The Very Definition of a Senseless Tragedy

Police funerals are at once both impressive, majestic affairs, and utterly somber and heartbreaking.  While sometimes they honor a retired officer who has died of natural causes, all too often they are for an officer who has given their life in the line of duty.  Such was the case this week for Newark Detective Joseph Azcona.

We are particularly affected by this officer’s death because Azcona was just 26 years of age, and he was in effect executed by a 14-year-old.  A 14-year-old who shot Azcona even before the officer was able to get out of his police car.

The Badge Company of New Jersey was founded by a retired Newark detective, so the senseless loss of a Newark officer has some extra meaning to us.

The 14-year-old accused shooter has been charged with both Azcona’s murder and attempting to kill another officer on the scene.

That the funeral was a magnificent tribute to Azcona is the only comfort to be found in this story.  But the huge show of support, the heartfelt words, cannot offset the sheer tragedy of it all.

Photos courtesy of NJ.com

Um, We Parked... Where?

Dude, Where's My Car? is a comedy film from 2000 about two dimwitted stoners who wake up after a night of partying and cannot remember where they parked their car.  Misadventures ensue.

Recently, in a New Jersey community at the shore (remember, in New Jersey it’s the shore, not the beach or the seaside), police were called to help a couple who misplaced their vehicle. As far as we know the couple was not stoners, and we cannot speak to any level of dimwittedness, but having once lost track of our own car in a large parking lot we have some sympathy.

Anyway, officers spoke to the couple and gathered the vehicle information and what they remembered about where they parked. Patrols searched the area and were able to locate the car a few blocks away. Police then gave the couple an escort to their vehicle.

Police work, although associated by the public mostly with “law and order” issues, is to a great extent comprised of non-criminal service to the people of the community.  Like this.

They’ll Never Notice, Will They?

Livingston County, Mich. – A woman was arrested after she attempted, unsuccessfully, to steal from a Walmart store during a "Shop with a Cop" event that had 75 officers attending.

A Walmart employee notified one of the officers present that a woman had loaded a cart with over $730 in goods and then ran through self-checkout without paying.

Michigan State Police Lt. Rene Gonzalez said that the event partners officers up with a child whose family may not be able to afford gifts during the holidays.

"We bring children that might otherwise not have a good Christmas, and they get to come to the store," said Gonzalez. "They get $100, sometimes a $150 gift card to go and shop for themselves with your family."

He said that he was shocked when he was alerted that someone might be stealing during the event.

"I do have to say, it surprised me, because when I'm driving a patrol car, people slow down," said Gonzalez. "When you see 75 cops in the store, I mean, I don't know if maybe they thought we were too busy."

After the woman walked out with a variety of items, such as groceries and clothes, a trooper followed her out to the parking lot. Once outside, the trooper noticed that the car the woman was loading the stolen goods into was actually parked right next to a police cruiser, according to a police report.

According to police, the woman was arrested and moved to the Livingston County Jail. She was released on bond and is facing a retail fraud charge.

We’d Rather Run into a Burning Building

We are reminded often of the simple fact that firefighters face danger on a regular basis.  For this, of course, they earn our admiration and respect.

But a recent news item made us realize that firefighters may also face, um, other unpleasantness.

On April 19 of this year, according to the Brinnon, WA, Fire Department, its members and members of Quilcene Fire Rescue responded to a call concerning a woman who fell into a toilet at Olympic National Forest.

Oooo-kay... Just how did a woman fall into a toilet?

It is reported that the 40-year-old California woman was inside a toilet facility at Olympic National Forest when her cellphone dropped into the toilet.

The woman first tried to take apart the toilet seat and tried to use dog leashes to get the phone out.  “Eventually, she took the leashes to help support herself, which failed, and she slid into and fell into the vault head first,” the fire department’s Facebook page stated.

The Vault?  Yes.  Commonly used in remote locations, a vault toilet is an improved version of an outhouse. While still basically a hole with a seat over it, a vault toilet can store up to a thousand gallons of human waste before it needs emptying. Improved ventilation makes a vault toilet far less odorous.

In the vault, the woman struggled for some time, trying to get herself out, before she was able to grab her cellphone and call 911.  Brinnon FD Rescue 41 and Quilcene F&R Aid 21 responded to the mountaintop location.

The rescuers made a makeshift platform, passing pieces down to the woman. Once the platform was suitable for her to stand on, the crew pulled her to safety.

It was stated that the woman was unharmed and refused transportation to the hospital.  The crew washed her down and “strongly encouraged her” to seek medical attention because she was exposed to human waste.

Yecchh.

The photo, posted by the Brinnon Fire Department, shows the scene of the grime and two of their team members, identified only as Rubal and Torres.

Break-In at the County Jail

Most jailbreaks are for the purpose of escape.  Not this one.

Not far from the offices of the Badge Company of New Jersey this past Friday, a car was driven through the northwest administrative entrance of the Bergen County Jail, shattering the glass and destroying its metal framework.

But no one was trying to get out, and the driver was not trying to get in.  There was no escape attempt and the inmate containment area of the jail was not affected.  According to representatives of the Bergen County Sheriff’s Office, the accident was just that, a motor vehicle accident.  Still, the incident remained under investigation.

The driver was taken to the hospital for medical attention, but it was reported that nobody inside the building was hurt.

Next time, perhaps the driver should consider the nearby offices of WWOR-TV, less than seven miles away.  Breaking into show business is a better option.

In the Line of Duty

The dog in the photo is K9 Officer Kane, with the Ocean County Sheriff's Office in New Jersey.  As of this writing, K9 Kane is recovering in a veterinary hospital from a stab wound inflicted by a man who was subsequently shot and killed by police.

It all happened this week in a small oceanfront community of multi-million-dollar homes and fewer than 300 year-round residents.

The man, wanted by authorities on charges of kidnapping, aggravated assault, theft and weapons offenses, was found to be holed up in a house in the beachfront town.  Confronted by the police, the man was holding a knife and ignored orders to drop it.  That’s when K9 Kane was released.

Unfortunately, rather than dropping the knife at that point the man used it to stab the dog, and that’s when the officers fired.  Happily, the dog is expected to recover, and justifiably, the man was killed by the gunfire.

That may sound harsh – “justifiably, the man was killed” – but if you are wanted by the cops, brandish a knife, refuse to obey orders to drop the knife, and stab a dog, we do not have sympathy for you.

True, there could be underlying emotional or mental issues that contributed to the man’s behavior.  Public information in this case does not yet address such questions.  But we still cannot think charitably when a K9 is stabbed.

K9 officers are just that, officers.  We make badges for them.  But where a human officer has a full understanding of the risks of the job, the K9 only knows his mission is to subdue the suspect, without an intellectual appreciation of the risks.  This is why we and most people are appalled when a K9 is injured (or worse) on the job.

We hope that K9 Kane recovers fully, and that the small beach town can return to its quiet normalcy.

Show Me The Money! Um, No...

We are of the opinion that this story should be added to the Stupid Criminals file.

Earlier this month, a would-be bank robber entered a northern New Jersey bank and handed one of the tellers a note specifying the denominations of cash he was demanding.  The problem with his plan was that it was 6:45 PM, the bank was preparing to close, and all the money had already been locked in the vault.

The guy didn’t believe the tellers, so he leapt over the counter and saw for himself that all the cash drawers were empty.  So he fled -- his hands just as empty as the cash drawers.

What did he think, that banks simply lock the doors at night?

While he got away before police arrived, security video and the assistance of police in neighboring towns enabled his capture four days later.

The county jail is open all night.

It Can Be A Small World

With more than nine million people living in New Jersey, what are the odds of this happening?

Recently, New Jersey State Trooper Michael Patterson pulled over a car for a minor infraction.  The interaction between the trooper and the driver was cordial, and the driver, a gentleman named Matthew Bailly, identified himself as a retired police officer from the town of Piscataway.

Trooper Patterson remarked that he was a Piscataway native, and the two men continued to compare notes.  Bially recalled that when he was a rookie on the job, he responded to a call on the same street on which the Trooper was raised.  On that call, which took place 27 years earlier, he helped deliver a baby.

At this point Trooper Patterson reintroduced himself, saying, "My name is Michael Patterson, sir. Thank you for delivering me."

Yes, Trooper Patterson had stopped the man who delivered him.

As a follow-up, Trooper Patterson and his mother later visited Bailly and his wife to further commemorate the unique circumstances that brought them together on two occasions, 27 years apart.

Snake Charmer

We all know that police officers are trained for dealing with hazardous situations.  But the training does not include a specific course on python-wrangling.

Yet wrangling a python was exactly what New Jersey State Trooper Steven Vallejo found himself doing this past Friday, when the New Jersey State Police received a call in the morning that there was a rather large snake on the Garden State Parkway, a bustling multi-lane toll road.

To judge by the photo posted by the agency, Trooper Vallejo found this to be simply all in a days’ work.  Calmly he used his baton to handle the snake.  More power to him.  We think we might have preferred facing an armed assailant.

Reportedly, a highway maintenance worker found the snake in a broken aquarium alongside the road, not far from one of the highway’s toll booths in densely-populated Essex County.  Although clearly abandoned, it was the snake’s lucky day: The weather was unusually warm for January in New Jersey, and the python was relocated to an exotic pet store a few miles away, where perhaps it will find a new owner more caring than the one who dumped it on a highway.

The Badge Company of New Jersey is proud to be a supplier to the New Jersey State Police.

Some People Just Want to Go to the Super Bowl

In Iowa recently, a brief car chase ended with a distinct twist.

On Interstate 80 near Des Moines, an Iowa State Patrol trooper attempted to pull over the driver of a Chevrolet Malibu for a simple traffic violation – an expired registration.  But the driver refused to pull over, and the chase was on.  More troopers joined the pursuit, which ended when one of the troopers executed a PIT maneuver.

The driver was then apprehended without further incident, and a search of the car produced nothing of any consequence.

But the arresting troopers were taken aback by the reason the driver gave for running:  He told them that he wanted to be chased because “it was on his bucket list.”

“In my 28 years, I’ve never heard that excuse,” Sgt. Scott Bright told a reporter.

While the driver can now cross that one off his list, to the extent that any of the following were on his list, he can cross them off, too:  DWI, eluding, interference with official acts, operation without registration, unlawful use of license, speeding, and a parole violation.

Back to the Beach... One Last Time

It is a bit melodramatic to call it a “dying wish,” but a 78-year-old woman here in New Jersey who is in hospice care with a terminal diagnosis of acute leukemia recently told her family that she would like to “go to the shore” one last time.

So she did.  With the help of a police officer in the oceanfront town of Ship Bottom.

For those readers not from this area, “going to the shore” is a regional phrase for what the rest of the country calls going to the beach.  But one does not go down to the shore.  The correct terminology is “down the shore.”

The family of Patricia Kelly, who spent countless summers vacationing at the shore, knew that she would not be able to walk onto the beach herself, so they asked the Ship Bottom Police Department for some help.  Which is how it came to be that Patrolman Ronald Holloway drove one of the agency’s SUVs across the sand recently, taking Kelly to the water’s edge.  There she was able to enjoy some time with her granddaughters, have a group hug with family and friends, and, looking out at the ocean, say goodbye to a place she loves.

Kelly was deeply appreciative, telling a reporter “they could have taken me right then, and I would have been the happiest person,” she said. “That's my place.”  Alluding to her desire to have her ashes spread on the beach, she added “I'll be there forever.”

The family conducted a prayer circle, and Officer Holloway participated.  The officer, clearly moved by the entire experience,  told a television reporter that “being able to take her out for this ride on the beach was a life-moving experience.  It was a checkmark in my career for sure.”

The family had nothing but praise for Officer Holloway, posting a message on the Ship Bottom Police Department’s Face book page that read “A BIG SHOUT OUT to Officer Ronald Holloway... he is a man who not only protects and serves but genuinely cares... his extraordinary kindness and character speaks volumes of the man he is.”

Liar, Liar... (you know the rest)

To be filed under “You Can’t Make This Stuff Up” is this news headline from this week:

Lawyer’s Pants Catch Fire During Trial

The report, sufficiently weird as to be dismissed as false, was confirmed to NBC News by the Public Relations Director for the Eleventh Circuit Court in Florida.

To be fair, the story contained no information that would call into question the attorney’s truthfulness.  Instead, it was reported that he had one or more e-cigarette batteries in his pants pocket which sparked a small fire while he was arguing, of all things, an arson case.

With a quick dash to the men’s room the situation was brought under control and the lawyer is said to have returned to the courtroom with only a singed pocket to claim as damages.  It was further reported that the episode caused the attorney to quit using e-cigarettes.

A Better Person Than Most

When the name appeared in an online news feed this week, we recognized it immediately, even though the name had otherwise not been in the news for quite some time.

Steven McDonald.

The Steven McDonald who, as a New York City police officer in 1986, was shot by a 15-year-old assailant, rendering McDonald paralyzed from the neck down.

The Steven McDonald who, as someone confined to a wheelchair and requiring the help of a respirator to breathe, publicly forgave his assailant and who stated that if people wished to receive forgiveness, they had to show it to others.

The Steven McDonald whose son, Conor, born six months after the shooting, is today a sergeant with the NYPD and represents the fourth generation of the family to serve in the department.

Steven McDonald died this week, following a heart attack.  He was 59.

The Steven McDonald whose dedication, courage, and indomitable spirit made this wheelchair-bound man stand taller than most able-bodied people.

Rapid Repeat Offender

Earlier this week, a local police department arrested an individual twice in the same day for essentially the same offense.

The first arrest occurred shortly after noon when an off-duty police officer spotted what he believed was a drug transaction involving a person in a white Volkswagen Jetta.  A patrol officer pulled over the Jetta and found several hypodermic needles and a bag with heroin residue in the car.  The driver was then issued summonses for possession of heroin paraphernalia and possession of a hypodermic needle, and released.

Only a few hours later, while conducting surveillance of known heroin traffickers, members of the Selective Enforcement Team spotted the driver of a white Volkswagen Jetta – whom they later determined to be the same individual arrested earlier in the day – meeting with one of their surveillance subjects.  When officers stopped the Volkswagen this time, they found that the driver had ten wax folds of heroin.

This time he was charged with possession of heroin and possession of heroin paraphernalia, and this time he was lodged in the County Jail.

There is, many assert, an epidemic of heroin use in the suburban region in which these arrests occurred.   That an arrest would not deter someone from continuing to seek heroin in the same town in the same car on the same afternoon only underscores that assertion.

Hoon Once and Start Walking

Not very many Americans are familiar with the word “hoon” and the verb, “hooning.”  Hoon is a term with its roots in Australia and New Zealand, and today it refers to anyone who engages in loutish, anti-social behavior.  Hooning, then, is the act of behaving like a hoon, or being, in another permutation of the word, a hoonigan – a verbal mash-up of hoon and hooligan.

Hooning today is a word used predominantly in reference to driving.  Reckless driving, driving a noisy vehicle, performing burnouts, that sort of thing.  While such behavior is anti-social by the standards of modern society, it like many anti-social acts is celebrated in popular culture.  There is a series of YouTube “Hoonigan” videos featuring the admittedly-impressive vehicle-control skills of rally driver Ken Block, and every weekend such behavior is also seen in the victory burnouts performed by NASCAR drivers here in the US.

But back in Australia, hooniganism on the public roads reached a point where the authorities found it necessary to pass what they freely term “anti-hooning laws.”  And these laws have teeth: Once charged with three hooning offenses, one would have one’s vehicle confiscated.  But under the latest revisions of the anti-hoon laws in Australia this past summer, it could take just a single hooning charge to lose one’s car.

A single hooning offense in a school zone could result in the driver losing his or her car, as could a first offense of speeding by more than 90km/h over the limit.  And when you lose your car, you truly lose it.  There will be no getting it back upon payment of a fine or completion of community service or jail time.  Roadworthy cars are auctioned off, while unroadworthy vehicles are sold for scrap.  Profits are directed to road safety programs.

Under the previous three-hoons-and-you’re-out laws, police figures reported that more than 2000 cars were confiscated in 2015 and since 2014 more than 900 vehicles have been auctioned off for more than $1 million.

Twenty-four covert “hoon cameras” monitored by police at strategic locations were proposed with the updated laws, to help with enforcement and lead to more confiscations.

We’re not close to having such confiscatory legislation here in the US, but if vehicular hooniganism should increase, it is not unreasonable to expect legislation to be proposed to combat such a rise.

News Headline of the Week

From the home page of a regional newspaper yesterday:

Man Driving Naked with Open Beer Crashes into Five Cars

As the saying goes, you can’t make this stuff up.

Not surprisingly, the driver failed a field sobriety test.  He was then charged with driving while intoxicated, reckless driving, and operating a vehicle with an open container of alcohol.  Either there was no statute readily-applicable to his sartorial choice, or the officers on the scene chose the more expeditious route: A cover-up.

But I’m Only Going One Way

The office window overlooks a section of a busy New Jersey state highway, which is two lanes in one direction at this point.  The two lanes going in the opposite direction are a block away.

It is a beautiful sunny afternoon, and we just glanced up in time to see a motorist headed the wrong way, dutifully minding the speed limit but blissfully ignorant of the One Way signs at every intersection.

From our vantage point this appears to happen about once a month.  Obviously it happens more often, because we can see just two blocks of the road and the one-way portion of this highway is several miles long.

We cringe every time we see one.  Will a driver moving in the correct direction fail to notice?  Will a pedestrian step off the curb, not expecting a car from that side?  Will a driver at a cross street also not look that way?

Somewhat predictably, shortly after the car disappeared from our view we heard the blare of a car horn, as another driver attempted to alert the wayward traveler.  No sounds of a crash, no screech of tires, so with luck it is likely that the problem resolved itself that quickly.

Anyone can make a mistake, but it is hard to be sympathetic to a driver who fails to notice not only the One Way signs but also the Wrong Way signs, the angle parking that serves only the other direction of travel, and the two lanes of oncoming traffic!   However, we have also seen drivers who have made a conscious choice to drive in the wrong direction on this road, deciding, apparently, that it is perfectly okay to do so.... if you use reverse gear.

New Digs

In the barrier island community of Lavallette, New Jersey, Superstorm Sandy irreparably damaged the borough hall and the police headquarters, such that they had to be demolished following the storm of October, 2012.

Since that time both the police department and the borough offices have been operating out of construction trailers in a municipal parking lot.  It has been challenging, to say the least.

Which is why Lavallette Chief Colin M. Grant was beaming earlier this week as he greeted residents touring the new police headquarters, nearing completion as part of a newly-constructed borough hall.  The new structure, dedicated on Monday while the finishing touches were still being applied, will house not only the police department, but the court and all of the municipal offices.

Also incorporated into the new building is the post office, which prior to the storm was in a separate building that was also rendered unusable.

It is not often that a police chief gets to supervise the design and construction of his headquarters, but Chief Grant was justifiably pleased with the layout, features, and size of the new facility.  Early in the project he toured other police buildings in the state and cribbed some of their best features, and he gave credit to the HQ in Westwood, in the northeastern part of the state, for having provided the greatest design inspiration.

Chief Grant is a relatively young man but is a Lavallette Police “lifer,” having begun his law enforcement career in the town as part of the seasonal force.   The Lavallette PD nearly doubles in size each summer, and Chief Grant rose from being a seasonal officer to a year-round officer to chief.

Final installation and testing of communications equipment is yet to take place, so it is expected that in January the Lavallette police will move from the temporary trailers that have been their home for more than three years.

The original Lavallette Boro Hall as construction was being completed 86 years ago.

The original Lavallette Boro Hall as it appeared in 2010.

The new Lavallette Boro Hsll, clearly inspired by the original but significantly larger.

The Very Definition of Dumb

A New Jersey man on probation for impersonating a police officer was arrested last week on new charges of impersonating a police officer, according to news reports.

This genius was driving a Chevrolet SUV modified to look like a police vehicle with tinted windows, police-type strobe lights both front and rear, police markings and decals, and a siren.  A search of the vehicle turned up handcuffs, placards from the county prosecutor's office, police apparel and an empty firearm holster.

Apparently, being on probation for impersonating a police officer was an insufficient deterrent to police impersonation for this guy.

This time he was charged with illegal possession of handcuffs, receiving stolen property and impersonating a police officer, his vehicle was impounded and he was taken to the county jail in lieu of $20,000 bail.  Think it will sink in this time?

A Summer of Change

It has been a busy and exciting summer at the Badge Company of New Jersey.  First, we moved!  Over the July 4 holiday weekend we relocated our offices from Annandale, NJ, to North Haledon, NJ.  We are in a beautiful tree-shaded office just off the major highways for easy access to customers and vendors alike.

The move made it necessary to change both our mailing address and our telephone numbers.  Please note that our main phone number is now 973-238-9172.  Our mailing address is now PO Box 629, Hawthorne, NJ 07507.  Our email address remains info@NJBadges.com.  If you were using an old Comcast email address for us, that address was finally retired and will no longer work.

Then, longtime General Manager Bob Marlow stepped away from day-to-day operations and moved closer to his young grandchildren.  Tony Maffei has assumed the role of General Manager, and when you contact us today, you will likely be speaking to Tony or to Carol.

What hasn’t changed?  Our commitment to being the badge specialists, providing high-quality products, personal service, and badges with a lifetime warranty.  For statewide agencies or the smallest local police department, and for individual officers, active duty or retired, “We’ve Got Your Badge.”

The Badge Company of New Jersey was begun in Orange, NJ, in 1974, later moving to Parsippany and then to Annandale.  This latest move to North Haledon assures that the Badge Company of New Jersey will be here to serve you well into the future.