Police take 30 hours to respond to 911 call
February 16, 2010 9:28 pm
Jim Mulhall
By KAREN VELIE
On Feb. 11, the owner of K-Jon’s Fine Jewelers called 911 requesting law enforcement’s help with a man who was harassing a female customer. Atascadero Police failed to respond.
Shortly after 10 a.m., a man reeking of alcohol approached the female customer outside the jewelry store. He said he was a felon and he wanted money.
He followed her into the store staying at her side as she moved through the shop.
When he turned his head and looked down at a jewelry case, the terrified customer mouthed to the general manager, Angela Cisneros, “I don’t know him. Help me.” Cisneros went to the back room and asked the store’s owner, Stan Sherwin, for help.
“He kept saying he was with her, ‘this is my girlfriend,’ which was clearly not the case,” Sherwin said. “I asked him to step outside so we could discuss the matter.
“I yelled to my staff to call the police and stepped around the cases to get him out of my store, fully expecting to be in a fight or have a knife or a gun drawn,” Sherwin added.
The man then attempted to reenter the store. Sherwin shoved him out and locked the door.
“They (police dispatchers) wanted to know how bad an emergency it was,” Sherwin said. “Why can’t they just send a unit down?”
K-Jon’s Fine Jewelry store sits approximately one block north of the police department.
“Extremely upset,” Sherwin then called 911 from his cell phone. The 911 call routed to San Luis Obispo Highway Patrol dispatchers who reported the emergency to Atascadero Police dispatchers. The Atascadero Police Department employee then called Sherwin and the two argued over how long it had been since the call for help, Sherwin said.
“Who cares if it takes five minutes as long as they show up,” Sherwin said. “The timeframe doesn’t bother me. It’s that they never arrived.”
After standing for a few minutes at the store window and screaming, “Let me in,” the man gave up and went to the Century 21 office next door. He walked in and began making vulgar comments to the real estate office’s administrative assistant, Christine Chersicla.
“He kept saying ‘you are so fucking beautiful,’” Chersicla said. “He got pretty foul.”
She convinced him to walk outside, where he spotted Sherwin approaching and ran. Sherwin, still on the phone, told the dispatcher the man was running toward the police station and watched as a police car followed him.
Though police detained the man for a short period of time, he was back in front of the jewelry store within 10 minutes, Sherwin said.
“No one on my staff believes we have any police help,” Sherwin said. “We are on an island by ourselves.”
The entire incident was recorded on film by the store’s 13 cameras that record the shop’s daily activities.
Within 30 minutes of owner Stan Sherwin informing Joanne Main of the Chamber of Commerce of the failure to respond, Atascadero Police Chief Jim Mulhall stopped by K-Jon’s Jewelry store, more than 30 hours after the 911 emergency call.
Earlier today, Mulhall assigned Sergeant Robert Molle to investigate Sherwin’s concerns.
“The concerns have been brought to our attention and we are looking into it,” Molle said.
Sherwin also sent letters to members of the city council and the city manager detailing the incident.
“I want a better response next time,” Sherwin said. “There needs to be a full investigation.”
In order to receive federal 911 subsidies, law enforcement agencies are required to respond to 911 calls for assistance.
“My number one concern, when I am running 10 employees, is their safety,” Sherwin added.
Everyones first mistake is to rely solely on the Police. I feel you need to protect yourself with whatever means necessary. Sure dispatchers have to deal with alot of stupid people, but, that is their job and they need to deal with it. Also, it is the PD’s job to protect their citizens, from the video it looks like they for sure needed help. K-Jon is a tax paying part of that community and maybe the double dipping chief should clean this mess up. They screwed up and came off with a lousy attitude. As taxpayers we want customer service, do the job you are being payed for.
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“Everyones first mistake is to rely solely on the Police.” Um, no, Stan didn’t rely solely on the Police; he handled the drunk in a very effective way, got him out of his store without using deadly force, and when the man tried to get back into his store, he simply locked the door. It was the lack of a response by the police that was the problem, period. The dispatcher dropped the ball, the responding officer did not follow through, and the Chief tried to cover the incompetence by his officers, and all of them failed. That is the problem; please explain how you would have handled the situation any differently than Stan did; I think he did the right things, and he kept his cool doing so.
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Well, my take the jails are full of nut cases, no blood was spilled so the cops just chilled, maybe because the victemless crimes have the prisons and jails, oh so over filled. My Cousin was shot in the neck and back twice my cousin would be dead eccept her brother dodged three bullets and clocked the guy with a baseball bat, the police found him following the trail of evidence (blood), a citizens purple heart should be awarded to him, and the rest of us should always protect others and loved ones to the best of our ability, even if it means getting the car started and running,,,,,,!
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OPPORTUNITY MISSED…next week will mark one month since the incident. The response by the Atascadero Police was botched from the very start. The dispatcher could have handled it better…fact…end of story. The ensuing misrepresentations and denials were not only a waste of time but an opportunity to learn and grow, get better at was they do was totally missed by the Atascadero Police Department. I know Stan Sherwin and he requires his staff to study security risks and how to handle them on a regular basis. This was reflected in Stan’s actions with the drunk (getting him out of the store) to protect his staff and customers. If the A.P.D. had rehearsed half as well we wouldn’t be reading this story or the 93 comments. People obviously have strong concerns and opinions about this and should when it comes to response to 911 calls.
The 911 operators do get an overload of calls that are far from an emergency but when the call is coming from a local Jewelry Store they should be able to assume a few things; first the called could have a gun to his/her head and not be able to play 20 questions, then a second call from the jewelry store a block away should be enough to get an immediate call to respond. K-Jon’s practices hard and embraces the opportunity to learn and so should the A.P.D. maybe they should hire Stan as a consultant. Move on and learn a lesson A.P.D.
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After reviewing all of the 81 comments as well as re-reading the article several times, there is only one conclusion tht is supported. This was a batched call. But sadly, it appears to be supported by the Chief as an acceptable businss practice. Rather than acknowledging an error and implimenting change, the Chief is just blowing us off by saying he is looking into the complaint. There is no way to adequately respond to the original call without contacting the people in the jewelry store to determine the type of crime that may have occurred. To get to story from the offender and then drive away is certainly unresponsive to the community needs for a police service. With that attitude, you might as well contract for law enforcement services or disincorporate the city. With money as tight as it is, why waste in on poor service, or in this case, no service at all. Wake up Chief and figure out what needs to be done.
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The officer was there in 3 minutes. He had the suspect detained. The crime was PC415, disturbing the peace, a misdemeanor. A misdemeanor has to be committed in the officers presence to be arrestable unless the victim is willing to do a citizens arrest(sign a complaint). If the witness or victim is willing, the officer is compelled by law to take the suspect into custody. Mr .Sherwin refused to sign a complaint (citizens arrest). There was nothing that the officer could do other than release the suspect. How hard is this to understand? The Chief will gladly throw his officers under the bus if it will make him look better. That has been the basis of his whole career. This exercise is like shouting into space.
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I wouldn’t know about the Chief throwing his people under the bus, but it does look that way in this case. The only problem I have is that you are expecting the citizen to know the difference between a 415 and a 451. If the officer doesn’t get out of the vehicle to investigate by talking to the witnesses , how can he/she determine if or what crime may have been committed? Was this guy drunk? Was he mentally ill and unable to care for his own safety? Was he stalking the woman? Regardless, if the officer fails to investigate, then his performance was certainly less than what the community expects. For the Chief to condone this level of performance is an discusting. Now, how hard is that to understand?
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There is this little thing called the Constitution. I don’t know how to be any more clear about this:”The crime was PC415, Disturbing the Peace, a misdemeanor. A misdemeanor has to be committed in the officers presence to be arrestable unless the victim is willing to do a citizens arrest(sign a complaint). If the witness or victim is willing to sign, the officer is compelled by law to take the suspect into custody. Mr .Sherwin refused to sign a complaint (citizens arrest). There was nothing that the officer could do other than release the suspect.. The officer was out of the car, he had the suspect detained, that means under his control and not free to leave. Mr Sherwin, the ball is in your court. Mr Sherwin needs to sign the complaint. He refuses to sign the complaint. The officer has no choice other than releasing the suspect. You can’t just arrest him because he is mental. He was not drunk. If the public (Mr.Sherwin) is not willing to do what the law requires, then this is the result. The suspect walks.
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This attitude is why you have lost the public trust. It took 30 hours to go see the witnesses at the jewelry store to get all sides of the issue to base an opinion weither to arrest. Good job, detain the suspected offender and have the rude dispatcher call to see if he will make a citizens arrest. That was not service. That was simply blowing them off and going through the motions. Your legal lecture was well received but the investigation could not have been completed without contacting the witnesses. More than a dozen video cameras may have allowed a good investigator to have a better basis to determine what violations may have occurred. Blaming poor police work on the shoulders of a citizen who had not been contacted by an officer is not the level of service that is expected. The Constitution would have been well protected by doing a complete investigation before drawing the conclusion that there was nothing else you could do. The facts appear clear, there was nothing else you wanted to do.
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coyote, I can appreciate your points. What you are missing is the fact that the actions of the offender did rise far above “just” disturbing the peace. Perhaps there was mis-communication between the dispatcher and the responding officer? This call wasn’t investigated, all victims were not given the opportunity to file a formal complaint. In essence, the ball was dropped and the offender (who is clearly dangerous) walked.
Tell me this, what do you think of a guy who walks up to a woman and say’s,
“I’m a ex-felon, I have nothing to lose, give me your money”? What do you think about the fact that he then escorts the woman shoulder to shoulder even placing his head up against her while telling strangers that they are together and he is her boyfriend? The poor woman was frightened to the point of having to silently signal for HELP, do you think he should be on the streets?
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Having thought about this a bit more, the only thing that makes sense is that maybe the “felon” was a valuable informant, and APD really needed to keep him out on the street. Thus, no drunk in pubic charge, no public nuisance charge, the officer talks to the guy and lets him go.
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Good guess but I don’t think so. The police told Stan that the guy is known to suffer from mental illness, I don’t think they can use him as a reliable informant.
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… the guy is known to suffer from mental illness, I don’t think they can use him as a reliable informant. …. Maybe in Atascadero, he is a “great” asset, since they could possibly “mould” his information into what they are looking for? It would explain a lot …
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I did bring that up or maybe just a friend and they needed him to baby sit grandma.
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I do not know about the 911 response time for APD but I do know an officer or two of the APD lacks sensitivity when interacting with domestic violence victims.
A member of my family physically ran into the APD police station asking for help. My family member had an active restraining order against her husband. On this particular day, her husband was following her and trying to use his vehicle as a method of stopping her. Lucky for her she had a safety plan and that was to go to the nearest police station, in this case APD. But to her surprise, he husband followed her into the police station parking lot and got out of his vehicle thus why she ran into the police station. As she was explaining the situation to the officers, a question was asked about having children with her husband. She told the officers no they didn’t but she was pregnant with his child and that he had tried to kill her and her unborn baby. To the disbelief of all of us, one officer suggested to her she terminate her pregnancy. The officer also said the same thing to me while I was sitting in the police station lobby.
This lack of sensitivity is unacceptable. It saddens me to know that someone going through a domestic violence situation is continually victimized … this time it was APD doing the victimizing…. when will it stop?????
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Well GrayGranny welcome to the cop hating crowd.
That is those of us who chose not to stick our heads in the sand (or where the sun don’t shine) and speak out when we see something wrong.
We don’t run with the pack of “same o same o”.
We understand that just because you might speak your mind it doesn’t mean the whole system is bad but that some does need attention.
Sorry to hear about your experiance.
Now I am just waiting for Roger, Coyote et al, to claim that you probably made this up like Sherwin did. Of course what you, Sherwin or anyone else would have to gain from this is beyond me.
Again I am waiting for them to state that anybody that doesn’t agree with them probably has an ax to grind, rather than the reality of the situation.
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You don’t know the reality or the facts for that matter. You want to believe the worst and there is no changing your mind.
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Alright facts. Did the police chief appear on the air this week?
Did he apoloigize on the air for his officers?
Now my question to you mister expert. If there was nothing to this as you state then why would he have done either of the above????
My guess is that you will dodge all the information and not have an open mind that there could be wrong doing. That is all I am doing is keeping an open mind unlike yourself. You are the one who can not and will not think that anything could be amiss.
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Give the wrong somebody a badge and they think they are god, shocking! “One officer suggested to her she terminate her pregnancy. The officer also said the same thing to me while I was sitting in the police station lobby.” what eventually happened no arrest?
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Looks like Sherwin is pretty much the main source of information about this bogus story. What ever happened to real investigative reporting? Did anybody actually check the police reports? I have frequently remarked that when I have been intimately familiar with any situation, and it is reported on in the media, I am astonished at how wrong they get it. I do suppose this sort of stuff serves a purpose by providing a forum for all the law enforcement haters to vent their pent up issues. The only thing worse than this nonsensical “story” is how Mulhall threw his officers under the bus once again to try to cover his a–.
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Response is as predicted from the law enforcement hater forum.Nobody here wants the truth, just more anecdotal bashing.
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The truth of the matter is that somebody caled the cops and nobody came. Thats absolutley unacceptable
As far as the opinion goes well I find it a little telling that the first person to show up after 30 hours was the chief. If he wasnt arriving after firing someone for this well then he needs to be fired.
Coyote, please allow me to quote Henry Chanansky, “I dont hate cops. I just seem to be happier when they arent around.” Im not sure where you get off claiming that peoples expectations and let me add peoples very very low expectations that the police arriving when they are called is cop hating but you got issues larger than this little forum
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No, that is the problem when the reporter doesn’t bother to get the facts. There was an officer there in 3 minutes and he had the suspect stopped out in front on the sidewalk. Mr. Sherwin declined to press charges so they had to let the suspect go since it was a misdemeanor, and it was not committed in the presence of the officer. Now you know the real story.You see, you all were ready to believe the worst that you could about the cops and I doubt that the truth is even going to change your minds about this incident.
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Well, the store owner (who wishes no ill will in his community) has said no one showed up for 30 hours, and I think his cameras prove that. Others have told CCN the cops never showed (30 hours is almost worse than never). So, where do you get your info, without citation or source? You come flying in here with no juice and accuse the site and others of lying with NO facts on your side, just your lame comment about poor reporting. You have every right to spout off but of course no one gives you any credit ’cause you have no credibility.
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See, you are absolutely sold on the bogus story and unwilling to consider that there is another side to this. Well, I tried. BTW what is anybody’s credibility here Mr. Hotdog? Read the police report. Try looking for the truth if you really care or do you just enjoy the sensationalism? My credibility is in the official police report.
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Police reports only represent their side of the story,,,,, er right officer?
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8 Time Felon !? What the heck, I thought we were a 3 Strikes State?
Regardless, the police did fail terribly in this instance. There were 3 victims at the scene, not just Stan. The woman who was originally approached and felt that she had been taken hostage was the real victim. Stan was a secondary victim and it sounds like the woman from Century 21 was also victimized.
After listening to Stan on KVEC yesterday, I have to agree that it was inappropriate for a dispatcher ask him on the phone if he wanted to press charges and based on his NO statement not respond to the scene with the ” perp” in tow. There were other victims to be interviewed. I should think the police would have gone out of their way to put this guy away but they seem to have done the exact opposite and come up with every “EXCUSE” in the book why they couldn’t. It’s clear that they could have taken him off the street and didn’t even try.
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Cindy, the 3 strikes thing is a joke . there are a lot of people that have been in and out of prison SOOOO many times it is crazy, the DA plea’s sooo many things out and will overlook the strike at times if it (the case) can get pled out and they can move on to others…now they are usually only doing 3 strikes case if they have several Violent Felonies. The Voilent offenders should be put away but I think we look past the thiefs that get let go time and time again..and they steal stuff over and over again and dont learn.. usually the violent criminals (not all) victimize specific people but thiefs violate random people’s space and personal property rights time and again and are not punished..If you think people are sent to prison on a Felony you are dead wrong…many times they are convicted of several felonies prior to Prison being mentioned…then there is the issue of good time work time in custody..it used to be 1/2 time in prison for non violent offenders (thiefs, dopers etc.) and 2/3 time in county jail..they are now giving half time for those in county jail also…so when someone gets sentenced to 6 months they only do 3
now yes there are drug offenders in Jail..oh those poor people..never got a chance..please look at all the outs these people have..they get caught with meth lets say…usually they (the DA) will file it as a misd even if it can be filed as a fel..they get diversion or PC 1000. This program makes them go to classes and test for drugs for a year to 18 months..they can really mess up in this program and not get punished that badly…worst thing that can happen to them is they get sent to a diffeerent program..Prop36..this is a little more watchful ..they have to go to court..ususally monthly and have to go to meetings and random testing and are on probation..they can test dirty several times in this program..they say you have 3 strikes..but you really have several more..many times if you have 2 strikes against you and you test dirty again they will not remove you from the program if you go to rehab for a 6mo to a year…you can do Prop 36 twice and sometimes more if your offences are in different counties..(sucessful completion of Prop 36 gets your case dismissed)..if you are charged with a fel..and you fail out of Prop 36 you can still go through Drug Court…and there are all kinds of things that they do there also..anyway..I ask the Moderator not to delete this..I know it doesn’t have much at all to do with the article at hand..but it is truthful and informative..I promise!
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“The shadow” said it best.
“If someone had stepped up to the plate” is probably the solution in a nutshell… if anyone in the shop had charged this… ex-felon … no one would have needed to bother with this little story.
Here is a woman being stalked and rushes in a nearby store for help… and all the shop keeper can do is complain about the police.
I find this lack of courage disturbing.
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when was the last time you pushed an 8 time felon out the door?
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Roger sometimes your hard to read. If your saying that no one at the shop stepped up to the plate and “charged this felon” as in “filed charges against him”, I remind you that the police did not respond to the scene of the crime and give the two woman an opportunity to do so.
As for Stan, he should have been given the opportunity to catch his breath and sit down with an officer and discuss what had occurred before he was asked that question. Stan was a victim and had no idea who or what he had been dealing with. He was given no back ground information, he had no idea if this “nut job” would be out on bail in 24 hours and back at his store victimizing the employees. These are concerns that the police generally answer so that victims can make sound decisions. Mostly it gives the victim an opportunity to gather themselves and their thoughts about what they have just experienced and again, make sound decisions.
After listening to Stan I understand why he is so upset and insisting that the police did not respond. They did not respond to the scene of the crime and interview the witnesses. That is a fact .
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There is no excuse for the APD not to respond to this call immediately and to make timely follow up contact with the victim. This all comes down to a very stupid and unprofessional decision by both the dispatcher and responder officer.
I have had several disturbing contacts with 911 dispatchers in the past several years. I have written 2 letters to the Tribune editor over the years in regards to this issue, that were never published.
On 2 occasions I called 911 CHP dispatchers that have left me with the attitude that I would never call them again.
I tied to report a hit and run accident that I witnessed on the highway, the dispatcher was very dismissive and hung up on me as I was trying to inform her that I had witnessed the accident and had the license number of the hit and run vehicle. I called back a few minuets later in a attempt to give them a description of the driver and the license number and the same dispatcher hung up on me again. later that day, I called a CHP office to inform them of the info I had, I tried to explain to the officer that I tried to give the info to a dispatcher earlier in the day. The officer who took the call gave me lecture about how busy they are and then put me on hold and never came back to take the hit and run info. I didn’t bother to try again. Just one more hit and run driver who got away because the CHP was to LAZY to LISTEN!
The second time I called the CHP was to report a driver going in excess of 100mph while weaving dangerously passing around cars and in and out of all lanes including the center divider and shoulder. Once again I got a CHP dispatcher with a bad attitude who told me to call back if there was an injury accident to report. 2 miles down the road, the driver in question was overturned with the wheels still spinning. I called back and got a different dispatcher who was much more professional. I told her I was calling back to report that the driver who I had tried to report a few minuets earlier was now trapped upside down in his car. Fortunately, he lost control and did not hurt anyone else. I stayed on scene to help the driver who was unconscious. When the officer arrived he asked me if I witnessed the accident, I said no, but I witnessed his reckless driving leading to the accident. He told me to leave anyways. I tried again to tell him what I had witnessed just prior to the accident, he did not want to listen and told me again to leave. As I was walking back to my car to leave a second arriving officer asked me if I had witnessed the accident. I told him what I had tried to report to the first officer and he took my statement. The next day I received a follow call from a CHP investigator who wanted to know more about it.
My point is, why should the witness have to go beyond reasonable effort to report valuable information?
On another occasion I called the Santa Barbara Sheriff to report 5 teenagers getting ready to go boogie boarding in the Sisquoc river when it was in dangerous swift water flood conditions. I tried to talk the kids out of it, but they were on the other side of the river and the bridge crossing was washed out. So I Called the 911 and got the sheriff dispatcher who rudely told me to call back when they got in the water and hung up. I called back and got the same dispatcher, I tied to explain to her how dangerous the conditions were and when they get in the water it will be to late, I even informed that 50ft trees were floating down the river and they needed to stop these kids now. She hung up on me for the 2nd time.
When the first kid got in the water I called back and the same dispatcher told me not to call again unless there is a emergency and hung up for the 3rd time.
To the kids credit they had set up a life safety ring to throw out if needed. One by one they got in the water to ride the waves, and each time the rope tied to the boogie board would break, and each time the kid in the water would catch the life ring and be pulled to the edge to get out. After watching this 3 times, knowing full well it was only time before one of the kids missed the life ring and would be killed in the flood waters. I called 911 for the 4th time.
This time I got a different dispatcher who responded the deputies. Unfortunately, I later found out she sent them to a location 20 miles away. My phone rang and it was a sergeant asking where we were. I told him the exact same location info and he knew where we were and responded.
The sergeant was the first to arrive and he was on my side of the river. When I heard his sirens I ran up to the road to meet him. We walked back to the river and when he saw the flood water conditions he immediately started screaming at the kids who were now preparing to but a toy inflatable raft in the water to stay out. He then advised his deputies who were responding on the other side to double time it and get these kids before it was too late.
The deputies got the kids to safety and the sergeant informed me that he was shocked that these kids were that stupid. I told him the whole story about what happened and how each kid got out of the water. I also told him about my 911 experience and he said he would look into it. He had the kids taken to the station so he could speak to each parent about how lucky their kids were to be alive.
The next day the sergeant called me and informed me that he had reviewed the 911 tapes and asked me if I wanted to file a formal complaint. I told him I would if he thought it was necessary, but it sounds like you have it under control. He told me was going to recommend the dispatcher for disciplinary action and thanked me for getting involved, he further stated that my actions saved those kids lives and he made it known to the parents of each kid.
Although, the dispatcher was an idiot, the sergeant left me with a good impression of the sheriffs department.
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Roger, you are usually pretty level headed and wise. I wonder what happened to you when you wrote this nonsense. The guy DID take action, if he had taken more he would probably have been arrested by the same worthless cops who failed to respond.
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Roger, if only you or I were there, and most people do not possess high degrees in Martial arts and are truley afraid, if only we had been there, I have done this kind of rescue many times in a few different stores, take your pick, you take out the knees and I’ll climb the tree, or vice versa, feel bad you got so many negatives, you are an American with a right to protect others, I have never been convicted of any violence, and I have been in plenty, why? Because like you I am on the right side of the law not behind it, beside it. And only use my training when absolutely nessasary, on the bad guys,
P.S. I trained under Jordan Roth a retired police officer at the YMCA in SLO, and if you don’t think much of him, he trained from Oshima who trained under Funikoshi in Japan, then modified Shotokan Karate to fit the larger American frame, well there you have it, one hell of a good teacher.
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Well, now that we’ve heard from all the law enforcement bashers, let’s take a look at this situation without the emotion. First & foremost, the CHP dispatcher who received the initial call was following protocol by transferring the call to the Atascadero Police Department. CHP has no jursidiction inside city limits.
Secondly, the dispatcher at Atascadero Police Department was following protocol by confirming this was an emergency in progress. To those of you living blissfully ignorant lives, the 911 system has been overloaded with non emergency calls to the point where it is just a convenient way to call law enforcement, irregardless of there being an true emergency. If people were truly intelligent, which we know they are not, they would either one: use a landline to call 911 (even if you have no home phone service you can keep a phone plugged in for emergencies), or two: program in your LOCAL law enforcement phone number in your cell phone. So before you tar & feather this dispatcher, take a walk in her/his shoes first.
Third, the police officers who responded have their hands tied by the law. No one wished to file charges against the parolee. At the time the officers contacted him he was not breaking any laws. If someone involved had stepped up and pressed charges, the subject could have been taken into custody and had his parole violated.
Why didn’t Stan contact the police department immediately and request to speak to the on duty supervisor? Why didn’t he or the woman in question file charges?
No, it’s more fun to bash law enforcement in the news, much easier than taking a little responsibility and putting this lowlife back in prison where he belongs.
Why don’t we ever hear about the successes, when law enforcement arrives on the scene and saves lives? Because happy people don’t call the news to blab about it.
Stan, stop your whining and grow up. Yes, Atascadero Police Department has given you a lot of business over the years. That doesn’t entitle you to a free ride regardless of any discounts you may have offered them. Law enforcement employees are underpaid for the jobs they do, officers & dispatchers alike, and their job is stressful. Imagine 7 hours of pure boredom interrupted by an hour of incredible danger and stress. Your day is going along smoothly, then some jerk starts shooting at you. Most civilians could not imagine this, let alone handle it.
So all of you children out there making your comments without any facts, knock it off and go back to your I-Pods …
Hot debate. What do you think?
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Great post..Dispatchers do A LOT…they have to deal with people that are idots and call 9-1-1 and the first word out of the people’s mouth is …I dont have an emergency but….people dont realize how busy a dispatcher can get even at 10am..maybe a qyestion would be…what else was going on in the town? before you get your torches ands pitch forks and ropes for your hanging…
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To theshadow:
Stan has a right to expect resonable responce to the call. What you are saying is that the police have a crystal ball and they knew that noboby had a weapon or that the man would not attack anyone, by the way the Highway Patrol does have jurisidiction in the city limits–its their policy that dictates their actions and responces.
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They have jurisidiction for the entire state…that does not mean they are go to do anything they want in any city…the CHP does not have control over cities like Atas and PR they deal with traffic incidents in unicorporated areas and HIGHWAYS
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Ok. So here we hear the dispatcher is busy arguement AGAIN. Alright fine. So she finally gets it through her thick skull and dispatches the unit. Now answer the question, why thirty hours to respond after the call? Is Atascadero P.D. that busy? I didn’t see anything in the Trib in the last week to lead me to believe that they have had some kind of crime wave going on that it would take 30 HOURS!!! 20 to 30 minutes fine. 30 hours????? You have got to be kidding.
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So yes, LEO do a very difficult job, dispatchers are incredibly overworked, both are unappreciated, and the general public are dumb as rocks, but I am still very puzzled by what happened. Since when does a citizen have to file charges for a drunk in public arrest? Isn’t that up to the arresting officer? Did the office who made contact determine that this guy was NOT drunk? If that is the case, the guy was clearly nor right in the head and seemed to present danger to self or others, another case in which a citizen does not need to press charges. And I know when I made my 911 call, I was not thinking about pressing charges, I just wanted my neighbor to stop running into my fence, and because he was such a volatile wack job, I didn’t want to confront him myself. In fact, they did not even ASK me about pressing charges during the dispatch or after the contact. So, I still don’t understand why 1) no one showed up at KJons to find out what had been going on and 2) why they let the guy go.
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theshadow ideed! You hide in the shadows and throw out pro Police statements at the risk of your own credibility. If the Police detained this person just a few blocks from the store then why didn’t they bring him up to K-Jon’s to be identified. If they had followed this traditional form of identification both the woman he accosted ourside of K-Jon’s, the receptionist at Century 21 R.E. and Stan could have and would have identified him and filed charges. But that is not how it was handled! If they even detained the right person only they know.
Walk across the hall and ask your friend and boss the cheif for a copy of the press release he issued yesterday where he states “officers did not go to K-Jon’s” it is well hidden (like your true agenda) somewhere near the end of the first few paragraphs. Fact none of the parties were offered the opportuity to file charges against this person you describe as a lowlife that belongs back in prison.
Fact no officer showed up to file a report for 5 1/2 days.
Quit diverting peoples attention away from the true facts and that is that the Atascadero Police Department in this incident showed a total lack of concern for the safety and welfare of it’s citizens.
No one is saying this is a regular everyday attitude even though many people could draw that conclusion for themselves.
Let’s all focus more on a positive, proactive plan moving forward that addresses the problems that occured here and helps to restore the merchants and citizens of Atascadero faith in their Police department.
Let’s all stop turning this into a love Police Officers/Hate Cops forum there is nothing positive to be gained by it. Move forward APD and admit a mistake and demonstrate a plan to assure better response and less abuse of the overloaded 911 system.
Finally if theshadow would step back from his laptop and get back out there on patrol with the rest of his fellow officers the citizens of Atascadero would have one more active policman out there protecting us.
Chill, calm down,……have a doughnut…..hell have two.
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If I didn’t know any better by reading this post, I would say “theshadow and rogerfreberg” are one in the same person. Lots of talk, nothing ever accomplished
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I never had any thoughts about law enforcement one way or another until I had the opportunity to spend time observing a police dispatcher. My thoughts then changed. I could never, and I mean never, handle the telephone traffic (or counter traffice) that they get. People who think that extraterrestrials are in their front yard, people with complaints over barking dogs and kids on skateboards, leaving no time for real emergencies like fires and car accidents and choking children. So before anyone gets on their high horse about the PD (who I have personally had to call twice and the response was timely), just walk half a mile in their shoes. Ask if its possible to sit with a dispatcher or do a ride along with an officer. You may change your mind. And I dont know if KJons expected all this publicity, but its too bad. I will take my minimal jewelery business elsewhere. Oh, and the donut jokes are a little too immature.
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Well I’m for one going to get on my high horse and stay there.
First I for one understand calls about barking dogs and other misc. calls. A call of someone possibly trying to kidnap or force a woman against her will is not an average call!!!
Second I pay my taxes which in turn pay their salary. Hence we the PEOPLE do have a say in this.
Last. KJons tries to help a woman that might be the victim of a crime and you want to take your business elsewhere because of that? Talk about immature. If I owned KJons I wouldn’t want someone like yourself that sounds like they have no problem with crime, coming into my business.
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A funny cop that I know once said after…I pay your salary…he responded…here is your quarter back…hey do we forget cops pay taxes also..and a little joking here now..since they get paid way too much they probably get taxed more than you do..
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FORREAL, Did you think I was joking when I posted and said that what was going on at 10 O’Clock in the morning in Atascadero was DONUTS?? OH no no no no my dear Sir, I wasn’t joking at all. I frequently see the APD at the AM/PM market on San Anselmo around 10AM in the morning buying (actually I have never seen them buying , I think it’s on the house) donuts and coffee. No one resents the fact that cops and donuts seem to go together and no one would want to deprive the guy’s of their donuts either.
The fact is that one has to wonder what the dispatcher was trying to determine when she asked how important the emergency was? More important than what else?
Funny that you said you would take your minimal business elsewhere, because I was thinking the exact opposite.
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You have a lot of nerve complaining about KJons! They are not responsible for this mess. Far as I can tell the owner deserves a medal. What planet are you from?
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I, along with K-Jon’s owner Stan Sherwin, will be on the Dave Congalton KVEC radio show at 3:45 p.m. to discuss this issue. Turn your radio to 920 AM or listen live at http://www.920kvec.com.
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Interesting comments about APD problems with response. A few years ago I had a problem with a drunk driving neighbor who was repeatedly missing his driveway and running into my fence instead. A call to APD brought them in minutes — and it wasn’t because I had called him in as DUI. I didn’t know that, I thought he was just mad as us for some reason as the guy has a really volatile temper. They talked to him, determined he was drunk, and busted him. And it was on a Friday night, when I presume they might be pretty busy? Maybe they just have a bad dispatcher now….
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According to KSBY, Chief Mulhall say’s that Stan was asked by the dispatcher if he wanted to press charges and he (Stan) said “NO”!!!
If that’s true then that changes everything. The police would have had no reason to go over to K-Jon’s if they were informed that the complaintant didn’t wish to pursue any charges. There would have been no reason to take a report and the officer who temporarily detained the offender would have had to release him. If Mulhall is correct about his statement then I don’t see what more could have been expected from the APD. They did respond to the incident and although I know that Mulghall is incorrect when he say’s it was in 3 minutes, they still did respond, the timing was reasonable enough to apprehend or in this case detain the offender.
So Stan, if you said you didn’t want to pursue charges, then you have nothing to complain about.
Is Mulhall correct in his statement?
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It doesn’t matter if Stan wanted to press charges at the moment the police talked to him on the phone, they should have gone to his location to take a statement so they could make out a report; they failed to do that, and that is the crux of the problem with this situation. After the police took Stan’s statement and explained to him what would or would not happen if he pressed charges, Stan would have been able to make a better informed decision at that time, but he was not given that chance.
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I wrote my post prior to listening to Stan on KVEC yesterday. After listening to him I understand why he is so upset. I agree that the police should have gone to his store with the felon and taken a report and spoke to everyone, The officer should have then explained what could be done about this guy. Also the police didn’t bother to ask the woman who had been accosted if she wanted to press any charges. The police clearly messed up.
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I don’t think Stan made up with Police Chief Mulhall
Here’s what he and a few others are saying at KSBY today.
Stan at Feb 18th 2010 12:14 PM
The Chief of Police keeps insisting that the “Police” showed up at the scene witnin THREE minutes. Now, either the Chief of Police is lying or he is accusing me of lying. I stand by my statement thst the Police NEVER showed up for at least 28 hours at the scene of the assault and altercation which was at K-Jon’s Fine Jewelers. I gave a SIGNED statement and video evidence and can prove this, to the City Manager, the Mayor and all the City Councilman and the the Chief of Police. Stan Sherwin, owner of K-Jon’s Fine JewelersYou’re Surprised? at Feb 18th 2010 11:39 AM
Casey at Feb 18th 2010 12:51 AM
So interesting… Last Tuesday night my neighbor called the police to report that a dog owned by a man who lives across the street had ATTACKED her son in law and was still loose in the neighborhood, after the dispatcher argued with her for five minute she stated that officers would come. Well, 30 minute later, one cruiser showed up and this dog proceeded to attempt to ATTACK the officer whom had to shoot it with a bean bag rifle to avoid injury. This extremely dangerous animal (who has bitten children and adults in the past) was NEVER recovered. The police NEVER made contact with the reporting party (my neighbor) to take a report of the attack. I followed up the next night to find out why. I was told that a mistake was made (most of which was attributed to the fact that the extremely rude dispatcher never relayed the correct info to the field officers…) and that an officer would be there at 730 that night to take a report from my neighbor regarding the dog attack. They never showed. Ever. After seeing this article tonight, I feel like the only way to avoid this type of dangerous situation is for the community to DEMAND that the police department follow their own policies and STOP blowing off citizens. Someone is going to get injured or possibly killed if this trend continues….
This next post is that plain comical. enjoy……
I called the police one night and told them I had a strange guy come to my door late at night. I sat and waited for nearly a half hour. So I finally called back and informed the dispatcher that the man was still driving back and forth in front of my house and that I will not hesitate to take my shotgun out, shove it in his face, and blow his brains out if he attempts to enter my house and harm my family. Magically 2 of these lazy and incompetent lumps show up in less than 3 minutes with lights blazing. One of the lard butt badge carriers tried to get on me for saying what I did to the dispatcher. I had to inform him if he would have done his job and been there in a reasonable time then my 2nd call would not have been necessary. I absolutely despise the fat toads and the young arrogant morons that the City of Atascadero police dept employ.
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I watched the local TV coverage on this last night. It looks like the Chief and Sherwin have kissed and made up. This is typical of local retailers. They don’t want to make any waves, nor does the Chamber. The chief, wearing a casual plaid shirt looked real professional while being videoed. Maybe its time for his boss, Wade McKinney, to talk to him about proper attire.
As with the gun incident cover-up – the Paso Robles Chief’s gun was stolen from her unlocked car, found in the hands of a felon in Atascadero by the PD doing search of a suspicious vehicle, the felon is released, the gun confiscated and quietly returned to the chief etc etc.
These incidents make the Atascadero PD look like a bunch of Keystone Cops.
Bottom line – There was no excuse for not responding. The man is drunk ,in public, at 10:00 am, threatening the public, one block from the police station.
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TruthHurts say’s : “oh wait this is a cop hating website…”
Truth, do you think it’s possible that local law enforcement could have contributed, as in did the things that CCN investigates and informs us of? Too bad that you think honest reporting is a hate genre. I read CCN and I appreciate them. I haven’t seen where they have ever reported a story that wasn’t fully investigated and in the end it has always turned out to be the truth.
As for me attending the 6 month academy and becoming a police officer rather than complain about the PD, no thanks, I have my education. I did not ask to serve the public, the guys with the badges asked for that job and we all expect them to do that job without all the BS that the public has been putting with.
Regarding this incident, the responding officer did not follow up with the reporting party, even though it’s standard to make contact with the complainant, the officer did not inquire as to the facts or take a report and consequently failed to remove a dangerous predator from our streets. Seems something similar recently occurred with a brazen gun thief from Paso Robles who was encountered here in Atascadero by our LE. This is not about cop hating, this is about expecting the LE to live up to their sworn oaths of law, order, integrity and respect for the public that they serve.
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Unfortunately, there is a simple solution for future calls to 911. If you want the cops out there fast, tell the 911 operator the person has a gun, give the address, and then hang up. Period. Don’t give the dolt answering the call time to hit you with 20 questions. A unit will always respond to that type of call.
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No Thanks, I don’t need 7 cops in my front c and back yard with their guns drawn running around in a frenzy all screaming 6 six orders. Not that I would blame them.
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Me either, they could come and screw up. Seems the women this drunk encountered could have armed themselves and joined forces waiting for the offender to come out side, then without hesitation and plenty of insurance, bam!, the throttle on the old car stuck. Then they would of had twenty-nine hours to get to Mexico, ah senoritas, margaritas? Some cheap body work on the front of your car?, here let me get the hose, and wash this, yuk, what the ,,,?
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Oh oh Truth hurts, let’s not split hairs over the particular wording in the title. Or we could, and then accordingly we will also split hairs over all the misleading statements made by police officers and their agencies. I don’t think you really want to go down that road, now do you?The officer never made contact with the business owner who made the call, that is the point. Also you stated, “maybe the cops should have arrested the guy..but if they dont have real grounds they cant and shouldn’t.” Well that’s refreshing, let’s see you stand by that principal every time. Unfortunately law enforcement generally spouts whatever principle suits them at the particular moment.
Mr Freberg I agree with you again. People shouldn’t be waiting for big daddy government to protect them. But I think that in order to make your point we need to see a lot more issues like this that demonstrate WHY self reliance and individual responsibility are ultimately more successful than dependence upon government. The principal of self reliance is not just a moral issue, it is one of efficacy. Government mandated protection and equality are paradoxes. So, with that said, it’s good to see media reporting on these stories and making a big stink.
Finally, fire the dispatcher. I’m increasingly ticked off by the attitude of public employees and the total lack of accountability.
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I am sorry you have had a bad experience with Law Enforcement..I have a lot of experience with cops and think most are good people that just want to get their job done and go home..some are jerks..no questions about that..but why? People do stupid things…and cops have to deal with it..most people are good upstanding tax paying people that dont deserved to get teated badly…and people talk about cops getting paid too much…by no means (except Bolts and Hedges) do cops make it rich…they get paid well..but dont you want those people to get paid well?? they deal with drugs, money, and other things that can be greatly abused..I am not saying that cops dont abuse it but there are a lot more opportunities than you know of..these people carry guns and are tasked with a responsibility that you can’t comprehend unless you walk in their shoes…and websites like this where there is no (or very little) good things said about cops …no wonder the are not thrilled to see us citizens..are they supposed to be a ball of happiness when they are hated? but I want the people running towards a “man with a gun call” at a school to go in there well paid and not giving a 2nd thought to doing their job if they were only making 30K a year…you know?
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Your “man with a gun call” at a school hit a nerve with me.
1999 Colorado, Colombine, Swat would not go into the school in fear of being hit!! This is a fact! Read about it months after it happened. If we can’t even send in S.W.A.T. because they fear they may be hit or for their life, this doesn’t bode well in general. I would have to assume that the guys working that at the time where paid fairly well.
Not trying to pick on cops, I am aware there are many good ones (I know a few in different agencies myself) but we need to get a HANDLE on this. The recent Readers Digest issue has a good article about cops etc. in this months issue. I suggest any and all to give it a read.
It relates well to a lot of the problems we have seen going on in local LE in this county in the last couple years.
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actually…in CO..they waited outside mostly because that is what trainging tought them to do!!!set up outside and wait.. Now they have hours and hours of teaching on “active Shooter” type incidents where the goal is to get there and quickly take care of the threat with just a couple of officers..all of the cops in this county are trained in the same way by the same people so anyone from any agency can repond and still be on the same page..LE is everchanging and the try to learn from incidents like that…and they have…why dont you ask a cop about active shooter training?
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It’s obvious that your sole purpose in writing is the offer a general “Cops are Good” b.s. I bet you have a cop in the family. We used to and he was an out of control prick…….this cop could have been wonderful but wait we don’t know which cop we are talking about because he never showed up. So it’s not a matter of are cops good or bad as peple. It’s a matter of finding out why no one showed up and now apparently they are lying to cover up their lack of action as a Police Department..LET’S TRY TO STAY ON THE POINT THE 28 HOUR RESPONCE TIME. THE DISPATCHER THAT ARGUED RATHER THAN DISPATCH. THESE ARE THE ISSUES. Not
whether cops are good or bad.
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Did I not say some are Jerks?..most of the guys are good people…I bet you have a cop in the family..is that a bad thing …actually I do..and beleive it or not…could I be a cop?…just maybe…maybe I should be restricted from making comments due to my job…no I am not posting this at work…yes I think dirty cops should be fired in a heartbeat and i will not stick up for them..people especially adults dont like being told what to do and dont like cops because they (the cops) can arrest people if they do something wrong..sorry in Law enforcement the customer is not always right…picture it…”you are under arrest..” “dont arrest me..please..” “ok”…that doesnt work out that way…Law Enforcement needs to provide a type of service but they dont always do everything they could..good thing this reminds them huh?? OK…I want an article written because my waitress last night didn’t refill my drink after she brought us our food…SHE SHOULD BE FIRED!! a little extreme? or just asked to get a refill next time she goes to the kitchen..
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Truth I appreciate your tempered response. I find that at this point, many who feel differently about cops than I do, simply fly off into a tirade. Here is the thing… First, understand that I come from a perspective that a free market can supply for all needs, including security, and that much of what we fear is an indirect product of a legal system not intended for the prosecution of only true crimes (“natural law”).
With that said, I am a reasonable person and seek compromise. However, I feel that law enforcement has for many years become as big of a problem as they are a solution. For one, they create a dependence on the part of the public that may not be reasonable. Secondly, you should check your figures because in fact MANY police officers make a great deal of money, particularly when you include overtime. Finally, law enforcement rhetoric has become so self-aggrandizing it’s ridiculous, particularly since the facts (death and injury statistics) do not bear out their claims of risking their lives every day for the benefit of others. It is more dangerous to serve your fellow man slurpies at 3am.
The other day I met an LAPD officer on the Amtrak and talked to him the whole ride north. This guy made about half of what SLOPD makes, and has to work his butt off dealing with a lot of issues I certainly wouldn’t want to deal with. But he had no complaints, he loved his job and wouldn’t trade it even though he routinely met people from other agencies (e.g. Orange County Sheriffs) that had much easier jobs and made a great deal more money. This guy was a credit to the profession.
By the way, you’re right, 30k a year would not get the kind of person I would want for that job, but 60 sure should, and here in town most of them are well past $100k and I have a real problem with that.
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Once again you seem more like a Police mouthpiece than a concerned citizen. The issue is not and shouldn’t be; are the Police good or bad people. Policemen and women do face a tough job with little gratitude from most people, ok, that being said they are just people and therefor some bad people do get into the job. Truth us they have some really wonderful people that are police officers and there are some bufoons, and an occasional sicko. But that isn’t the issue Stan Sherwin and the brave reporter that brought this issue to the surface.
The real issue is that an incident occured where the Police departmet dropped the ball on what could have been a very dangerous situation.This inaction and the actions of the department after the incident show a total lack of concern for the safety of the citizens and businesses in Atascadero.” Let’s keep on the point this should not be a forum for Police hate or defence so let’s talk about the problem and maybe future changes to insure that it doesn’t occur again.
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This title is MISLEADING!! The cops showed up..it says that the man was detained for a short time…in case you didnt read that part…IT TOOK 30 HOURS FOR THE CHIEF TO SHOW UP..not for the cops to show up…let me tell you a little about Law Enforcement in this county…Atascadero PD probably has only 3-4 officers there if that durning the day…if they are dealing with other calls and the dispatcher was trying to figure out if she needed to break an officer from a call that they were at to go to this call..maybe the cops should have arrested the guy..but if they dont have real grounds they cant and shouldn’t ..last time I checked..drunk in public is:
any person..Who is found in any public place under the influence of
intoxicating liquor, any drug, controlled substance, toluene, or any
combination of any intoxicating liquor, drug, controlled substance,
or toluene, in a condition that he or she is unable to exercise care
for his or her own safety or the safety of others, or by reason of
his or her being under the influence of intoxicating liquor, any
drug, controlled substance, toluene, or any combination of any
intoxicating liquor, drug, or toluene, interferes with or obstructs
or prevents the free use of any street, sidewalk, or other public
way….was he falling down drunk or just smelled like booze…did he block a side walk..nope? then you cant arrest..
Ok lets talk about the Sheriff’s Dept. they respond with great timing all things considered..did you know most nights there is only 3 graveyard cars out after 2am..not per station..but ONE per station!!..one car from monterey co to the Grade…one from Avila to ragged point and one car for everything south of Avila..!! bet you didnt know that fun fact!
If you dont like what the cops are doing …go through the training and become one and change it..nothing stopping you…well..maybe..
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Who do you think you’re kidding? The police officer did not respond to the complainants or victim. If he had, he would have had plenty of grounds to make an arrest. The last time I looked it is a crime to inform a defenseless citizen that you are a felon, have nothing to lose and want them to give you their money (that is a threat). It is equally a crime to then take control of that person as in holding their arm and walking with them while attempting to deceive on lookers into assuming that you and your hostage are together. The actions of the victim clearly indicate that she did not feel free to express herself or break away from the presence of her captor. The police did not respond appropriately but rather carelessly allowed a dangerous individual the opportunity to continue about his illegal and dangerous behavior, unchecked.
I am not interested in hearing you tell us about how short staffed all the local PD’s are. I know of at least three LEO that have been on paid administrative for months. Two for smuggling at the boarder and one for shaking down the Catholic Church while claiming that he is constantly anxious and distraught as his damages. There is also a paid Sheriff that doesn’t go to work because he will be retiring, so that makes 4. I’m sure there are more.
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Iam not kidding any one…can you read? here it is again…
She convinced him to walk outside, where he spotted Sherwin approaching and ran. Sherwin, still on the phone, told the dispatcher the man was running toward the police station and watched as a police car followed him.
Though police detained the man for a short period of time, he was back in front of the jewelry store within 10 minutes, Sherwin said.
and if it were you that got busted crossing over the border wouldn’t you want to have a fair trial and have it investigated completely…major crime trials take serveral months if not years to complete..Adam Fairbairn was convicted in 2008 and he committed his crime in 2006…oh..wait..the constitution does not apply to cops..also if they fired them without investigating them all the way..thinnk of the wrongful termination lawsuit? If they did it and it was drugs..fire their ass..dont get me wrong….
and how many cops one the road is important for response times..
oh wait this is a cop hating website…I am sorry…pigs!..that should get me some thumbs up
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“wouldn’t you want to have a fair trial and have it investigated completely…major crime trials take serveral months if not years to complete.”
Oh yes I do certainly agree, I would love to sit home on a fully paid vacation for months or even years on my employers dime. The difference is that I wouldn’t get myself into something like that to begin with and if I did, my employer wouldn’t stand for it and would terminate me on the spot for suspicion and offer to hire me back when I was found innocent. Only paid gov has the privilege of sucking their employers dry if they are complicit enough to be accused of committing a crime.
“oh..wait..the constitution does not apply to cops.” That’s a joke considering the cops are the first ones to use the “probable cause” excuse to violate everyone’s constitutional rights on a daily basis. The fact is that the constitution says that your are entitled to a fair and speedy trial, it doesn’t say that you can milk the public or your employer dry while waiting for one. Like I said, only the cops have that privilege.
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if the cops have probable cause..they are not violating the constitution..it is the ones that do no have it and still act violate it!
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Not true…..the dispather failed to respond to the call. KJon’s has video of the entire incident.so if you and it’s too bad that none of the “LOCAL” television stations should get and at least look at and possibly air to show exactly what happened. Once again you and Mark take us away from the issue. Let’s not turn this into a forum for arguing the virtue of Police in general. They do have a tough job but as a 60+ tax paying citizen who has never had any criminal activity I have grown to fear the Police and that’s not right.
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Bigric. You say you have grown to fear the police? Yet you don’t want to discuss good or bad. Well with that they have already won. They have instilled fear to the point that we shouldn’t even discuss it? This is relavant to what the article is.
There has been much police dissussion here (CCN) in last year with many incidents happening in our local area.
If we just keep buring our heads in the sand and saying we shouldn’t have a dissussion on it, then when do we???? When we become a police state??
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Truth you hit a nerve with the cop hating website crap, and “PIGS” that is out like the “N” word dumb and dumber, don’t demote, promote. And your posts should not have so many typos when you write,”Can’t you read”. Truth Hurtle-ling into abandonment.
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Don’t forget to include the female officer in Morro Bay who was fired last fall after less than one year on the job. The city declined to say why she was fired, just for ”behavior unbecoming” an officer or ”misconduct.”
I’ve since learned that she was hanging out with a bunch of local meth head losers and snorting and screwing her brains out.
But the city is prevented from divulging why someone like this gets canned. The LE lobby years ago got the Peace Officer’s Bill of Rights passed and that’s why official reports on misconduct and the like on these bad cops are never divulged to the media, or the taxpayers that pay all the bills.
Something’s wrong there.
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Oh great call the sherriff they will get 4 200 lb. men to sit on him after he is cuffed and put facedown. That would have really helped the situation. If you look to the Press release from the Cheif yesterday he says “Officers did not go to the scene at K-Jon’s”
You should read the whole thing I’m sure you just have to walk accros the hall to get a copy from your boss the Cheif.
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This is outrageous! A 30 hour response time for a Jewelry Store 1 block from the PD 3 days before Valentines. Why is this dispatcher still working? It is an outrage that she would ask how big a problem it was at a time like this. The Atascadero PD is familiar with K-Jon’s, many of their staff are customers and they always bring their new police dogs in so that they are familiar with the store should they need to enter in responce to an alarm.. Perhaps they should have sent a dog. I’m sure it could have handled the situation better than the dispatcher did.
I know K-jon’s trains their staff in how to handle emercency situations, expecially those that could involve the safety of the staff and customers. This was clearly demonstrated by Mr. Sherwin and Angela Cisneros. Mr. Sherwin took the problem outside the store and away from his employees and customers. One would assume that the Atascadero Police also practices for emergencies. When I have seen them actually working it’s usually somehting like someone holding up the line at Sunshine donuts or a Junior High student riding a skateboard on the sidewalk.
If I owned a business in Atascadero and I had an emergency I would call Stan….they train..
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it took the chief 30 hours to talk to the owner..the cops showed up..
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True it took the cheif 30 hours to show up but an officer as in responding to a call never showed up. Period end of story. The officer that supposedly detained and spoke with this intogicated felon should have driven him up to K-Jon’s and asked Stan and the woman that was struck and followed as well as the receptionist at the Real Estate office next door to look at him and positively identify him, then we would not been here arguing the virtue of the Police instead of looking closely at the problem and fixing it.
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Well at least Jo-Anne Main did the right thing and got a response, good job Jo-Anne.
For the most part I think we have excellent police in Atascadero and they generally have a quick response time. I called them when I saw a prowler at my neighbors and they were there in 4 minutes.
It’s my guess that this incident was one of those “flooks” that happens occasionally. The dispatcher definitely leaves much to be desired and IMO showed very poor judgment, training and professionalism. Now if the responding officer was a guy named Benedetti Jr, then that explains everything. If that knee jerk, self important, ***-** ever responds to a call, I recommend that you tell him that you want to talk to someone else. Don’t ever count on him to sort anything out or employ any semblance of reasonable deduction. Even if there are other LE respondents recommending how to handle the situation, Benedetti will take the most unreasonable and dramatic action, all on his own. He is a menace on the streets and needs counseling, IMO.
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I can’t help but believe that if Stan had called 911 and said there was an intoxicated patron in his store and was about to get in his car and drive, the APD would have come running out of the station on foot if necessary, to arrest the guy.
A DUI brings in lot’s of revenue and continued government subsidies. No questions about how important that call would have been.
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It’s a fact that citizens do need to take responsibility for their own defense. The police rarely are in the right place at the right time to intercede. They are respondents, after the fact. Business owners, particularly a jewelry store owner should have a weapon available. Woman should carry pepper spray. One would think that they should be safe at 10 O’Clock in the morning on Main Street in A-Town and for the most part we all are, except for those rare occasions when we aren’t.
I find this story disturbing for too many reasons to count. The behavior of the anti-social individual who literally took the customer hostage was desperate and dangerous. When someone does something like that to a woman on the street it’s only a prelude to the next step. No doubt if she hadn’t been able to back herself into K-Jons that he might have escorted her to her car. This guy should not have been allowed to continue preying on woman up and down A-Town.
Stan – I know what you mean about not knowing if you were about to get into a full blown physical confrontation, or have a knife or gun pulled on you. Hey we aren’t getting any younger either. Good job, too bad there wasn’t any resolution but at least the woman are safe, for now.
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Okay, I do understand the concern… but you know how it is, the city has to save money for open space, city cars and expense accounts and reducing city police is a simple matter. Ssssh… but in the ‘big city’ of San Luis Obispo, often there are only 4 on duty at anytime.
Then there is the other matter… ‘help me! help me! save me save mEEEee!’ Let’s see there was the boss and 10 guys/gals and they couldn’t take out some drunk???? Oh yes, I do understand that he was armed with toxic liquor breath.
Then there is why no one had a carry & conceal permit? Sometimes all it takes is having it there…
Oh well…. I guess some folks still hanker to the tune Roosevelt sang as his great campaign slogan,” let the government take care of you!’ But times are again a changing… Time to take care of yourself, your family, your friends and your customers…. don’t wait for others.
Roger Freberg
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Taking the guy on? This isn’t a bar or a pawn shop. Sometimes all it takes is to show a gun? Sorry but my weapons training (U.S.M.C.) stressed never to pull out display or especially aim a weapon unless you are ready to use. If Stan had taken the guy on he would have offended a store full of customers and made an ugle experience and even nastier one. A customer that went through that would never come back.
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Cops! I once called in a low grade emergency (personal threat) to cops in Bakersfield, at 4 pm. They showed up at 4 am (12 hours later) banging on the door. Four of them to respond to a simple call just to take a report, at 4 am. Lame bastards. When I complained I was warned to shut up.
I thought that was just Valley gack, typical of the area. I guess I was wrong, seems like every cop agency in this county is just as bad one way or the other.
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I am informed our south county cops have not suffered the scandals of others so I do not include them in my comments about ‘every cop agency in this county’. Seems like from SLO through Paso and the Sheriff we have issues that need attention.
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Guess you should have wasted the dude.12 gauge with 00 shot would work.
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Should of called and told them there were minors smoking in the store.The SWAT team would of been there in a flash.
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This is ridiculous. What is wrong with this police department. Went from a lecherous police chief to one who is just incompetent. Despite the problems the Sherriffs’ Dept has had, I must say I got a 15 minute response time in Templeton when I reported kids kicking a cat.
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Great, so the idiot ATPD don’t show up to a jewelery store disturbance. Sounds like a good place to commit a crime said the thieves. What the hell is going on with this! Worthless pigs!
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I forgot the best part. When the employee initially calls 911 and tells the dispatcher they need help over at the Jewelry store, the dispatcher asks “how big of an emergency is it”? It was 10AM in the morning ,in Atascadero. What happens in Atascadero at 10:AM in the morning? I’ll tell you what happens, DONUTS, that’s what HAPPENS. I see them at the AM/PM around 10 O’clock in the morning getting their donuts and coffee.
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What the ??? Let me get this straight.
A local merchant comes to the aide of a customer who has just been threatened, extorted and been taken possession of by a criminal.
He instructs his employee to call 911while he assists the victim.
The criminal gives him a difficult time but he finally gets him out of the store only to find that now merchant next door is in trouble and she is alone.
The police station is only 1/2 a block away and the merchant is expecting them any second but he can’t wait and so he goes next door to protect his neighboring shop owner.
He then manages to get everyone into his store and locks the door while the criminal bangs on the window.
He calls 911 again and reaches the CHP who in turn contact the dispatcher at the ADP.
The dispatcher at the ADP doesn’t think that this guy must really need help since he called again and doesn’t think to get on the HORN to the officer who is supposed to be en-route and let him know that he needs to step on it.
NOPE she doesn’t think that.
She calls the victim back and asks him if he called 911 again. OF COURSE HE CALLED 911 AGAIN, THE CHP JUST TOLD HER THAT HE CALLED 911.
Then she takes the time to argue with him about how long it was since his first phone call.
Now If I have this right, that dispatcher is a menace and needs a different job.
I’m not done yet.
The police finally show up and spot the criminal down the road a bit between the business and the police station.
The criminal has (in the last 15 minutes) told a woman he was a felon and told her to give him her money. He then took her arm and stayed with her where ever she went. He then refused to leave a local establishment and had to be put out only to try and return and then bang on windows. He also approached a woman who was in a compromising situation and told her that he wanted to fuck her.
10 minutes after the police arrived (across the street) the criminal was back in front of establishment where it all started.
Way to go Atascadero P.D. You didn’t do a single thing right. I hope your embarrassed, you should be. I also think we pay you too much.
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Also , lucky there was no physical harm here , sociological maybe a different story .
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Nancy, like Frietas, maybe they new him, Gearhart’s long lost cousin? Sometimes people get a walk, something just doesn’t ad up here, like lousy police work in the middle of all the negative police publicity, CCN gives them shit, so they go find more to roll in? Seems like the Simson’s cop again,”nice work boys,let’s get back to the station,” animated officer,”We are at the station.” Maybe the cops aught to tighten up the ship.
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Good to see Atascadero PD doing such a fine job. The chief, dispatcher and whom ever was on duty, in charge should be held responsible. There is no excuse for this type of behavior.
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HEY HEY HEY, NOW. Before anybody starts picking on Atascadero P.D. lets give them the benifit of the doubt.
One. They could have been way down at Adobe Plaze at Sunshine Donuts and couldn’t be bothered. Or worse further down the street at D.K. Donuts.
Two. They wanted to call SLO P.D. like they did when they busted down the Laundry mat window this past summer but maybe SLO P.D. was busy holding peoples eyelids open to pepper spray.
They could have called Paso P.D. but the Police Chief was probably still looking for her gun.
They did call the CHP but they handed it off. Probably to make sure their Capt. didn’t have to drive there in case he was drinking.
So I mean comon people what do you think we pay these guys for?
(Note Sarcasm intended)
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Nothing like a dispatcher with an attitude. She was probably getting paid double time too because it was a holiday. What’s worse is when someone calls them in a panic wanting them to send an ambulance and they want all this information and the more upset the caller becomes (while trying to answer the questions in between asking if they have sent the ambulance yet) the more obtuse the dispatcher becomes by telling the person to calm down ……..and they still haven’t dispatched the ambulance !!
With that said, the police probably didn’t think they needed to stop by to see Sherwin because they had already talked to the dangerous guy with the mental illness. That guy should have been arrested or at least gone in for 72 hours observation. He had already attempted to extort a woman and make sexual advances at another one. He also trespassed when he re-entered the jewelry store.
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