Wow, what a price our citizens have to pay for illegal immigration. I am sure the apologists will suggest that he, like many, many Americans have been challenged with an addiction problem, not his fault.

I do hope Officer Harrover makes a full recovery. Hoping he can take this jerk to civil court too! He may be here illegally, but he may have some resources not yet returned to the mother country.

Well, this illegal, drunk driving, hit and running-alien has simply reconfirmed everybody’s understanding of this sorry situation. He entered this country with no regard to the law, and has continued to live without regard for the law. I am hoping there is plenty of room in our fine Virginia jails to give this young law breaker hard time to think about his actions. This needs to happen, before he gets the bus ride home.

Does anyone have an update on officer Harrover?

During my tenure with the PWCPD checkpoints were almost never conducted because the patrol division was always understaffed & trying to answer calls for service that needed the response of an officer. It was a daily effort to keep your head above water finding personnel to respond to high priority calls. It wasn’t unusual for the evening shift to have 35-45 calls pending on a daily basis. Communications supervisors would contact me telling me they had no units available to send on trouble calls. I would resort to finding a detective working on a case, or a Community Resource Officer getting ready to leave for the day, or just clearing my squad from the building without having roll-call. At times my answer was………..”just stack it.” Not because I didn’t care. But when the damn has more leaks than you have fingers something has to give.

There is the Motor Unit which is comprised of officers utilized for mostly radar, and traffic direction. But it is relatively small, and under the control of the Special Operations Bureau. If they are operating checkpoints it is usually controlled by a list of requests for radar services. If an arrest is made by a member of this unit, it will usually require a patrol officer to transport the individual because they mostly conduct business with the use of motorcycles.

While I worked for Charlie Deane we constantly suffered from sworn member/population ratios that fell well below the national standards set by the F.O.P. I worked several years as a patrol officer, and I only had the ability to work checking details 2 times. Calls for service, investigating cases, writing reports, and prisoner processing didn’t leave any time for pro-active enforcement.

I know Lee Stoffregen is a name that angers many regulars on this web site. But he did offer supplemental radar & traffic enforcement that was reported to the PWCPD S.O.D. He was great for public safety, but practiced very poor politics. His efforts to provide additional enforcement resources were publically labeled by Charlie Deane as “a duplication of effort.” Within the department Charlie Deane addressed the Sheriff’s initiatives as “protecting our turf.” I was there when he said it. Many citizens contacted the S.O. & received a deputy to conduct a radar check point when they learned of the county police waiting list for Motor Unit services.

When Glen Hill became our new sheriff, the radar equipment that Stoffregen obtained mostly through grant money was collected from street deputies, and they were ordered to no longer concern themselves in traffic enforcement. Glen Hill chose a senior staff that included several county police supervisors. Including the Chief Deputy who is responsible for running the day to day operations. Everyone knows how influencial Deane was in encouraging Hill to run for sheriff. As i’ve said before, I like Glen Hill, but contact the PWC Sheriff’s Office and request a checking detail after you’ve been turned down by the PWCPD. The answer will be……….that’s not what we do.

In the past, members of the BOCS have reviewed the police budget & ordered Charlie Deane to fill vacant positions created by sworn members who have left the department, and positions that have been approved by the BOCS but were never filled. Now that he has influence in the PWCSO, you no longer have a second option for additional traffic enforcement after you find your place on the radar detail list as unsatisfactory. There are patrol officers who utilize radar. But unless they are given specific radar assignments, their first responsibility is to answer calls for service.

Checking details can only occur when there are enough patrol officers to keep calls for service from pending an available officer for response. I encourage you to contact the Public Information Officer and ask for statistics of patrol officers conducting checking details. I don’t have numbers. But based on experience my bet is the amount of manpower dedicated for this pro-active activity is at least discouraging. Remember, if arrests are being made………..it will expose a problem.

Are you safer now than you were 20 years ago?

It is great to see so many well wishers.

Flip get well quick

Wouldn’t the setting up of random police checkpoints (and not publishing the area where they are going to be held as once wad done) to check registration. licenses and inspection stickers go a long way towards controlling the problem of illegals driving as well as drunk drivers?

The trend has only gotten worse over the past 20 years as local law enforcement had no interest in ascertaining the resident status of street contacts and arrestees. I

f dropping school enrollments (which appear to be related to rule of law) are any indication of future highway safety, my prediction is that illegal aliens operating motor vehicles without a license will be driving intoxicated in other jurisdictions.

I wish there were a way to trace accidents involving undocumented drivers.
I can testify that illegal aliens of hispanic origin have been responsible for numerous D.U.I./hit & run incidents in PWC……………..I investigated enough of them.

Anyway you look at it, passing this resolution was a step in the right direction to maintain law & order.

I think Alanna couldn’t deal with the reality of an illegal alien driving drunk and almost killing a PWC police officer. The only thing she knows how to do is try to make up stories of racism. I guess she thought her diatribe about this blog, Greg and HSM would turn attention away from this tragic event. Unfortunately for her those tactics will not work. Alanna A., Nancy L. and John S. have nothing else to offer. Their sob stories of life in Mexico, their economic arguments and their playing the race card are strategies that not working. What has happened to Lt. Harrover has happened to many others in this area. It is becoming a common event. Whatever Alanna, Nancy and John S. say can never erase these tragedies.

And by the way, illegal aliens were a flight risk even before the Rule of Law Resolution was introduced.

I am just thankful that the officer survived. I hope he will recover fully and resume his duties protecting us from drunken illegal aliens like this.

I encourage everyone to have the max. amount allowable for uninsured motorists coverage. When these accidents occur the odds are it will involve an intoxicated driver (regardless of race), and it will be a serious injury requiring medical attention. With the large amount of illegal residents in PWC I consider it to be required coverage on your policy.

These types of incidents in PWC are a matter of “everday business.”