Police Chief Chat

Chief Chat

Merry Christmas! We hope you and your family are enjoying a great holiday season and are able to spend some time reflecting on how important family and community can be and how fortunate we are to be able to live, love and worship in peace in our community. This past week, the Rolla Police Department handled 588 calls for service. Of those, there were 19 alarms, 15 arrests, 45 accidents, 10 check the well being calls, 32 traffic complaints, 30 traffic stops, 20 stealings, 33 security checks, 5 fingerprint requests, 3 destructions of property, 11 escorts and 12 assists of other agencies. This call total is down 124 calls from last week which is a welcome break but still yet another busy week!

On 12/18/2010 at approximately 0227 hours the Rolla Police Department received a 911 call at a residence in the 300 block of North Oak Street. Upon arrival officers contacted the resident who was agitated about a previous situation. As officers were not able to accommodate the resident’s request, he became increasingly agitated and would not cooperate with officers on the scene. Eventually threats were made by the resident and a barricade situation ensued. The Rolla Police Department SWAT Team was called to the scene and a perimeter was established. Area residents were contacted and were encouraged to evacuate their premises. The resident, believed to be deranged began making threats to shoot officers and then announced that he had a bomb in the residence that he would detonate. The resident eventually fired a round into the ground outside of the residence with a handgun.

The Rolla Police Department Hostage Negotiation Team responded and was able to establish communication with the suspect, but the conversation was confusing at best due to the suspect’s state of mind. After nearly 5 hours of repeated requests for the suspect to come out of the residence and surrender his firearms, and after several introductions of tear gas into the residence, the suspect did finally surrender without incident. James R. Fazzio age 53 of Rolla, was arrested and transported to the PCRMC for evaluation of his condition. The Rolla Police Department requested and received assistance from the Phelps County Sheriff’s Department, Missouri State Highway Patrol Officers, MSHP SWAT and MSHP Bomb Squad, Phelps County Ambulance, Rolla City Fire and Rescue, the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Department, St. Robert Police Department and Missouri S&T Police. This is another situations where the emergency services coalition here in Phelps County came together in a time of need and provided the necessary support to bring a very dangerous situation to a safe conclusion. I would like to thank all of the aforementioned agencies who provided a combined total of nearly 70 officers, EMS personnel, firefighters, agents and deputies to assist us in this operation.

A couple weeks ago, we were contacted by the Edgar Springs Police Chief Kody Lucas about our department joining a coalition of other law enforcement agencies in Phelps County to become involved in collecting items for over 100 Phelps County foster children. The children have been removed from their homes due to neglect or dangerous situations and placed into foster care through the Division of Social Services. Many times the children are removed during the night without warning and must leave what belongings they do have behind. This campaign is a way for you to donate needed items to these children by dropping them off at the police department. The items needed are shoes, socks, diapers, undergarments, toys, school supplies, coats, blankets, stuffed toys and car seats. You may also make monetary donations for the cause. These items may be dropped off at the Rolla Police Department Monday through Friday from 8-5, up until January 15, 2011. To date we have gathered a large quantity of these items and had them delivered to the children in need. We could still use a lot more, so if you are able, please do what you can. Thank you!

Last week I was surprised by an early Christmas gift from the employees of the Rolla Police Department. I became the proud owner of a 7 ½ week old male Great Dane puppy, that was purchased by the employees who generously pooled their money for the purchase. After welcoming the pup to our family I had a bit of trouble trying to come up with an appropriate name for him so I decided to the Rolla Police Department Facebook fans help me decide. We announced the “Name the Pooch” contest last Thursday and by Friday I had over 200 worthy suggestions from our 4,248 strong fan base. The names ranged everywhere from Chief and Kearse to Sarg and even D-O-G. After much contemplation and consideration, I decided the most fitting name for the Dane was Tazer! The suggestion was actually the first response we received on our Facebook site and was submitted by Rolla Police Facebook fan Joni Burch! Joni will be coming by the Police Department next week to meet Tazer and to pick up her $25.00 gift card to Colton’s Steakhouse. Thanks to Joni and to all the other Facebook fans for your great suggestions and we are sorry there could only be one winner as you are all winners in our book!

From all your friends here at the Rolla Police Department, we wish you a Merry Christmas and a safe and Happy New Year!

Chief Mark Kearse