Category Archives: Crime reporter’s notebook

Crime reporter’s notebook: Police data, fingerprint scanners, weed and a pair of handcuffs

 Here are a few recent odds and ends from my reporter’s notebook:

POLICE DATABASE EXPANDS: You may remember the Kitsap Sun story about the Law Enforcement Information Exchange (LinX), in which Naval Criminal Investigative Service agents were working to thread together a database of all reports gathered by local law enforcement agencies. (The effort began in a Levin Road basement.) Keep in mind that prior to 9/11, a lot of data collected by law enforcement, including field interviews, mug shots, and investigative narratives, could only be accessed only by the agency that created them.

I asked Keith Haines, LinX’s regional program manager, how it was going. He said LinX, which already encompasses most law enforcement agencies on both U.S. coasts, has begun integrating with the FBI’s “N-DEx” system, which will host a nationwide database that hopes to include all U.S. law enforcement reports.

FINGERPRINT SCANNERS: Did you know King County Sheriff’s Office is using pocket-sized fingerprint scanners to identify uncooperative and unscrupulous suspects? Regular readers of the Kitsap Sun will know these debuted in Kitsap County five years ago. The followup, by the Seattle Times, is that they’ve got more of the bugs in them worked out.

MARIJUANA ROUNDUP: As the election looms, a number of stories have appeared regarding Initiative 502 in recent weeks. Among the most interesting in my book: More than 241,000 people in Washington state were arrested for marijuana possession over the past 25 years; marijuana backers are getting some states-rights conservatives to support the measure; and a bunch of drug czars have come out against the measure, which they say violates constitutional law and could trigger a “constitutional showdown.”

HOMEOWNER CONFRONTATION: Imagine going outside your home to find someone holding your machete and chainsaw. Not only do you own them, but you wouldn’t want a stranger swinging them at you, either. Last week, a homeowner west of Long Lake had just that encounter — and he wrestled the machete away from the stranger, chased him down the road and told him to stay put until Kitsap County Sheriff’s deputies arrived, reports say. Deputies said the suspect remarked that he’d “only get a criminal trespass for this.” Prosecutors have charged him with burglary.

HANDCUFFED AND RUNNING: An Alaska man was arrested Friday for trying to pass counterfeit $20s at Walmart. Poulsbo police responded and the man let them look in his wallet, where officers found six $20s with the same serial numbers. Police had handcuffed the man, who’d also violated probation and had him sit on the push bars of a patrol car. That’s when reports say the man “jumped to his feet and took off running … still in handcuffs.” An officer gave chase and tried his Taser, but missed. The suspect was ultimately tackled and taken the Kitsap County jail.

Post to Twitter Tweet This Post

Reporter’s Notebook: Bainbridge civil rights trial continues; plea in assisting trooper’s killer?

It continues to be a busy week for crime and justice news in Kitsap County.

Today, the federal civil rights trial Ostling vs. Bainbridge Island continues, with Officer David Portrey and William Ostling taking the witness stand. William’s son, Douglas, was killed in October 2010 in an encounter with police.

The Kitsap Sun won’t be live blogging today’s proceedings but rest assured we will be keeping up on the day’s events. Follow the links for coverage to the case’s opening arguments and Officer Jeff Benkert’s testimony.

Elsewhere, a plea deal was announced Tuesday in the assault cases filed in the wake of the Armin Jahr School shooting that left a third-grader critically wounded in February. Jamie Chaffin, mother of the boy, has agreed to plead guilty to unlawful possession charges in exchange for a little over a year prison sentence and her testimony against her boyfriend and owner of the gun taken to school that day.

Finally, there is a scheduled change-of-plea in Kitsap County Superior Court for one of the people charged with rendering criminal assistance to Joshua Blake, the man authorities believe murdered Washington State Trooper Tony Radulescu during a traffic stop in February.

I’ll keep you posted.

Post to Twitter Tweet This Post

Crime reporter’s notebook: Heroin vapor, mail theft, guns in bars and more

Here’s some of my notes from the week of criminal justice:  

Heroin vapor: A Seattle man was arrested in Suquamish for a drug possession warrant Oct. 8, according to Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office reports. Deputies searched him, they found a eye drop-like bottle filled with a brown liquid. The man admitted it was heroin and that he “inhales the liquid as a nasal spray” — a method of ingestion the cop hadn’t seen before. The man said he’d gotten hooked on opiates after an appendix surgery.

Stolen mail: A witness to a car sifting through mailboxes on Sandy Hook Road NE and Dock Street NE called 911, according to sheriff’s reports. A Suquamish officer in the area stopped the suspected car and the two people inside were interviewed. A bag of mail belonging to addresses in Silverdale, Poulsbo, and along Sandy Hook Road was spotted in the car. Both suspects have been charged by prosecutors with theft.

Seattle LEADS program: The Seattle Times reports a new program, to be run by Evergreen Treatment Services (who you’ll recall are the folks that tried to bring a methadone clinic to Kitsap) will attempt to break the incarceration cycle of some hardened drug addicts. Police on the streets will be the ones choosing the candidates for it. “No one knows if it’ll work, but the creation of Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) has made partners out of professional adversaries and brought shared hope to those dealing with the ramifications of the country’s war on drugs,” Times reporter Sara Jean Green reports. “Funded by private foundations, the $950,000-a-year, four-year pilot program offers hand-picked participants individualized alternatives to arrest, from inpatient drug treatment and educational opportunities to housing assistance and microloans for would-be business owners.”

Guns-in-bars advocate arrested for DUI: A Tennessee lawmaker who spearheaded a law that allows the state’s citizens to carry guns in bars was arrested for DUI this week, reports the Commercial Appeal. In Washington state, it appears guns are banned in areas limited to those 21 and over.

Deputies catch another scrap metal thief: On Tuesday, Kitsap County Sheriff’s deputies were called to an Olalla Valley Road address for a possible break-in to a for-sale home. When they got there, two deputies heard “ripping” sounds and when they announced their presence, it stopped. A man jumped off a roof and one of the deputies tackled him. The Olalla man, who deputies confirmed had been selling scrap metal, was tearing off sheetrock in the home to get at flexible conduit in the walls, deputies believe. He was taken to the Kitsap County jail for burglary. The theft of metal rages on.

Post to Twitter Tweet This Post