Kudos to Sheriff Simpson and the LCSO, as well as the Leesburg Police.

Any connection, Joe, between the revelation about that second wife in Lansdowne and the announcement that you will be out of the house for awhile? Has the dog agreed to share his pad out in the back yard?

No Spanish name so far.

The NBC 4 coverage had a guy who looked just Joe.

Thank you to all of Loco Law enforcement for bring this tragic event to an end.

great work !

Joe’s take on this is correct. I suspect the vast majority of these crimes in the eastern part of the county and Leesburg are gang related. Further, I would not discount the fact that this event and others of late are due to gang activity and the general mayhem that comes with turf wars between gangs.

Homegrown or hybrid gangs in Sterling are in conflict with those of foreign origin such as MS 13 and or the 18th street gang.This will continue to be an issue for sometime. This arrest although a great start illustrates a potentially larger problem. One we should not discount or ignore.

Kudos to the LCSO – I’d all-but given up on them solving that case, so thanks and congrats.

I think the spate of crime we’re seeing has little to do with “gang activity”, per se. Most “gangs” aren’t involved in a wave of car break-in’s and burglaries. The perpetrators *may* be gang members, but that’s because gangs attract a certain element, anyway.

I think the spate of crimes we’re seeing probably has a lot of sources, mostly a poor economic climate – unemployment in the service industries has left a lot of people on the street, with no money, no unemployment – with inevitable results. And I’m seeing more and more cars with out-of-state plates with clothing, etc, piled up inside – I think people are coming here, looking for work, with no place to live. Some, I’m afraid, turn to alternative sources of revenue when they can’t find work.

One *very* troubling trend I’ve noticed lately – as one who’s lived through this before (in the 90’s), I see it starting again…

I’ve been noticing a *lot* of new faces in my Sugarland Run-area neighborhood the last month or so. Not just new faces – but new young black men, with a distinct inner-city hardness about them. And this weekend, I noticed guys sitting in the same lookout spots they used to sit in when they kept an eye out for Sheriff’s patrols when the crack dealers were up and running. Friday, I think it was, I noticed three very bold-looking young men staking claim to the Sugarland Safety Center, leaning against the wall, and pointedly staring down every car and passerby that passed by. Haven’t seen these kinds of things for a few years now, and definitely not a good sign.

I dunno if the Crips are setting up shop here again, or if it’s just the latest busload of Newark-area exports courtesy of the state of New Jersey, who commonly exports their problems to surrounding states.

But either way, I think we’re in for a long, hot summer …

Squiddy — Just wanted to let you know that there was a mid-April switching around of all the LCSO Community Policing Officers. You got ours. He was with us for three years and did one Hell of a job. Let me assure you that he is very aggressive, very tough, and very good. He also relates well to the people in the community and, even though he doesn’t actually live there, considers his beat as his second home. I suspect those three dudes you mentioned will not be hanging about for very long around the Sugarland Safety Center. In our opinion, you and your Sugarland neighbors have had a real stroke of luck.

Wolverine: Ahh, didn’t realize there was a change – Deputy D. seemed like a good guy, but given some of the recent vibes I’ve been picking up on, I’m glad to hear about the new guy’s attitude. As a matter of fact, I happened to see a pair of LCSO’s out on what appeared to be a foot patrol last night – absolutely awesome – I wanted to buy them a beer, but realized that was probably inappropriate …

“Presence” seems to pay immediate dividends – when they do things like that, and ride the bike trails, it makes a huge difference – when the idiots never know when/where a Sheriff may appear, they pretty much cease to be idiots, or at least, aren’t so visibly idiots.

Which is a good thing by itself – “incidents” like those three guys, and the other three Hispanic guys laid out on someone’s (not theirs) lawn, drinking, or guys loitering behind 7-11, all of these non-crimes give off a vibe in a neighborhood, like pheromones. All of these guys are “marking their territory”, consciously or not – and when they don’t get push-back, they get bolder.

I haven’t met the new CPO, but I’m glad to hear your review, and glad to know he’s out there.

BTW, Squiddy, I have an additional message for you from Mrs. Wolverine, who used to be the “mother hen” for a large number of young police officers. You are right about the beer. It’s a no-no. But, on these hot nights, when the CPO and his buddies happen to cross your path on foot or on their bikes wherever you live, Mrs. W recommends a tall glass of ice water.

Yep, Squid, those ladies have what it takes. I can recall a time when I was striving to get a new police investigative school built and running. In the meantime, the classes were held in my house. At a certain time, you would notice the attention starting to wander and eyes looking up at the clock.

The classroom door would open, and in marched Mrs. W, followed by the houseboy. They were carrying hot coffee, cold drinks, and mounds of homemade pastries. The classroom turned into chaos, chairs flying, notebooks and pens on the floor, as that cadre of young cops rushed her. I had to hope that a piece didn’t fall and start going off in the classroom. When we finally left, I think they were much more sad to see her go than they were me.

Finally got back to Lovisa’s #9 post.

Lady, you’d better be smiling when you call me that!

Don’t really need to unlimber the defense system. For matters such as this I have a special offensive missile system called Mrs. W. When she sees anybody messing with her precious yard or garden, she comes roaring out the door with a mean look in her eyes. I’ve seen those guys jump to attention and then look around for a hole to climb into. They do not know how to handle an angry lady. Countdown: 10 – 9 -8 -…..

Look, Lovisa, the days are long past when the kings or the field marshals went to the front lines. The last king I can remember doing that was George II at the battle of Dettingen during the Seven Years War against France.

Nowadays, we great leaders do the operational and logistics planning behind the lines and give the orders to the troops to go over the top of the trenches. We can do this because we are smart enough to have the loyalty of good strike forces and shock troops. Once the attack order is given, commanders step back and get out of the way — if only to avoid getting run over and pulverized into dust.

I mean, for instance, could you ever imagine Obama being choppered to the USS Bainbridge and joining that Navy SEAL unit? He would probably have shot himself in the foot instead of shooting the pirates. I actually give him “commander credit” on that score, i.e., pointing the target out to the troops and getting the Hell out of the way. I have long wished that LBJ would have been that smart in Vietnam.

Also too, after it is all over, they raise heroic statues in the parks — dedicated to the kings and field marshals. That’s only fair. Darn hard work being a “pantywaist.” I tell you, one of the hardest parts is keeping the troops under control. Just the other day, the commander of this fortress was taking an little afternoon siesta. Old Wolverine was half into dreamland when the bedroom door suddenly burst open, with the doorknob nearly breaking through the adjacent wallboard. That was following by a primordial scream that blew Old Wolverine right over the side of the bed onto the floor. Turns out that, while Mrs. Wolverine was out somewhere on business, the landscapers mulching the flower beds had pulled up all her carefully tended flox plants and thrown them into the woods. Good thing for those guys that they were gone before Mrs. Wolverine showed up, or we would probably have been featured on the 11 o’clock news!

That is one thing Old Wolverine has learned through these many years. Wolverines may be tough old fighters, but when they encounter an angry lioness, they know to smile sheepishly and start to tip-toe carefully . You are right about that lucky part. Good “command decision” many years ago. Of course, like ACT said not long ago, sometimes it gets a bit fuzzy in the fortress about who is really in command.

I remember having a May pole and celebrating “May Day’ in preschool, so I was probably 4 years old. This was in the early 70’s – was this common?