Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Caught on camera

Earlier this month, officers Chad Staley and Conan Schafer made a nice arrest of an alleged serial graffiti vandal.  Among his dozens of targets was the statue of Abraham Lincoln that stands right in front of the Law Enforcement Center and Hall of Justice. The vandal painted the letter V in a circle on the base of the statue--similar to the emblem in the film (and comic book) V for Vendetta.

There is an interesting back story concerning how the arrest was made. Officer Nate Flood, who investigated one of the vandalism cases, reviewed video from the camera systems at the Hall of Justice, which showed the vandal walking towards the statute from the convenience store on the opposite side of 10th Street.  Officer Flood went to the convenience store, and found video of the suspect from that vantage point, too. The convenience store's footage (is it still called "footage"?) was even better.

The video was not of sufficient quality to identify the suspect by facial features, but it did reveal a rather distinctive logo on the suspect's back pack.  Still images from the video were shown during daily roll call briefings (we actually call it "lineup") at the police department the following day.  Later that evening, two officers preparing to  do a little traffic enforcement a mile or so south of Abe's location happened to see a pedestrian sporting a backpack with a logo they recognized from lineup, and made the arrest.  The backpack, of course, contained several cans of spray paint.  Case cleared--or rather 34 cases cleared.

Images from various privately-owned and operated CCTV systems are helping to clear a lot of crimes in Lincoln.  Sometimes it is an eagle-eyed police officer who makes the identification, and often it is a citizen.

8 comments:

Steve said...

All the more reason to keep the cameras at 14th and O.

Anonymous said...

Let me guess; he'll get diversion.

Steve said...

Yes, unfortunately, solving the crime is only one part of the story. I guess it comes down to a choice of each victim paying for their own damages from vandals, or everyone paying to put them in jail. They seldom have the funds to make restitution, so the victims still end up paying. The other thing to consider, though, is that if the vandals are jailed, they won't be repeating their crimes any time soon (which is better than nothing).

Anonymous said...

Steve,

This offender's parents, whom he lives with in their $400K Wilderness Ridge home, appear quite capable of easily making restitution for all the damages. If they order restitution, they'd likely ensure it was paid promptly.

Anonymous said...

His parents should haul his butt to every location and have him apologize. Then he needs to clean up the mess and/or make restitution to those who have already taken care of it.

Anonymous said...

Way to go Chad and Conan. You guys rock. How did you find the strength to arrest him after flexing your muscles so much?

Anonymous said...

I agree with Anon 12:46. He should be ordered to go to each location and try to get it off himself. Maybe a little scrubbing out in the elements will change his attitude and his chances of re-offending.

ARRRRG!!!! said...

V is no where as cool as this.