This past week, the Rolla Police Department handled 715 calls for service. Of these calls there were: 31 arrests, 22 accidents, 31 traffic complaints, 101 traffic stops, 1 fight, 28 disturbance calls (including domestics), 11 field interviews, 36 follow up investigations, 11 suspicious nature calls, 19 assists of other agencies, 8 fingerprint requests, 63 9-1-1 hang up calls, 18 destructions of property, 6 recovered property calls, 11 escorts, 5 telephone harassments and 9 fraud complaints. This week’s call total is up 10 calls from last week. Yet another busy week!
On Thursday, November 11, 2010 we celebrated Veteran’s Day where the nation recognized the men and women who have proudly served our country in the US Armed Services. Veteran’s from the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and US Coast guard were remembered for their patriotism, honor, duty and sacrifice as they boldly stepped forward in defense of our great nation. All veterans from the newest recruit just entering boot camp, the men and women fighting present day battles and to those entombed in Arlington deserve our respect, support, reflection and unending gratitude for allowing us to continue to live our lives as free Americans! Thank you to all our veterans for what you are about to do, what you are doing and what you have done!
The Rolla Police Department receives numerous fraud complaints from citizens regarding fictitious money orders that are sent to them through the mail. The fraud takes-on various forms but essentially the victims are asked to do the same thing with the money order. The victims are instructed to take these fraudulent money orders to their bank to be cashed and then wire-transfer the money to the suspect. As time passes, the victim realizes that they have been duped. There are four stages in this type of fraud that can be targeted to reduce this crime: 1) stopping the suspects from sending fraudulent money orders, 2) citizen awareness, 3) banking awareness, and 4) wire-transfer service agent awareness. As you can imagine, we’ve had no effect on the first option. The Rolla Police Department has made several efforts to warn citizens about potential frauds but they continue to occur. The message about “If it’s too good to be true then it isn’t” is just not reaching everyone. The latest victim was an 85 year old lady who lost about a thousand dollars.
We plan to coordinate our efforts with the banking community by verifying that the bank tellers are:
1) Trained to ask questions about the origins of a money order? Does your bank have a policy which prohibits/restricts tellers from asking the client about the transaction?
2) Do your tellers/employees have a way to verify a money order before the funds are made available to the client?
3) Are tellers allowed to contact law enforcement if they suspect a fraudulent money order?
4) Would you allow law enforcement to make a presentation to your employees on how to spot these types of frauds?
We are not looking for any banking secrets so please do not divulge anything too detailed. The information that you share will not be released to anyone and only be used by law enforcement as and additional tool to end these fraud violations. To the citizens of our community, once again: If it appears to be too good to be true, then that is probably the case. If you receive this type of request, contact the Rolla Police Department at 308-1213!
Our Rolla Police Department Facebook page is doing very well and now boasts 3900 friends and fans. We have recently added a “Media Log” tab that offers our daily media release blotter as submitted to the Rolla Daily News. This tab will provide you with day to day arrest, complaint and call information as it is entered by our patrol officers and Central Dispatch. In the very near future we will also add a “Rolla’s Most Wanted” tab that will include photos and descriptions of criminals we are looking to apprehend in our area. We realize that utilizing not only our 3900 strong fan base, but also getting information to the rest of the community just adds that many eyes and ears to our search efforts. Do not hesitate to contact us with any type of criminal information you may have witnessed or heard of 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at 308-1213. If you want to call but need to remain anonymous feel free to contact our Rolla Police Department Confidential Crime Tip Hotline number at 364-0111. Remember, keeping our community safe is not only up to us, it is also up to you! We will continue to provide as much information to you that can be released through our many media release portals in an effort to keep you informed.
In closing, I would like to take this opportunity to welcome our newest member to the Rolla Police Department family by introducing Animal Control Associate Katie Strawbridge!
Katie comes to us with a background in professional pet care and teaching. Katie has accepted a position with our Animal Control Division and will serve as an Animal Control Associate. Her duties will include animal and kennel care and maintenance, animal adoption services, record maintenance and building supply. Katie is married to her husband James and they and their 2 children live in Rolla. On another note, Katie’s father Steven Volz serves as a volunteer with our VIPS program. Welcome to the RPD family Katie!
Have a great week!
Chief Mark Kearse
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