Certificate of Achievement
Engineer Kathe Long has earned a Certificate of Achievement from the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Emergency Management Institute. She completed seven on-line courses concentrating on emergency preparedness, decision making, and leadership. She became a member of the Anderson Fire Department in May, 2000, and was promoted to the rank of Engineer in January, 2004.
Law Enforcement Grant
The City of Anderson has received a grant of $13,791 from the US Department of Justice. This grant provides 100 percent of the funding needed for law enforcement overtime for the Street Level Criminal Apprehension Program.
Award
Anderson Police Department Detention Officer David Tilley received the Bert Friday Award at the South Carolina Criminal Justice Academy at graduation services on Friday, April 28, 2006. This award is given to the graduating detention officer with the highest class average. This is the first time that an Anderson Police Department Detention Officer has received this award. Officer Tilley graduated the SC Criminal Justice Academy with a 98 overall average. Chief Martin Brown attended the graduation ceremonies at the SC Criminal Justice Academy and was very honored to present the Bert Friday Award to Officer Tilley. Officer Tilley was also selected to sing the National Anthem at the beginning of the ceremony. He will begin official duty this week on Charlie Shift in the Federal Jail.
Officer David Tilley comes to the police department after working 15 years as a building contractor. He is married to Valerie Tilley and they have 5 children. Also graduating from the academy was Officer Chris Dean. He will begin his duty this week with Delta Shift also working in the Federal Jail. Officer Chris Dean is married to Amanda Dean and they have 2 children. Chief Martin Brown and the entire police department are very proud of the accomplishments of Officer David Tilley and Officer Chris Dean and look forward to many years of service with each of these fine officers.
Crime Stoppers
The Anderson Area Crime Stoppers Board gave Corporal Derek Loftis a special recognition award for outstanding police work on February 22. Corporal Loftis stopped a vehicle for speeding on River Street. The officer's K-9, "Nemo", done an exterior sniff of the car and alerted to the front and rear passenger sides. Corporal Loftis did a search of the driver and car and discovered marijuana that weighed approx. 1.5 pounds, cocaine that weighed 28 grams, $947, and a Taurus 9mm weapon. Corporal Loftis, with the assistance of Nemo, took a drug dealer off the streets of Anderson. The street value of the drugs seized was $5,191. The incident occurred on January 5, 2006.
Chief of Police
Martin Brown was sworn-in to his new duties as the Chief of Police on Friday, February 17. The Honorable G. Ross Anderson, Jr., of the United States District Court administered Martin's oath of office at noon in Council Chambers. Brown, a resident of Belton, where he first entered law enforcement as an officer with the Belton Police Department, has worked with the FBI for the past 30 years.
Opt Out
Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), the Consumer Credit Reporting Companies, are permitted to include your name on lists used by creditors or insurers to make firm offers of credit or insurance. The FCRA also provides you the right to "Opt-Out", which prevents Consumer Credit Reporting Companies from providing your credit file information for firm offers of credit or insurance that are not initiated by you.
Scam Alert
The Police Department is warning the public of a scam in which identity thieves trick the unwary into revealing their personal details by telling them they've failed to report for jury duty and warrants for their arrest are being issued. Here's a new twist scammers are using to commit identity theft: the jury duty scam. Here's how it works: The scammer calls claiming to work for the local court and claims you've failed to report for jury duty. He tells you that a warrant has been issued for your arrest. The victim will often rightly claim they never received the jury duty notification. The scammer then asks the victim for confidential information for "verification" purposes. Specifically, the scammer asks for the victim's Social Security number, birth date, and sometimes even for credit card numbers and other private information – exactly what the scammer needs to commit identity theft. So far, this jury duty scam has been reported in Michigan, Ohio, Texas, Arizona, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Oregon and Washington state. It'ss easy to see why this works. The victim is clearly caught off guard, and is understandably upset at the prospect of a warrant being issued for his or her arrest. So, the victim is much less likely to be vigilant about protecting their confidential information. In reality, court workers will never call you to ask for social security numbers and other private information. In fact, most courts follow up via snail mail and rarely, if ever, call prospective jurors. Action: Never give out your Social Security number, credit card numbers or other personal confidential information when you receive a telephone call. This jury duty scam is the latest in a series of identity theft scams where scammers use the phone to try to get people to reveal their Social Security number, credit card numbers or other personal confidential information. It doesn'st matter why they are calling – all the reasons are just different variants of the same scam. Protecting yourself is simple: Never give this info out when you receive a phone call.