Gotcha: Alert Citizen Action Leads to Felony Arrest
Quick action by officers responding to a call from a neighborhood watch member led to the arrest of a suspect who police say had a large number of credit cards- not in his name.
Sherman Oaks Senior Lead Officer Ron Carter issued this message.
Once again, our Neighborhood Watch Groups and residents in Southern Sherman Oaks demonstrate that they are taking back their communities by being the "Eyes and Ears" of Law-Enforcement. Here is another example:
On January 19, 2012 at approximately 8:45 p.m., a member of the Encanto Drive Neighborhood Watch observed a male suspect, who appeared to be trying the door handles of parked vehicles in the area at the 15000 block of Encanto Drive. The resident was out walking his dog and was able to obtain an excellent description of this suspect, as well as the last location he was seen. A second caller from the Neighborhood reported a similar suspect along the 3700 block of Sheridge Drive.
Officers responded quickly and observed a male, matching the descriptions, now in the 3600 block of Saugus Avenue and made a pedestrian stop to investigate. This suspect was found to be in possession of a large number of credit cards which were not in his name, California Identification belonging to someone else, a wallet with initials matching the cards found, sunglasses & eyeglasses, GPS Systems, cell-phone chargers and other items which were tracked back to victims from this same general area.
Thanks to the quick action of the Neighborhood Watch members in this area, the equally fast response of officers, another Felony Suspect was removed from our community. The investigation traced his actions back to a residence and he was booked for Residential Burglary, with multiple other charges for the Thefts and Burglaries from Motor Vehicles.
Great job by all persons involved and you know your names!
Your Los Angeles Police Department, Van Nuys Division Detectives and Senior Lead Officers applaud your strong participation in Community Policing at it's finest.
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Contact Information:
Ronald Carter
Van Nuys
818-374-5408
23838@lapd.lacity.org
Marty Vergari
6:18 am on Sunday, January 22, 2012
This is the level of police work we must honor from our LAPD. Well done guys! Perhaps if the LAPD assigned more officers to this type of patrol and got them near useless guys off the motorcycles as they hide behind sign at a used car lot at Burbank & Van Nuys Blvd. trapping our good citizens on their way to work as a maid or grass cutter, we'd be a safer Valley! I hope LAPD will honor the crime fighting officers who made this fine arrest.
Alex Daniels
7:20 am on Sunday, January 22, 2012
Ahh yes it would be nice Marty, but remember the current LAPD creed, secure salaries and pensions first (vis a vis traffic ticket revenue), and then public safety second.
Irene Gibson
8:50 am on Sunday, January 22, 2012
Credit also needs to go to Sherman Oaks Neighborhood Council, Encanto Drive Neighborhood Watch, AND particularly Sean, the neighbor who SAW something strange going on and actually took action and REPORTED it appropriately immediately to his NW Captain. Too many people fail to ACT when they observe something wrong and of course it's great to act to praise those involved and give thanks!.
A neighbor wrote to everyone else in the neighborhood the following this morning:
"How great is this! Craig and Karina, thank you SO MUCH for your organization and efforts. And of course Clive and Sean. You guys are lifesavers....... Doug."
Mattey's Mom
8:54 am on Sunday, January 22, 2012
Great work done by neighborhood Citizens + police alike. Yes we need increased police patrols over hidden "rolling stop" police patrols that frequent such places as Stone Canyon + Valley Vista while several homes just up the street have been burglarized. From this latest report it is further evidence that the hillside community has become a frequent target for both home + property crime.