h/t Survival Blog

Greenville, SC – The U.S. Marshals from South Carolina, North Carolina, and Georgia along with Greenville, Spartanburg, and Pickens County Sheriff’s Deputies, Greenville and Mauldin Police Officers, and the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) completed a successful Sex Offender Community Compliance operation (SOCC) in the upstate during the week of December 5. Operation SOCC targeted 656 active sex offenders being monitored by Greenville County Sheriff’s Office and verified 628 listed offenders.

During Operation SOCC each offender was required to sign the verification sheet at the prospective address of residence. Of the 628 address verifications, 11 sex offenders were deemed non-compliant and arrest warrants were obtained for each non-compliant offender and 10 have been arrested while one remains at large. Operation SOCC aided in the clearing of 24 state/local warrants for charges not associated with the compliance check.

“Protecting our communities and verifying addresses of registered sex offenders are of paramount importance and the U.S. Marshals will support all local avenues of law enforcement to bring these registered offenders into compliance. Providing federal law enforcement support to the state of South Carolina is what our dedicated Deputy U.S. Marshals render daily and we continue to strive to make the streets a safe place for all our citizens.” stated Kelvin Washington, U.S. Marshal for the District of South Carolina.

Sheriff Steve Loftis said, “The Greenville County Sheriff’s Office is greatly appreciative to the US Marshals and the additional agencies that participated in this extremely important effort. This effort is a prime example of what can be accomplished when multiple agencies come together for an important cause.”

Established in 1789, the United States Marshals Service is the nation’s oldest federal law enforcement agency. In fiscal 2010, the Marshals arrested more than 36,100 federal fugitives, clearing 39,400 felony warrants and arrested 11,072 sex offenders. Marshal’s Service-led task forces like South Carolina’s Operation Intercept arrested 81,900 state and local fugitives, clearing 108,200 felony warrants. Locally, Operation Intercept arrested over 2,500 South Carolina fugitives during that same period.

Nice work, thank a cop when you see one for getting these perverts in order.

Cops are thinking there is no link between the incidents in Greenville and Spartanburg, but it’s odd to see these incidents crop up so suddenly.

Anyway here’s an update from GoUpstate:

The Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office released a sketch Wednesday related to a pair of incidents in which residents reported being pulled over by a man posing as a law enforcement officer.

The sketch was developed from information provided by a victim of an incident on Old Spartanburg Highway on Monday, according to a written statement from the sheriff’s office.

The man, who is labeled a person of interest, is described as a clean-cut white male, 30 to 35 years old, with a crew-cut hairstyle. The man is reported to be 6-foot-4 to 6-foot-5 and weigh about 280 pounds — but with a muscular build. He was wearing a navy blue windbreaker and dark blue cargo pants, and driving a dark blue Chevy Tahoe with blue strobe lights in the grill, according to the statement.

Monday’s incident, which allowed officers to generate the sketch, was the second reported in Spartanburg County. The first was reported Nov. 16, when a woman said she was pulled over by a man she thought was a law enforcement officer. The man grabbed her from her car and sexually assaulted her on Nazareth Road, according to investigators.

“At this point in our investigation, there has been no evidence or information discovered that connects the two cases reported in Spartanburg County,” said Lt. Tony Ivey in a written statement issued Wednesday.

[...]

Greenville County Sheriff’s Deputy Zachary Hinton said in an email that the latest Greenville incident occurred in the Phillips and Gibbs Shoals roads area in Greer on Tuesday about 4:45 p.m.

A woman told officers she was driving down Phillips Road when she passed a black SUV, possibly a GMC Envoy. She said that the vehicle turned around and came up behind her with blue lights and a siren. The woman said the blue lights appeared to be coming from the interior of the vehicle.

The woman told officers that she tried to call law enforcement to verify the traffic stop before she pulled over but before she could, the SUV turned around and left, Hinton said.

“It is undetermined at this time if this is connected to any other incidents currently under investigation,” Greenville County Sheriff’s Deputy Zachary Hinton said.

Seems odd that multiple incidents of the same MO are happening now. If I were a cop I’d start checking if there are any new police supply shops in the area. Take a look at the sketch and be wary.

Meanwhile, Greenville County Sheriff’s deputies are investigating a reported police investigator from early Monday morning, but there’s no reason to think that incident was related to the Spartanburg incidents.

A woman says she was driving on East North Street around 2:30 a.m. when a vehicle behind her had flashing white lights in the grill.

She pulled over at Ramblewood Apartments and said the car stopped before pulling around her. She said there was no further contact, but she did see the driver of a black two-door Chevrolet Malibu.

He was described as a black man in his late 20’s who was wearing a white long sleeved t-shirt.

GCSO investigators say there’s no evidence to show this was linked to an earlier incident in the county or a previous report of an incident in Spartanburg County.

Which is definitely cause for concern since it means this is just a new scam a bunch of different crooks have come up with. Video courtesy WSPA:

From WSPA:

The Greenville County Sheriff’s Office is creating a “Crimes Against Children” Unit.

The unit will combine cases involving children into one group.

The Sheriff’s Office says skills and training required to work these cases are similar and it will allow investigators to be more effective and efficient.

The types of crimes that will be investigated include sexual assaults, child abuse and child neglect.

The idea for the unit came from a Sheriff’s Office investigator.

The unit will be made of four full-time investigators, and it will be housed at Greenville County Square.

From the Daily News:

The NYPD has formed a new unit to track troublemakers who announce plans or brag about their crimes on Twitter, MySpace and Facebook.

Newly named Assistant Commissioner Kevin O’Connor, one of the department’s online and gang gurus, has been put in charge of the new juvenile justice unit. He and his staff will mine social media, looking for info about troublesome house parties, gang showdowns and other potential mayhem, sources said.

The power of social media to empower both criminals and cops has been on full display in London this week, where riots and looting have been spreading dramatically.

The rioters have been using Twitter and BlackBerry messages to choose targets for looting or burning – and to alert one another about police positions.

The very same social media have been a source for those trying to help cops by posting photos of rioters.

O’Connor’s new unit will operate under the Community Affairs Bureau; it will also handle outreach programs, with its mandate going beyond the Net.

Still, the 23-year veteran is known for his success in online policing, including stings to catch predator pervs looking for sex with underage victims.

Sounds like a great idea until you realize how impossible it is. I myself how four different Twitter accounts I use to promote my various sites – kids have dozens of online hang-outs and the cops plan is basically just surfing around hoping they run into a plot? Good luck with that.

GREENVILLE, SC (FOX Carolina) – “Be on watch for thefts and break-ins,” is what some Greenville County neighborhoods are telling their residents.

Greenville Police and the Sheriff’s Office said there aren’t more break-ins than usual, but they may be in unexpected areas and officials want everyone to be aware.

A Greenville County subdivision has begun warning each other to keep watch after a man was seen entering or attempting to enter homes and cars.

“I was sitting in my chair and I saw a guy walk into my garage, and I thought it was my son, expecting to come over here for my birthday dinner, and it was somebody else,” said Mike Albrecht. “He waved to me, so I came out and looked, and he walked between my two cars looking at my generator, and I asked what he was doing.”

The man left, but Greenville County deputies have since arrested a suspect, Calvin Wilson. He’s accused of breaking in and stealing from cars and houses in Albrecht’s neighborhood, and other areas.

Yeah. You know where I expect break ins to occur? Houses. But the police here are trying to say there’s nothing to worry about – there’s just a change in the types of houses that are being targeted?

It so happens that I was talking to a guy the other day who said there were a lot of newcomers in his area and many are a little unsavory. I also have noticed, on my more and more infrequent trips to downtown Greenville, that drug users are multiplying at an alarming rate. Call me a cynic but I’m betting that the drug using dependents of the people moving to Greenville County are not going to be sticking to the traditional bad neighborhoods when they need to score.

So really there are more break ins than usual, at least for people used to living in nicer areas. The cops are splitting hairs on this one by claiming that since we’re not experiencing more theft reports than average nothing has changed. Why the spin? Who knows. But it’s still a load of malarkey and tax payers deserve the truth.

GREENVILLE, S.C. — Authorities say a police officer was lured into a Greenville neighborhood and then intentionally shot with fireworks.

WYFF-TV reports that the Greenville officer was OK after being hit in the chest with fireworks Monday night.

Sgt. Jason Rampey said the officer was sent to an apartment complex after reports people were shooting each other with fireworks. Authorities say the officer was attacked with fireworks and called for backup.

The officer also arrested and charged a 15-year-old with unlawful discharge of a firework into a moving vehicle. During that arrest, Rampey says someone else fired another firework into the officer’s chest.

The officer was wearing body armor and wasn’t hurt. Rampey says investigators think kids at the complex called 911 to get the officer to come so they could attack him.

This was a bold attack that signals a breakdown in law and order in our city. Be careful out there.

Just awful:

ST. PETERSBURG, Florida – A veteran officer with a clean record is being investigated by the St. Petersburg Police Department (SPPD) after he warned the father of a robbery victim about a dangerous part of town.

Officer Thad “Stu” Crisco, who was recently in headlines for honoring his fallen partner David Crawford, allegedly warned St. Petersburg father Bob Esposito about letting his 16-year-old daughter hang around the Northshore Pool at night. Esposito’s daughter was one of five teens robbed by a group of armed men there about 10:30 p.m. on a recent weeknight.

“I wouldn’t come down here at night,” Esposito said of the Northshore Pool area and Downtown, where he admits he used to loiter as a teen.”And I was told by one of the police officers not to come down here either.”

That comment, made by Crisco the night of the robbery, was inadvertently relayed to his superior when Esposito was following up with SPPD. The department then launched an investigation into “disparaging comments against the city.”

“I’m shocked,” Esposito said. “His job is to serve and protect, and as far as I’m concerned, he gave me information. I think he did his job. I think he did it very well.”

Esposito said Crisco cited the city’s violent crime stats – the worst in the state. He faces a possible suspension, even if his comments were true, although his exemplary record with SPPD could help him avoid serious discipline.

Mayor Bill Foster acknowledged the incident and said he holds SPPD to the highest standard.

“I always want to know my officers are representing this city in a very positive light,” Foster said.

If I were Mayor I’d want my cops to clean up the bad areas and help citizens not get mugged, raped and murdered. I guess I’d have different priorities than Bill Foster.

So this cop is going to be disciplined for telling the truth to a concerned citizen and trying to prevent crime. Makes sense.