Police Chief Chat

The Rolla Police Department handled 770 calls for service. Of these calls there were: 28 arrests, 43 accidents, 44 traffic complaints, 96 traffic stops, 44 follow up investigations, 14 suspicious nature calls, 17 loud noise complaints, 18 assists of other agencies, 8 fingerprint requests, 35 security checks, 5 juvenile complaints, 5 trespassing calls, 11 escorts, 5 domestic disturbances, 3 abandoned vehicles and 12 stealing reports. This call total is up 2 calls from last week. Yet, another busy week!

On Friday, October 8, 2010 at approximately 2:38 p.m., the Rolla Police Department received a 911 call indicating that there had just been a robbery at the Town and Country Bank located at 910 South Highway 63 in Rolla. Officers responded to the scene and learned that a white male had robbed two bank employees while they were filling the ATM machine located outside of the bank near the drive thru area. The suspect knocked one employee down and stole two plastic containers which contained United States currency. The robber left the bank on foot with an unreleased amount of cash. One employee sustained minor injuries during the robbery, the other employee was not injured. The robbery suspect was described as a white male, approximately 30 years of age, weighing 200-225 pounds, approximately 5'10" - 6'01" tall. The suspect was wearing a blue checkered button up short sleeve shirt, camouflage ball cap, blue jeans, black footwear and had placed a blue bandana over his mouth. He was also wearing sunglasses. The suspect fled from the scene on foot carrying two gray NCR brand, ATM containers which were approximately 15 inches long and 8 inches wide. The bank robbery is currently under investigation by members of the Rolla Police Department's Division of Criminal Investigations and the Federal Bureau of Investigations.

Since the robbery investigation began, our Criminal Investigations Unit and agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation have developed several leads in this case. I have pulled out all the stops and will use all available resources to follow up on these leads and do our best to complete this investigation and bring this criminal to justice. All available officers from staff and our patrol division are assisting the CIU and FBI investigators and will do so until this investigation is complete. Anyone having any information pertaining to this bank robbery is encouraged to call the Rolla Police Department at (573) 308-1213.

Over the past few months the Rolla Police Department has been promoting our upcoming 10th Annual Law Enforcement Torch Run “Trivia Night” scheduled for this Saturday, October 16, 2010. Regretfully, we have had to cancel this event due to scheduling conflicts. We are looking at a possible re-schedule date sometime after the 1st of the year. Even though we had to cancel this year’s event we would still like to thank our sponsors and continued supporters for their unending devotion to helping us, help our Special Olympic athletes. The event is somewhat unique in that it is not only a great fundraiser but also a night of fun and adventure. Each year businesses, organizations and individuals come forward and offer goods or services to make this event a success. Some of them are named here and without them, we would not have been able to provide the support for nearly a decade to Special Olympics. We would like to thank: Lee’s Chicken, Domino’s Pizza, Papa John’s Pizza, Tommy’s Tater Patch, Pizza Inn, Pizza Hut, Little Caesar’s Pizza, Imo’s Pizza, Casey’s General Stores, Wal-Mart Supercenter, Pryor’s Pizza, Rolla Elk’s Lodge, Result’s Radio, Fairground Chevrolet, Sheriff Rick Lisenbe and the Phelps County Sheriff’s Department, Cpt. LeeAnn Kenley and MSHP at Troop I, our scheduled guest emcee John D. Wiggins, The law firm of Beger and Bushie LLC, the law firm of Williams, Robinson, Rigler and Buschjost, Key Sport, Phelps County Bank, Bank of America, Fidelity Communications, McDonald’s, Big Lots, Game Stop, Slice of Pie, Applebee’s, Goody’s, Family Video, Blossom Basket, Verizon Wireless, Family Center, Creech Furniture Galleries, Trips & More and Coachlite Lanes. Thanks for a great 10 years!

We have some new faces here at the Police Department and I would like to introduce you to 4 new members of the Rolla Police family. Joining our ranks in the patrol division is Pto. John Stack. John resides in Sullivan Missouri and has most recently been employed with the Bourbon Police Department where he has served since May of this year. John will begin serving with the Rolla Police Department on Monday, October 18th which will include a 12 week field training program where he will be shadowed by one of our Field Training Officers who will guide him through the steps to becoming a Rolla Police Officer. Please be sure to say hello to John and welcome him to our community. Our next new member is none other than Ward Merrell. Ward has recently joined our Volunteers in Police Services ranks and will serve by patrolling schools, neighborhoods and our business districts. Many people around Rolla know Ward from having been President of the Rolla Chamber of Commerce and being a Rolla Ambassador. He has also been a successful businessman specializing in financial planning and insurance. Our next new face is that of Jeanne Jenks of Rolla, who is also a new member of our VIPS program. Jeanne comes to us from the medical profession and will be assisting our Records Division. Finally our last new face is that of Joyce Heidecke of Rolla, who is a registered nurse that has recently joined the ranks of the Volunteers in Police Services. Joyce will be assisting with the school, business and neighborhood patrols. I would like to welcome all of our newest members to the Rolla Police Department family and encourage all of you to welcome them in the community.

Have a great week!

Chief Mark Kearse