In Memoriam
Last week we tragically lost Pierce County Deputy Daniel McCartney, who was murdered in the line of duty while responding to defend a family whose home was being invaded by armed criminals. This senseless death should remind all of us of the precarious position law enforcement officers are placed in. Most citizens will never be affected by violent crime. This lack of experience with an evil, violent element forms the framework through which they view the world - and judge their officers. Facing criticism which is sometimes deserved, but frequently unjust or driven by misunderstanding, your law enforcement officers repeatedly charge to the sound of the guns to defend those who can't defend themselves and under circumstances that would make most reasonable people go the other way. Thank a police officer today.
Recognition
An indicator that we are doing things right as an organization is when citizens take the time to let us know of the positive interactions they've had with our officers. Our goal is to immediately recognize the officers' excellent work. In inaugurating this program, I had the pleasure this week to present three officers with Letters of Recognition for the excellent service, as reported by our community members. Officers Brandon Greenhill, Derek Ejde and Spencer Berntsen all received recognition in front of their peers. One citizen reported:
"He was so polite and so helpful and so concerned about me that I just wanted to let you know that even though it was a bad situation it was a good experience with the Bremerton Police...I really just called to congratulate you on having such a good guy. Thanks."
Bike Officers Brandon Greenhill and Derek Ejde receiving their recognition awards. I'm not sure why we were laughing, but it had to be one of Brandon's non-stop jokes.
On a side topic. Many of you are aware BPD allows its officers to grow facial hair if they contribute $20 per month to a "Fuzz Fund." The collected funds then goes to charities selected by the officers. In 2017, Bremerton Police Officer donated $3,847 to charitable causes through the Fuzz Fund, which is managed with an iron fist by Office Assistant Senior Elena Rinonos (she has second career possibilities as a debt collector). Some of the recipients included St. Jude's Children's Hospital, Kitsap Humane Society and Bremerton Food line.
A note on the photo above. Officer Greenhill does not like his partner's beard. Officer Ejde thinks this is because his partner can't grow his own beard and is jealous. Officer Ejde takes great pains to carefully groom his beard, which he believes makes him look distinguished and approachable. What do you think?
Officer Spencer Berntsen receiving a recognition award for the manner in which he interacted with family in our community that had suffered a loss.
Scams
I wanted to take up some space in this update to remind our citizens who read this newsletter about the proliferation of scammers. The scams are flourishing because they are successful and there is little danger of getting caught. Intelligent, reasonable people fall victim to these crime and there is little law enforcement can do. Our best tactic is a wary, educated public. Some of the scams are quite creative and the different varieties are too numerous to cover. I'd like to discuss a few that are prevalent right now:
- Jury Duty Scam - Callers claim to be members of law enforcement and claim you are facing arrest because you didn't report for mandated jury duty. To avoid arrest, the caller say, you can pay a fine in the form of a prepaid debit or gift card. To "verify" you are the correct violator, the con man asks to confirm your identity by soliciting personal information.
This happened to me last summer when a "US Marshall" called to tell me about my arrest warrant. I knew the scam and volunteered to come to the station and turn myself in. He hung up on me. This one infuriates me because this week, scammers have been calling Bremerton residents posing as Bremerton Police Officers. We will never call you about missed jury duty. Don't fall for it.
- Any email that appears to be from a legitimate entity (bank, iTunes, etc) that asks you to click on a link to sign into your account. The types of bait the scammers use to try to get you to click this link are numerous. "Your account has been compromised," "Your email is reaching the storage limit," "Thank you for your iTunes purchase - Oh. You didn't make this purchase? Click here to log into your account." Don't do it. It's always a scam.
Officer Johnny Rivera at Kitsap Community Resources Preschool, looking for recruits.
Out of the Box Recruiting Effort
Bremerton PD is not immune from the chronic staffing shortages that law enforcement agencies. We always have more than a few vacancies. This week Officer Johnny Rivera looked at some creative new ways to fill the gap at Kitsap Community Resources Preschool. This may require us to make some changes to the Civil Service Rule. We are still looking into this and will keep all you eager young applicants, and your parents, advised.
You Can Run, But You Can't Hide
Last Friday afternoon, Traffic Officer Forbragd attempted to stop a vehicle traveling at a high rate. The vehicle quickly turned down some roads and was out of sight for a couple minutes. Officer Forbragd relocated the vehicle which pulled into the 76 Station on Loxie Eagans Blvd, where driver fled on foot. What the suspect didn't know was that he was running directly towards the District 8 Headquarters of the Washington State Patrol. Within moments the place was crawling with bow ties and plastic hat covers (yes, it was raining). Officer Faidley and his partner, K-9 Esco, tracked the suspect to a fence. The suspect was spotted inside the fence behind the DSHS Building. The driver was arrested for suspended driving, resisting arrest, and a $50,000 warrant out of Gig Harbor.
Here we go again or, The Miracle of Modern Medicine
Officer Inklebarger recognized a man walking in the area of the Salvation Army as a person who had run from him several times in the past and who has a felony DOC warrant. As Officer Inklebarger approached, the man ran away. After a short foot pursuit, Officer Inklebarger and Rivera captured the man behind the Rescue Mission. Upon search of the suspect and incident to arrest, officers discovered a baggy with confirmed Meth in it. The suspect was booked into jail on the warrant, possession of methamphetamine and resisting arrest.
But wait...The jail called and reported the man was being taken to the hospital. Apparently, while running away from Officer Inklebarger, the man had ingested some of his drugs, presumably so he wouldn't be caught with them. The noxious diet caught up with him a few hour later, necessitating the trip to the hospital. A restorative dose of NarCan reversed the drugs' effects and our suspect was
as good as new...errr...as best as could be expected given his at-risk lifestyle.
A Confidence Game of a More Dangerous Sort
We discussed the problem of scams earlier. Here is one most good citizens need never fear: A Seabeck man arranged to meet a prostitute at a local motel. He met the woman at the appointed hour and began to disrobe. Almost immediately, another man stormed into the room, assaulted the john, pointed a gun at him, and demanded all his valuables. By some miracle, the victim escaped to the hotel office, where the desk clerk called 911. Our intrepid bike officers Brandon Greenhill and Derek Ejde (recognized above), now comfortably riding in a Ford product, happened to be driving by at that exact moment. They quickly captured all involved, recovered a firearm and the victim's property. The main suspect was one Ryan Estavillo. I first ran into Mr. Estavillo in 2003 when I was a detective sergeant and we arrested him for the murder of Robert Wadding. He was released from prison in 2015. Just can't keep his nose clean. Here is Mr. Estavillo in 2003 and now in 2017.
Missing person was just stay-cationaing
Corporal Jeff Schaefer:
Blue team took a missing report on a man who crashed his car into the drink down at Jackson Park on Monday. On Wednesday, his adult daughter called to say the missing subject called her from a phone number she didn't recognize. He told her to come visit him at the house he was at on Paul Benjamin Road out in the county. She didn't know of any family or friends that lived out there and feared he had broken into the home.
Sure enough, the missing subject slogged down the beach after crashing his truck and took advantage of the first house he came to with an open door. Just so happens the residents were out of town for the week. The man helped himself to something to eat, took a bath and did some laundry. He left the homeowner a nice note apologizing for staying at their house and saying he'd pay for a vase he accidentally broke.
I checked the subject into HMC for an involuntary mental health evaluation and was able to track down the homeowner to let them know she might want to look into earning some extra income as her home is clearly in demand as a bed and breakfast.