Three really bad guys are off the streets of southern California today because of PROACTive drug enforcement! The arrest of Taylor Winston WRIGHT and two others capped a lengthy criminal investigation into the illegal manufacture and distribution of phencyclidine (PCP).

This case had its start in June of last year when the PROACT task force seized a clandestine laboratory in Ladera Ranch, CA that resulted in the seizure of chemicals and equipment consistent "with a large scale phencyclidine manufacturing operation, including approximately 9 gallons of liquid PCP, a stolen vehicle and a loaded firearm."

The suspect in the Ladera Ranch PCP lab, Taylor Winston WRIGHT, fled the scene and was a fugitive for nearly one year prior to being arrested last April, as detailed in this Tin Star post.

WRIGHT made bail and was surveilled by the PROACT task force after one of his court appearances in Orange County, CA on the PCP lab case. WRIGHT led the task force to a location in Hawthorne, CA where he met up with the two other suspects who were observed loading containers - later found to contain PCP- into a carport storage cabinet.

Based upon the evidence obtained from the Hawthorne location, agents from the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and the PROACT task force executed arrest and search warrants that resulted in the arrest of WRIGHT, the two others and the seizure of additional PCP, chemicals to make more of the drug, firearms and a large sum of cash.

WRIGHT faces a lengthy prison term if convicted on the federal charges associated with this case and his involvement in the illegal drug trade.

This case illustrates the complexities of a narcotics investigation and the cooperation needed between local, state and federal criminal justice agencies in bringing these bad guys to justice.

It also tells us that PCP is a dangerous illegal drug that poses a real threat to our communities.

For example, PCP is commonly packaged to look like everyday household items that serves to hide it from law enforcement and confuse those that don't suspect anything wrong, like children. The chemical smell from the PCP is powerful and overwhelming and can easily harm an unsuspecting officer or citizen.

Most of the houses with clandestine laboratories are heavily fortified and a tremendous amount of force/tools/teamwork has to be used to gain safe entry into them. In addition, the suspect(s) was armed with a loaded firearm about 70% of the time.

The PROACT task force includes personnel from the Orange County Sheriff's Department, Santa Ana Police Department, Brea Police Department, Buena Park Police Department, La Habra Police Department, California Department of Justice (DOJ), Orange County Probation Department.  PROACT was assisted by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, Los Angeles Police Department, Long Beach Police Department, U.S Postal Inspectors, California Department of Corrections Parole and LA IMPACT.

Good job!

[Related links: LA Times and OC Register stories]

Briefing is over. Stay safe out there!

 The Orange County Sheriff’s Department (OCSD) is being questioned by the Grand Jury, the Board of Supervisors, the media and others about the delay in implementing a county-wide computer program for law enforcement.

The program is a “Super-Google search engine for police officers.”

COPLINK is a web-based knowledge management program that takes databases of information already existing in the County of Orange and makes the data easier to use.

Much of the current brouhaha comes from local law enforcement agencies who want the more efficient access to the OCSD and County of Orange databases of criminal history information that COPLINK provides. This post examines the reasons for the delay.

First and foremost, public safety is NOT at risk because of the delay.

At present the O.C.S.D. and all law enforcement agencies in Orange County share tons of data and volumes of information with each other on a daily basis. Everyone is working together to protect our communities!

OCSD has systems called ELETE and CLETS that provide local county and city law enforcement agencies, school police, state and federal agencies, etc. with all kinds of information on criminals, missing persons, stolen vehicles, wanted persons, homeland security and much more!

The OCSD has been a leader in developing, implementing and financing systems that are used throughout Orange County by all law enforcement agencies to protect the public and ensure their safety.

Concerns over COPLINK account for the delay.

How to pay for COPLINK. The Sheriff has conditioned COPLINK access to the County’s databases on an equitable sharing of the cost of computer servers, related support costs and other operational issues. The financial agreements are proving to be difficult to nail down largely because the County is being asked to shoulder a large burden of the cost and is not convinced that the benefits are worth the price tag. Discussions continue.

How to ensure COPLINK is secure. While it is absolutely important to have the best tools in place, it is also absolutely important to have the proper protocols and data security safeguards in place as well.

For example, the Orange County Internet Technology (IT) Department reported to the Grand Jury that it receives approximately 150,000 cyber-terrorism hits per day and 1,000-2,000 new types of viruses and “worms” per month and that it is pretty successful in dealing with these threats under existing conditions.

COPLINK would significantly increase internet access to the County’s databases which is why it is so important to make sure the security is appropriate. IT work continues on making the system safe.

How COPLINK is administered. The O.C. Chiefs and Sheriff Association proposed a Joint Powers Agreement (JPA) be used for governance structure and approved a committee of Chiefs to administer it. County Counsel is not in favor of the JPA governance structure and has concerns that the County could be exposed to liability under the proposed agreements.

ALso, the County and the twelve OCSD contract cities were considered as ONE entity by the JPA proposal which means that the largest payer and provider of information to the databases would have a small say in the administration of the system. OCSD provides about 80% of the information to the database and would end up with less that 20% of the decision-making control on the JPA.

This creates a potential scenario where a handful of police chiefs could end up making decisions for the County of Orange where OCSD and its contract cities end up paying more for the same information they currently receive.

Confidentiality and Audit trails. Sheriff Carona and County Counsel are not yet convinced that the COPLINK system does enough to ensure confidentiality of criminal history information and that there is a reliable audit trail to track users of the database to ensure appropriate access and use of the databases. Further study and legal analysis continues.

What else is going on?

Meanwhile back at the ranch, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department is evaluating other database information sharing systems in the marketplace and still others that are in use by other law enforcement agencies. Some of these systems may turn out to be less expensive and have better operational capabilities than COPLINK and time is being taken to evaluate these alternatives.

Plus, the cities that now have COPLINK have all been told that they can have the database information for FREE, once the aforementioned issues get resolved, should the County decide not to implement COPLINK.

Sheriff Mike Carona told the O.C. Grand Jury that, “The Orange County Sheriff’s Department is committed to sharing information and will continue to participate in the County Wide Integrated Law and Justice group to seek a legal, cost effective, and fair ways to address regional information sharing.”

The Sheriff’s Department is moving ahead and doing what is BEST for law enforcement and what is BEST for public safety in meeting its mission to protect Orange County. Orange County law enforcement continues to work on evaluating all the issues in order to make the right decision.

Briefing is over. Stay safe out there!

 They want an indentured servant rather than a public servant!

OC Blog posts and links to an article by Steven Greenhut discussing the new contract the City of Garden Grove, CA approved for their police department.

Of course, these folks continue to say they love the cops and only hate the salaries and benefits the cops get calling it a "raid on the public treasury."

Steven Greenhut speaks for those that oppose government and unions.

He is already setting the stage for the county. "The ravenous public sector unions have just sent out a flyer announcing that "Bargaining is just around the corner!" Oh, lucky us! That means pushing for more benefits and higher pay."

Garden Grove, CA Council Member Mark Rosen responded to the critics of the recent approval of the police contract with these comments that I cut-and-pasted from OC Blog:

"Police recruiting is very competitive. The first two years of the contract are the most predictable. That's why the majority voted to bring the police into parity with the rest of the county and to put a cap on the third year of the contract, when it might be less predictable. Mark Leyes made an eloquent argument to the contrary, but I thought I made a pretty good argument for the contract."

Good for him and for his rational and reasonable decision that will benefit the citizens of the City of Garden Grove!

Council Member Mark Leyes is an example of someone who claims to support cops, but then really doesn't mean it if it involves salaries and benefits for his cops! His city council bio says this:

"One of Mark's goals as a Councilman is to keep Garden Grove's streets, businesses, and neighborhoods safe. He has a strong commitment to law enforcement and believes in keeping close ties with the community to help fight crime. He is also a strong supporter of the City's Neighborhood Watch Program and the nationally recognized Community Policing Program."

Council Member Reyes voted NO -- against approval of the police contract!

I guess Council Member Reyes' "strong commitment to law enforcement" is situational, at best.

Briefing is over. Stay safe out there!

 The San Diego Union-Tribune profiles State Correctional Officer Samuel Morales and describes his duties at the Donovan Correctional Facility.

“There are not many of us and there are too many of them,” says Morales, noting the recent boom in the inmate population. “My job is more challenging now.”

The profile speaks of the challenges faced by the Correctional Officers in today's state prison system beginning with a perception of a lack of respect from the general public.

"A lot of the staff feels that the public doesn't really want to know what goes on behind our walls,” said a 38-year-old guard at California Men's Colony in San Luis Obispo, who, like several others, requested anonymity so he could speak frankly about his work. “They think of us as the garbage men of the law enforcement community.”

I wonder how many of their critics would be as benevolent and forgiving as Correctional Officer Nick?

Nick was "gassed" at Pelican Bay. Gassing is when an inmate hurls feces, urine or blood – or a mix of the three – in a guard's face. Correctional Officer Nick took FIVE showers trying to get rid of the smell from the gassing and said about it, “When you are in a society with nothing but felons, those kinds of things are going to happen.”

Other challenges faced by the California Correctional Peace Officers include a defense of their pay and benefits from the usual quarters, overcrowded conditions in the prisons, staffing shortages, safety concerns in a system labeled the most dangerous in the nation and long hours worked as a result of staffing shortages.

The entire Union-Tribune article is here. It's a good perspective on a dangerous job taken for granted by the public at large. Worth the read.

Briefing is over. Stay safe out there!

The O.C. Register reports on the death of a man who was shot by officer(s) this morning in the City of Dana Point, CA after they responded to a domestic disturbance call. They were reportedly confronted by the man with a knife as he was attempting to break into the residence.

[Click here for story]

The report in the newspaper provides few details on the circumstances of the incident, but the obvious is that a call for service resulted in the use of deadly force by O.C. Sheriff's Department personnel. There are no reports of injuries to others and none to the OCSD personnel.

What seemed routine one June morning in Dana Point, CA had the potential to harm the officer and others, as well. The FBI tracks incidents where law enforcement officers are killed in the line of duty in order to inform and train others on the circumstances involved in past line-of-duty deaths.

In the ten year time period of 1995-2004 there were 594 police officers killed. Today's incident has many risk factors for the law enforcement responders. For example:

Month of Incident: 42 officers were killed in the month of June (7%).
Day of Incident: 75 officers were killed on a Monday (13%).
Time of Incident: 26 officers were killed during the time period of 4AM - 6AM (4%).
Weapon Used: 7 officers were killed with a knife or other cutting instrument (1%).
Circumstance of Incident: 60 officers were killed during a family quarrel (10%).

[Click here for FBI report]

Police work is an occupation with the potential for life-threatening danger every minute of the shift. Nothing is ever routine. Nothing is taken for granted. Today's incident was no different.

As always in a serious incident like this, the O.C. District Attorney's Office conducts the investigation in order to remove any conflict or appearance of an unfair investigation. Law enforcement services in the City are provided under contract with the O.C. Sheriff's Department.

Briefing is over. Stay safe out there!

 

 ICE is a smokable form of pure crystal methamphetamine.

Last week, clandestine methamphetamine labs were busted up in Orange County, CA after the ICE it produced was found in Iowa.

This story is noteworthy because of the law enforcement personnel and the teamwork necessary to conduct a complex criminal investigation over the course of many months and across various state lines.

The team that conducted the investigation and made the arrests is called PROACT and consists of law enforcement personnel from OCSD, Santa Ana, Buena Park, Brea, La Habra, OC Probation, OC District Attorney, California D.O.J and Federal agents from Immigration and Customs Service. Also assisting in this case was OCSD Forensic Services and Orange County Social Services.

The PROACT team is focused exclusively on clandestine methamphetamine labs and was recently in the news after the arrest of a major southland drug dealer [click here for story].

The arrests and facts of this case clearly show that drug use is not a victimless crime, as some in the O.C. Register continue to claim:

"America's crime rate is embarrassingly high precisely because its criminals include thousands and thousands of men and women who have done nothing more wrong than to sell, buy and consume substances that are no more dangerous than ordinary alcohol."

[Source: So many crimes, so few victims.]

Fact:
"Methamphetamine, both that which is produced in Mexico or the southwest United States and locally produced, remains the principal drug of concern in the state of Iowa."

Examples:
---- A case that started in Cedar Rapids, Iowa led to the arrest of five people and the closing of three meth labs in Anaheim, Riverside and Santa Ana, according to the Los Angeles Times.

----"Although meth use is an epidemic across the United States, nowhere is it a bigger problem that in the Midwest. Meth accounts for nearly 90% of all drug cases in the Midwest, and is most prevalent in Oklahoma", according to a Narconon website.

Fact:
"Hispanic trafficking organizations import large quantities of methamphetamine into Iowa, primarily via motor vehicles and mail delivery services."

Example:
---- The major drug ring in this case was headed by a Mexican national that was "living illegally in the U.S. [Anaheim]" and "had been deported once before" according to the Times.

Fact:
"The large Mexican communities in Iowa provide an infrastructure to import and distribute the methamphetamine."

Example:
---- The local southern California drug ring was "allegedly supplying meth to a local [Cedar Rapids, Iowa] street gang" according to the Times.

Fact:
"The distribution organizations are selling the drug in the local market for $14,000-$16,000 per pound."

Examples:
--- More that $240,000 US was seized at the home of the drug ring leader in Anaheim and $640,000 was seized all together. Also consficated were 10 weapons and two silencers and three luxury vehicles, according to the Times.

--- The ring was cooking 30 pounds of methamphetamine, per week [about $480,000 US] as well as smuggling the drug in from Mexico, according to the Times.

The Narconon website lists these facts about the methamphetamine problem:

----"During 1999 4.3% (9.4 million people) of the U.S. population reported trying meth at least once in their lifetime. The highest rate of meth use was among adults ages 18-25."

----"The [state medical examiner's] office also reports meth is found in more and more cases of homicides, and motor vehicle accidents."

----"An individual can become dependent on meth almost immediately after their first time using the drug."

----"Meth begins to rule over the individual's life, demanding attention at all times."

----"An individual's gravitation to meth often involves not only compulsive drug taking but also a wide range of dysfunctional behaviors that can interfere with normal functioning in the family, the workplace, and the broader community."

The truth is that drug use and addiction takes a toll way beyond the individual drug user. Most addicts commit crimes in order to get the money necessary to buy the drugs and the costs for medical care and child services neeeded to care for addicts and support their families comes out of someone else's pocket- not the addicts. Add on the emotional/social long-term harm done to families of these addicts and it all adds up to a case of burying one's head in the sand to believe that illegal drug use affects only the addict.

Kudos to the members of PROACT and all of the law enforcement agencies/personnel involved in this case. Keep up the good work and continue to actively pursue the criminals in the illegal drug trade that are here in Southern California and elsewhere in the USA.

Your efforts will make our communities safer by reducing the supply of illegal drugs and the criminal activity associated with these activities.

[ Sources: DEA and Los Angeles Times and Narconon, Southern California]

Briefing is over. Stay safe out there!