Friday, April 1, 2011

Police Chief Chat

This past week, and for the first time in modern history, the Rolla Police Department received no calls for service, there was no reported crime anywhere in the city and officers all took time off and stayed home…. April fools! Actually we received 664 calls for service. Of these calls there were: 25 arrests, 12 alarms, 18 accidents, 31 traffic complaints, 108 traffic stops, 18 disturbance (including domestics), 6 suspicious nature, 12 check well beings, 4 intoxicated persons, 3 juvenile complaints, 2 malicious mischief, 2 try to contacts, 1 repossessed vehicle and 10 property destructions. This call total is down 104 calls from last week, but still another busy week!

• On March 27, 2011 at approximately 1820 hours, the Rolla Police Department received a report of an armed robbery that occurred at Lions Club Park located in the 1000 block of S. US 63, Rolla, MO. The victim, male age 18 of Carol Stream, IL, reported that he met three subjects at the location in order to facilitate an illegal narcotic...s transaction. Reportedly, one of the subjects had flourished a weapon while another subject approached the victim, assaulted him, and demanded the victim’s wallet. The victim was able to leave after handing over his wallet. The third subject reportedly did not take an active role in the incident. The victim was able to identify the subject who flourished the weapon and the third subject from past associations but did not know the identity of the subject who had assaulted him. The Uniformed Division sought out the known subject who had flourished the weapon. Unable to locate the subject, a warrant application was made.

On March 28, 2011, the Uniformed Division was able to tentatively identify the subject who had assaulted the victim. The Uniformed Division located and arrested Terrance Tipton age 19 of Rolla who had an outstanding warrant issued through the Rolla Municipal Court that was unrelated to this investigation. During the investigation, it was determined that Terrance Tipton was the subject who had assaulted the victim and took his wallet. Terrance Tipton was incarcerated in the Phelps County Jail pending warrant application for Robbery 1st and Assault 3rd. Later in the evening, the Street Crimes Unit located the third subject, male age 22 of Rolla. The subject was interviewed by the Division of Criminal Investigations and at the time released without charges.

On March 29, 2011, the Uniformed Division located and arrested Benjamin Tolliver age 21 of Rolla. Benjamin Tolliver was arrested on a warrant issued by the 25th Judicial Circuit for Robbery 1st and Armed Criminal Action in connection to this investigation. During the investigation, it was determined that Benjamin Tolliver was the subject that had flourished the firearm. The stolen wallet was later recovered by a citizen on a public road and turned over to the Rolla Police Department. Missing from the wallet was the victim’s money. The amount of money is not being disclosed at this time. The charges for which Terrance Tipton and Benjamin Tolliver have been charged with is a mere accusation and is not evidence of guilt. Evidence in support of this charges must be presented to a court of competent jurisdiction whose duty is to determine guilt or innocence.

• On March 30, 2011, Terry L. Dunaway, age 24 of the 600 Block of E. 12th Street in Rolla, was arrested on a Phelps County Warrant charging him with Possession of Child Pornography. This arrest and charge stems from a three month criminal investigation that was conducted by the Rolla Police Department’s Division of Criminal Investigation...s Unit, and the South Central Missouri Computer Crimes Task Force. Terry L. Dunaway is currently incarcerated in the Phelps County Jail on a $25,000.00 bond. The charge for which Terry L. Dunaway has been charged with is a mere accusation and is not evidence of guilt. Evidence in support of this charges must be presented to a court of competent jurisdiction whose duty is to determine guilt or innocence.

These aforementioned entries are just a few examples of the results of the collaborated efforts of our Criminal Investigations Unit, the Patrol Division, Street Crimes Unit, the South Central Drug Task Force and our Housing Officer. This versatile team of experienced officers are battling illegal drugs, and associated crimes on many fronts and are producing amazing results. Some of those results were seen here and will be shown in future Chief Chat columns and on our Rolla Police Department Facebook site. As I have said in the past, we will not sit still and allow the criminal element and other undesirables to come into our community and spread their poisons and victimize our citizens without delivering swift and severe consequences. These Specialty Teams have been formed to enhance and support the work already undertaken by our Patrol Division and Criminal Investigations Unit.

Recently we announced that we would be seeking applicants to fill a telecommunicator position in our Central Dispatch Unit and also a Parking Control Officer to replace Warren Hogan who will be retiring in the near future. The results of that announcement netted over 75 interested applicants for those positions. I wanted to thank each of you for your interest in securing employment here at the Rolla Police Department. Both of the announced positions are very important positions in our community and we will do our best to fill them with the best all around candidate for the job. Thanks again to all of the applicants for your desire to join us in serving this great community. The only problem with so many applicants is that we only have the two positions available. If you are not selected for these openings please keep us in mind and watch for future opportunities as they arise.

In closing, the Rolla Police Department S.W.A.T. Team is comprised of 10 full time officers and 4 reserve officers. The S.W.A.T. Team was developed in 1997 to assist in resolving incident outside the realm of ordinary patrol response through the use of developed skills, tactics and specialized equipment capabilities. The S.W.A.T. Team trains as a team on a regular basis throughout the year and in an effort to keep the training diverse and as real as possible, locations throughout the community are sought as a trainging site. These locations could be residences, businesses, schools and other government buildings. Our training, although intense and realistic, is designed to create an intense atmosphere, but does not cause damage to the chosen site. If you have a building you would consider allowing us to use as a training site please contact S.W.A.T. Commander Lt. Jim Macormic at 573-308-1213.

Have a great week!


Chief Mark Kearse

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