A family tradition...

There just seems to be a tradition in police work, of sons and daughters following their dads and moms into law enforcement.

It happens in the Greenville Police Department, too.   Officer Joe Tripp's son, Doug, was a Greenville Police Officer in the 1980s. Joe Tripp was an officer in the 1950s -70s.  Lt. E.E. Laughinghouse was a Greenville Police Officer in the 1960s and 70s, and his son, Edward, is an officer with almost 30 years of service with the department, now.     Reuben Sawyer was one of the most well respected Lieutenants this Department has seen in the past 20 years.  He is retired now, but his 2 sons are both officers with GPD.

Sergeant Matt Cleary was a Greenville Police Officer from the late 60s until the early 90s.  His son became a GPD officer in March 1992 and served as a K-9 officer until he was injured in a motorcycle crash in 2003.

There are plenty of other examples:  Officer Wayne Smith's dad was a Sheriff's deputy.  Chief Sauls's father is a retired Sheriff...there are others, too many to remember here.

What makes a young man or woman look at the field and decide to become a police officer?

Surely as the child of an officer, they must see daily the stress and long hours,  the missed birthdays and absent holidays...the nights away from home.

Yet, many of the children of police officers decide early in life that they want to follow that path and serve others.

Maybe its the satisfaction they see when mom or dad puts a bad person in jail.  Maybe its the respect their parent has for the community's safety.   Perhaps they see the uniform as a symbol.

Whatever the reason,  following mom & dad into law enforcement has been, and seems as if it always will be, a family tradition.

We recently learned the daughter of a good friend of ours just changed her college major from Construction Management to Criminal Justice.   Our friend was a former police officer who recently passed away.  The apple really doesn't fall far from the tree.

The rest of the story...

On February 23, two persons made separate reports, about an hour apart, to the Police Department where they each claimed to have been shot and injured  in the City of Greenville: 

            1.  Case # 13-13140:  Anthony Lamont Lester told Greenville Police he had been shot near the Moyewood housing area.  He did not provide details to police at the time he made his report.  His account was vague and contradictory.

            2.  Case # 13-14141:  Samuel Michael Finch told Greenville Police he had been shot while on Chestnut Street.  He did not provide details to police at the time he made his report, either.  No crime scene was ever located.

Further investigation by detectives from the Major Crimes Unit found both men were lying and made false reports.  Detectives have additional evidence, and now believe that both men were in the same car together, and they were involved in a gun fight with occupants from another car.  This gun fight took place somewhere in Edgecombe County, NC.  At least one other person was injured.  Law Enforcement officers in Rocky Mount PD and in Edgecombe County are investigating that incident.

Lester is a convicted felon with prior arrests for Armed Robbery, Kidnapping, Assault, Larceny, PWISD Cocaine, Possession of Firearm by Felon, Resisting Arrest, and Assault on a Female.

Finch is also a convicted felon with prior arrests for Assault, Possession of Stolen Firearms, Drug offenses, Armed Robbery, Attempted Murder, and Assault With A Deadly Weapon With Intent to Kill.

On Wednesday February 27 Detective M.W. Blunt obtained arrest warrants against both men charging each of them with Making a False Report to Police.

Incidents of this nature steal limited and valuable police resources from the community. They also give a false sense of alarm to citizens, and provide a false impression of crime in the City.

The Greenville Police Department is working closely with law enforcement officers from Edgecombe County and Rocky Mounty PD to aid in their investigation of the incident.  Additional arrests are possible

Total team effort...

This is one of the biggest drug busts in the history of Pitt County here:

On February 11, 2013, the Greenville Regional Drug Task Force, the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation and the DEA arrested Jeffrey Levon Wright of Greenville, North Carolina.  The arrest of Wright concluded a ten year, multi-agency investigation into Wright’s cocaine trafficking and money laundering conspiracy.

Detectives believe that over the span of his criminal enterprise, Wright is responsible for the distribution of more than 200 kilograms of cocaine and other illegal drugs in eastern North Carolina.

At the time of his arrest, law enforcement seized one (1) kilogram of powder cocaine with an estimated street value of $100,000, approximately $20,000 in U.S. Currency, ten(10) firearms and twenty (20) automobiles. 

Wright was charged with three counts of Trafficking in Cocaine and placed under a $5,000,000 secured bond in the Pitt County Detention Center.  

The following law enforcement agencies participated in the investigation, and assisted with the arrest of Wright:

NC State Bureau of Investigation

DEA Raleigh

IRS-Criminal Investigation Division (Raleigh)

North Carolina Department of Revenue

Pitt County Sheriff’s Office

Farmville Police Department

Lenoir County Sheriff’s Office

Rocky Mount Police Department

Raleigh Police Department

Wayne County Sheriff’s Office

Person County Sheriff’s Office

Wilson Police Department

Goldsboro Police Department

NC DMV-License and Theft

NC Alcohol Law Enforcement

Edgecombe County Sheriff’s Office

Greenville Police Department

Kids deserve better...

Example #1:

On February 21, Detective Robert J. Wright of the GPD Major Crimes Unit charged a 14 year old boy with one count each of AWDWIKISI, Armed Robbery and Aid & Abet Larceny of a Motor Vehicle in this case.  The juvenile was already in custody for unrelated charges.  This investigation continues and additional arrest(s) are expected.

Example #2:

Detectives from the Special Victims Unit and the GPD Gang Unit obtained and served a secured custody order (juvenile arrest warrant)  against the boy and he was confined at the Pitt County Juvenile Detention Center.   He is charged with Discharging a Firearm into Occupied Property, Possession of a Handgun by a minor, and Possession of a Firearm with the Serial Number Removed/Altered.

This past Sunday, the Daily Reflector weighed in on these 2 cases with an editorial:

Web Link:  Editorial: Sunday February 24, 2013

The editorial was much appreciated and hit the topic square on: The Police Department and all its resources,  the schools, the churches, volunteers, and mentors are no match for a lack of parenting.    Where are the parents?  Not just in these cases, but in more and more cases?

The sad fact is, many people take better care of their cars and pets than their loved ones.  There are countless books and videos and workshops geared to training a puppy.  A person could read one of these books, watch one of these videos, or attend one of these workshops, and learn the same basic skills that are needed to raise a child.  The principles are the same:  consistency, repetition, positive reinforcement, discipline, and love.   Training a puppy begins at the age of 7 weeks.  Training a child begins within the first 6 months.  There's not much difference in the development.

There never was a dog that didn't deserve better than what it received from its owner.  Don't kids deserve the same kind of attention?

What would the duke say...

People do the wrong things for any number of reasons.  Sometimes they use bad judgment.  Sometimes they try to rationalize bad thinking into a twisted self-justification.

When it comes to right and wrong for police officers, there isn't any gray area.  A police officer holds the public trust like a delicate glass statute -- to be cradled and protected against the temptation of breakage.  Knowing what is right, acting with the side of justice, and making tough, unpopular decisions in the face of criticism can be a difficult and lonely path for a police officer.  The satisfactions are internal for the most part, but they are there. 

This profession is grounded in ethics, integrity, courage, and leadership; and without those attributes for a foundation, the structure of the whole being, the public trust and the community support collapses, and there is nothing.

Its important to point out, too, there is a difference between doing the wrong thing, and doing the thing wrong.   The first instance is a conscious, willful, and deliberate choice.  the second thing is a mistake that may be attributed to ignorance or misinformation or a host of other possibilities.   Doing the wrong thing is bad.  Doing the thing wrong is a mistake that can be corrected.  

In a favorite classic movie,  John Wayne, playing the role of Davy Crockett, says:

"There’s right and there’s wrong. You got to do one or the other. You do the one and you’re living. You do the other and you may be walking around, but your dead as a beaver hat."

Police blotter...

Patrol IMPACT Officers conducted a drug investigation on Saturday which lead them to apartment 126 in the Province Apartment Complex.  A search of the apartment yielded  1.75 lbs of marijuana.  The police arrested Jacob Walton,  21 years old.

Also on Saturday, officers worked with Probation & Parole to conduct house checks on active probationers.  While checking on 24 year old Demetrius Wiggins, officers found a stolen TV in his home, along with 20 grams of marijuana.  Wiggins was arrested and charged accordingly.

A frequent flyer, Lee Boyd 32 years old, was arrested for Possession With Intent to Sell and Deliver (PWISD) marijuana,  Communicating Threats, and Resisting Arrest.  Officers had to chase him on foot for about 1 block on Myrtle Avenue before he was arrested.  He was jailed on a $60,000 secured bond.

The Warrant Squad was very busy this past week.  They worked with Whiteville, Florida Police to locate Antonia Derose in that city,  Derose was arrested there and is now waiting extradition back to the Tarheel State.   The Warrant officers also worked closely with the Onslow County Sheriff's Office to locate and arrest Michael Deaver, who was wanted in that county, as well as in Greenville.

Stay tuned for more from the Police Blotter.

  

Only in the South...

In Greenville, as in many cities and towns across the South,  traffic on the busiest street in town will come to a standstill as the funeral procession winds its way through the streets.  Leading the way of this procession is almost always a police officer in the marked patrol car, with blue lights flashing.

The funeral escort is a time-honored tradition in this area of the country.  As the long line of cars slowly moves toward the gravesite,  other drivers still pull to the side of the road, either to pay their respects or because its a such an ingrained custom.  Occasionally a driver will continue along the road passing stopped cars off to the side and ignoring the stares of disapproval, but that is still rare for now. 

Some cities are discontinuing this service, citing safety, staffing, and the liability concerns of a slow-moving parade that takes the right-of-way.  Funeral processions seem to be driving up against the reality of a more modern, more urban world.   In Charlotte, Miami, and Atlanta,  Police Departments no longer provide this service to the general public.   The Mecklenburg County Sheriff's Office does provide funeral escorts, but charges $150 per funeral to cover the cost for manpower. 

Here in Greenville, funeral escorts are still a part of the cultural fabric.  The Greenville Police Department provides them at no cost to the funeral homes and grieving families.

Only in the South...