Posted by cyd evans I saw an officer talking on a cell phone while driving a marked car yesterday. Don’t the same rules apply to police officers as the general public regarding only using hands free devices? Dear cyd evans, Police officers are to abide by the same rules of the road as citizens. However, there are some exceptions to these rules – for instance, when talking on a cell phone while driving, California Vehicle Code Section 23123 (d). This section does not apply to an emergency services professional using a wireless telephone while operating an authorized emergency vehicle, as defined in Section 165, in the course and scope of his or her duties. This translates to, if the offi

Posted by MartinM Hi,I suspect that my friend Is using drugs,I am almost sure he is using some kind of drugs.Should I report him? After all I am not 100% sure,but he has had some problems before. Thank you. Dear MartinM, It sounds like you have some concerns about your friend using drugs. You may be right. Have you discussed this with your friend? He may need help and police involvement may not be the best route. Your friend may need some intervention from friends and family. There are many drug and alcohol clinics in Sacramento and in the outlying region where your friend may seek help. If your friend is selling drugs or furnishing the drugs to others, then you should call the police

On Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, when most folks are sitting down to enjoy dinner with family and friends, public safety officers, doctors and nurses and others in service industries still have to work. It’s not always easy – crime and accidents don’t take a break on holidays. The Sacramento Press asked some of them to share their holiday work experiences. These are their stories. FIRE DEPARTMENT: “(Christmas) is a pretty loaded day,” Doug Bruce, an engineer with Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District, said Friday. “There is a lot of last-minute things going on, so there is a lot of traffic out. We keep busy.” Bruce said calls to the fire station can be strange no matter what the day,

Additional efforts will be made by the Sacramento Police Department and Sacramento Sheriff's Department to prevent youth involvement in gangs by promoting interactions between police officers and the youth. The mayor is calling this approach a paradigm shift, and it will be part of Sacramento's first comprehensive plan for gang prevention, Mayor Kevin Johnson announced Tuesday at the Boys & Girls Club on Lemon Hill Avenue. The emphasis of the program will be heavy on prevention and intervention instead of just enforcement and incarceration, according to the mayor. Johnson said the program will focus on school literacy enrichment, strengthening the relationship between the Sacramento com

Posted by dram13 Hello, I went out Friday night with some friends and had a bit too much to drink. We took a taxi from the bar and the next day I find out from my bank that over $700 was taken from my account. I had zero money in my wallet and it was shown that money taken out from multiple ATMS before I got home. There are three possibilites I see happening. A) I was guided by the people I was with to take money out while I was intoxicated B) People took my password and card out of my wallet while I was asleep and took money out C) Taxi driver did either A or B. I know that under the law if a girl is intoxicated and a male sleeps with her, it can be considered rape since she was not in

Posted by cherylwin Can I complete a restraining order on someone without providing my location? This is a person who was in prison for kidnapping me years ago and is now free and off parole as of yesterday. Dear cherylwin, It must be unnerving for you knowing that the man who once victimized you is out. Here’s what you should do. His parole agent should have already put those conditions on his parole prior to getting out of prison. You may want to call Parole and make sure the condition to stay away from you was added. He must only know your name and you don’t need to supply your address. If you see the man anywhere near you, call the police. If he attempts to contact you via telephone

Posted by bmclemons Hello Michelle.. Question.. I’m aware of a vehicle which obviously hit something when the driver was drunk not sure if it was a pole or something, but was able to make it back. The car is sitting in an apartment complex garage now for over 3 months and is completely totaled. Shouldn’t this be reported to either DMV or the authorities? Dear bmclemons, You could call the police department in your jurisdiction and report it as a suspicious vehicle. The dispatcher will ask you what the license plate is. It may be a stolen vehicle, or a vehicle involved in a crime. If it doesn’t have a plate attached to the vehicle, an officer can still be sent out to check the vehicle id

Posted by Jib916 Good Morning Michelle. I had a question regarding how you plan on handling the occupiers/campers camping in front of best buy and other big box retail stores for black Friday. If Sacramento has a no tent policy, isn’t it only fair that these peoples camping equipment shall be confiscated, just like the protesters? After all the law is the law. Any response would be greatly appreciated. Thank You Justin Buell Dear Justin, The “no tent” policy you are speaking about refers to occupying a camping space on city/county property. When people camp in front of stores in anticipation for stores to open or to get prime tickets at a box office, they are occupying space on priva

Posted by ron_lopez2011 Please extend my personal thanks to the officers involved in the arrest of Rasaan Zawadi. I hope you get his accomplices too. That story just bugged me to the core; thank you for what you guys do. Dear ron_lopez2011, Thank you Ron! For those of you who aren’t familiar with Rasaan Zawadi, he was one of two bullies who were shown in a viral video taunting and punching a handicapped woman in front of a South Sacramento store. Zawadi was seen harassing and punching the female victim several times. Another suspect, 19-year-old Donnell Wade, who was seen punching the female in the face and knocking her out, was also arrested for the crime. According to a recent press

After the first quarter of the fiscal year, city revenues are only about half of what was projected, but city finance officials said they aren’t ready to panic yet. The negative balance for the city budget is not just related to lower-than-anticipated revenues – a large part of the imbalance is due to greater-than-anticipated expenditures. The $812 million city budget is running negative at the moment – “typical” for the first quarter of the fiscal year, according to the most recent report from the city Finance Department. The first quarter financial report will be presented to the City Council Tuesday. Of the six main sources of revenue for the city – property tax, utility user tax, sa

Posted by ted bas Greetings! I enjoy reading these archive articles. Thanks. In my neighborhood, I suspect 3 individual who are, I believe, are in constant plans to rob empty home. One of them daily eye on certain vehicles which would have left their residence. I believes he communicates this to his partner and then determines who else is left behind on a house they plan to steal from. Yesterday I went out to the area where he usually observes. when he saw me, we walked away like guilty for some reason. Today, he is out there but in a more secluded area, eyeing or in a look out for some vehicle while he talks to his friend in the cell phone. Need your advice. I am willing to help to preve

Posted by logsmom08 Hi Officer Michelle! I am a renter in the Sacramento area. I live in a duplex and share the other half of the house with someone who has a ‘medical card’. My neighbors and I share a garage wall in our duplex and I am assuming that they smoke in their garage because when I walk in my garage, the stink about knocks me over. Do I have any rights to ask them to stop smoking in the garage or anywhere where I and my family can smell or be effected by it? Dear logsmom08, The best thing you can do about that is to speak with your landlord. Some landlords have their renters sign a marijuana smoking clause now. The law about smoking marijuana regardless if it is for medicinal

Posted by neighborwatch Hi Michelle, We recently had new neighbors move in the house behind ours. They have a few dogs, 2 of which are large pit bulls. The first thing we noticed were the dogs barking for extended periods of time, all hours of the night. The tenants are home, but seem to ignore the barking. Recently we’ve witnessed 3 instances where the largest dog is attacking the other dogs/other possible animals in their backyard. Vicious attacks which leave their deck stained with blood. The most recent incident involved the woman trying to separate the dogs, and she was thrown to the floor and screaming. I called 911 as I felt her life was in danger. Unfortunately I don’t know what

Sacramento Police Department press release: The Sacramento Police Department is searching for the second suspect, 19-year-old Donnell Wade, in the unprovoked attack that was captured on video. On October 12, 2011, the Sacramento Police Department was made aware of a video, showing suspects assaulting a female, which had gone viral on the Internet. We received calls from throughout the country inquiring about the investigation. Detectives assigned to the case discovered that patrol officers responded to an assault call on October 1, 2011, at approximately 12:11 p.m., near Center Parkway and Mack Road. The officers arrived and determined the suspects had fled the scene and the victim, a 42

Sacramento Police Department press release: The Sacramento Police Department arrested 21-year-old Rasaan Zawadi for the unprovoked attack on a female that was captured on video and believed to have been posted by the suspects. On October 12, 2011, the Sacramento Police Department was made aware of a video of an assault on a female that had gone viral on the Internet. We received calls from throughout the country inquiring about the investigation. Detectives assigned to the case discovered that patrol officers had responded to an assault call on October 1, 2011, at approximately 12:11 p.m., near Center Parkway and Mack Road. The officers arrived finding that the suspects had fled the scen

After 35 arrests in six days for violating a city camping ordinance, a group of Occupy Sacramento protesters marched to City Hall Tuesday to ask City Council members for an exception to the law so they can have 24-hour access to Cesar Chavez Plaza for peaceable demonstration. “This is a fundamental constitutional issue,” said Sacramento resident David Whitfield, speaking on behalf of Occupy Sacramento. “Individuals are exercising their First Amendment rights, and no legislative body can abridge those rights.” Demonstrators representing a wide range of ages and walks of life have gathered for more than six days in Cesar Chavez Plaza at Ninth and L streets to participate in the Occupy Sacr

Posted by GARYA73 Is it illegal to video record an on-duty peace officer?   Dear GARYA73, In the State of California, it is legal to video tape a peace officer, if you are in public and have a legal right to be there. You must not impede the officer in any way while they are in the course of his/her duties. If a crime scene has been established, members of the public may not cross it, even to film. This may lead to contaminating evidence within the crime scene. This happens all the time. Everyone has a camera phone or a video recorder and officers are constantly being scrutinized. The other issue is that people often post their videos on social media networks. I am of the philosophy

Authorities said 20 protesters were arrested at about 12:45 a.m. Friday when they refused to leave Cesar Chavez Plaza, the site of the Occupy Sacramento demonstration. Both police and protesters described the arrests as peaceful. “They went without any problems or issues,” said Sgt. Andrew Pettit, spokesman for the Sacramento Police Department. “They were booked for failure to disperse after a lawful order.” Anthony Bondi, a spokesman for Occupy Sacramento, agreed. “It was completely violence-free,” he said Friday afternoon. “The protesters laid down and chose to be arrested.” Despite what some protesters said they think was an overbearing police presence, Pettit said units involved w

Sacramento city and county were awarded a total of $19.4 million in federal funding grants Wednesday – enough to put 25 police officers and 25 sheriff’s deputies back to work for the next three years. The Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Hiring Program is a competitive grant program through the U.S. Department of Justice that provides funding to state and local law enforcement agencies to hire, rehire, or retain police officers. This year, 2,712 law enforcement agencies requesting more than $2 billion to fund the hiring of 8,999 officers were considered for COPS Hiring Program funding, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Selection for awards was based on an applicant

Despite budget reductions and recent layoffs in the police department, serious crime in Sacramento has dropped 18 percent over the last three years – the second largest decline in California among cities of similar size – according to a report that Sacramento Police Chief Rick Braziel presented to City Council Tuesday. Braziel told council members that the core mission of the Sacramento Police Department hasn’t changed since 2008 when he took charge. The mission, he said, is still “reduce crime, engage the community and provide excellent service.” What has changed, however, is the number of police personnel – 81 sworn officers were laid off in July – and a department budget reduced by $1