An Endless Supply

We have always enjoyed "stupid criminal" stories. Since joining The Badge Company of New Jersey in 2007 we have come to appreciate that there is an endless supply of them. Our local newspaper, newspaper clippings sent to us by friends and associates, web postings and more. Here are just three:

> A woman who ran a small store called the police to tell them that she had been robbed at the bank night depository. She did not know that the bank had cameras trained on the night deposit box, and they got great pictures of her car stopping, her getting out and waiting, her brother's car pulling up, her handing the bag to him, then both of them driving off in their separate cars.

> Police arrested a man who was trying to cash a check made out for $360 billion. He claimed that his girlfriend’s mother gave him the money.

> A man checked into a motel in the afternoon, then later that night robbed the same motel. The police found him in his motel room counting the cash. He didn't wear a mask, he just didn't think that the clerk would remember him.

Like a Complete Unknown

By now you’ve heard the story, which broke on Friday:

New Jersey Homeowner Calls Cops on Bob Dylan

Dylan was detained by a police officer in Long Branch last month when, while taking an anonymous stroll, he reportedly wandered into the yard of a house with a "for Sale sign" on it. The occupants of the home became spooked by his appearance and called police with a report of an "eccentric-looking old man" in their yard.

What made it news was the fact that the 24-year-old officer Kristie Buble, who responded to the call, did not recognize him. But we would like to come to the young officer’s defense: We probably would not have recognized him, either, and we are a lot older than she.

Further, at least she did know who Bob Dylan was, something we are not so sure we could have said had we, at age 24, encountered an aging singer who topped the charts four decades earlier.

But it is a reminder that what is relevant to each generation is not necessary even on the radar of other generations. Give officer Buble credit: She followed procedure, she treated Mr Dylan respectfully, and there was, to use the cliche, no harm no foul.

Do You Know This Face?

The accompanying photo taken by Michael Karas of The Record of Bergen County shows Fair Lawn Police detective Michael Uttel holding a clay cast of a face, reconstructed by a State Police anthropologist to aid in identifying a badly-decomposed body.

A report in the newspaper said that the body had no remaining fingerprints and no remaining facial features when it was recovered three years ago. But scientist Donna Fontana, a specialist in extracting evidence from the most ravaged of human remains, built upon the man's skull and a full set of dentures that were still in his head to cast this detailed model. Every feature was carefully recast, the curve of the nose, the jut of the brow, the lines around the eyes.

Detective Uttel said that the bones were all they had, according to the newspaper. No other evidence, no witnesses. That set of dentures had no serial number, indicating that they were either manufactured before American dentures were printed with numbers or made in another country. The only clothing on the body when it was discovered was one black sock and one shoe that was several sizes too large for the victim’s foot.

The clay cast is a new tool that the police hope will help solve this mystery of who that man was, and how he died. If a relative steps forward, DNA samples can be compared.

On the popular crime-solving television series of today, computer models provide key information in a matter of minutes. In the real world, it does not work that quickly. But the modern marvels of investigative tools are out there, and this facial reconstruction is among them.

Squeaky

This weekend, we are seeing much to-do about the 40th anniversary of Woodstock, but we are reminded of a very different 40th anniversary by the news that Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme was released from prison today.

Fromme has been in jail since 1975 for an assassination attempt on then-president Gerald Ford, but we associate her far more with the gruesome Tate-LaBianca murders. These slaughters began on August 9, 1969, with the killings of actress Sharon Tate and four others at Tate’s home in the Hollywood hills, and continued the next night with the cold-blooded murders of Leno LaBianca and his wife, Rosemary.

The seven victims were chosen at random by the followers of Charles Manson – and Squeaky Fromme was one of those followers. She was not one of the followers convicted of the murders but she was a vocal defender of Manson and has restated her support numerous times over the years. She even escaped from prison in 1987, reportedly to be closer to Manson.

Fromme’s parole appears to have come about simply because, under the laws applicable to her case, parole is mandatory. But we have yet to see any reports concerning where she will go or what post-incarceration supervision she will have – and we have seen nothing to give us any assurance that she does not still pose a threat to others.

Why do we care? Because only months before Fromme’s incident with President Ford, we had read Ed Sanders’ book, The Family, about Manson, and then Vincent Bugliosi’s book, Helter Skelter, about the murders. Both books stick with us to this day. Every photo we have ever seen of Fromme shows the vacant look in here eyes that both books chronicled. She’s creepy. And she’s out.

Cash for (Badge) Clunkers

Your old car is not the only thing that has a trade-in value. Long before the government’s current "Cash for Clunkers" program, The Badge Company of New Jersey offered a trade-in program for old badges. We still do.

Yes, your old, scratched and beat-up badge can be traded in for a brand-new badge. That's right, you don't have to keep carrying a worn-out badge, you can trade it in for a new one.

Here's how it works: We'll give you 20% off the catalog price of your new badge when you trade in your old badge. The only "catch" is that the new badge must be the same style and type as the old one, with the same engraving, seal, and attachment.

Whether it is one badge or an entire department’s, the trade-in program applies.

Our badges carry a lifetime warranty but ordinary wear and tear is not covered by the warranty. Many badges sent to us for repair aren't broken, they're damaged and worn out. So in order to make it easier to replace a badge that has served its purpose, we offer this trade-in program.

What if you have a badge that didn't come from The Badge Company of New Jersey originally? We'll still accept it in trade toward a new badge of the same fundamental style and type.

Remember, it's 20% off the catalog price of your new badge when you trade in your old one. For an exact quote, contact our office.

New Old Weapon

Delaware State Police are, as of this morning, investigating four attacks in which bicyclists or joggers have been wounded by blow-darts in Wilmington this week.

Blow darts!

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that the victims were hit by identical 4-inch-long darts like the one in the above photo, according to Delaware State Police Cpl. Jeff Whitmarsh.

The series of attacks began Monday evening when a woman riding her bicycle was hit in the lower part of her back with a blow dart, and continued with two other bicyclists and a jogger being struck through Tuesday afternoon.

One of the victims suffered an injury to his hand sufficient to will require surgery.

There is nothing funny about this, yet it crossed our minds that when the dart shooter is caught, authorities should stick it to him.

We're Number Two!

Humorist Jean Shepherd once wrote that all drivers, no matter where they live, think that the worst drivers are those from the neighboring state. Well, in New Jersey, it turns out that this assumption is correct. Unfortunately, while the worst drivers come from across the border, the second-worst are home-grown.

According to this year's GMAC Insurance National Drivers Test, the worst drivers were those from New York State. New Jersey was a close second. Michigan and Indiana drivers emerged as best in the survey. New York City drivers, however, are described as "being under special circumstances."

More alarming may be the statistic that more than 20% of licensed Americans would not pass a written drivers test exam if taken today. That means that there are roughly 41 million drivers who generally don’t know what they’re doing. You will find some of them in every state.

Think that you are not among them? Well, try taking the test yourself. It can be found at http://www.gmacinsurance.com/SafeDriving/