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A Beaver Tale: How NOT To Leave Fingerprints At Crime Scenes

“Hey, Sarge,” said Officer Trevor “Curly” Barnes. “Would you do me a favor and see if you can get a clear set of prints from this guy? I’ve tried three times and all I get are smudges. I must be out of practice, or something.”

“You rookies are all alike,” said Sergeant Imin Charge. “Always wantin’ somebody to do the dirty work for you.”

“But—”

Sgt. Charge dropped his fat, leaky ballpoint pen on a mound of open file folders. “But nothing,” he said. “All you “boots” want to do is bust up fights and harass the whores.”

The portly “three-striper” pushed his lopsided rolling chair away from his desk and placed a bear-paw-size hand on each knee. Then with a push and a grunt, he stood. The sounds of bone-on-bone poppings and cracklings coming from his arthritic knees were louder than the Buck Owens song—I’ve Got a Tiger by the Tail-–that spewed from the portable radio on his desk.

“Well,” said the sergeant. “Paperwork and processing evidence, including fingerprinting people, comes with the job too. You might as well get it in your head right now that police work is not all about flashy blue lights, driving fast cars, and chasing after badge bunnies.”

“I’m serious, Sarge. I can’t get a good print. I think the guy’s messing with me, or something.”

Charge sighed and rolled his deep-set piggy eyes. Everyone in he department knew the eye roll as Charge’s trademark “I don’t want to, but will” expression.

“All right,” said Charge. “Go finish up the paperwork and I’ll take care of the prints and mugshot. But hurry up and get your ass back down to booking. I get off in thirty minutes and I’ve got plans. There’s a documentary on tonight about how they made the Smoky and the Bandit movies, and I don’t aim to miss it.”

“That’s right, it’s Thursday night, huh?” said Officer Barnes. “What was it last week, The Best of Swamp People?”

“Real funny, you are. No, it was the last part of that series about those beavers that suddenly showed up over in England after being extinct for over 400 years. It was real interesting, it was. Me and Betty Lou never miss those specials. You should check it out. Never hurts to learn something new. Yep, every Thursday nights at 8:00, a pan of peanut butter fudge, and our behinds planted on the sofa. You can set your watch by it. Now, get to working on those reports if you ever want to see day shift again, and you’d better be back here in fifteen minutes to take this slimeball off my hands.”

The sergeant reached over and grabbed the suspect’s right hand, pulling it toward the ten-print card. “Relax, fella’, and let me do the work,” he said while pressing the pad of the man’s index finger onto the ink pad and then rolling it from left to right in the appropriate box on the card.

Twenty minutes later, Sergeant Charge was on the phone with Captain Gruffntuff, the shift commander. “That’s right, Captain. The guy doesn’t have any prints. Not a single ridge or whorl. Nothing.”

A pause while Charge listened. Officer Barnes, back from completing the incident report, leaned toward his boss, trying to hear the other side of the conversation. The sergeant waved him away as if swatting away an annoying fly or mosquito. “No, sir. Not even as much as a pimple.”

Another pause.

“Nope, not on either finger.” Charge leaned back in his chair. “All as smooth as a baby’s bottom. Beats everything I’ve ever seen.”

“Yes, sir. I checked his toes, too. Nothing there either. Slick as a freshly buffed hospital floor.”

Sergeant Charge opened a pouch of Redman and dug out a golfball-size hunk of shredded black tobacco leaves.

“Nope. He’s not from around here. Says he’s from Sweden. Says his whole family’s like that. Not a one of them has any prints. Says it’s a condition called adermatoglyphia. I had him spell it for me.”

Charge shoved the “chew” inside of his mouth, maneuvering it with his tongue until it came to rest between his teeth and cheek.

“Looks like a hamster with a mouth full of sunflower seeds,” Barnes mumbled to himself.

“Yes, sir. Beats everything I’ve ever seen,” Sergeant Charge said into the phone’s mouthpiece. “Will do, sir.

A beat passed, then he said, “Yes, sir. I’ll stay to see it through.”

Another beat.

“Right, sir.”

Sergeant Charge placed the phone receiver back in its cradle without saying goodbye. His typical pinkish cheeks were the color of a shiny new fire truck. He sat silent for a second, thinking.

“Won’t be watching the television tonight, I guess,” he said.

The man from Switzerland, the prisoner, sighed, knowing it was going to be a long night. He’d been through this many times.

“Better call the little woman,” said Sergeant Imin Charge as he reached for the phone to give her the bad news. “And she ain’t going to be happy. No, sir. I’d bet a dollar to a doughnut that she’s already made a dozen or so of those little meatball sandwiches that I like so much. Probably has an ice cold can of Blue Ribbon waiting for me too. And the fudge, well, it’ll have to wait.”

After a few “Sorry, dears,” Charge returned the receiver back to its resting spot and then turned to the prisoner who sat handcuffed to a wooden bench with the back of his head against the mint green wall. Another grease stain added to the collection, thought Charge.

“Okay,” he said to the man who’d been arrested for breaking into home of an Hazel Lucas, an elderly woman who’d whacked the intruder with a rolling pin as he climbed through a kitchen window. “Lemme see those fingers, again.”

The burglar held up his hands and said to the sergeant, “Good luck.”

Photo Credit: Nousbeck et al., The American Journal of Human Genetics (2011)

Adermatoglyphia, or “immigration delay disease” as it’s also known, is an extremely rare and unique condition found in members of only four Swiss families. What’s so unique about the condition? For starters, people with adermatoglyphia produce far less hand sweat than the average person. But, perhaps the most startling characteristic is that people with adermatoglyphia do not have fingerprints.

In one instance, a female member of one of the affected families traveled to the U.S. but was delayed by border agents because they couldn’t confirm her identity. Why? No prints to compare.

The cause of adermatoglyphia has, until recently, been a mystery. Now, however, scientists have learned that the affected members of the Swiss families all had a mutation in the gene called Smarcad1. And this mutation is in a version of the gene that is only expressed in skin.

So yes, for that added twist to your tales, there are people who do not have fingerprints.

By the way, no one knows how or why that family of beavers mysteriously showed up in the the Otter River in Devon, southwest England. They’re doing well, though, and they are the only beavers in England after being hunted to extinction 400 years ago.

The name of the river where they live is a bit ironic since no otters live there.

See, like Sergeant Charge and his wife Betty Lou, some of you learned something new.

 

There’s still time to sign up!

www.writerspoliceacademy.com

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Non-Fatal Shootings are Failed Homicides

In the film Dirty Harry, Clint Eastwood’s character Inspector Harry Callahan engaged in a shootout with armed bank robbers. When the shooting stopped, and there was lots of it, Harry approached a wounded robber who locked eyes with Harry while slowly reaching for a shotgun.

Harry aimed his sidearm at the crook and said one of the most famous movie lines of all time, “I know what you’re thinking: ‘Did he fire six shots or only five?’ Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement I’ve kinda lost track myself. But being as this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you’ve got to ask yourself one question: ‘Do I feel lucky?’ Well, do you, punk?”

What’s Luck Got to do With It?

Aside from Clint Eastwood’s fictional world of cops and robbers, in the real world of street violence, most victims of non fatal shootings are likely fortunate beneficiaries of lucky mistakes—a little to the left, or to the right, or a bit higher or lower, and it’s showtime for the grim reaper. Shooters in those instances are cold-blooded attempted murderers who merely failed to achieve their goals of becoming actual killers.

When shots are fired between gun-toting criminals there’s a narrow line between who lives and who dies. However, if bad shooters, the killer wannabes who couldn’t hit the broad side of a liquor store if they tried, fire enough rounds at their targets, it’s probable they will eventually get the job done and send someone to an early grave.

Attempted murders are failed homicides.

Chicago – At the end of 2021, the city totaled 3561 shootings, 300 more than were recorded in 2020, and 1,415 more than in 2019. The rising number of shootings in this city is staggering.

Focusing on Chicago’s 2021 stats, of the 3,561 people shot, 797 died. The remaining 2,764 were fortunate beneficiaries of lucky mistakes—at least 2,764 (+/-) shooters missed their marks. Many more, I’m certain, failed to to strike their intended targets at all, sending wild, errant rounds zinging and bouncing off walls, street lamps, storefronts, or grandma’s porch swing before coming to a stop who knows where.

In the same year, in Philadelphia,  2332 people were shot. 486 people died, while 1846 survived the poor shooting abilities of people who likely tried to kill each of the 1846 survivors.

This alarming story of violence in our country’s largest cities repeats from coast to coast and from top to bottom.

A Vicious Circle

The lucky break for many who survive a blast from a firearm often results in an unlucky occurrence for the shooters of poor aim fame. This is so because victims of the aim-challenged and/or their friends frequently retaliate by shooting the shooters. And those who miss the first time are apt to try and try again until they successfully “pop a cap” into the body of their nemesis. After all, street shootings are like potato chips to the hardcore offenders—one person shot is never enough. There must be more.

The Solution

Devoting more time to catching the poor shooters, the failed murderers, would no doubt result in less homicides, because removing poor-aimers and their guns from the streets would decrease the overall number of shots-fired. Less shots fired would obviously decrease the overall number of people killed by gunfire.

Fewer shots fired = fewer people wounded or killed = safer communities = more time for officers to devote to other matters, including proactive policing as opposed to reactionary policing = even safer communities = less illegal guns in the hands of potential shooters.

Catching the people who attempt to kill but fail is a tactic that attacks the source of the overall problem. It’s a plan that would/could prevent more deaths, instead of reactively wading through a pile of bodies at the morgue (after the fact), hoping to find clues that lead back to a murderer.

The ideal situation would be to have two teams of skilled investigators working simultaneously, one tracking down and arresting the failed shooters, and the other solving homicides. Eventually, the two would meet in the middle at a point where both stats—failed and successful murders—are greatly decreased.

 

Unfortunately, most departments struggle to fund the number of officers and equipment they currently have in place. Defunding the police has, of course, exacerbated the problem. It takes people-power to make an out-of-control situation, more manageable, such as the aforementioned shootings. When control is finally achieved, it must be maintained by proactively sending officers out into the streets to interact with citizens on a personal basis.

Without the proper number of available officers and investigators, though, the path to reducing homicides and attempted murders is a long and rocky road.

 

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First it Was SpongeBob, Now it’s Satan: Mothers Murdering Their Kids

Last week I wrote about twenty-two-year-old Justine Johnson of Iosco County, Michigan, who told police investigators the fictional cartoon character SpongeBob ordered her to kill her daughter Sutton Mosser. Police did indeed find the remains of almost-two-year-old Sutton.

This week, on February 15, 2022, it was Satan himself—the grand adversary of man, the prince of darkness, the head of the fallen angels—who Tasha L. Haefs, according to a Kansas City police dispatcher, claimed was trying to attack her.

As they approached the front of Haefs’ home, responding officers heard a woman’s voice coming from inside. She was singing. They also witnessed a blood trail leading from the sidewalk to the front door. When they knocked the singing grew louder.

One officer managed to get a peek inside the home and what he observed was nothing short of scene in a horror film—a child’s severed head near the threshold. Fearing that other children may be in imminent danger, officers forced their way inside, where they found Tasha Haefs in the kitchen, with what appeared to be blood on her hands and feet. They also saw, in plain view, two knives, also with apparent blood on them. The woman, who had cuts and scratches on her hands and a puncture wound to her right thigh, was immediately taken into custody.

As is standard practice, officers conducted a sweep of the home, looking for other victims and/or potential suspects. During the sweep they witnessed the knives, a bloody screwdriver, and the body and severed head of Haefs’ six-year-old son. A decapitated dog was found in the basement, as was a knife covered with possible blood and tissue.

When they were certain the house was clear, officers backed out and secured the home while investigators completed the process of obtaining a search warrant.

Haefs admitted to police that she’d killed and decapitated her son in the bathtub.

I wish I could say with confidence that this will be the last unthinkable and horrendous crime committed by a parent against a child; however and unfortunately, we all know better. Sigh …

Click to read more about familicide and attempted familicide

I’ve included a copy of the completed Complaint Warrant Requested form pertaining to this case. Within the document you’ll read the officer’s actual description of details that support the probable cause needed to obtain warrants. I think you may find this information helpful at some point during your future writing. I’ve hidden or deleted contact information and a few other details.

 

COMPLAINT WARRANT REQUESTED

Count I. Murder 1st Degree (565.020-001Y20200902.0)

The Prosecuting Attorney of the County of Jackson, State of Missouri, upon information and belief, charges that the defendant, in violation of Section 565.020, RSMo, committed the class A felony of murder in the first degree punishable upon conviction under Section 565.020, RSMo, in that on or about February 15, 2022, in the County of Jackson, State of Missouri, the defendant after deliberation, knowingly caused the death of  ******* by unknown means, and that the defendant was eighteen years of age or older at the time of the offense.

Count II. Armed Criminal Action (571.015-001Y20205299.)

The Prosecuting Attorney of the County of Jackson, State of Missouri, upon information and belief, charges that the defendant, in violation of Section 571.015, RSMo, committed the felony of armed criminal action, punishable upon conviction under Section 571.015.1, RSMo, in that on or about February 15, 2022, in the County of Jackson, State of Missouri, the defendant committed the felony of murder in the first degree charged in Count I, all allegations of which are incorporated herein by reference, and the defendant committed the foregoing felony of murder in the first degree by, with and through, the knowing use, assistance and aid of a dangerous instrument.page1image1228588384 page1image1228588672

State vs. Tasha Haefs

The facts that form the basis for this information and belief are contained in the statement(s) of facts filed contemporaneously herewith, made a part hereof, and submitted as a basis upon which this court may find the existence of probable cause.

Wherefore, the Prosecuting Attorney prays that an arrest warrant be issued as provided by law.

JEAN PETERS BAKER

Prosecuting Attorney Jackson County, Missouri by,

/s/ John G. Gromowsky

John G. Gromowsky (#50700) Assistant Prosecuting Attorney 415 East 12th Street
Floor 7M

Kansas City, MO 64106

page2image1215789872

WITNESSES:

  1. DET Bonita Y. Cannon, 1125 Locust, Kansas City, MO 64106
  2. DET Zakary K. Glidewell, 1125 Locust, Kansas City, MO 64106
  3. DET Sean P. Martin, 1125 Locust, Kansas City, MO 64106
  4. DET James H. Price, 1125 Locust, Kansas City, MO 64106
  5. DET Ilinca E. Rusnac, 1125 Locust, Kansas City, MO 64106

6. *XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

7. *XXXX Derek M. Sanders, 1125 Locust, Kansas City, MO 64106

8. DET Nathan S. VanVickle, 1125 Locust, Kansas City, MO 64106

 

Date: 02/16/2022

CRN:

PROBABLE CAUSE STATEMENT FORM

page3image1231501280 page3image1231501568

I, Detective Zakary Glidewell, #5549, Kansas City Missouri Police Department (Name and identify law enforcement officer, or person having information as probable cause.)

knowing that false statements on this form are punishable by law, state that the facts contained herein are true.page3image1231533936

I have probable cause to believe that on 02/15/2022 at 7312 Indiana Avenue in Kansas City, (Jackson County) Missouri Haefs, Tasha L. (W/F XXXXXX) committed one or more criminal offense(s).

The facts supporting this belief are as follows:

On 02-15-2022 at 2345 hours, uniformed officers of the Kansas City Missouri Police department were dispatched to 7312 Indiana Ave, Kansas City, Jackson County, Missouri on a reported disturbance.

Upon arrival officers observed apparent blood on the front steps of the residence as well as apparent blood and hair on the front door of the aforementioned residence. Officers were able to determine the residence was occupied by a female however, she refused to answer the door. During the course of the contact officers learned that multiple children were known to reside in the residence and had not been seen for a few days. Officers while attempting to make contact with the female occupant observed what appeared to be the severed head of a deceased person near the threshold of the residence.

Officers fearing for the safety of any children remaining inside the residence forced entry under exigent circumstances and took the female occupant (Suspect) into custody without incident. A protective sweep of the residence was conducted. During the course of the protective sweep officers located the decapitated body of a young child near the front door of the residence. The female suspect had apparent blood on her person and two knives with apparent blood on them were observed in plain view throughout the residence. No other children were located in the residence. Officers then exited and secured the residence. Detectives from the Kansas City Homicide Unit were notified from the scene.

Detectives applied for and obtained a search warrant for 7312 Indiana Ave Kansas City, Jackson County, Missouri 64132 in regard. During the execution of the search warrant detectives located the decapitated body of a young child near the interior threshold of the residence. A knife, knife handle, and a screwdriver with apparent blood and tissue were located on the dining room table. An additional knife with apparent blood and tissue was located in the basement of the residence. The Kansas City Missouri Crime Scene Unit was notified and responded to the scene.

Form 50 P.D. (Rev. 9-2008)

Page 1 of 2

PROBABLE CAUSE STATEMENT FORM

The female suspect who was ultimately identified as Tasha Haefs (W/F XXXXXXX) was transported to police headquarters. Haefs was contacted by detectives on the 7th floor of police headquarters. Haefs was offered food and water and allowed access to restroom facilities. Haefs was advised of her Miranda Rights which she waived and agreed to speak with detectives about the incident.

Haefs provided a detailed formal statement to detectives. Haefs identified the victim as B/M XXXXX her biological child. During the course of the interview Haefs admitted to killing the victim in the bathtub and decapitating the victim.

The Jackson County Medical Examiner has ruled the “Manner of Death” to be Homicide. Haefs was placed on a 24 hour investigative hold and transported to a KCPD Detention facility.

Printed Name Detective Zakary Glidewell #5549 Signature /s/Detective Zakary Glidewell #5549

 

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Use of Passive Voice in Law Enforcement is a Bad Idea

Writers understand that active voice is when the subject of a sentence performs the action represented by the verb.

The bank robber counted the loot.

In the sentence above, the robber is the subject who performed the action (counted).

Passive voice, on the other hand, is when the subject receives or is affected by the action. They are not the “doer” of the action. Instead, they’re the recipient of the action.

In passive sentences, the object of the verb, the subject, is usually followed by the verb, which is typically a form of “to be,” a past participle, and the word “by.” Passive voice can confuse readers.

The loot was counted by the bank robber.

Passive voice shoves the subject (the bank robber) to the back of the action, instead of at front and center. And this, the shifting of action in a sentence, is why police officers should avoid the use of passive voice when writing reports and other official documents, and when providing official testimony. Passive voice, unfortunately, is often a part of “cop speak” that causes much unnecessary grief for officers and prosecutors, but is goldmine for defense attorneys.

For example, fictional Officer I.Iz Baddrighter typed this sentence in the narrative section of an incident report:

A wad of cash, two gold necklaces, and a gun was found under the living room couch.

If this occurred in real life, when prosecutors received the case, since the report was written in passive voice, they’d have no clear idea who found the items, who conducted the search, etc.

A better report, written in active voice, clearly indicates who performed the action.

I, Officer I. Iz Badrighter and Officer Dewey Good, served a search warrant at 1313 Mockingbird Lane, where Officer Good found cash, two gold necklaces, and a gun under the living room couch.

Written in active voice, the report detailing the same event, tells who was there, why they were there, and who found the items.

Use of Passive Voice in Law Enforcement is a Bad Idea

An officer’s use of passive voice can result in all sorts of troubles, including a stumbling courtroom testimony where the officer is vigorously cross-examined over “who did what and where,” and even the dismissals of cases.. All due to innocent but ambiguous wording.

Imagine a super-savvy defense attorney seizing upon the statement, “Due to our prior knowledge of Ricky Robber being a carjacker and knowing he always carries a couple of pistols, a high-risk traffic stop was conducted by us.”

The officer is in the hot seat in this situation, because he has to explain who or whom he’s speaking of when he wrote “our” and “us.” How “they” knew Ricky Robber is a carjacker? Did the officer arrest Robber for the same crime in past? Did the officer run a criminal history and carjacking was a crime Robber served time for committing?  The mention that he always has a pistol or pistols in his possession. Is he never without a sidearm? Are officers watching Robber every minute of the day, even as he sleeps? These are all points a defense attorney could hammer and hammer until the officer eventually becomes confused by their own words.

The officer in this case could’ve saved himself a ton of grief by simply writing:

“At 2200 hours, I, Officer I. Iz Badrighter and Officer Dewey Good witnessed Ricky Robber driving west near 24 Elm Street in Mayberry. Earlier in the shift we received a “Be On The Lookout” (BOLO) radio message stating Robber committed a carjacking on Main Street at 1935 hours. A check of Robber’s criminal history indicated sixty-three past carjacking arrests. In each of those cases, arresting officers reported Robber drawing a pistol from his waistband and pointing it at them. Knowing these facts and for our safety, Officer Dewey Good and I conducted a high-risk traffic stop. Robber was subsequently placed under arrest for the outstanding carjacking warrant.”

With this report in hand, prosectors know exactly what happened, who did what, when they did it, and why. A copy of the report during courtroom testimony is also extremely helpful to the arresting officer.

Using Passive Voice

So yes, active voice is typically the best route. However, sometimes, to avoid embarrassment, passive voice is the better use of words, like the time …

It was back during my time as a patrol officer working the graveyard shift when we received a fight call involving multiple suspects armed with various weapons. Three of us responded, stopped our cars, and hopped out to break up the melee. When all was under control we headed back to our cars. But, instead of three cars only two remained in the spots where we’d left them—my car and a car belonging to the other officer. The missing car was that of the sergeant who’d also answered the call. He’d committed a serious faux pas, leaving the doors unlocked, the engine running, and the keys in the ignition. So we and several other units spent the next hour searching for the stolen patrol vehicle. Then, when it was spotted, we spent the next hour chasing the car at high speeds, with the car thief listening to our radio traffic.

Anyway, it was far less of a blow to the sergeant’s ego for us to write the report in passive voice.

“Sergeant I. Goofup’s patrol vehicle was missing for three hours. It was later found in the possession of Ima Crook.”

Written in active voice, well, the report wouldn’t have sounded quite as kind.

Sergeant I. Goofup, while leaving his vehicle to respond on foot to a fight-in-progress, left the engine of his patrol car running with the keys in the ignition. All doors were unlocked. Ima Crook, a 27-year-old male, stole Sergeant Goofup’s car, an action resulting in a high-speed chase. Crook was arrested for the larceny of the department vehicle, reckless driving, eluding police, and disregarding signal by law-enforcement officer to stop.

 

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Firefights and a Massacre: Real-World Horror

Today, I’m featuring three podcasts that will take you behind the scenes of real-world law enforcement. Each session is a goldmine of information for crime fiction writers—dialog, slang, emotions, first-hand accountings of life or death situations, actual radio transmissions during “shots-fired” incidents, and much, much more. This post, “Firefights and a Massacre: Real-World Horror,” is the real deal told by the professionals who were there, in the field, during some of the most intense situations imaginable.

I’ve posted these podcasts so that you may use these real-life encounters to help elevate the realism in your stories.

I must warn you, though, that some of the language used may be offensive to some people. Some of the content may not be considered politically correct, some comments a bit inapprropriate, and some dialog may simply rub you the wrong way. But it is what it is—real. So please, if you’re willing and able to set aside those things for a short while, this is a fantastic learning opportunity. If not, this may not be the blog post for you; therefore, now would be a good time to click over to a different article.

And yes, people were killed during these incidents, both officers and offenders.

If you’re still with me, please listen carefully to the audio, not only to the big picture but to the small tidbits of information that could help you build the layers of your fictional characters (speech, tone, excitement levels, anxiety). Believe me, these podcasts are filled with tons of detail—not gore, but incredible elements of procedure, personality, intense emotions, fact, intuition, police training and special gear, insight, and more.

Remember, I’m just a messenger whose doing my best to help writers achieve their goals of writing excellent books. This is not me talking.

The Protectors Podcast™ is hosted by Dr. Jason Piccolo, a 21-year federal agent, and military veteran.

Miami Shootout, with Ed Mireles Jr., FBI Agent (ret)

Ed Mireles Jr., retired FBI, joined The Protectors Podcast ™ to talk about his career, including his recovery from being seriously wounded in one of the most famous shootouts in U.S. history.

Listen here.

You can read about Agent Mireles in his book FBI Miami Firefight: Five Minutes that Changed the Bureau, by Edmundo and Elizabeth Mireles.

“One hundred and fifty shots fired. In five minutes two bank robbers and two FBI agents were dead, Five other agents were wounded, three critically. This incident would change FBI and law enforcement training, tactics and weaponry forever.” ~ book excerpt, edmireles.com

STOP THE KILLING is an in-depth look into the case files of former head of the FBI’s Active Shooter program Katherine Schweit. katherineschweit.com

THE SANDY HOOK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL MASSACRE

A crime that shocked the world and was the catalyst for the FBI’s active shooter program.

Listen here.

To learn more, read Katherine Schweit’s book, Stop the Killing: How to End the Mass Shooting Crisis.

Police K9 Radio is hosted by Gregg Tawney and Rich Hartman, veteran K-9 handlers and trainers.

Ryan Frank – Critical Incident

Ryan Frank details an on-duty shooting in which he and his wife were shot. Ryan talks about his training and mindset that helped keep him and his wife alive.

Books by former special agent Dr. Jason Piccolo, host of The Protectors Podcast™

click here

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Rain is Not a Cop’s Friend

The challenges of policing in the rain are many and before I introduce you to them, there’s this …

Rain and Mud

Rain

Mud

Muck

Delightful, they are not.

 

When it’s you, who

Must roll and fight

In slop and goo

To cuff a wily crook.

 

Rain

Mud

Muck

On your nose and your shoes.

 

On your clothes

Hands

Gun

And your gleaming silver badge.

 

Rain

Mud

Slimy

Oozing, cold, and slippery.

 

Yucky

Gooey

Nasty.

But a task that is a must.

 

Arrest

Cuff

Stuff

And haul off to concrete jail.

 

Fingerprints

Mugshot

Phone call

Cell door slamming tightly shut.

 

Dumb

Crook

Stole

Two bestselling mystery books.

Policing in the Rain

Yes, the “poem” above was absolutely cheesy and repugnantly horrible, but its purpose was to begin the discussion about cops and rain. After all, it’s not always sunny and dry between book covers, right? Well, that and I couldn’t think of a decent segue into the topic.

Hey, I’ll bet that chances are pretty good that you’ve not given much thought to what it’s like to work in the rain as a police officer. Well, doing so presents its own unique challenges, such as:

  • Keeping your weapon and ammunition dry.
  • Preventing water from finding its way into your portable radio.
  • Struggling to apply handcuffs to the wet and slimy wrists of a soaking wet and muddy suspect.
  • Having to thoroughly clean drying mud from the locking mechanism of your handcuffs
  • Pursuits on wet roadways where hydroplaning makes the act akin to driving at high speeds without a steering wheel or brakes.
  • The dreaded blue light glare reflecting from raindrops, windshields, storefront windows, and other wet things (pavement, buildings, etc.). So not only do you not have brakes or steering capabilities, you’re now driving blind, as well.
  • Flashing lights, windshield wipers, blowing debris, radio chatter, suspect in back yelling, screaming, kicking, and spitting—all major distractions while driving in wet conditions.
  • Struggling with a suspect while wearing a long, bright yellow raincoat-–nearly impossible.
  • Locating the rain cover for your hat. It’s not never in the spot where you normally keep it. And a cold, wet, dripping hat is most unpleasant to wear.
  • Trying to run after a suspect through wet grass, puddles, mud, while wearing a police uniform and slick-bottom shoes—nearly impossible.
  • Hard rain makes it difficult to see … anything. Such as the guy with the gun who ran into the cemetery … at night.
  • Never fails. During each and every rain storm there will be a car crash and/or a power outage that switches off every stoplight on your beat. Directing traffic in the pouring rain is a cold, miserable experience.
  • Protecting crime scene evidence from the elements without compromising it, contaminating it, or watching it wash away.
  • When the shooting starts, having to instantly locate the pass-through pocket/gun slit in the raincoat or winter jacket. Not the best time to figure out how this clumsy maneuver is done.
  • Catching an outdoor call the first few minutes of the shift and then wearing wet, cold clothing for the next ten hours. Believe me, the feel of icy-cool Kevlar and wet polyester against your body is no picnic.
  • K-9 officers have a set of their very own challenges—muddy paws and wet fur, for example. The stinky odor alone is enough to send our senses into rehab, and that’s just the handlers. Wet dogs inside police cars smell bad. Really bad. Especially when combined with the odors left behind by the puking, sweating, peeing drunk who occupied your passenger set earlier in the shift.

Policing in the rain is definitely for the dogs!

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Meth, Murder, and a Good Day To Pick Cotton

Over forty years ago I’d made the entry in my notebook. I found my handwriting to be a bit difficult to read on some of the yellowing pages—the result of quickly-written memos then, and failing eyesight today. But I was able to make out the basics, and there was enough there to take me back to the time when I wore the brown over khaki uniform of a deputy sheriff.

Flipping through the pages of my log, one particular entry caught my eye. It was a Friday night during an unusually cool  for October. According to my notes, the skies were clear and brightly lit by a near full moon. The gas tank in my take-home car was full (as always, I’d filled it at the end of my shift the preceding morning) and the speedometer had just tripped 80,000 miles. The lights and siren were both in working order.

I’d signed on at 2342 hours that night, and in my mind I can still hear the dispatcher’s voice as she acknowledged my radio message. She spoke in a drawl that prompted a craving for mint juleps and an urge to plant a magnolia tree in my front yard.

It’s no secret that I was not born a southerner. In fact, before “the conversion,” I was such a Yankee that one of my relatives owned a house that was once used by Harriett Tubman as a stop on her vast Underground Railroad network. We lived nearby, where people didn’t say things like,  “Y’all” or “finer’n frog hair, or “fixin’ to” (going to).

“I’m fixin’ to head over to the Piggly Wiggly to pick up some chittlins’ for Sunday lunch. Y’all want anything?”

As a child born north of “the line”, the switch to the South was a major change. Everything was different, including schools and how they conducted business. Classes in our new southern location began each day with a child reading from the Bible, followed by a man’s deep but southern-twangy voice spewing from the wall-mounted speaker as he led us in prayer. We didn’t do that in my former northern school.

The thing about the South that stuck with me the most, though, was to see peanuts, tobacco, and cotton in their natural habitats—not nuts in jars or bags, tobacco rolled into cigarettes, or “cotton” as a word printed on the labels of my school clothes.

Okay, back to my notes. It hadn’t rained in nearly three weeks and the local farmers and their field hands had been hard at work for several days, picking cotton. They’d loaded large farm trailers to the point of overflowing, like giant pillows on wheels. But no matter how hard they tried, there was simply no way possible to gather every single piece of cotton, leaving lots of it scattered about in the fields. And, of course, it didn’t take long at all for the wind to blow the scraps of freshly picked raw cotton everywhere, sending it into trees, ditches, bushes, and roadways. The landscape looked as if it had been dusted by a light snowfall. You couldn’t spit in any direction without hitting a wad of the future shirts, pants, sheets, and stuffing for aspirin bottles.

Virginia cotton

At night, while on patrol, we often used our spotlights to scan fields and paths looking for illegal night hunters, or stolen cars and farm equipment that were sometimes abandoned in out of the way locations. Another target for our spotlights in those days were farmer’s fertilizer storage tanks that contained anhydrous ammonia. Farmers used the fertilizer to spray crops. Makers of methamphetamine stole it from farmers and farm supply companies to produce meth.

Meth makers siphoned the deadly liquid gas from the tanks and later used it and other hazardous ingredients, such as paint thinner, engine starter fluid, the innards of certain types of batteries, and ephedrine separated from its binding agent found in over-the-counter cold medicine, to manufacture the dangerous and illegal drug. This process required no heat since the chemical reaction was so volatile, and it is the reason clandestine meth labs notoriously and suddenly explode.

The method of making meth using anhydrous ammonia is sometimes called the “Nazi cook,” named after the meth distributed to German soldiers by Nazi leaders during World War II. For more, click here.

So yeah, that was a thing back then and it was a big reason we kept on eye on farms. And, of course, there were the people who stole livestock, such as pigs. Ah, the glamorous life of a deputy sheriff in the rural South.

In addition to highlighting stolen cars and fertilizer tanks, and the occasional “parking” teenage couples or pair of adulterers, the shining of a bright spotlight across the fields at night, the car-mounted devices also illuminated scores of wildlife—deer, foxes, raccoons, ‘possums, coyotes, and even an occasional black bear. And, on the night referenced in my spiral notebook, the light also showcased a woman’s body lying between two unpicked rows of cotton.

She was young, mid to late 30’s. Fully clothed with the exception of her bare feet. There were no shoes at the scene. Approximately 5’ 5″ tall. 150 lbs – 160 lbs, or so. Round face. Skin the color of Vermont maple syrup. Her eyes were open and without focus, and aimed toward the sky into infinity. Pupils fixed, and dilated. A bullet wound to her forehead, just above her left eye, and another near her right eyebrow, told me to save my CPR skills for another day.

Small clumps of loose cotton dotted the area around the body. Some were the brilliant white of summertime clouds. Others, the ones that clung to her wounds, were rusty red and mostly saturated with the victim’s drying blood.

Three sets of footprints entered the field—large boots, small tennis shoes, and a set ending with bare toes. Only two sets headed out. The toes remained.

The victim had two small children at home. A neighbor was called to sit with them while their father went out searching for his wife who’d called earlier to say the church meeting was running a bit longer than she’d expected. No, no need to pick her up. Wanda was at the meeting and would bring her home.

Twenty minutes later, after the husband left his children in the care of the sitter, Wanda called and asked the neighbor if she could please speak to the man’s wife. No, there was no church meeting that night.

The man knew, deep in his heart, that there was no meeting at the church and he where exactly where to look for his cheating wife.

The victim’s lover, a cotton farmer, escaped the gunfire.

There was no DNA. No fingerprints. No cell phone calls to trace, and no bullet casings.

Just a pair of womens shoes found five hours later, in the farmer’s truck. And a revolver containing four bullets in his jealous wife’s car.

If I’d kept a tally over the years I could’ve added another hash mark to the “life taken” column, and five to the “lives ruined” section.

My last notations on the page that night were four short lines that read …

“Murder warrant issued”

“17 gallons of gas, no oil”

“10-42 (off duty) – 0815”

“Sunny and warmer – a good day to pick cotton”

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Burglary: It’s Not Robbery

Before we dive headfirst into the real meat of this article, let’s first begin with a bit of background regarding the crimes of burglary and robbery. Otherwise, those of you who use social media sites and/or watching TV news and crime dramas as your main sources of research, well, you may not know that burglary and robbery are not the same. Not even close.

Here’s a great example of how the media often mixes up the two crimes.

The headline:

“British Olympian says medals were stolen from her home in robbery.”

I read the article hoping I’d learn how and why armed and dangerous bad guys forcibly robbed the unfortunate female athlete at gunpoint in her own home. But that’s not what happened. The headline was inaccurate, likely due to an ill-informed writer and/or editor.

The public typically assumes when they read or hear something in the news, it must be fact because, well, it’s the news, and not fiction. When the media passes along bad information, unsuspecting everyday people could believe it to be true and then repeat it in conversation and/or in writings. And this is one way those faux facts make it into books. The best means to prevent using this type of misinformation, of course, is to conduct honest to goodness research.

Back to the news story about the runner’s “home robbed at gunpoint.”

The first line of the first paragraph of the news story immediately contradicted the headline, saying the distance runner received the news that her home had been ransacked while she was away. 

“A British Olympian distance runner said Wednesday thieves ‘ransacked’ her home and stole some of her medals and jewelry.” According to the BBC, she said a family member went to check on her dog and found the home “trashed.”

The runner, Eilish McColgan, later said she was upset and angry when she learned that her home had been the target of a burglary.

She’d not been robbed. She was not at home when the crook broke into her home and took her belongings. Unlike the news reporter, Eilish McColgan knew the difference between burglary and robbery.

The fact that she was not at home is very important detail that affects how the criminal would be charged, if caught.

Burglary is a property crime.

In a property crime, a victim’s property is stolen or destroyed, without the use or threat of force against the victim. Property crimes include burglary and theft as well as vandalism and arson. – National Institute of Justice

Burglary as defined by Black’s Law Dictionary

“The breaking and entering the house of another in the night-time, with intent to commit a felony therein, whether the felony be actually committed or not.”

In Virginia, where I served as law enforcement officer/detective, the law governing burglary states:

§ 18.2-89. Burglary; how punished.

If any person break and enter the dwelling house of another in the nighttime with intent to commit a felony or any larceny therein, he shall be guilty of burglary, punishable as a Class 3 felony; provided, however, that if such person was armed with a deadly weapon at the time of such entry, he shall be guilty of a Class 2 felony.
 
§ 18.2-90. Entering dwelling house, etc., with intent to commit murder, rape, robbery or arson; penalty.

If any person in the nighttime enters without breaking or in the daytime breaks and enters or enters and conceals himself in a dwelling house or an adjoining, occupied outhouse or in the nighttime enters without breaking or at any time breaks and enters or enters and conceals himself in any building permanently affixed to realty, or any ship, vessel or river craft or any railroad car, or any automobile, truck or trailer, if such automobile, truck or trailer is used as a dwelling or place of human habitation, with intent to commit murder, rape, robbery or arson in violation of §§ 18.2-77, 18.2-79 or § 18.2-80, he shall be deemed guilty of statutory burglary, which offense shall be a Class 3 felony. However, if such person was armed with a deadly weapon at the time of such entry, he shall be guilty of a Class 2 felony.

VA Code § 18.2-91

If any person commits any of the acts mentioned in § 18.2-90 with intent to commit larceny, or any felony other than murder, rape, robbery or arson in violation of §§ 18.2-77, 18.2-79 or § 18.2-80, or if any person commits any of the acts mentioned in § 18.2-89 or § 18.2-90 with intent to commit assault and battery, he shall be guilty of statutory burglary, punishable by confinement in a state correctional facility for not less than one or more than twenty years or, in the discretion of the jury or the court trying the case without a jury, be confined in jail for a period not exceeding twelve months or fined not more than $2,500, either or both. However, if the person was armed with a deadly weapon at the time of such entry, he shall be guilty of a Class 2 felony.

§ 18.2-92. Breaking and entering dwelling house with intent to commit other misdemeanor.

If any person break and enter a dwelling house while said dwelling is occupied, either in the day or nighttime, with the intent to commit any misdemeanor except assault and battery or trespass, he shall be guilty of a Class 6 felony. However, if the person was armed with a deadly weapon at the time of such entry, he shall be guilty of a Class 2 felony.

Clear as mud, right?

Notice that I highlighted a brief portion of a sentence above in red, and three specific words in blue—“with intent to commit larceny or any felony other than murder, rape, robbery or arson …” I did so to emphasize that robbery is not a portion of, or related to the basic crime of burglary. It is a completely separate offense.

Burglary and Robbery are not the same!

Okay, still confused when I say that robbery and burglary are not the same crime? You ask, how could this be the case when so many TV and print news reports and fictional television shows time and time again tell us that Ms. or Mr. Crime Victim’s house was robbed?

An inanimate object cannot be robbed

Typically, burglary involves the breaking and entering the house of another, and only a burglar, or burglars, are involved. There’s no force, threat, or intimidation used against a resident during the taking of an item or items from a victim, because the victims are not present. For example, you and your spouse are out for the evening when Joe I. Stealem enters your home through a downstairs window and swipes a carton of orange juice from your refrigerator.

Author Lawrence Block expertly captures the essence of a professional burglar, and he does so quite nicely with his character Bernie Rhodenbarr. Keep in mind, though, that Rhodenbarr is not the average residential burglar encountered on a weekly basis by patrol officers in your town.

Now, on to robbery.

Violent Crimes.

In a violent crime, a victim is harmed by or threatened with violence. Violent crimes include rape and sexual assault, robbery, assault and murder. – National Institute of Justice.

Black’s Law definition of Robbery.

“Robbery is the felonious taking of personal property In the possession of another, from his person or immediate presence, and against his will, accomplished by means of force or fear.”

Traveling back to Virginia, we see that robbery there is defined as:

Virginia Code § 18.2-58. How punished.
If any person commit robbery by partial strangulation, or suffocation, or by striking or beating, or by other violence to the person, or by assault or otherwise putting a person in fear of serious bodily harm, or by the threat or presenting of firearms, or other deadly weapon or instrumentality whatsoever, he shall be guilty of a felony and shall be punished by confinement in a state correctional facility for life or any term not less than five years.
 
In short, robbery is the taking of property by one person from another, by violence, threat, or fear. A robbery could occur anywhere—a street, sidewalk, park, bus, your yard, your neighbor’s yard, a shopping mall, a convenience store, a church and, well, anywhere. And it must involve at least two people—a robber and a victim, or victims.A burglary, however, occurs only at a building and the victims are typically not present when the crime occurs. If so, they’re usually unaware that their homes have been burgled until after the bad guy is gone.
 
You and your spouse are out for the evening when Joe I. Stealem goes inside your home and swipes a carton of orange juice from your refrigerator. That’s burglary. The same is true if the family is asleep in their beds when Joe I. Stealem crawls through an open downstairs window, steals a TV, a waffle maker, and mom’s fuzzy slippers, and then leaves the same way he came. The family weren’t threatened in any way. In fact, they weren’t aware that anything was amiss until the next morning when dear old mom’s toes began to get cold.
 
However, suppose you and your spouse are walking home from the corner market. You’re clutching a bag containing the carton of orange juice you’d just purchased. As you round the final corner, Ricky Robber approaches and points a gun at you, demanding that you hand over the juice. You comply and Ricky runs away. That’s a robbery because Ricky Robber used threat, fear, and/or intimidation to force you to hand over the orange squeezings.No in-person taking by force = no robbery.

Click here to read How Burglars Break Into Homes.

Burglaries Can End With Violence

If your stories involve a burglar, keep in mind that burglaries can, and sometimes do, escalate into violent crimes against people. And, some burglars enter a structure with the intention to commit a crime other than theft, such as murder, robbery, rape, assault.

For example, serial killer Timothy Spencer (the Southside Strangler), who used windows to enter the homes of several women. Once inside, he raped, sodomized, and choked them to death using ligatures.

I served as a witness to Spencer’s execution by electric chair. I sat just a few feet away from away and I watched him die a gruesome death.

 

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Serial Killers: Are You Murdering Your Stories?

Okay, you’ve written your first, or maybe your thirty-first, shoot-’em-up, cut-’em-up cereal serial killer novel. You’re proud of the book and of all your hard work. After all, your sister’s husband’s best friend’s mother’s uncle who used to be a security guard at the mall says the bad guy in your latest book is so realistic that he makes Gacy and Bundy look like Cub Scouts. Now that’s an expert opinion, for sure!

But, did you do your homework? Are you sure you’ve written the character properly? Or, did you get your information from Dexter reruns?

Before you send the manuscript off to your editor, let’s take a moment to have a quick look at our mini serial killer checklist. You know, just to make certain your details are sound.

Number One – All serial killers absolutely LOVE Jodie Foster …

Oops, wrong list.

Hang on a second … it’s here, somewhere. I saw it just a moment ago…

Messy Desk

Ah, yes. Here we go…

Serial Killer Fact Checker

1. For the most part, serial killers are NOT loners. They don’t hang out in dark alleys hoping a potential victim will soon pass by. In fact, serial killers normally live everyday lives, working steady jobs and hanging out with everyday people.

2. Sex is NOT the only motivator behind serial killings. Greed, anger, money, the thrill of the kill, and wanting attention could all be considered as motivation for serial killings.

3. Serial killers are generally NOT wanderers who travel the highways and byways searching for their victims. Instead, they normally choose to stay within a comfortable region that’s relatively close to the center of their world (home, work, etc.).


4. Serial killers are generally NOT the super-smart geniuses we sometimes see on TV and in film. They’re also NOT always insane as defined by law. Sure, they’re usually psychopathic, but not “Elvis-lives-in-my-refrigerator-behind-the-cheesecake” crazy.

5. Serial killers can and often do stop killing. There’s no serial killer handbook rule stating they must find and kill a new victim every day for the rest of their lives.

6. Not all serial killers are white males.

7. Serial killers, as a rule, do NOT want to get caught. Instead, they become complacent and careless, and sometimes cocky, making it easier to be caught by police.

8. Not all serial killers are alike. There is no standard. Each serial killer has his/her own motivation and personality.

9. Serial killers are NOT limited to any specific race, age group, or gender.

10. Serial killers may have multiple motivations.

Finally, to help with your research …

 

 

“A serial killer murders at least two people in distinctly separate incidents, with a psychological rest period between, which could be considered a time of predatory preparation. He, she, or they also choose the murder activity, such as stabbing, strangulation, shooting, or bombing, and may move around to different places or lure successive victims to a single locale. They view victims as objects needed for their ultimate goals, and manifest as addictive quality to their behavior, so that choosing murder is a satisfying act rather than merely a reaction or instrumental goal.”  Dr. Katherine Ramsland

*Jodie Foster image by Alan Light (background removed)

Full details coming soon!

 

 

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Homicide Investigators Should Do … What?

What Homicide Investigators should do

There are nearly as many different ways to approach and investigate a crime scene as there are officers standing in line each morning at coffee and/or donut establishments. I suspect their orders—chocolate-covered, glazed, bear claw, etc.—are as diverse as their personalities and the ways they approach the job. But, despite the menagerie of varying quirks and thought processes, there are things that should be done at all murder scenes. For example …

Document the findings at the crime scene:

1. Record the air temperature at the scene (ambient air).

2. Document body temperature of the deceased, if the medical examiner is not on scene. Document description—cold, warm, frozen, etc. To the touch, only. Cops do not insert thermometers into any portion of a human body.

3. Document livor mortis—was livor mortis present, and at what stage? Was it fixed? Was body position consistent with the stage of livor mortis? Did someone move the body?

4. Document rigor mortis—what stage of rigor? Was the rigor consistent with the crime scene? Did someone move the body?

5. Note the degree of decomposition—skeletonization, putrefaction, mummification, etc.

6. Document animal activity—was the body in any way altered by animals?

7. Photograph the body exactly as it was found. Also, the ground beneath the body should be photographed once the body has been removed

8. Document victim’s physical characteristics—description of the body, including scars, marks, tattoos, clothing, jewelry, and obvious wounds).

9. Make note of the type of on-scene emergency medical care, or the lack of treatment.

10. Document the presence of body fluids and where they’re found (mouth, nose, beneath the body, etc.). Also note if there’s no indication of body fluids.

11. Bag the victim’s hands (and bare feet) in clean, unused paper bags.

12. Collect or arrange for the collection of trace and other evidence.

13. Determine the need for alternate light sources and other specialized equipment.

14. Photograph the victim’s face for future identification purposes.

15. Make note of the presence of insects. Photograph and collect samples of each.

16. Protect the body from further injury and/or contamination.

17. Supervise the placement of the body into a body bag, and install the proper seal/securing.

18. Ensure the proper removal and transportation of the body.

19. Who, What, Where, How, and When – Who discovered the body? Who was present when the body was discovered? Where was the body discovered? How was the victim killed? When was the body discovered? Who witnessed the murder? Etc. Document everything, no matter how insignificant it sounds at the time.

20. Document EMS records/activity. Obtain a copy of the EMS call sheet/report, if possible.

21. Document witness statements. What they observed, the victim’s actions prior to death, killer’s description, etc.

22. Note medical examiner’s comments.

23. Obtain written witness statements, if possible, and contact information.

24. Document the names and contact information of everyone present at the scene, including officers, EMS, medical examiner, firefighters, press, etc.

25. Be certain that all evidence has been recovered before releasing the scene.

 

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