Letter to the driver

We receive phone calls now and then from people who have observed a serious traffic violation.  There’s not a lot we can do about it after the fact, in most cases. We have a process, though, by which we will collect the information on the more significant cases, and send a form letter to the registered owner. The object is to encourage him or her to drive more safely in the future

Last week, the registered owner of a 1998 Cadillac received a form letter with my facsimile signature at the bottom.  The violation is described as follows:

“Your vehicle was observed being operated with a medium-sized dog standing on the steering wheel while the vehicle was in motion.”

Hmmm.  Too bad I didn’t look at that one before it went out.  Maybe we should have sent the letter to the dog this time.

Pizza and a prayer

Lest yesterday’s post about happenings on Easter Sunday makes me seem like a cynical curmudgeon, here is a more uplifting Easter story.  It was about 1978, I suppose, when a new pizza parlor opened next to Mid-City Toyota, on the northwest corner of 13th and Q Streets.  The building had formerly been the home of a restaurant with the mind-bending name of the Hong Kong Pizza King. 

The new owners had extensively remodeled the place and opened as Pontillo’s Pizzeria.  It was New York style pizza in a town where Valentino’s thicker, saucier, cheesier variety held sway.  My good buddy Tim, though, was a Brooklyn native, and a Toyota owner.  He converted me to both.  Soon, Pontillo’s was a frequent stop for my wife, baby boy, and me.  We’d meet on my dinner break sometimes, and drop in on my days off at least once a week. 

The owners of the Pontillo’s franchise were Kal and Darlene Knudson, and they were like grandparents to our new baby boy when we visited the store.  Darlene would scoop him up and take him in back.  As he grew into a toddler, Kal or Darlene would take him to back to the fountain to fill up his tippy cup with Mountain Dew.  A bunch of the Knudsen’s kids worked at the store, and it was a picture of a hard-working family enterprise.

As the years passed, the Knudsen’s branched out with a new store at 44th and O Street, then eventually became the five DaVinci’s we all know today.  Kal and Darlene not only started a successful business, they also started a longstanding Easter tradition of giving.  Since 1985, the Knudsen family has opened their doors to the lonely and needy, serving  Easter dinner to hundreds in the true spirit of this Holy Day, no questions asked. 

Now be honest: doesn’t a pepperoni pizza or an Italian hoagie sound mighty good compared to the usual, ham, lamb, and yam?

Soaked on Easter

Long time readers of the Chief's Corner know that I often shake my head in wonder at the incidents that occur on holidays.  The holiest of the holidays is no exception.  On Easter, over a dozen people greeted the sunrise in detox after being tagged in by Lincoln police officers in an intoxicated state in the wee hours of the morning--nine of them for drunk driving.  Nine DWI arrests would constitute a pretty productive night under any circumstances at all.  

The most bizarre and incongruous alcohol-related call, however, came in later in the day: just shy of 6:00 PM.  Officer Justin Feldaus was sent to a cemetary on case number B1-035781, a report that a man in a white shirt and baggy pants was urinating on graves.  

“It’s temporary…”

What’s that?

Here's my next entry in the ongoing series of puzzling objects in need of identification and explanation.

 

Through the lens

Officer Katie Flood serves as our public information officer, takes care of our public web site, and publishes our annual report, among other duties.  As a result, she spends a fair amount of time at her computer. I was walking down the hallway yesterday and saw Officer Katie Flood smiling at her monitor.  I knew it had to be something good, so I stopped and inquired.

"I just saw this headline, and was expecting something a little different," she said.

I glanced at the headline, and my mind's eye immediately inserted a "t" in the word "sealing."  I guess we all tend to see things through the lens of our professional experience.

Weekend fights

Over the weekend (Friday through Sunday), Lincoln police officers investigated 41 assaults.  If that sounds like a lot, it's really not out of the ordinary.  Last year, we investigated 4,852, an average of a bit more than 13 per day.  Of the 41 assaults, 18 were domestic:  they involved people who live together, have lived together, share a child in common, or have a dating relationship.  This definition includes roomies, siblings, and even parent and child.  Not all domestic assaults fit the expected template.  Here is the slightly-sanitized narrative from case number B1-033422, in which a young man called to report a violent attack by his mother:

"Mother reports that she and her adult son became involved in an argument over his cursing at her when she told him to fold his clothes from the wash. Son said during this argument his mother struck him on the left shoulder with the wand of the vacuum. He stated this caused him pain. There was no visible injury and Mom denied the accusation."

The 41 assaults occurred at schools, on buses, at residences, on the street, at a community center, a homeless shelter, a nursing home, and a group home. A common thread was alcohol, which was involved in over half the assaults.  Here are a couple of lightly-edited excerpts from typical examples of the alcohol-related variety:

Case Number B1-033432

"Victim said he was talking to a girl at a party when the suspect came up to them, was being loud and mouthy and said 'I'll fight you for her.' Victim said suspect then 'sucker punched' him in the side of the head and a fight ensued."

Case Number B1-033336

"Victim was contacted walking on the sidewalk with blood running from his mouth. Victim reports that he was walking down the sidewalk on the NE corner of Centennial and O St. A unknown male wearing a black baseball hat, with large biceps and tattoos on his arms struck him in the face causing his top lip to be cut. Victim was unable to give any more description about the party responsible. Victim stated that he didn't want anything done and he only wanted to go home, and walked away from officer with his friends."

Reaccredited, again

I made a speedy trip to Washington, DC to join a couple of staff members, Sgt. Don Scheinost and Capt. Joy Citta, as we appeared before the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies.  The Commission considered the report of the onsite team that visited LPD last November, asked several follow-up questions, then voted unanimously to award accreditation to us for the next three years.

We were also named a Meritorious Agency, an award bestowed on agencies that have been accredited for 15 years or more (our first was in 1989).  The Commission has also designated us as a Flagship Agency, meaning that we are recognized as being at a level of excellence sufficient to provide other agencies seeking accreditation with examples of “best practices” on how to address compliance, policy development, file maintenance, and other issues relating to the accreditation process.

Our employees should be proud of this milestone and recognition.  Accreditation assures Lincoln's citizens that the department follows the recognized best practices in policing.  It is not an easy process, and only about 5% of the agencies in the United States are accredited.  Compared to our last appearance before the Commission, the trip was uneventful:  no tornado, no looters.