Around the Arch Blog

As the morning temperatures drop, the potential for vehicle thefts increases as many area residents leave their vehicles unattended to warm them up.

The Reno Police Department warns this is a situation that is ready-made for criminals looking for a chance to steal a vehicle. “Even when the vehicle is locked,” Katre says, “it takes only a few seconds to steal a car that is sitting unoccupied. It simply sets the stage for a thief to make a quick get-away with the vehicle plus people face the possibility of a burglary at their home as their house keys are often on their vehicle key ring. ”

The Reno Police Department receives reports of vehicles commonly stolen while left running and unattended at homes, gas stations, convenience stores and ATM’s.

Katre says the best way to approach cold morning commutes is to start the vehicle and remain with it while using a scraper to remove frost from windows.

Area residents should also use the following tips to help prevent the theft of vehicles, which represent a relatively large investment for most people:

• Park in well lighted areas and always lock your car when it is unattended.
• Never leave your keys in the ignition or elsewhere in the vehicle.
• If you have a garage, use it rather than parking outside where your vehicle is more vulnerable.
• Don’t leave packages, purses, briefcases, automatic garage door openers, personal papers and mail or other items in plain view in your vehicle which can invite a break-in and lead to vehicle theft, home burglary and identification theft.
• Never hide a second set of keys in your vehicle. Extra keys can easily be found, especially by experienced thieves who know the hiding places in vehicles.
• Never leave children unattended in a running vehicle, and never leave keys in the ignition with unattended children.

On October 14 at about 9:50 am a lone suspect entered the Wells Fargo Bank at 200 South Virginia Street, Reno.  He told the clerk he has an explosive devise and demanded money. He fled the bank after obtaining an undisclosed amount of money. At this time the suspect is still outstanding.

The suspect is described as a white male adult, approximately 5-07 to 5-10, medium build, black hair, UNR baseball cap with “Wolf Pack” logo in front. He was last seen wearing blue jeans, dark colored sport coat, a t-shirt underneath with an unknown decal. See attached surveillance photographs for further details.

Officers located a bag we believe may be linked to the suspect a short distance from the bank. Explosive Ordinance Disposal (EOD) responded and determined the bag to safe and free of explosives.

Anyone with information on this crime or the identity of the suspect is asked to call the Federal Bureau of Investigation at 825-6600, the Reno Police Department Robbery/Homicide Unit at 334-2188 or remain anonymous by calling Secret Witness at 322-4900.

Please see the four photos below:  

#

On Saturday October 02, 2010 at about 10:00 PM a 13 year old boy was approached by a possible luring suspect at the Circus Circus Casino. The suspect asked the boy if he would like to go up to the suspect’s room to watch a movie. The boy refused and walked away from the suspect.

The suspect is described as a white male adult approximately fifty to fifty-five years of age wearing blue jeans and a blue short sleeved shirt. The Reno Police Department is trying to identify the suspect in this case. If you recognize the suspect in the attached video please contact Secret Witness at 322-4900.

RPD Case # 10-25505

Please see the attached flyer. Click on the photograph of the suspect to play the video.

Reno traffic patrol officers did a mandatory check point to see if folks were using seat belts and children were properly placed in their car seats. Police asked a number of drivers to have their children’s car seats inspected by car safety seat experts who were on hand for the check point.
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byrc1LRekZc]

Today, Secret Witness unveiled an anonymous texting program that will provide residents another means to report tips to help solve crimes.

Secret Witness has partnered with the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office, Reno Police Department, Sparks Police Department, and Carson City Sheriff’s Office to bring our residents the first texting tip line.

“In addition to the Secret Witness anonymous telephone tip line 322-4900, which has served the greater Truckee Meadows to help solve crimes for more than 30 years, a new tip texting program provides the same service to meet the needs of the electronic and texting age,” said Katherine Loudon, Chairwoman of Secret Witness.

 The program is designed for short-code texting and the texting operations may vary from phone to phone.

For all life threatening emergencies, call 911. The Tip Texting Program is not a 911 service, but merely another opportunity in addition to the telephone to provide anonymous tips to help solve crimes.

For details about the texting tip line click here.

The Reno Police Department, Washoe County Sheriffs Office, and the Washoe County School Police Department have been working together on the recent rash of Luring of Children Cases and have found two cases that have similarities and appear to have been committed by the same suspect.

On September 28, 2010 at about 3:30 PM a seventeen year old girl reported to the Reno Police Department that a male suspect exited his vehicle and physically grabbed her and hugged her. This incident happened in the area of Holcomb and South Virginia St. in Reno . The suspect was described as: an Hispanic Male, 25 years of age, 5-06 165 lbs., muscular build, dark brown hair with a “buzz cut” , brown eyes, unshaven, wearing a faded black shirt that had “ I Need a Hug” written on it.

On September 29, 2010 at about 11:50 AM on Robb Drive near Walnut Creek an 18 year old girl was walking to school back from lunch when a male suspect matching the description of the above Reno Police Department case drove up next to her and tried to strike up a conversation and then asked her for a hug. The victim in this case also ran away from the suspect and then contacted Washoe County School Police.

In both of the cases the suspect is driving the following vehicle: Newer Black two door convertible, rounded corners on the rear of the vehicle, with chrome molding around the windows.

We would like to encourage all parents to continually discuss “stranger danger” safety tips with their children and report all suspicious activity immediately.

Anyone with information about these cases or any other attempted luring cases is encouraged to call the Reno Police Department at 334-2115, the Washoe County School Police at 348-0285 or Secret Witness at 322-4900.

Reno Police Department Case #10-25182
Washoe County School Police Case #2010-02011

The Reno City Council accepted $7,650 from the Washoe County Local Emergency Planning Committee from the 2011 State Emergency Response Commission United We Stand Grant to purchase self contained breathing apparatus units.

The Reno Police Department uses these breathing units for members of their SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) Team. With the grant, the department will have 15 units for their 30 member SWAT team.

The SWAT team duties include aiding in serving high-risk arrest warrants, performing hostage rescues, helping confront heavily-armed criminals and snipers, apprehending barricaded subjects, and assisting in proving peaceful resolutions. Standard patrol resources do not have the manpower, special training, or specialized equipment to handle some high risk situations.

The mission of the Reno Police Department’s SWAT team is to safely and effectively resolve a critical situation while minimizing injury or loss of life and property.

The Reno City Council accepted a $40,000 grant from the Nevada Department of Public Safety, Office of Criminal Justice Assistance to the Reno Police Department for the department’s Project Safe Neighborhood Program.

Project Safe Neighborhoods is a nationwide commitment to reduce gun and gang crimes in America by networking existing local programs that target these and providing these programs with additional tools necessary to be successful.

The State of Nevada has received $119,000 from the Federal government as part of the National Project Safe Neighborhoods Program of which the City of Reno has been awarded $40,000 to be used to focus on a particular neighborhood with additional enforcement and community clean-up.

Due to gang and crime problems, the neighborhood from Virbil Lane to Miguel Ribera Park has been chosen as the neighborhood for this grant.

The Reno Police Department, City Attorney’s Office, and Code Enforcement are working to improve the neighborhood by removing the gangs. They have put together a project based on Project T.O.U.G.H (Taking Out Urban Gang Headquarters) used by the City of Los Angeles. The Reno project uses the public nuisance ordinance and civil remedies to require property owners to address the nuisance of continual gang activities within their property areas. The program also provides for injunctive action prohibiting gang members from congregating within identified private properties. The Regional Gang Unit, with members from the Reno Police Department, Washoe County Sheriff’s Office, and Sparks Police Department, has also been providing enforcement for this project.

Since its inception in 2001, approximately $2 billion nationwide has been committed to Project Safe Neighborhoods. The funding has been used to hire new federal and state prosecutors, support investigators, provide training, distribute gun lock safety kits, deter juvenile gun crime, and develop and promote community outreach efforts as well as to support other gun and gang violence reduction strategies.

- ### -

Area residents will be able to help the Reno Police Department’s K-9 Unit by dining at the Texas Roadhouse.

The Texas Roadhouse has generously agreed to donate 10% of food purchases to the Reno Police Department’s K-9 Unit when the attached flyer is presented to a server. To participate, visit the Texas Roadhouse at 150 Damonte Ranch Parkway on Sunday, September 12 from 11:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. and Monday, September 13 from 4:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. Flyers can also be downloaded by visiting the K-9 Unit’s page on City of Reno’s website, http://www.reno.gov/index.aspx?page=2112.

The Reno Police Department’s K-9 Unit serves the community by working as a patrol support function. Officers and their K-9 partners assist with suspect apprehension, narcotics detection, finding articles of evidentiary value that have been discarded, tracking lost people such as children and Alzheimer’s patients, and explosive material detection. Additionally, the unit is called upon to conduct many public demonstrations to entities such as schools, churches and civic organizations.

The K-9 unit relies heavily on donations, and has been called upon to assist every agency in the area to include Sparks Police Department, Washoe County Sheriff’s Department, Reno-Tahoe Airport Authority, the U.S. Secret Service, F.B.I., D.E.A., U.S. Customs, California Bureau of Prisons, U.S. Federal Bureau of Prisons, to name a few.

A $20,000 grant from the Nevada State Juvenile Justice Commission, approved by the Reno City Council on Wednesday, will be used for continued support of the Reno Police Department’s operations against underage drinking.

The grant funding will be used to conduct alcohol sales compliance checks and other law enforcement operations to reduce underage drinking which may include controlled juvenile party dispersal, fake identification checks, third party purchase intervention, juvenile DUI prevention/apprehension, and special events control.

The awarded grant does not require a match from local government and helps to offset law enforcement costs that would otherwise come from local government budgets.