Hello Everyone!
All In a Day's
Work??!!
On 4/12, Officer Adria Ehly responded with other officers to a report
of two women fighting outside a residence. Adria
contacted a 39 yr old
female who was intoxicated and continuing to yell comments at others in
the area. Adria had the woman sit in her squad while
she talked to the
other persons involved. When Adria returned to tell
the woman she was
going to be charged with Disorderly Conduct, the woman became verbally
abusive and attempted to kick Adria. When officers
attempted to remove
the woman from the squad car in order to handcuff her, the woman
suddenly lunged at Adria, and began scratching at Adria's face and eyes.
Adria and 3 other officers had to place the woman on
the ground to
evetually get her handcuffed. Even then she continued
to kick at the
officers until they were able to hobble her feet. After she was placed
in the squad, she continued to kick at the squad door and swear at the
officers. Fortunately Adria only sustained some
scratches to the inside
and outside of her mouth.
Two days later, Off. Adria Ehly found herself in another very similar
physical confrontation. Off. Shane Pueschner
contacted a panhandler on
people trying to walk down the sidewalk. Shane was alone when he
attempted to arrest the man. The man began to pull away and struggle
with Shane. A friend of the man's also began yelling at Shane about
the arrest. Numerous officers, including Adria, came
to Shane's aid.
After the man was handcuffed, he continued to threaten the officers and
kick at them. His feet were hobbled and he was taken to jail. It took
several deputies to place man in a segregation cell at the jail until he
would hopefully calm down.
In both of these cases, the officers tried to reason with
the
individuals and explain what was going to happen in the hopes of
avoiding a confrontation. In both cases, the individuals disregarded
the officers, yelled profanities, made threats and fought with the
officers including kicking at them.
Next time you see an officer with scuff marks on the knees
of their
pants, it's likely they've had a day like these officers.
Neighborhood Events
I know that many of your neighborhood associations hold
summer picnics,
potlucks, block parties and other get togethers.
Please send me a note
when these are happening so I can let the beat officer know. While I
can't promise they won't get tied up on a call, if they are available,
they would love to stop by and say hi.
Burglaries
Speed Enforcement
On 4/10, six Traffic Officers teamed up to do speed enforcement in the
2300 block of Vondron. Between 4:40p and 6:20p, they
stopped 19
vehicles and issued 22 citations. The fastest speed was 45 mph, with
the rest of the vehicles traveling between 39 and 42 mph. Three
citations were issued for not wearing seat belts. Of the 19 drivers, 11
live in the general vicinity, 6 live in other parts of the City and 2
live in Sun Prairie.
On the same day, 2 of our East officers, Laura Walker and Steve
Hornbeck, teamed up with 5 test officers to do enforcement in the 3200
blk of Atwood Av. Between 9:20a and 11:10a, they
stopped and cited 22
drivers for speeding. The vehicles were traveling between 38 and 45 mph
with most of the vehicles traveling 40 mph.
Our District officers also do traffic enforcement in between responding
to calls and doing the reports on those calls. In the month of March,
our patrol officers and sergeants wrote 238 traffic citations and 68
city ordinance citations. Some of the traffic citations are the result
of accident investigations.
Neighborhood Officer
Many of you may be familiar with Officer Denise Markham. She is
assigned to the Darbo/Worthington Neighborhood. As
you may expect,
Denise is ever vigilant about keeping the neighborhood free of illegal
activities, especially drug dealing or gang related crimes. These
activities directly effect the quality of life for the
residents,
especially the children, in her neighbohood. But law
enforcement is
only one part of Denise's duties. Recently, Denise attended a community
dinner for the Asian population in her neighborhood. Through an
interpreter, she was able to listen to and address their concerns about
the neighborhood. One of their concerns was the lack of parking due to
employees of a nearby facility parking in front of their residences.
Denise recently attended a talent show involving O'Keefe students at
the Barrymore Theatre. Denise knew that many of her neighborhood kids
would be in the show and decided to attend it. The kids were very
excited to see her at their show. AND they actually talked Denise into
appearing in the next show with some of the officers who work in the
school. Denise agreed to take the lead on organizing the act.
Denise attends the the neighborhood association
meetings. This
association currently doesn't have a president, but does have a core
group of residents who Denise works with to address concerns in the
neighborhood.
There has been an interest in resurrecting a Men's Parenting
Group in
the neighborhood. Denise has been in touch with the organizer and has
offered to attend some of the meetings to answer legal questions in
regard to discipline. The organizer is very interested in having Denise
do this.
Denise recently noticed a mom leave her apt and go to a
nearby pay
phone for an extended period of time. Denise learned that the mom was
leaving her toddler unattended at the time. Upon checking with
neighbors and friends, Denise learned this was a common occurrence.
Denise contacted DCHS and the child was taken into protective custody.
The mom is on probation and involved in drugs. This is her 6th child to
be taken away from her.
Denise has been working with the Salvation Army on a plan to
expand and
improve their programs, especially for the children in the
neighborhood.
We have been very pleased with the work Denise has done and
continues
to do in this neighborhood.
The car crash scenario held at
great success. Two damage vehicles were set up as a car accident. A
few students volunteered to be the driver and passengers of one of the
vehicles. The students were able to watch the Fire Dept. remove the
roof of the car in order to remove and treat their fellow students
involved in the crash. One of the students "died" in the crash and
lay
nearby, covered up, as the others were rescued. Med Flight stood by.
Afterward, the students had an opportunity to talk to police and
paramedics about the rescue and to check out the Med Flight helicopter.
We hope this is the only serious crash these young drivers will
experience.
Officer Mary Pat Chvala also set
up a Law Day at the School which
occurred on the 17th. There were four sessions. The first involved
Jackie Millar, telling her story as the victim of a shooting by
juveniles. You may recall she lived in Reedsburg and was shot in the
head at her home. In the second session, two of our detectives talked
to the students about dangers they may encounter in their use of the
internet. In the 3rd session, Traffic Officer Stacey Vilas talked about
wearing seat belts and drinking and driving. She showed a video
featuring a UW basketball player who rode with a friend who was
intoxicated. The UW student did not have a seat belt on. When the
driver lost control at only 35 mph and struck a street light pole, the
UW player's face went through the windshield totally severing her nose.
Six operations later, the UW player states if she had her seatbelt on,
she believes she would not have been so severely injured. The last
session featured a protective services panel discussion with
representatives from the following areas: Police, Fire, City Attorney,
911 Center, Domestic Abuse Intervention Services, LaFollette's
Project
Hugs and the State Legislature.
These are just a few examples of the programming Officer
Mary Pat
Chvala has brought to
That’s all for this month!
Take care,
Jill