COPPSBlog

The 2010 Citizen’s Police Academy starts tonight.  We have a great schedule planned.  We will be hearing from Chief Stacey tonight on the History and Organization of the Bellevue Police Department and Lt. Elbert on Recruiting and Professional Standards.  Sam and Louie’s will also be providing Pizza and Salad for dinner this evening. 

Throughout the next eleven weeks we will cover Tactical Negotiation, S.W.A.T., Polygraph, Code Enforcement, Tazer, Defensive Tactics, DUI/DRE, Traffic, Accident Reconstruction, Criminal Investigations, Family Crimes, Domestic Violence, Child Abuse, Vipers, Chaplin, EVOC, K9, Gang Unit, Evidence, Narcotics, SRO, Uniformed Patrol, Mobile Command Unit, 911 Center, Sarpy County, and a tour of the Jail. New to the schedule this year is a field trip to the Omaha Police Mounted Patrol, Omaha Crime Lab, and Omaha training site.  At the Omaha Training site we will tour the facility, get to use the Fire Arms Simulator, and see ABLE 1.  This is a very exciting year. Thank You again to our sponsors; Sam and Louie’s Lansky’s, Roman Coin / Varsity, Mama Alvino’s, Buffalo Wild Wings, Swine Dining, and BIG INK.

 Imagine you are at home lounging on the couch when you hear police sirens. You pull the curtains back from the window and see two police cars next door. An  officer is talking to your neighbor while another office is looking in the bushes.

You wonder what could have happened, and whether you are in any danger. Your neighbor always seemed pleasant, but now she looks upset and you’ve never seen her outdoors in her bathrobe before. You can’t hear what she is saying so now you are  secretly wishing you could read lips. Suddenly the neighbor sees you starring and glares at you. Embarrassed that you’ve been spotted spying, you quickly close the curtains. A few hours later the police leave, and you are left wondering what happened and if your neighborhood is safe.

Now imagine that you are watching the news on television when a disturbing crime story comes on. You want the perpetrator brought to justice and are pleased when the police make an arrest.  Night after night you watch the news hoping to see if the accused is found  innocent or guilty, but the news station has moved on to other stories. You are left wondering what happened to the case.

Living in a safe and secure place is a high priority for most peoples.  So when trouble  strikes close to home, we want to know happened and what is being done about it. Going door-to-door asking questions isn’t the best or most neighborly way to find out what we need to know to stay safe. So how do you discreetly find out what happened, whether someone got arrested, or  if the accused is found guilty?

Most of the answers can actually be found on the Internet, which is a great information source because no one knows you are being a nosy, albeit safe, neighbor.

If the incident happened  in Bellevue, go here http://www.crimereports.com/map/index. You can type in a specific address or just look at the map of Bellevue to see what crimes have taken place in the past 30 days.  A map will show icons such as T for theft , where crime has taken place, click on the icons for more details. This is a great way to see if any crime has taken place recently  in your neighborhood or place of business. If the incident was vandalism or a theft/burglary of $50 of over the value of what was stolen will be listed by address in the public record section of the Bellevue Leader.            

To find out when the case is going to court go here http://www.nebraska.gov/courts/calendar/index.cgi. You can either search by date or by last name of the accused. You will need to know the County where the case is being held and whether it’s in County or District Court.

Local newspapers used to publish sentences/fines handed down by the courts  according to zip code but to save space and money, most no longer do.

If you want to know where an inmate is serving time at then click on this link them up by last name here  http://dcs-inmatesearch.ne.gov/Corrections/COR_input.html to see which prison the person was sent to and get details about when they are eligible for parole.  If the person has been released, their record will still come up. Bonus: This is also an easy way to check if any of your relatives or exes have been arrested.

So now you have the information you need without having to ask around or stare out the window trying to read lips.

Check back often for more helpful hints to help keep you and those you love safe.

I work at Two Springs Elementary, where the Level 3 sex offender photo list was hung in the teachers’ lounge. Last year a new employee was shocked to see that a man she knew was on the poster. It behooves us as parents, neighbors, and educators to be aware of those who are around us and our children. Please take a minute to check the L3 list.

See the links below for the Level 3 Sex Offenders in Bellevue.

http://www.bellevuepd.com/sexoffendersmap.jpg  http://www.bellevuepd.com/sexoffendersphotos.pdf

Even with all the new stories, articles, and warnings according an article on Opposing Views, by MomLogic  28% of teens still chat with Strangers on-line, 69% give out their physical location, 18% post photos of themselves and 12% post their cell phone number.  These are very scary statistics.  Parents really need to watch what their children are doing on-line, set up filters and most importantly talk to your kids about on-line safety.

It seems to me I have seen a lot more reports recently about thefts from vehicles.  For the most part this is a preventable crime.  Lock your doors! Park in a well lit area! Don’t leave your purse, back pack, laptop, iPod, GPS, or anything of value sitting in plain view in the vehicle. If you have a GPS don’t leave the adapter sitting on the dash or stuck to the windshield. Also try to keep the windshield clean of the circles left by these adapters. These are all invitations to break into your car to see if the GPS is in the glove box or center counsel. Even something as small as change left in an open area that can be seen by looking in the window is a reason someone may cause hundreds of dollars in damage to your vehicle to break in and get away with two dollars in change.

If there is nothing to steal in the vehicle they will move on to the next one that has left these items out.

With the school year starting back up we really need to pay attention to what our kids are doing on the Internet.  Check out this article by Fierce CIO on the top five back to school online safety questions every parent should ask. We can’t be too safe in todays technological world.   http://www.fiercecio.com/press-releases/top-five-back-school-online-safety-questions-every-parent-should-ask

Thank you to all our National Night Out Party Hosts.  We had 72 parties here in Bellevue.  I drove around McGruff and Bucky Bear (Village Inn’s Mascot) and we made it to 12 parties and had a lot of fun.  Several parties went all out and had Bounce Houses, snow cones, and even safety demonstrations.  Check out our Facebook page to see the pictures.

With your help we also raised $777 for Shop with a Cop in raffle ticket sales.  That was awesome.  Flora Ramos ended up winning the Wii.  Thanks for all you do for your community.

This Saturday Swine Dining is hosting a fundraiser for the Bellevue Police K9.  There will be “Dunk a Pig” (Dunk Tank), bounce house and T-shirts for sale.  There will also be a pork eating contest amoung the some Police Officers.  The hours of the fundraiser is from 10:30-3:00pm and the pork eating contest will start at 12:30. It should be a lot of fun. Come out and support the Bellevue Police K9 Unit.

There have already been some fires and injuries caused because of Fireworks this year.  The National Fireworks safety website has some good information to keep you safe this Fourth of July.  Go to http://www.fireworksafety.com/ for more information. 

In Bellevue Fireworks are permissible from 10 days prior to the 4th of July up until midnight on the night of the 4th.

In Bellevue no person shall possess, sell, offer for sale, bring into the city or discharge any fireworks other than permissible fireworks.  Fireworks which are permissible under Bellevue City Ordinance are: 

• Sparklers
• Vesuvius Fountains
• Spray Fountains
• Color Fire Cones
• Star and Comet type color aerial shells without an explosive charge
• Ladyfingers (not to exceed 7/8th of an inch in length or 1/8 of an inch in diameter)
• Color or fire wheels

The use of fireworks by private citizens on private land is not restricted, with the exception of  violations of the City’s  noise ordinance.

This last month has just been very busy.  I went to a training on Citizen Police Academies and have some changes in mind for ours. I’m not sure I will be able to implement them this year but I hope to make it more hands on in the future.  We are still doing a lot of hiring of Officers so we are still unable at this time to do any ride-a-longs, but once that is done, if you have completed a Bellevue Citizen’s Police Academy you will be eligible.  The Citizen’s Academy will start September 2^nd  through November 11^th. Let me know if you are interested in attending.

Right now, we are getting ready for the National Night Out on August 3rd.  It will be here before you know it.  Please  let me know if you plan on having a party. 

In the host’s bags there will be 2 T-Shirts and a Radon Test Kit (these are for the hosts to keep or give away). There will also be glow necklaces, stickers, temporary tattoos, and I.D kits for the kids. A Lot of safety information for adults and some Senior Identity theft information and emergency contact numbers. There will be a lot of stuff for everyone in the neighborhood. We will also be asking the party hosts to help us sell some raffle tickets at each party.  We had a Nintendo Wii donated to us by Best Buy in Papillion and will be raffling it off to raise money for Shop with a Cop.

We are also going to have some great prizes.  I’m still waiting to hear about a few so I will update you on that when we get closer to the event. 

We will have less Police Officers available this year, so we are going to start a little early by request.  If you small kids who go to bed early or you are not able to keep the party going to 9 p.m. let me know and I will put you on the early list that we will be starting at 5:00 p.m. If you want to keep the traditional time of 6 p.m. - 9p.m. that is fine too.  Hopefully, this way we can get someone to every party.  We will do our best. 

In other news, the summer is here and crime is up.  As always when the weather gets nice we have a rise in our thefts from vehicles, vandalism, and other criminal mischief.  Please make sure if you are not in your garage or near it, the door is shut.  Open garage door burglaries always go up in the summer.  If you are mowing your yard in the back, you can’t see what is going on in your garage.  This happens no matter what time of day it is.  Especially at night, double check that the garage door is shut.  If you see your neighbor has left there garage open, walk over there and remind them that it is an invitation to get their tools stolen.

HAVE A GREAT SUMMER AND STAY SAFE!