2007 Report 02-20-2008 - Town of Scarborough

Report from Police Department July 1, 2006, through June 30, 2007
(Continued from page 30)
evidence, DNA, and other trace evidence including
footwear impressions. Video footage of the suspect in the
bank was enhanced, using technology that I will further
explain later in this report, to provide more details of the
suspect's characteristics and clothing.
In the weeks following the robbery, the investigation
revealed a likely connection to several other bank robberies
in Maine, New Hampshire, and Connecticut. Detectives
representing each of these jurisdictions as well as
investigators from the FBI worked together as a
team comparing notes and following up leads and
ultimately developed a suspect in as many as eight bank
robberies throughout New England. This suspect is now in
custody in Connecticut and is awaiting trial on Bank
Robbery charges with the expectation that he will be
charged federally for being a serial bank robber.
• Patriot’s Day Storm
The 2007 Patriots Day Storm stretched the Scarborough
Police
Department’s
resources to
their limit in a
way that only
Mother
Nature can.
Planning and
coordination
efforts with
other town
Patriot’s Day Storm at the Co-Op
departments
began with
the initial
weather forecasts and continued throughout and after the
storm. Members of the department from all divisions
assisted with efforts in the community, and all department
vehicles were on the road throughout the event performing
various tasks. Many of our staff worked double shifts or
longer to try to stay on top of the volume of calls that took
place. The majority of calls involved trees down, flooding,
and power outages. The worst flooding of the day came
during the mid-day high tide when Route One became
impassible near Anjons Restaurant. Sections of Pine Point
Road and Payne Road were already closed, and traffic had
to get onto the Maine Turnpike in Saco or Scarborough to
go North or South. The police department worked in
conjunction with other town departments to get the roads
cleared and ensure that they were still safe as soon as the
water receded. The efforts of department members in
cooperation with many other town employees greatly
contributed to Scarborough having no major injuries or
deaths occurring as a result of the Patriots Day Storm.
OTHER HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE PAST YEAR
• New Software – The Public Safety Departments
(Police, Fire, and EMS) switched to a new comprehensive
software package. This package allows all of the public
safety departments to manage records from the same system
and provides a seamless and integrated solution to our
records management needs. The program also interfaces
with the states Enhanced 911 systems as well as many other
agencies across the state that are using the same product.
This allows cross checking of information between
agencies, which is of tremendous value particularly for
investigative purposes.
• New Task Force - A new task force was formed to deal
with the increase in occurrences of violent crimes in the
area. As mentioned above, Scarborough had its first armed
bank robbery during this period. Although we have been
fortunate to have not seen a sharp increase in theses crimes
directly in Scarborough, we have seen a dramatic increase
all around us. Since the individuals involved in these crimes
are not bound by the same geographical boundaries that law
enforcement is, it made sense to form a multi-jurisdictional
task force to deal specifically with the investigation of these
types of crimes and the apprehension and prosecution of
violent offenders. Scarborough Police is participating in this
task force along with many other municipal, county, state,
and federal agencies.
• PSAP - The Scarborough Public Safety
Communications Center was designated by the State to be
one of five Public Safety Answering Points (PSAP) in
Cumberland County. As a result of an initiative by the
Governor, the Public Utilities Commission was tasked with
reducing the
number of
PSAPs across
the state to
twenty-four.
The PSAP is
where the 911
call initially
rings. From
there the call is
directed to the
dispatch center
Public Safety Communications Center
that is
responsible for
handling calls in that jurisdiction. As a result of being
designated a PSAP, the Scarborough Communications
Center now receives 911 calls for Buxton, Hollis, and Old
Orchard. The Town of Scarborough bills each of these
communities for this service.
• Video Forensic Software – In the FY06 budget, the
town council approved the purchase of video forensic
software. Since many stores, banks, and other businesses
now use still and video cameras, this technology has
become a very important part of many investigations. The
unfortunate part is that the photographs and video clips that
are obtained from this equipment are not always, for a
variety of reasons, of premium quality. Since the purchase
of this equipment and software, and the training of the
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