Don’t Break Your Arm Patting Yourself On The Back. Or, Really, Maybe You Should.

If you’re going to kill a guy so you can start the second movie on time, shouldn’t the “triple crown” standards dictate you at least dignify the man by explaining the damage to his larynx?

A funny thing happened yesterday morning.  As typical, I was laying in bed putting off the start to the day by skimming the early headlines.  An article about the McHenry County Sheriff’s Police caught my eye.  Looks like they were bragging about gaining “Triple Crown Accreditation:”

No horses, but McHenry Sheriff nets triple crown award

The McHenry County Sheriff’s Department recently won a “Triple Crown,” but it has nothing to do with horse racing.

The “Triple Crowd Award” is a distinction held by less than 1 percent of sheriff offices across the country. It is the National Sheriffs’ Association’s term for attaining accreditation through three key groups: the Commission on the Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, or CALEA; the Commission on Accreditation for Corrections, or CAC; and the National Commission on Correctional Healthcare, or NCCHA….

I’ve seen the CALEA signs around the courthouse, so I knew something was going on. I wasn’t quite sure what this meant, though. Are they more accurate in their arrests?  Do they arrest less guilty people? Are their investigations more accurate or trustworthy than others?

By yesterday afternoon, another story had appeared in the Northwest Herald.  This one had more details. Not important details, mind you, but details given to the NW Herald though and interview who is currently running for Sheriff.  He explained exactly what the triple crown meant:

“This assures [the community] that the Sheriff’s Office is one of the best the United States,” Zinke said. “It’s like sending your kid to college, we’re in the ivy league.”

Yeah.  Just like the ivy league. Except it’s not.

You know how I know?  Not because I looked into it and it appears that most of this accreditation stuff has to do with policy and management and procedure.  No, no no. That’s not it.

What’s that you say?  It’s not like the ivy league because the Chicago Police Department is on the list and they are not, in any regard, ivy league in anything?  I wasn’t even going to go there.

Where I was going to go was that the Frederick County, Maryland Sheriff’s Department is on there.  Are you familiar with them? You’re not?  Well, allow me to refresh your memory:

A shade over 6 months ago, a fellow named Robert Ethan Saylor went to watch Zero Dark Thirty at a movie theater in Frederick County, Maryland.  Mr. Saylor had Downs Syndrome.  I hate to generalize like this, but anybody familiar with Downs Syndrome would have known this was likely at first glance.

Rest in Peace, Robert.

He attended the movie with his caretaker.  I won’t regale you with the entire story, it’s still popping up all over the internet, but Mr. Saylor did not want to leave when the second showing of the movie came on. He clearly threw a bit of a fit- and he was a large man.  Despite the caretaker’s request that Mr. Saylor not be touched and be allowed to calm himself, he was forcibly removed from the movie theater by the Frederick County Sheriff’s Police.  And, by “forcibly removed” I mean they “handcuffed the flailing, 294-pound man as he screamed, cursed and cried for his mother.”

During the course of this, Mr. Saylor was killed.  In determining the cause of death,  the “state medical examiner’s office found signs of “positional” asphyxia, or having been in a position in which he couldn’t breathe. There was also unexplained damage to Saylor’s larynx.”

If his death wasn’t so upsetting, the quote from the medical examiner would make me laugh.  Hundreds of police reports generated.  Dozens of witness to various parts of the police action.  Numerous officers accredited by the “Ivy League” of police accreditation.  Nobody can explain the damage to this kid’s windpipe? How does that even happen? Did everybody sneeze at the exact same time?

What are the triple crown standards on that?  What’s CALEA have to say about that?  If you’re going to kill a guy so you can start the second movie on time, shouldn’t the “triple crown” standards dictate you at least dignify the man by explaining the damage to his larynx?

I guess the ivy league of police accreditation doesn’t care.

I’ve talked about what I like to call the “meatball police mentality” before- the idea in certain law enforcement communities that it’s “us” against “them” and that they’re all just out there doing what is “necessary” to keep “us” safe from the evil lurking in each and every corner.

I see this stuff, though, and feel so bad for all the great people who have become cops. I feel bad for the departments, many of the small ones, who are responsive to their community and work as hard to help out in the community as they do to “keep us safe from ourselves.”  There are thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of cops out there who aren’t on “Triple Crown” departments but who could have done a better job acting like a normal human and taking care of Mr. Saylor.  The CALEA-accredited thugs who either damaged his larynx or weren’t properly trained on how to remove somebody of his physical capacity from a movie theater get to brag about being “ivy league.”

Maybe I have a chip on my shoulder because the MCSP is “ivy league” and I’m just a dumb guy with a public university Philosophy degree from a MAC school.  Maybe that’s it. Or maybe I prefer substance over style.

Either way, I know that Mr. Saylor didn’t have to die, and that’s all I need to know about this “triple crown” nonsense.

Area crime rates: People have no idea.

I just stumbled upon the Tribune’s crime rate listings.  It’s buried in the “Homes” section, but updated through 2009.  There’s some interesting stuff in there.

Interesting, but not surprising, is that crime (or, at least, criminal filings) has dropped substantially from 2003 to 2009.  For instance, St. Charles had a crime rate of 30.4 (per 1,000 residents) in 2003. That number has dropped to 24.2 for St. Charles in 2009.  That’s fairly representative of the types of changes every town has seen.

Even more interesting is where some of the larger Kane County towns land in the rankings.  Most notably, Aurora.  People not from the area think one of two things when they think of Aurora: either that it’s filled with gangs or that it’s like living in Wayne’s World.  Neither of those perceptions is really accurate.

I’m not sure anybody thinks it’s got a lower crime rate than Woodstock, though.  According to those stats, though, it does.  Maybe Woodstock is over-run with gangs?  Hardly.

It’s easy to play games with the numbers.  Woodstock might have a higher crime rate because of they way it reports crime or because it’s more willing to charge and prosecute minor offenses than other towns.  It’s hard to tell.  I’m not worried about going to either place, though.

That guy deserved that sentence.

Earlier this week I accused you of being angry.  Your anger stems from criminals “getting off light” and prosecutors not taking cases to trial and demanding the ultimate punishment.  I thought your anger and outrage was misplaced.

I still do.

And, here’s why: Horrible Plea Bargains Are Your Best Friend. A gift, if you will.

There you go.

This right here explains why you people are so angry.

In a few days the good people over at Excessivebail are going to post a little thing I wrote about plea bargains (Edit: It’s now up here).  It’s not really so much about plea bargains as it is about how the public and victims (you people) react when somebody you “know” is guilty gets “too good” of a deal.  It was inspired by Billy Curl recently getting a “good” deal for murdering that NIU student.

I won’t spoil it for you. Rather, I’ll allow it to underwhelm and disappoint you when it’s posted.

In light of that, though, I came across something I had to mention.  This case in the Northwest Herald is one you have to keep your eye on: “Former Private School Principal Arrested in Johnsburg.”  Why do you have to keep your eye on it?  It’s exactly the kind of case that the public (you people) is going to react to when it’s resolved in the Woodstock Courthouse.

To save you actually having to click over, here’s the main gist of the article:

JOHNSBURG – A former private school principal in Johnsburg has been arrested after she sent “offensive” letters to parents of students, according to the Johnsburg Police Department.

Pamela Dvonch, 63, was charged with misdemeanor disorderly conduct on Sunday in connection with at least 16 letters recently sent to parents of students at St. John the Baptist Catholic School.

The letters — a sheet of paper in an envelope with a few words on it — forced authorities to post officers at the school April 2 as a precautionary measure.

The cards were sent to parents on the school’s parent advisory board and fundraising committee, as well as the pastor at the church and a separate parishioner, Johnsburg police Chief Keith Von Allmen said. The cards were homemade.

An investigation later linked Dvonch to the letters, and she turned herself into police on Sunday. She previously worked at the school for more than 20 years.

“Inside the cards, there were offensive statements directed at the parent,” Von Allmen previously told the Northwest Herald. “I want to make it clear that it was not a threatening comment.”

Dvonch was charged with misdemeanor disorderly conduct due to the disruption the letters caused at the school, Von Allmen said Monday.

“Disorderly conduct is a breach of the peace,” he said. “The disruption that occurred at the school was caused by these letters.”

Folks, this is a bad case.  How do I know?  First clue is the description of what she wrote.  Look how vague it is.  Were the letters threatening? No.  They were offensive? Yeah?  How so?  Would you have been offended by those words?  Would I have? Offensive to whom?

Go ahead and Tell me what the words were. I’m a big boy. I can handle it.  What were they?

Oh.  You‘re not going to do that?

And when I say “you” I mean the cops who charged the case (and who are the source of the report).  There’s a reason they’re not telling us.  That reason probably isn’t because it makes it look like this is an awesome case for them.

How else do you know it’s a bad case?  Well, those same cops who charged the case and gave this information to the newspaper don’t know what they’re talking about.  Disorderly conduct isn’t a breach of the peace.  A breach of the peace can be disorderly conduct.  It can be only if several other elements of the offense were met (like the defendant’s actions must be unreasonable).

Oh and, by the way, even if all those other elements are met and there was a breach of the peace, it’s still not disorderly conduct if it’s based on words and those words are what is called “protected speech.”  Were they?  Maybe that’s why they aren’t telling us what the words were.

Did the cop know all this?  Maybe he just didn’t have time to go into that much detail with the reporter. Or, maybe he doesn’t really know all those other pesky details. I guess we’ll find out.

Either way, this article is one of those things that looks scary.  I’m sure members of the public are alarmed.  Keep an eye on the reaction when this case gets resolved.  If you’re angry when it gets resolved, don’t be mad at the prosecutor.  Don’t be mad at the defense attorney. Be mad at the guys who charged the case and left out all of the minor details when they told you about it.

St. Charles Crime is Out of Control.

Make sure to lock the door, folks.  Things have gone nuts in St. Charles.  Just when you thought it was a safe, nice, place to raise a family, there’s a crime spree.  This “community alert” has been posted courtesy of our friends at the Kane County Chronicle:

  • Graffiti depicting male genitalia was reported Sunday, March 31, on fences in the 1300 block of Rita Avenue in St. Charles and on an electrical box at the Salvation Army, 1710 S. Seventh Ave., St. Charles. Total estimated damage was $300.

I sure hope the St. Charles Police Department has detectives working overtime on this one.  Look for the Kane County State’s Attorney’s press release and indictments soon.  Until then, be careful out there.