Crime to watch

Capt. Jim Thoms recently noted that there has been a slight uptick in thefts of metals such as copper and aluminum. I ran a query and discovered that as of today we have had 39 cases with a total dollar loss of just over $14,000. That’s a far cry from our peak year of 2006, when there were 169 cases and the loss was nearly $170,000. Here’s the monthly trend in the number of cases thus far in 2009:

I’ve blogged before about some of the strategies we implemented that may have impacted this trend. The reduction in new construction coupled with the declining market price of copper and aluminum, though, are probably the leading causes for the drop off from 2006 through 2008. This may be changing, though. While our 2009 thefts are in such small numbers that trying to define a trend is somewhat unrealistic, it is nonetheless interesting to compare the price line on copper and aluminum to the offenses:

Battle of the Badges

Let the battle begin. It’s the big one: The Packers v. the Chiefs, the Yankees v. Red Sox, Nebraska v. Oklahoma, the Thrilla in Manila.

This week our annual blood drive for the Community Blood Bank of Lincoln kicks into high gear: Battle of the Badges. The concept is pretty simple, the Lincoln Police Department and Lincoln Fire & Rescue square off to see who can achieve the highest amount of blood donated. This is the 11th annual Battle of the Badges, and the series is knotted at 5-5.

The police and firefighters will be leading the charge, but we can only donate so much. So we’re both drumming up citizen support for our cause. If you donate blood at the Community Blood Bank this month, you’ll have the opportunity to check the box for the LPD or for LFR. The team with the most juice receives the travelling trophy and the acclaim of the entire City.

You can donate at any of the blood bank locations, or at the mobile units, which will be at these special events during October. It’s easy, it’s quick, they will lavish you with all manner of snacks, and you will be supporting a great cause by lending us your arm. Make an appointment, avoid the rush!

What’s the use of having a popular blog if you can’t exploit it for a good cause every now and then? Be the type that gives! (…for the police team, of course.)

Update on the guns

Since my last update, two more of the 79 firearms stolen in the 2007 burglary of Scheel’s All Sports in Lincoln have been recovered. On July 20, the United States Border Patrol stopped a vehicle on I-10 near Blythe, CA occupied by two Mexican nationals who were illegally in the United States and had extensive criminal histories. A 10mm Glock was recovered that was part of the Scheel’s haul.

Most recently, on September 9th, the Boulder County, CO Sheriff’s Department responded to a report of gunfire in a rural area, and contacted a pair of men out for a little sport. When they checked the firearms, one was determined to be a .38 Smith & Wesson revolver stolen from Scheel’s.

These two guns bring the total number recovered to 48, with 31 guns still out there.

Seasonal crime

Regular readers of the Chief’s Corner are aware that I fancy myself something of a crime analyst. I take a lot of grief (mostly good natured, I think) for my tendency to collect, assess, and analyze data. The following crime problem landed in my inbox yesterday morning, from a Lincoln citizen victimized by several recent offenses:

“I don't know if this is a serious enough thing to get the police department in on, but 2 of my pumpkins where stolen last night, and I found them smashed on the street not far from my house, this is 3 missing pumpkins off my front porch within 2 weeks….I don't really know what I can do about it…I didn't know if someone had any suggestions on what I could do to have them stop stealing my pumpkins, can I not leave them on my front porch? Thank you for your time.”

My first order of business was to examine the data for any apparent trends or patterns. To do so, I extracted two years of vandalism and theft cases containing the key word “pumpkin.” In 2007 and 2008, pumpkins figured in 126 crimes.: 13 thefts, 112 vandalisms, and one unlawful detonation of fireworks. There was a very strong seasonal pattern to these misdeeds:

It is probably too early to draw any conclusions about the trend in 2009, but further exploration of the 2007-08 data set also revealed a rather prominent geographic pattern. As you can see for the following map, it appears that pumpkins near the southern and eastern portions of Lincoln were at considerably more risk than those in other areas of the city during this two year period.


The analysis also revealed that in many cases, pumpkins were used as projectiles in other types of vandalism. There were 77 mailboxes damaged by pumpkins, and 27 motor vehicles. The total loss and damage was $13,914.

Based on this analysis, I recommend precautions for pumpkin owners during the months of October and November, and especially for those owners whose pumpkins are located in the southeast portions of Lincoln. Such precautions might include removing pumpkins from porches and stoops during the hours of darkness, to temporary storage in a secure area such as a garage or foyer. I realize this is somewhat labor-intensive, but it appears to be the most practical means of preventing the theft or destruction of large orange gourds.

False report

On September 13th, an armed robbery occurred at the Wells Fargo ATM located at N. 65th St. and Cotner Boulevard. We had good leads on that case from the outset, and it was cleared by two arrests later in the week. Before that occurred though, clear across town, another robbery connected to a Wells Fargo ATM was reported on September 16th. The victim said he had gone to the ATM at S. 70th St. and Pioneers Blvd., where he made a $260 withdrawal. As he turned into his neighborhood nearly a mile away, another vehicle bumped his car from behind. He got out to check the damage. The suspect brandished a pistol and relieved him of his rent money.

While the investigating officers certainly took it seriously, I thought this crime was fishy from the outset. It just sounded too much like an urban legend story to me: too convenient, too contrived. What’s this 35 year-old doing getting cash from an ATM to pay his rent in the middle of the month? He's living with his parents, and they won't accept a check? When, in my entire career, have I heard of a bump-and-rob in Lincoln? (Answer: never.) Of all the places to pull such a crime, why select a residential street with plenty of houses and streetlights? How many stranger robberies occur so early in the evening? My suspicion was that the victim had seen the news about the ATM robbery earlier in the week, and concocted a plausible story to explain his inability to pay the rent.

I told Det. Marty Fehringer the next morning that we should check the victim’s account activity at the bare minimum and see if he in fact made such a withdrawal. I imagine that in the back of his mind he was thinking, “Good idea, Capt. Obvious,” but Marty’s a gentleman, and allowed me my moment as amateur detective. The check of bank records revealed no such transaction occurred, and in a subsequent interview, the victim’s story collapsed. He had left the state for a while, so a few weeks passed before we were able to contact him over the weekend and cite him for false information.

One of the most annoying things about this case is the victim’s choice of his imaginary assailant: a black man armed with a pistol. I’m sick and tired of liars making up phantom suspects for non-existent crimes. There are plenty of genuine crimes to go around, and we have more than enough work to do without chasing after someone’s racist stereotypes.

Record finally falls

No, this has nothing to do with Nebraska's furious comeback against the Missouri Tigers last night (or was it this morning? I can't remember). Rather, the title of this post reflects the fact that the record for the most arrests of a single person by the Lincoln Police Department has fallen this week.

On Sunday, Kevin went into a downtown Lincoln store and allegedly pocketed a pair of sunglasses valued at $20.99. He was cited for shoplifting, marking his 652nd arrest, and pulling into a tie with the previous record-holder, Eddie the departed.

On Tuesday, Kevin was arrested for trespassing after he was found intoxicated in the hallway of an apartment building with a prominent "No Trespassing" sign posted at the entrance. At 46 years of age, there a fair chance he will put the mark considerably further up the pole.

Wrong uniform

The University of Nebraska football team had a bye last Saturday, and an away game tonight. That's a nice breather for the officers who work on the detail. For me, too, in an odd and less significant way. As an example, Nebraska's last home game brought me an unhappy email from a fan on the following Monday:

"I have 3 questions regarding police officer conduct while on duty and orders to vacate a public sidewalk. On Saturday, I believe an officer was incorrect in asking me to vacate an area on a public sidewalk. The officer had no identifying information on his person that I could see. I could see no badge, only a yellow shirt that said "POLICE", so I could not get either a name or a badge number. I do not know if the officer was off-duty acting as private security or was on-duty for the city of Lincoln. My three questions are these. First, if I ask an officer for his/her name and/or badge number, is that officer obliged to give me that information, whether or not the officer is acting in the capacity of a Lincoln police officer or acting as private security? Second, if I want to file a complaint about a particular officer, how may I go about doing that? Finally, if I am on a public sidewalk, standing and doing nothing illegal (including not blocking the sidewalk, foot traffic is free to flow around me while still remaining on the public sidewalk), am I obliged to vacate that sidewalk if an officer orders me to do so?"

I responded to him,

"We have no such uniform, and my officers are prohibited from working off-duty in any other uniform as security. Do you want to tell me where and when this happened on Saturday, and I'll see if I can figure out who you might have been dealing with?"

After a little more back-and-forth, I figured out that his encounter was probably with a private security guard at a parking lot. The proliferation of all manner of uniforms and quasi-uniforms has made it more difficult these days, in my opinion, to identify the players.

The homecoming game against Louisiana-Lafayette was Nebraska's 300th consecutive sellout. In honor of the occasion, the Huskers wore a throwback uniform designed to look like that worn by the 1962 Cornhuskers, back when the streak started. Maybe we should try the same thing. I'm not sure we'd be able to finance it, though, by auctioning the game-day worn uniforms on the Internet.

All in the same boat

I was part of a panel discussion Monday with the police chiefs in Lakewood, CO, Naperville, IL, Colorado Springs, CO, Plano, TX, and Fremont, CA. The topic was the economic crises, and it's impact on police departments. To varying degrees, all of our cities are under financial stress and have had to handle cut backs.

As each of us described what we had done to cope with flat or declining municipal revenues, there was a remarkable degree of similarity in the strategies. We all seem to have the same philosophical approach: when your resources aren't keeping up, you drop back to your core responsibilities, and you cut those services that make the smallest contribution to safety and security of the community.

Hearing about some of the problems faced by some of the other cities made me feel fortunate. The depths of the cuts in some of these communities are sobering. Virtually all municipal police departments and City governments are in the same boat, but ours is bobbing pretty safely compared to some where the water is up to the gunwales.