Tag Archives: Bremerton Police Department

Bremerton Police add online drug tip form, bios of top brass

photoThe Bremerton Police Department’s web site is looking a little different these days, as new Bremerton Police Chief Steve Strachan continues an effort to reach out to the city’s residents.

Biographies of Strachan, as well as ones for captains Jim Burchett and Tom Wolfe and lieutenants Pete Fisher and Luis Olan, can now be found online.

Additionally, the department has added a first-ever online tip form to report drug activity. The department says the information can be anonymous but that “it can assist our detectives if we can contact citizens directly to obtain vital details.”

Questions on the form are broken into five parts:

1) Why do you think this is a drug house?
2) Where is the activity occurring?
3) Who is involved?
4) What cars are involved?
5) Any additional comments?

Strachan said the changes were made to both update the web site but also “provide a direct link” for residents to send in questions or comments about the department.

Bremerton Police Sgt. Randy Plumb, in charge of the department’s Special Operations Group, said the new link streamlines information so it can get to an investigating detective as quickly as possible. He also noted that providing the anonymity online may help bring forth new tips of those previously concerned their identities might be revealed.

Those wanting to report drug tips can still go through the department’s phone line: (360) 473-5217.

Bremerton Police Community Resource Specialist Joe Sexton said additional citizen reporting tools and web site features will be coming in the months ahead.

Followup: Story of stolen Escalade, sold by police, crosses state lines

The stolen Escalade had traveled through two countries and across many state lines before it landed in Washington, where Bremerton police inadvertently sold it at an auction. 

We told you about this particular Cadillac Escalade in early October, after the unknowing purchaser of the SUV had it seized by the Washington State Patrol. In turn, he filed a lawsuit against the Bremerton Police Department.

The city’s lawyers have been digging into the case to figure out what happened. While the lawsuit continues, here’s what they’ve found out thus far: the Escalade was seized in a 2003 coke bust and, per Washington law, forfeited to the police department.

Police checked with the Washington State Department of  Licensing to see if it was stolen.

“There was no evidence that the vehicle was stolen,” Bremerton Assistant City Attorney Mark Koontz said in a statement. “The police department eventually sold the vehicle at  auction as authorized by state law.”

It wasn’t until summer 2011 that police here found out the Washington State Patrol had seized the SUV, finding it was stolen. State patrol officials informed the city the Escalade was stolen off an auto dealer’s lot in Canada in 2002, before it landed in Indiana, Missouri, Michigan and finally, Washington.

Much mystery still shrouds the how and why it went state to state, as it was never reported stolen in that time, city attorney said.

But state troopers were able to uncover its identity by finding more obscure locations of its Vehicle Identification Number (VIN). The number had been falsified in its more obvious locations on the dash board in in the driver’s side door.

Koontz said rarely does local law enforcement have specialized training at finding hidden VIN numbers and believes “the police department acted reasonably,” in backgrounding the SUV before auctioning it off.

“Even so, the city is hopeful that it can reach a resolution to this matter to the satisfaction of all parties,” he said.

I’ve not yet heard back from the lawyer for the plaintiff in the case, but I’ll let you know when I do.

Wendy Davis, Bremerton police sergeant, heads north for Poulsbo’s deputy chief gig

It’s official: Wendy Davis, a 16-year Bremerton police officer, is headed north to take the reins of Poulsbo Police’s deputy chief position.

Davis, 44, has been a sergeant in Bremerton nine years and is currently the head of the police officer’s union. She’ll fill a position that’s been vacant since the beginning of this year, after Shawn Delaney took a voluntary separation agreement during city cost-cutting.

“It’s a great opportunity,” Davis said. “I’m looking forward to it.”

Poulsbo Police Chief Dennis Swiney said Davis will have a lot of projects in the new role, most notably running the day to day operations of the department, which consists of 16 commissioned officers. The months-long hiring process was competitive, he added; about 40 cops applied.

“She brings a lot of experience and local exposure, and is very professional,” Swiney said. “I think she’ll be a good fit to move the Poulsbo Police Department forward.”

The position pays $87,811.

Davis will conclude her time in Bremerton later this month. She starts in Poulsbo Nov. 2. She’ll be sworn in the same night at the Poulsbo city council meeting, Swiney said.

Davis, who graduated from high school in Brookings, Ore., went into the Marine Corps and was stationed at Camp Pendleton in California. Her first husband, Ron Davis, was also in the corps and then into law enforcement. He was ultimately killed in the line of duty, responding to a domestic violence call.

She herself got into law enforcement after moving to Kitsap County, become a Bremerton reserve officer in 1992. She was hired full time in 1995. At the department, she met her husband-to-be, Mark Thompson, who is still a sergeant there.

This year, Davis has been in the spotlight as head of the police officer’s union during the surfacing of controversial incidents involving police officers with an explorer. She also serves on the Kitsap County Fair board. As the photo indicates, she’s won a Healthy Tomorrow award for her involvement in the community.

There’ll be a lot to learn in her new job but she said she’s ready for it.

“It’s going to be a transition,” she said,  “But it’ll be a good change.”

FOLLOWUP: Here’s the letter Poulsbo Police Chief Dennis Swiney sent out Tuesday morning pertaining to Davis’ hiring:

Poulsbo Police Hire Wendy Davis

‘Granddaughter Needs Bail’ Scam Hits Bremerton Couple

Some of you may have heard of a relatively new scam in which the fraudsters attempt to be jailed grandchildren that need bail money in a foreign country.

Unfortunately, this Bremerton couple had not.

And so when they got a call from a woman claiming to be their granddaughter recently, they became immediately concerned. The scammers got her name right and the couple, in their late eighties, even have a grandchild of that name in New York state.

She was jailed in Ontario, Canada, according to the report filed with the Bremerton Police Department, for having been found with a small bag of pot. But a friendly “sergeant” informed them all they needed to do was wire almost $3,000 and she’d be out, with no record given to U.S. authorities.

The bail bondsman was located in Sydney, Australia.

It was all a lie, of course, with many red flags along the way. But they just didn’t know — so they wired the money.

Afterward, they called their real granddaughter, who was fine. And it began to sink in: they’d been scammed. They reported it to police Monday.

Bremerton Police Sgt. Kevin Crane said that not only is the couple embarrassed, but it was money they depended on for retirement.

Tracking the Homicide: How Police Investigate the Most Serious of Crimes

Kitsap County’s local detectives are acutely aware they’re on the clock when called to the scene of a mysterious death.

“If you haven’t ID’d a suspect in the first 72 hours, the chances of solving a case dramatically decrease,” said Bremerton Detective Sgt. Kevin Crane.

I interviewed Crane and other investigators for Sunday’s story and database about Kitsap’s cold cases. We used the information I gathered for a graphic in the paper, but I wanted to go into greater detail. Here’s what I learned.

Day or night, Crane, and other detective supervisors are on call for the city’s most serious crimes. He’s ended vacations early to get to the scene of a fresh and suspicious death.

Homicide investigations most often start with the line officer who’s responding to a 911 call. If the victim is alive, the priority is saving a life. But if deceased, with no hope of resuscitation, the scene is “frozen” — no one comes and goes without police permission and a log is kept of those who do — and crime scene tape secures its perimeter, Crane said.

Detectives arrive and are briefed by patrol officers. Two crime scene investigators begin from the perimeter of the scene and moving inward, documenting with video and camera and looking for anything out of the ordinary. Yellow markers are placed at any point — shell casings, clothing, blood spatter, for instance — they see as suspicious. Every piece of evidence is eventually sealed and and placed in evidence at the police department. The name and date of each person who examines it is kept in a log.

Investigating the body won’t begin until the scene is “processed” by the crime scene investigators. At that point, detectives, who manage the crime, bring in the Kitsap County coroner’s office, which manage the body. They investigate it together, Crane said.

The wound or wounds are examined, photographed and measured. Investigators look for “defensive” wounds that would indicate a struggle.

A critical task is identifying the deceased. Seemingly simple, it’s not always apparent and may require investigating in its own right. Perhaps they’re not carrying ID, or more gruesomely, they can’t be identified because of a fire.

Meanwhile, at least two detectives is busy with interviews, talking with those who may have witnessed the crime or the area around it.

They’ll also set out to canvass the neighborhood, attempting to find anyone who heard or saw anything.

While technology has rapidly advanced in homicide investigations, there’s one way they haven’t changed.

“It’s people,” Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office Chief of Detectives Dave White said. “We’re still talking to people.”

Detectives will ask if the witnesses knew the deceased, and begin to establish a so-called “victimology.” Detectives will seek to paint a picture of the victim working backwards from their moment of death. Where did they go? Why were they there? And of course, who were they with?

“These can be very long, tedious investigations,” Crane said.

At various points during the investigation, detectives stop and exchange information. Crane then compiles a new task list.

From there, it’s a matter of chasing down leads. All day and all night they work, stopping sometimes for a few hours’ sleep in those first critical three days.

Investigating a homicide is really no different than any other crime, only “they’re more tedious and you leave no stone unturned,” Crane said.