Crime

Gina Willis, 35, of Fleming Street in Green Cove Springs was arrested Dec. 12 and charged with robbing the Bank of America on Cooks Lane on Dec. 7.

A tipster notified police after seeing a surveillance photograph of the suspect.

According to police, Willis confessed to this robbery and another one in Duval County.

Around 10:30 a.m. today, a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission  officer found the body of Cesar Montano floating on the river about two miles from the original search site.

An autopsy will be performed to determine the cause of death.

Montano fell overboard while attempting to refuel his moving 27-foot sailboat
with a gas can on Dec. 7. He and his wife, Jennifer, were on a 12-day trip that began in Miami. They were headed for Welaka from Jacksonville when the incident happened.

Timothy McAnnally, a 20-year-old Green Cove Springs man, was shot by police around 11:20 p.m. Sunday outside his home on Owens Road. According to a police report, McAnnally was brandishing a rifle and refused to put it down. His family had contacted the Clay County Sheriff's Office because McAnnally was making threats. He was transported to Shands Jacksonville where he is undergoing surgery. McAnnally has been arrested seven times for various offenses in Clay County.

Did anyone else see the news report last night about Emily Delafield, the wheel chair bound woman in Green Cove Springs who died after a run in with the law where she was tasered?

I guess there is a reporting system attached to them where it has clearly showed the woman was tasered apx 10 times with durations of contact with the body as long as 25 seconds. 

I really really try to view these situations having some empathy for Law Enforcement.  It's a tough job, in more ways then one but this time I really have to side with that womans family.

She was in a wheelchair for goodness sake, yes she had weapons, and no I don't expect the Police to allow themselves to be hurt trying to apprehend her but the number of times those tasers were used is unreasonable under the circumstances.  There are any number of things they could have done to contain her until she exhausted herself, time was on their side, they just didn't take the time.  

Finally! We will be able to know who is who when is about the safety of our children. In case you didn't know here is a tip for you:

The Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicle has issued as August 1Th 2007 new Driver Licenses and ID's for sexual predators and sex offenders. A number appears on the lower right corner of their DL (943.0435 F.S. for predators and 775.21 F.S. for sex offenders).

This information will make much easier to recognize these criminals in a traffic stop and will alert Law Enforcement in the event that the predator is accompanied by a minor.  In the past there have been cases  when a predator had been stopped for a traffic violation while the abducted child was a passenger in the vehicle. Can you imagine how many lives will be saved by this new way to identify these monsters? Anything is worth to save our children's precious lives!

It may be surprising for some of us to learn that the duties of the police do not just involve fighting crime, apprehending criminals, chasing thieves and other 'crime busting' duties, but include traffic control, dealing with community and social nuisance problems, attending sports/social events, crime prevention advice and many other less pressing tasks, in other words, 'order maintenance'. The police force as we know it today has changed radically from the first policemen that patrolled the streets in the 19th century and criminologists have recently played a large part in influencing police strategies. Recently, a return back to the early days of maintaining order has seemed to have emerged with the appearance of the 'broken windows' theory, an approach to policing that emphasizes creating and maintaining orderly public spaces, suggesting that continuing urban decay of a community will lead to higher levels of crime and disorder.

Yesterday, Friday, July 13th, was a day that will be long remembered in our house.  It started for me at about 5:00 a.m. when we were awoken by a phone call from my son who lives in Columbus, Georgia.  He is stationed at Ft. Benning and was headed out to work when he saw that his Tahoe had been broken into and his radio/CD player stolen, along with everything else in the vehicle that could be taken out.  The thieves had broken out the rear window of the SUV to gain access.  Sorry, son, a rough dose of reality.  What made it more frustrating was that he lives in an apartment complex with a security gate - and the gate had been left open all night because it was broken.

I moved to the Grove Park area some 14 years ago knowing it was a safe place for my child and family members. As the area around us grows, there is an alarming increase in VIOLENT crime which includes murder, drugs, and rape. One of the major problems is the Suburban Lodge and Quality Inn which cater to the short term, low cost, and the sex offenders/felons of various areas. I hear of all types of crime and yet I do not see any action to curb this escalating problem. We have 300 sex offenders living in our area. I bet you feel safe about that. Tell Andrea's husband that it doesn't matter... I guess we simply sit back, mind our own business (passive) and allow this to happen.