwich them
into the back of their car. They fired at the suspect who fled the scene
in the police car. The vehicle and the suspect were later recovered and
the suspect was charged with a multi-count warrant in this matter. He is
awaiting adjudication in jail.
The next day patrol personnel responded to a Home Invasion complaint.
The suspect had fled after coming face-to-face with the homeowner who
was home at the time and was gone upon the arrival of the officers. GRPD
was aware of this incident and were attempting to locate the suspect. A
short time later GRPD received a similar call and responded to a Home
Invasion in their city. They were able to locate and arrest the suspect.
Patrol took our victim to that scene for identification purposes. Patrol
requested that a detective respond to interview the suspect. On arrival
it was noted that the suspect was one of the individuals who was
questioned at the scene in the incident of the stolen police cruiser the
night before (but was not the same person who stole the police car). The
suspect would not give an honest statement in either matter. He was
lodged on the Grand Rapids charges. The investigation resulted in a
warrant being submitted to the prosecutor for Home Invasion 1st charge.
Following that warrant being issued our General Case detective did
further investigation and interviewing this subject. It was learned that
the suspect and another person had been doing home invasions in Kent
County and adjacent counties. That information was forwarded to the
other agencies involved and is still being investigated as to their
involvement in these cases.
On March 2nd our arson detective was called out to a suspicious fire
on Pannell Rd N.W. A vacant home had been set on fire. He responded to
the scene and did an initial investigation. He was later contacted by
dispatch who informed him that a parent wanted to speak to him about the
fire. The juvenile was interviewed the following day and admitted to
setting a fire in the vacant home. The juvenile was petitioned for
arson.
On March 23rd a report was taken at an apartment complex in regards
to a subject attempting to commit suicide. This person had filled the
apartment with natural gas from the kitchen stove. Warrants were
obtained for his actions due to the severity of his actions and the
potential for an explosion as well. The subject was arrested and sent to
the Kent County Jail.
In March nine officers took part in a promotional examination for the
rank of Sergeant. This is the first exam given in the past five years.
It is part of a process that will create a roster for potential use
should any sergeant vacancies become vacant in the next few years.
I took my vacation in March and upon my return participated in a
week-long lunchtime reading event at Cummings elementary School. The
students really seemed to appreciate this program and my participation
in it.
We experienced a significant increase overall in the number of calls
for service (103 more than in February) particularly in the number of
medical assists and false alarm activations. We believe the increase
overall is a seasonal change, however we are uncertain why these two
particular areas should have spiked so much in March and are keeping a
eye on both areas.
We continue to remind residents to lock their cars when they are away
from them since we have experienced isolated incidents of cars being
entered that were not locked. On occasion, items such as IPODS, CDs, GPS
devices, etc. have been taken.
We saw a reduction in the number of scrap metal thefts during March.
We believe the recent task force effort our agency participated in, in
addition to the decline in scrap metal value played a role in this
reduction.
The Walker Police Department received notification from the State of
Michigan that they want all medical first responders to electronically
submit medical information pertaining to their response to emergency
calls for service. Although this effort was originally geared toward
ambulance companies it also covers all MFR’s (including our officers).
This directive will have an adverse impact on the time our officers are
tied up on a medical call—especially if it is in addition to being an
accident scene. This is because they created internet-based software we
cannot legally install in our police cars because it would be a LEIN
violation. This means our officers could only complete it if they drove
into the police station and accessed it via the internet there (and not
all officers have internet access due to the cost involved to the city).
This requirement is an unfunded mandate by the State for our department
as a result at this time. I have notified our regional governing body (KEMS)
that we will be unable to electronically comply with their directive at
this time but will continue to submit the paper documents that we have
in the past. If/when the police department gets a new RMS we will
explore interfacing it to the State’s software.
Communications
The RFP for the County-wide CAD was finalized in January and released
for bid by the KCCDA. However, there continue to be numerous meeting
pertaining to the county-wide effort that Carl Wood, Lt. Long and myself
have attend in March.
Training
Due to budgetary constraints we have limited all training efforts
dramatically. In March on-line medical first responder training took
place by on-duty personnel who required it.
Traffic Related
With a break in the inclement weather we were able to deploy the
speed board seven (7) times during the month of March. Locations were it
was requested included:
Remembrance
Richmond
O’Brien
Fruitridge
Elmridge
Non-Traffic
Officers were assigned to extra patrol in the area of 4500
Remembrance Rd. because unknown individuals had cut an access hole
through a chain link fence and entered that property sometime between
1-13 and 1-15. Various vehicle parts were stolen from several cars.
Officers documented their patrol of the area on three (3)
different occasions, no violations were observed.
There were no further complaints received in this area.
Residential Property Checks
Twenty one residential property checks were completed in March
No unusual circumstances were found
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Walker, MI 49534-1181
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