Story Hillers — Lock your cars and close your garage doors. The summer thieves are out. The Milwaukee Police Department is reporting some car break-ins in the neighborhood over the past few days, and it appears somebody ripped off my very nice, new bike mirror from the bike parked in my garage (dumb me, must have left that door open). At least the miscreant left the bike. From what I’m hearing, not all the car break-ins were reported to police and the incidents may be somewhat more widespread than appears from police reports.
Archive for the ‘crime’ Category
In the hood — car break-ins galore
Thursday, August 12th, 2010In the neighborhood: crime alert
Tuesday, April 20th, 2010There was an attempted home break-in yesterday in the 300 block of N. Pinecrest St. An officer said the would-be thieves were unsuccessful, but there was extensive damage to the back door where the crooks tried to get in.
The crime occurred sometime between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m.
In the neighborhood: Serial burglar goes to prison
Sunday, April 18th, 2010Antonio Z. Andrews, the serial burglar who broke into several Story Hill homes and garages last September, was sentenced earlier this month to 40 months in prison after pleading guilty to felony burglary.
Circuit Judge Richard J. Sankovitz also ordered Andrews, 54, to serve 25 months of supervised release after his release from prison. Andrews also was ordered to make restitution totaling $170.28 to four victims.
In the neighborhood: burglar to be sentenced
Friday, March 12th, 2010Antonio Z. Andrews will be sentenced on April Fool’s Day for his night-time Story Hill neighborhood crime wave this fall, according to court records.
The sentencing is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. before Circuit Judge Richard Sankovitz.
Andrews pleaded guilty Feb. 24 to one count of burglary. He still faces misdemeanor charges in two other cases.
Mexican violence and corruption: a real threat
Thursday, March 18th, 2010It’s the five guys picked up in Pakistan who allegedly plotted terrorist attacks that are getting most of the attention, but it is what is going on in Mexico near the US border that is probably a bigger threat to security.
Three people connected to the US consulate were murdered last week in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, and that made northern US newspapers, but the general escalation of violence has generally been ignored in Wisconsin media. That journalistic neglect is more than an oversight. Violence is claiming lives in Mexico; it is bound to spill over to the border states and beyond. Corruption already is leading the charge.
From the New York Times, which has done an excellent job covering the issue.
Federal anticorruption investigators continue to struggle to keep up with the screening of newly hired United States law enforcement officers working on the Mexican border and have fallen far behind in checking current employees as well, federal officials testified on Thursday.
The testimony came during a hearing in Washington before a subcommittee of the Senate Homeland Security Committee on rising corruption among the ranks of federal law enforcement officers who patrol the border and guard ports of entry.
Representatives from the F.B.I. and the Department of Homeland Security painted a grave picture of drug trafficking organizations trying to recruit federal officers to work for them and infiltrate the ranks.
Another, earlier Times story is here.
All the elements are there growing corruption in US law enforcement. The Border Patrol expanded very rapidly. Mexican drug gangs don’t blink at the most vile violence — if you were an underpaid border agent and someone gave you a choice between accepting a large bribe or having your family killed, what would you do?
Yeah, the five guys in Pakistan should be covered, but so should what is going on within our own borders and just beyond. Exploding bombs make a lot of noise and can cause a lot of damage all at once; drug-related assassinations in Mexico makes less noise and spread fear and damage incrementally; and the spread of corruption is silent, but can cause the strands that hold societies and countries steady to rot and fall apart.
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