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It’s amazing to see what you can accomplish when you put your resources together. This was the case for the Richland County Fugitive Task Force located in Northern Ohio. Members of the task force included participating local law enforcement agencies and the U.S. Marshals. The task force began in January and the results for the last three months were outstanding.
The Northern Ohio Violent Fugitive Task Force made 210 arrests, confiscated 24 guns and 1,248 rounds of ammunition. The Force also recovered 7.25 pounds of marijuana, 2.2 ounces of cocaine, 131 Ecstasy pills, 78 doses of black tar heroin and $7,482. With more than 5,000 arrest warrants, the Task Force started with the worst of the worst fugitives, mostly felons, and with the help of tipsters, was able to account for their success.
The whole idea was to affect the criminal activity in Richland County. When fugitives see that the Task Force is aggressively doing their job, they won’t seek refuge here.
For the past several years, online social networking sites have exploded. Sites such as Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, Flickr and Digg have escalated the need to screen content for inappropriate activity. According to a Newsweek article, Facebook as well as other social networking sites have a range of policing activity.
These companies have divisions called User Operations that police content for harassing messages, show drugs or drug use, nudity or pornography. This content is immediately deleted and sometimes users are put on a blacklist never to use the site again. These teams set guidelines and make judgment calls to keep the integrity of their site.
You could probably call them cops on a beat to undercover cops who mingle with spammers and hackers to stop illegal activity. Actually, some of these teams are involved in law enforcement. Police and FBI have learned that Facebook accounts can offer excellent information about criminal suspects. Facebook receives up to 10 to 20 police requests each day to help them find information regarding crimes that attract national media attention. In fact, Facebook has helped to find runaways. When a runaway logs onto their Facebook account the site tracks the geographic locations of their log-ons.
So enjoy the social networking sites, but understand that what you may be saying or uploading is patrolled by cops on the site.
For those of you who enjoy tweeting and twittering be careful that the 140 characters you are reading may have come from an imposter. Many people such as celebrities, athletes, politicians and media personalities are using this hugely popular social networking site – Twitter.
Wikipedia defines “Twitter as a freee social networking site that is used over the Internet. But when you twitter you are using SMS which may incur phone service provider fees. Since its creation in 2006 by Jack Dorsey, Twitter has gained extensive notability and popularity worldwide. It is often described as the “SMS of Internet,” in that the site provides the functionality via its application programming interfaces for other desktop and web-based applications to send and receive short text messages, often obscuring the Twitter service itself.”
However, lately Twitter hackers have been assuming identities of personalities and are twitterjacking. According to experts who told FOXNews.com, the Twitter site does not verify identification. Anyone can set up an e-mail account, change a letter or two and then pretend to be you.
The effect of phony profiles and can be serious. For example, a twitterjacker may have hacked into Britney Spears’ profile and tweet that her upcoming concert in a city is cancelled and everyone would believe it even though it didn’t come from Britney Spears. Communicating false information from a known twitter account can be devastating to that person.
Right now twitterjacking is not a crime, but it is very frustrating to reputable twitters. So the next time you twitter, stop and think – are you really talking to the person you think you are talking to or is it a twitterjacker?
The GAO (Government Accounting Office) released a report on behalf of the Homeland Security Department regarding cyber attacks. GAO report has made about 30 recommendations to ensure cyber security. Cyber attacks are criminal activity that delivers viruses or “bugs” to computers. In today’s electronic age, everything from electrical grids, stock markets, tax data, airline flight systems and even nuclear launch codes may be affected. With the White House looking to put medical records on line, keeping cyber technology free from attacks needs to be a priority.
As a result, General Dynamics Information Technology is looking for computer hackers who can think like the bad guys to help the Homeland Security Department. Applicants must understand hackers’ tools and tactics and be able to analyze Internet traffic and identify vulnerabilities in the federal system. While there are detailed plans for floods, fires and even protection of U.S. airspace, there is no similar response for a major computer attack.
For several years, U.S. computer networks, including those at the Pentagon and other federal agencies, have been under persistent attack from hackers within the U.S. and possibly from other nations, such as China. Industry leaders told Congress during a recent hearing that law enforcement and other protections are too outdated to fend off threats from criminals, terrorists and unfriendly foreign nations. Recently, a former government official revealed that spies had hacked into the U.S. electric grid and left behind computer programs that would let them disrupt service. The intrusions were discovered after electric companies gave the government permission to audit their systems.
Individuals who commit cyber attacks are criminals. Their attacks cost millions of dollars to U.S. businesses as well as government agencies. Being proactive as well as vigilant is the best solution to stop these criminal activities.
Recently, a team of organized criminals have been caught in L.A. and NYC for installing equipment on legitimate bank ATMS. This equipment steals both the ATM card number and the PIN number. In Texas, the police have put out an alert about this operation.
Here’s how it is being done in Texas. A team sits nearby in a car receiving the information transmitted wirelessly. This is done usually over weekends and evenings. These criminals install a “skimmer” that is mounted to the front of the ATM card slot. The skimmer reads the ATM card number and transmits the information to the criminals. A wireless camera disguised to look like a leaflet holder is mounted in a position to view ATM PIN entries. You can see the pictures of the fake skimmers and camera at this web site .
The thieves copy the cards and use the PIN numbers to withdraw thousands of dollars from accounts quickly and directly from the bank ATM.
If you should find one of these skimmers on your bank’s ATM machine, contact the bank immediately and don’t use the ATM. The police can’t do anything until the bank files a criminal complaint.
In order to reach teens in the way they communicate, the Douglas County Sheriffs Office in Colorado has teamed up with the Douglas County Schools for a pilot program called “Text-A-Tip”. This program involves high school student talking to their school administrators and police in the form of texting. High school students can anonymously report anything from a fight, a suspicious person on school property, to a friend in trouble.
Police believe that using texting is a great way for teens directly and instantly provide tips in an emergency situation. Authorities will text back and forth with the teens to get more information and to help then instantly. In this way, kids can feel comfortable communicating with school administrators and police while staying anonymous.
However, some teens say they may not want to do that because it is another form of snitching on their peers and believe that they can handle the situation themselves. What teens need to understand is that sometimes they can’t handle the situation and need an adult or police intervention. How do you stop a friend who may be doing drugs? How do you help a friend who is depressed or suicidal? This is where adults need to intervene. Through texting offers another avenue to help their friends.
Parents should encourage their teens to work with school administrators as well as police by using the Text-A-Tip program. It just may save a life.
Every spring it seems that scam artists are in full bloom waiting to steal your money. The latest scam is hiring a “traveler” to do repairs on your house. Recently, the Colorado Attorney General sent out a warning about this recurring scam.
These con artists target homeowners not only in Colorado but also throughout the country. They go from place to place promising homeowners cheap repairs to their home. You can find them driving around your neighborhood or knocking on doors claiming that they have extra material from another job to use to repair your home. Of course, they ask for the money up front. If they do the repairs it is poor quality work or they may use contaminated materials like watered down paint.
They promise to fix roofs, cracked sidewalks and driveways and prey on the elderly because this group is more vulnerable to high-pressure tactics. One victim of a traveler wrote a check to have the roof fixed for only $3,000. After the victim wrote him a check, they never saw the traveler again.
These scammers are very good at what they do. Be aware and don’t get caught in their scam. If you need repairs done to your home, get a referral from a friend or neighbor or find a reputable company through the yellow pages or online. You can also check out companies by contacting the Better Business Bureau in your area.
The city of St. Paul, Minnesota seeks court action to restrict alleged gang leaders and members from attending the Cinco de Mayo Fiesta on May 1st thru the 2nd. The city is requesting that a Ramsey County judge ban gang members to associate with other Sureno members, recruiting on behalf of the gang, wearing gang colors, flashing gang signs and a host of other activities in and around the Cinco de Mayo event.
If a judge agrees, the 10 — seven men and three juveniles — would be banned from a “safety zone” that encompasses much of the city’s West Side neighborhood, where the annual parade and carnival is held. Last year’s festival witnessed a drive-by shooting. As a result, police and organizers are concerned about the presence of gang members at the family fest.
The city’s goal is to prove that the Surenos, a Los Angeles-based gang established in the Twin Cities over the past decade, has been responsible for much of the violent crime in the past year. At least 13 incidents of shootings and other violence have been attributed to them. The police consider this gang as a public nuisance. If the law were passed, a nuisance declaration would allow the city to ban members of the gang from congregating or carrying out gang activities.
Similar anti-gang tactics laws in Florida, California and Texas have been upheld by courts. However, a spokesperson from the Minnesota chapter of the ACLU, said no such law has been challenged since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down an anti-loitering ordinance in Chicago that sought to ban gang members from street corners. He criticized the city’s action as “a direct attack on freedom of assembly.”
Whether this violates freedom of assembly or if it is considered public safety, the city and law enforcement need to make sure that their community is safe from gang activities during important events.
Violent crimes that include felony, theft and burglary increased last year in Winona, MN according to the latest police statistics. The small increase of the total number of crimes by 40 for a total of 651 may be attributed to people looking to make a fast buck by stealing property and pawning it.
However, this small increase does not compare to 1995 where nearly 1,500 violent crimes were reported. Since then police have been more proactive in their approach by increasing police presence and not just reacting to crimes. The Community Policing Program was developed and created the neighborhood watch groups and Landlord’s Associations. They also created the Winona Downtown Tavern Association that works to reduce drinking, move people out of the downtown area at bar close and reduce violence.
In addition, this extra police work has sent more people to prison for longer periods of time. In 2008, 63 people were sent to state prisons for a total of nearly 247 years. However, these crimes were more violent, such as sexual assault, home invasions and attempted murders.
With the economy down, crime may be increasing. However, it seems that law enforcement may have a handle on the problem.
In today’s economy, there are a lot of people out of work and desperate to find a job. What would you do if a placement service promised you a good paying job but you had to pay a fee upfront?
It’s not unusual for a placement service to have a potential employee pay a finder’s fee for a job. However, Careers For Life, a placement service in Denver, Colorado made customers pay thousands of dollars in finders’ fees upfront but never sent them on a job interview. In fact, paying a finder’s fee upfront for a promise of a job to a placement service is against Colorado law.
Now, most people would refuse to pay a finder’s fee upfront and legitimate career placement firms never ask you for the money. But one young man, Justin Hollon, found out the hard way that paying a finder’s fee upfront to a Careers For Life placement firm was nothing but a scam.
Why did Mr. Hollon and many other people fall for this scam? Because just like many people today who are in a dead-end job or have no job, they are hungry to find a good paying job or career. Mr. Hollon is only 22 years old and never attended college because of family circumstances. He had to take care of his mother and his six sisters and when he got married, he was desperate to find more than just a job – he wanted a career to help his family.
In fact, the high-pressure tactics the men used at this placement service on Mr. Hollon were unbelievable. They promised him a job for a big oil company and left him with brochures for an hour to look them over. When they returned the men started to question his integrity and asked him if he was man enough to do anything like this? They asked him personal questions such as if his wife deserved a guy that only works for hourly pay. Their pressure tactics broke him until he agreed to pay the up-front fee. Once they got the money, Mr. Hollon never heard back from Careers For Life. It was all just a scam.
However, this story has a happy ending. Mr. Hollon was able to get back his money because he sued them in court and then told his story to the local news stations. As a result, Careers For Life is now shut down and three of the men working at Careers For Life have been arrested with one still at large.
If you find yourself in this type of situation, you can check out career placement services or any other businesses on the Better Business Bureau website.
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