Crime Scene

The New York State Senate has created a criminal charge of aggravated vehicular homicide for drunken drivers who kill people. The measure has been sent to the state Assembly for consideration.

While the state already has vehicular homicide statue on the books, Sen. Thomas Morahan, R-New City, said this bill would strengthen state law and would carry a state prison sentence of up to 25 years in prison. This crime would apply to criminals who kill someone in a drunk or … Read more of this entry »

Gov. Eliot Spitzer has signed into law tougher penalties against people involved in trafficking human beings for the sex trade and prostitution or indentured servitude.

The legislation, written with assistance from Rockland District Attorney Michael Bongiorno as president of the state District Attorney’s Association, creates a felony for those who engage in sex trafficking and labor trafficking. The law also removes any ambiguity in existing law to assure that prosecutors can bring felony charges against those who run “Prostitution Tourismâ€? businesses.

And … Read more of this entry »

They are unseen but they are heard. Their decisions – at times split-second ones – on where to send police officers and other emergency responders can determine life or death.

They are police dispatchers.

On June 3, those unheralded voices from every police department will honor their own with a dinner and awards presentation at the Leo Ladders American Legion Post 130 in Thiells.

Pete Medina, a Ramapo dispatcher and president of the Rockland 911 Dispatchers Association, said there were three … Read more of this entry »

The Orangetown Police Department will honor officers and civilians for their work during 2006 and 2007 at 6:30 p.m. Monday. During Orangetown Police Awards Ceremony, the New York State Council of Accreditation will be presenting Orangetown with its police accrediation certificate.

The 2007 honorees
Unit Citation – Accreditation
• Lt. Donald Butterworth
• Detective Sgt. George Garrecht
• Sgt. Michael Moroney
• Detective Joseph Artrip (Program Manager)
• Officer Harold Johnson
• Officer KerriLynne Schiller
• Officer Michael Shannon

Commendation – Bank Robbery on Jan. 11, 2007

Meritorious Police Duty … Read more of this entry »

For tomorrow’s charity softball game between NFL linebacker Keith Bullock’s team of all-pros versus Rockland cops and firefighters, the Rockland team’s manager, Spring Valley Detective Reggie Anderson, has announced his players.

The game is set – rain or shine – for 4 p.m. at the Herbert Reisman Sports Complex at the Eugene Levy Park on Route 45 in Ramapo. The game will raise money to help young people through Bullock’s Believe and Achieve Foundation and the Rockland County Parent Aid Fund’s … Read more of this entry »

State Police Investigator Brian Tumulty in Haverstraw received a superintendent’s award today for his role in capturing the man who murdered Karesse Ebron, 16, of Spring Valley in June 2006.
Tumulty, with the assistance of Spring Valley police, gave a polygraph examination to Ryan R. Ross, 23, of Spring Valley at the state police barracks in Haverstraw. He was a friend of Ebron who lived in the same Spring Valley housing complex as she did.
The polygrapgh results indicated Ross’s responses … Read more of this entry »

A clash of the titans will take place Saturday afternoon to raise money to help young people through an NFL star’s Believe and Achieve Foundation and the Rockland County Parent Aid Fund’s Foster Care Program.

The softball game starts at 4 p.m. at the Eugene Levy Park baseball fields on Route 45 in Ramapo. The game will be played rain or shine.

Billed as the cop versus the football player, the opposing teams are led by Tennessee Titan star linebacker Keith Bullock … Read more of this entry »

The Rockland emergency services helicopter pilot Sgt. Ken Johnston of the Sheriff’s Department had a busy weekend, helping save two lives.

On Friday, a Good Samaritan Hospital patient needed medicine for botulism, Sheriff’s Lt. Bill Barbera said today. The patient was dying. The hospital asked that a police car pick up the antidote at John F. Kennedy International Airport in Queens, Barbera said. But the trip by car could take several hours back and forth.

So Johnston flew down to JFK, picked … Read more of this entry »

The Rockland Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association has scheduled a news conference for tomorrow afternoon to voice its concerns that state plans to improve New York State Thruway interchanges could led to the destruction of the Brinks Memorial at the entrance to highway.

However, state project director Mike Anderson said today that several state plans under consideration would not touch the memorial on Mountainview Avenue, at the Thruway entrance off Route 59 in Nyack. Anderson said the state is fully aware of … Read more of this entry »

Rockland law enforcement will honor those officers who died in the line of duty during a 11 a.m. Sunday ceremony at the granite memorial in front of the County Courthouse in New City.
There are 27 names on the “Rockland monument”:http://www.policememorial.com/. Other ceremonies will be held at “national memorial”:http://www.nleomf.com/ in Washington, DC.

At 9:30 a.m. Sunday, the Clarkstown Police Department will hold its annual awards ceremony at 20 Maple Ave., New City.

Along with remembering those officers killed, Rockland Police … Read more of this entry »

Three Rockland legislators have formed a chorus to urge the New York State Legislature and governor to adopt more stringent laws governing human trafficking. The amended laws being considered in Albany would focus on protecting people – in many cases women and children – from labor and sexual servitude.

Many immigrants are smuggled into the United States and pay off their debts through prostitution and by working in factories and as domestics. In all cases, human trafficking involves people being forced … Read more of this entry »

The Jamaican Civic & Cultural Association will hold a panel discussion on legal issues at 7:30 p.m. Friday at the Louis Kurtz Civic Center, 9 N. Main St., Spring Valley.

The panelists will be Rockland District Attorney Michael Bongiorno, Rockland Legal Aide Society attorney Shelley Forde and lawyer Michael Scolnick of Rockland.

The lawyers will discuss criminal matters such as sexual assault and civil matters, including child custody. Bongiorno will lead the panel discussion.

The Rockland public can learn about streets gangs and anti-terrorism preparedness and other security issues across the county during two seminars on Wednesday night, May 2.

The first one focuses on street gangs – criminal groups who recruit young people and use violence. Parents can learn about gangs from 6 to 8:30 p.m. in Spring Valley at the Rockland Community College building at 185 N. Main St. Police and other experts will discuss what gangs do, how they recurit, how to … Read more of this entry »

Today, April 16, 2007, was a lot like Sept. 15, 1999, when a storm and violence came together.

While much of the county was under water today due to the Nor’easter pounding the area with rain since Saturday night, Haverstraw town police arrested Andrew Jennings for murder. He is accused of stabbing a man multiple times in the chest in an Haverstraw village apartment on Route 9W after an aborted drug deal.

Earlier today, Stony Point Point police arrested a woman, ... Read more of this entry »

In their first political debate of the 2007 election season, Rockland Sheriff James Kralik and Clarkstown Detective Sgt. Tim O’Neill, a Stony Point councilman, will discuss issues face to face today from 11:15 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Palisades Room in Casey Hall at Dominican College in Orangeburg.
Kralik is the Republican candidate, while O’Neill is running as a Democrat. The election is in November.
The college’s Student Government Association is sponsoring the leadership symposium.

If you have 11 minutes and 29 seconds to spare, go to “Rockland 9-11 Tribute”:http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2460639655091860998

You will find a tribute to the Rockland volunteer firefighters killed on Sept. 11, 2001, as New York City firefighters, police officers or working down in the city. Have some tissues with you, you might need them.

The tribute is filled with photographs of the firefighters with their children and wives, as well as at work.

The tribute has music, including “Wind Beneath My Wings” by … Read more of this entry »

Waiting for a jury to reach a verdict can be nerve-wracking for prosecutors, defense lawyers and family. And when it’s a murder case, emotions run deeper.

People start playing the old game of trying to guess what 12 people (15 including alternates) are thinking as the clock ticks, as hours go by, as todays turn into tomorrows. As time goes by, prosecutors and defense lawyers start wondering if they did all they could during the trial.

Then when jurors ask for read-backs of … Read more of this entry »

Today’s massive snow storm adjourned testimony in Carlos Herring’s trial on charges of murdering Don Juan Thompson II. The trial is scheduled to continue Monday morning in the County Courthouse in New City.

Herring shot Thompson five times in the chest, stomach, arm, leg and back as he fell to the ground in the parking lot outside Club Horizon in Spring Valley. Herring claims the shooting was justified because he felt his life was threatened. The prosecution claims it was … Read more of this entry »

Former Rockland sex crimes prosecutor Karen Riley announced today that she’s been appointed as chief attorney/executive director of the Children’s Rights Society of Orange County in Goshen.

The agency staffs seven lawyers, a social worker, an investigator and four administrative personnel.

The agency is funded by the New York State Office of Court Administration, which handles the majority of the Law Guardian work in Orange County, Riley said.

Law guardians represent child whose parents are involved in custody proceedings, minors in … Read more of this entry »

Maybe the pet blogger should get this one, but she’s busy walking her mutts so it’s left up to the crime blogger.

Anyway, a tiny Bichon Frise got loose on Route 202 yesterday, causing headaches for police and drivers. That’s the police radio chatter earlier this afternoon at 2 p.m. among Haverstraw dispatchers, police officers and the town animal control officer.

The pooch apparently darted under cars, hid and fled when police officers attempted to save its life from moving cars.

At … Read more of this entry »