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06-04-2019, 04:15 AM
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#71 | |
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Iceland*
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Law Enforcement Helicopters
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There are some major caveats, however. First of all, in order to have a wide field of vision and an uninterrupted field of fire into all sectors of the sky, Igor would have to be outside his sniper's hide in the back of the box truck. In fact, given the OpFor's lack of military vehicles with proper firing positions, there is no realistic way to have a 360° field of fire while on board their vehicles. Having Igor engage an aerial threat would therefore, practically speaking, entail having Igor stop and stay stationary until he had located and neutralized the aircraft. Given the probable presence of numerous police vehicles on the ground, this would seem to all but guarantee that Igor (and anyone assigned to support him) would get drawn into a firefight with an ever-growing force on the ground, possibly while trying to duel the helicopter. There is also the factor of technology to consider. The AN/PVS-22 UNS is an exceptional piece of kit, at least Night Vision 8 in GURPS terms. But it is still a clip-on NVD used by looking through a riflescope, in this case the Vortex Razor HD GEN II 3-18X50 FFP. Scanning the sky through a riflescope is a lot slower and less likely to acquire the target first than the officers in the aircraft using thermal FLIR. With a multi-sensor camera system onboard, as both the Houston PD and the Texas DPS aircraft are equipped, it's inevitable that the aircraft has a better sensor picture of its surroundings than any one individual can have through a riflescope. The law enforcement helicopter can clearly distinguish man-sized figures, including identifying someone holding an anti-materiel rifle, at ranges well over a kilometer. And while the .50 BMG round can reach that far, it's difficult to the point of impossibility to locate a circling helicopter precisely enough at that range, in the dark, to get a good shot. So, depending on how careful the pilot is, it's entirely possible that a helicopter might remain outside of effective engagement range of the OpFor while still making it impossible for them to escape, by the simple means of retaining visual contact while they attempt to change vehicles. All in all, while luck or insufficient caution on behalf of the pilot might make it possible for Igor to engage a law enforcement helicopter, it is much to be preferred if the OpFor has already changed vehicles and dispersed before any aircraft are launched. Which is a distinct possibility, as 15-20 minutes from the time they are requested seems to be a best case response time for Galveston County Sheriff's Office requesting HPD air support at that location and it's very unlikely that a DPS helicopter could make it faster there. Any other available helicopters that could be requested, including Harris County Sheriff's Office, would probably take longer. The closest law enforcement helicopter available for quick spin-up is probably a Coast Guard helicopter, but a) It wouldn't necessarily be in the air any sooner than a HPD helicopter, even if called immediately, and b) It might not be the first call anyone makes, as it is probably not procedure for just any Sergeant in a small police force to call the Coast Guard and demand tactical air assets immediately. That's not to say that it's impossible that the Coast Guard would be asked for support, just that I imagine that it would have to be handled at a higher level than a radio call to dispatch and it might take a few minutes of phone calls for a senior Galveston PD or GCSO figure to reach the watch-standing Coast Guard officer and explain the situation. Which, in turn, only happens once someone at either the GPD or GCSO station house has fully grasped the situation and has started making decisive, proactive decisions, not just reacting to the initial report of shots fired. If there is a Lieutenant or someone more senior on duty that night, it makes such a quick and coordinated response that brings in multiple agencies from the start more likely, as that way the senior Sergeant can have tactical command of the responding vehicles and the scene, while the duty officer is available to coordinate from the station, either GPD or GCSO, depending on which department has the more senior (or more forceful) shift commander on duty. If, however, incident command devolves onto the Sheriff, Chief of Police or some other officer who has to wake up and race to work while trying to assimilate the facts from reports on events that happened during the crucial minutes while they slept, it will slow the response until they catch up. So, a lot depends on the initiative, cool-headedness, organizational ability and assertiveness of the shift commanders in charge at the time of the incident. Also, if there is something I've overlooked, like a source of helicopters that law enforcement could request that would be quicker and/or an implausible assumption about the response time of any available helicopter, I'd love to get more accurate information.
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Za uspiekh nashevo beznadiozhnovo diela! Last edited by Icelander; 06-04-2019 at 07:20 AM. |
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06-04-2019, 10:33 AM
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#72 |
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Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Iceland*
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OpFor Vehicle Fleet
When the twelve sicarios arrived in Dallas, they rented cars for driving to Galveston. Igor already had his box truck and Tomás and Eduardo, employees of Katari Security Inc. and licensed Private Investigators in Texas, had access to unobstrusive surveillance vehicles registered in the names of shell holding companies that would take some doing to trace to them. Finally, Raul had Alberto rent a U-Haul truck in La Marque, between Houston and Galveston, in order to use to haul the contents of Igor's truck, if they had to leave it behind for some reason.
Alberto has a credit card, passport and some supplementary identification in the name of Alberto Gomez, Mexican citizen with US residence permit. The ID is real enough, but Mr. Gomez lives in California and is unaware that his fellow Alberto is carrying it, as the sicario Alberto is Bolivian and has no residence permit in the US. Similarly, a Peruvian sicario by the name of Manuel is carrying ID in the name of James B. Borden of San Diego, California. Mr. Borden, while fairly similar in complexion, size and general cast of features to Manuel, has never applied for a passport and is unaware of the existence of the credit card Manuel is using to rent two SUVs from Avis, with Jaime, another Peruvian, listed as the second driver under the alias James Jesus Ferrera, in which name he has a driver's license that looks nothing like him. Two Bolivian sicarios, brothers named Esteban and Cruz, also have credit cards obtained through mail credit card fraud, but are not confident that their ID will survive scrutiny at an airport car rental. To avoid the issue, they used a personal credit card and real identities to rent cars from Hertz, with Esteban listed as the renter of record and Cruz as the driver of the second car. Granted, the sedans they are renting are just meant to be transportation and the brothers are confident that no one will link cars rented in Dallas to some murders in Galveston. The final fleet looks like this:
Raul plans to use the two Ford Explorer SUVs and Igor's F-450 box truck for the ambush. Alberto drives the box truck, initially without passengers, but is supposed to pick up Igor and possibly 'Gwen Delvano', if she cannot be moved without stretchers (which Raul hopes and expects is not the case). The rest of the ambush teams are assigned to the SUVs. The Ford Focus will be used to keep eyes on the yacht Penemue and the pier where the OpFor expect their target, 'Gwen Delvano', to be loaded into a patrol car or ambulance, for transport to jail or hospital. While Raul heard that an ambulance was coming at 23:45 through a police scanner and at 23:56 hears a radio call confirm that 'Gwen Delvano' was scheduled to be transported to UTMB TDCJ Hospital for an examination, this does not mean that he is certain that nothing can change and that 'Gwen Delvano' will actually be in the ambulance and not one of the three patrol cars parked around the pier. Raul is tempted to take this lookout job himself, with his driver, bodyguard and security expert Tomás, but wrestles with his lack of trust in the judgement of the sicarios, whom he knows mostly by repute. Who has the tactical savvy to coordinate the ambush without Raul, Eduardo or Tomás present? Igor, while an expert, doesn't talk much and is not the best man to coordinate anything. He'll obey without question, act intelligently and professionally under pressure, but it won't even occur to him to use social skills, tact or Leadership. In any case, the only sounds the sicarios have heard Igor make are derisive grunts, which does not suggest much Spanish fluency. Edit: Rolled Tactics for Raul and he decides that he can delegate, as well as order the ambush by phone as Tomás drives him behind the ambulance and escort in the Ford Focus. As Raul will have visual contact of the ambush when it occurs, he retains personal command, but each vehicle is an independent tactical unit. The three team leaders each command their own teams, although Garcia has to split his attention between driving an SUV ferrying a different team and managing Alberto, the sole present member of his team and in any case driving a different car. In essence, this means that Garcia is functionally without a command, which is unfortunate, as he is by far the most competent to have over-all authority over the ambush. Alas, Raul does not recognise the imposing Cortez's weakness as a leader and unassuming Garcia's quiet competence, probably because he's only known them twelve hours. --- The two Chevy Malibu sedans and the U-Haul truck will be waiting at the extraction point just over the Galveston Causeway, in order to change vehicles and split up. Let's put Eduardo the security contractor and the sicario brothers, Esteban and Cruz, with the getaway vehicles. Finally, Raul has had Tomas, his personal driver and trusted man, stash the second surveillance vehicle, the Nissan Altima, further away in Santa Fe, TX, so that Raul, Tomás, Eduardo and the target, 'Gwen Delvano', will have a clean car for their getaway even if all the sicarios are killed or caught. Eduardo picked Tomas up afterwards, so both of them know the location, with Raul having marked the location in the navigation app on his tablet. There is one small logistical issue. In which vehicle should Raul stash 125 kg of gold bars? Edit: Clearly the Nissan Altima.
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Za uspiekh nashevo beznadiozhnovo diela! Last edited by Icelander; 06-08-2019 at 07:34 PM. |
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06-04-2019, 10:52 AM
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#73 |
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Banned
Join Date: Dec 2015
Location: Pequod University
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Re: US Law Enforcement Response, Time, Scale and Coordination (Galveston, TX)
Don't let the Secret Service find out about this thread.
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06-04-2019, 11:03 AM
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#74 | |
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Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Iceland*
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Re: US Law Enforcement Response, Time, Scale and Coordination (Galveston, TX)
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We are hopefully a long way past law enforcement officers who cannot tell the difference between fiction and reality, entertainment and actuality. Hell, one of my players (not in this campaign), just got a promotion to arrest and firearms training officer of the Metropolitian Tactical Unit, here in Rekjavík, and he's a gamer who knows the difference between RPG campaign prep and reality.
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Za uspiekh nashevo beznadiozhnovo diela! Last edited by Icelander; 06-04-2019 at 11:20 AM. |
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06-04-2019, 10:06 PM
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#75 |
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Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Iceland*
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OpFor Personnel
I've mentioned the NPCs of the OpFor (i.e. the opposing force). Here is more coherent detail.
The leader of the OpFor is named Raul (or so he told the PCs). Raul is a business executive with Eldorado Commodities Inc., headquartered in Dallas. He's in his mid-thirties, handsome, stylish and well-spoken. Raul has a managment degree from the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile and received his MBA from the University of Texas at Dallas - Naveen Jindal School of Management in 2013. Raul was commissioned into the Peruvian Army as a sub-lieutenant (subteniente) in 2005 and served there two years, before becoming an officer of the DINI, the Peruvian National Directorate of Intelligence. It seems that Raul began working for his current employees either as a junior military officer or upon moving to the DINI. While assigned to investigations of illegal mining operations, Raul acquired significant assets in various Bolivian, Chilean, Colombian and Ecuadoran companies profiting from providing transport and logistics to mining companies. Raul retired from public service in 2010 and was hired immediately as a purchasing representative for Eldorado Commodities Inc. He officially emigrated to the US at that time, but spent significant time in South America until around 2015, when he was made Vice-President of Logistics and Security at Eldorado Commodities Inc., working out of the Dallas office. In his capacity as VP of Logistics & Security, Raul is the point of contact for contracted transport and security services. Eldorado Commodities Inc. uses a company called Katari Security Inc. for much of their more important security contracts and both Eduardo and Tomás are employees of that company. Tomás is Raul's regular driver/bodyguard and Eduardo is a surveillance expert Raul has used for numerous jobs of questionable legality. Both Eduardo and Tomás have licenses as Private Investigators in Texas, concealed carry permits and have never been arrested. Eduardo is Colombian, in his early forties, former Colombian Army, worked for DynCorp International Inc. as a security contractor between 2003-2009, including assignments in Afghanistan and Iraq, before joining Katari Security Inc. Tomás is a Bolivian in his mid-thirties, former Bolivian National Police, worked for Triple Canopy between 2007-2011. The day job of Raul, the man leading the OpFor, is to arrange for the transportation and security of shipments of precious metals, both from the source in South American mines (many of which are illegal) and to storage facilities Eldorado has in South America and the US, as well as, eventually, to market and buyers. Eduardo and Tomás are the most trusted security experts he uses to keep shipments of silver and gold from being stolen in transit, as well as securing facilities for storing hundreds of millions of precious metals. Organizing armored car routes, armed security elements, convoys and reaction forces is a part of their regular duties, as is working with foreign contractors who drive and guard the shipments. In Shadowrun / cyberpunk terms, Raul is a 'Mr. Johnson' / Corrupt Corporate Executive, accompanied by two CorpSec surveillance experts and bodyguards. Igor the Spetsnaz sniper has been covered earlier. That leaves twelve sicarios, men who work for the mysterious Consortium and were chosen for their ability and willingness to murder strangers. Some were living in California, others flew over from South America. A decent proportion of them are veterans of the military, but not all. Mostly, they are chosen for their lack of Pacifism (Reluctant Killer) or other Disadvantages that would prevent them from threatening, hurting and killing strangers for money, but they also have above average loyalty, motivation and discipline... for professional criminals. Also, none of them are blatantly stupid. Assume average stats for the description unless mentioned. Team Alpha
Team Baker
Team Charlie
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Za uspiekh nashevo beznadiozhnovo diela! Last edited by Icelander; 06-06-2019 at 10:07 AM. |
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06-04-2019, 11:16 PM
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#76 |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Denver, Colorado
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Re: US Law Enforcement Response, Time, Scale and Coordination (Galveston, TX)
I have a couple more ideas to toss into the grind, just for fun.
Friday nights and Saturday nights are the busy times for any municipal police department, so you can probably increase the number of patrol officers on regular duty by at least two, or so. Given that a crime so recently took place, a couple more might be puttering around the station, too. The PD is definitely paying some overtime, this week. Any call received by dispatch that an officer is under fire, or "officer down" causes every cop to drop everything and race to the site with lights and sirens. That includes even an elderly police chief, or the desk sergeant who spends most of his time pushing paper at the station and hasn't put on his vest in years. The Texas Highway Patrol will have several troopers assigned in the vicinity of Galveston, and Fridays and Saturdays are busy nights for them, too. The Texas Department of Public Safety has patrol offices in Galveston and in nearby Texas City. Figure at least another three troopers driving around in the general area; one of which should be able to respond in a hurry. The Galveston County Sheriff's Office has its headquarters in the town, also. That means any deputy not on patrol who hears "officer down" will dash to his or her patrol vehicle, also. Generally, most first-responder agencies in the United States in such a situation shift to the Incident Command System (ICS). It establishes a standard management hierarchy for emergency situations, in which the person who knows the most about the incident -- usually, the first to arrive on the scene -- takes command of the initial response, regardless of rank. The first on the scene calls in his or her arrival, and any ranking officer available by radio declares that person the "Incident Commander." If no one of rank is available, the responder declares that he or she will take command of the incident. Also, in response to the 9-11 attacks, most first responder agencies now have a designated radio frequency for use in incidents that require inter-agency coordination. As the responders switch to the inter-agency freq, they'll declare their location and direction of movement. The incident commander will then deploy them as he or she sees fit. Regardless of the actual rank held by the IC and those of the responders, and regardless of what agency each serves with, what the Incident Commander orders is what goes. The declared IC stays in charge until such time as a person of higher rank arrives to take over the incident. However, if the current commander has made competent decisions, the ranking person may simply decline to relieve him or her. Finally, just for fun, the offices of The Daily News are located at 8522 Teichman Road, just off Broadway Street South, in the direction of the causeway from the ambush site. The newsroom will have a police scanner going, at all times, and during the school year Friday night is Holy Night for those who worship the religion of high school football. The Daily News publishes every day, and that means the sports writers will almost certainly be in the newsroom finishing up their high school prep stories, assuming this takes place during the school term. If it's a school break, then the newsroom will probably have one reporter and a photographer (or one person good at both) on duty, waiting for something to break. If the reporter with the PD beat knows they plan to transport one of the people involved (and if he's competent, he'll absolutely know), he'll almost certainly be in the general vicinity, as well. So, possible time line: 0 minutes: Ambush takes place 0+30 seconds: Escort officer radios he's under fire, ambulance personnel radio the same. Police call heard by dispatch, most on-duty law-enforcement officers, and the newsroom. 0+40 seconds: Escort officer calls in that he's injured, or the dispatch's urgent requests for updates go unanswered. Either way, cops go into "Code Red" mode and start to move for vests and weapons. Reporters have camera bags in-hand. 0+60 seconds: LEA in the stations grabbing gear, on-duty officers in their vehicles have abandoned current tasks 0+120 seconds: LEA in patrol vehicles moving toward scene with lights and sirens, station personnel running to their cars, reporters have reached their vehicles 0+180 seconds: LEA on patrol beginning to converge, station personnel moving with lights and sirens, reporters headed toward the intersection of Broadway Street and Teichman Road -- possibly in violation of speed limits. :) 0+300 seconds: First LEA arrives at the scene (Galveston is not a big town), and reports initial observations. 0+360 seconds: First on scene evaluating injuries and rendering aid, if needed. If everyone is obviously dead, first on scene radios that status. 0+390 seconds: If everyone is dead, first on the scene declared the Incident Commander. If there are survivors, the first on the scene is busy rendering assistance. 0+5 minutes: A second responder has arrived, and possibly a third. Incident commander declared at this time, if that hasn't been done, already. Reporters arrive, and make press credentials clearly visible (Seriously. This is why reporters put their press credentials in their hat-bands, sometimes. The Incident Commander needs the ability to tell, at a glance, who they are and why they're at the scene.) 0+6 minutes: Incident commander begins to sort info from in-bound personnel. 0+8 minutes: IC orders blockade of Causeway by personnel on the mainland side, and sends most of the on-site personnel to assist and start checking stopped vehicle. 0+10 minutes: EMTs and firefighters arrive, ambulances and firetrucks with lights and sirens. Station personnel begin to cordon off the crime-scene and ranking Galveston PD detective begins the initial crime-scene photography. Any of the dead will remain on the scene, unmoved, but EMTs will work to stabilize any wounded. Main reporter stays on site and calls the editor; a second (probably the better photographer) heads out toward the Causeway. 0+13-15 minutes: First vehicle arrives at the mainland side of the Causeway with lights and sirens, and parks across both lanes of traffic. American drivers are conditioned to stop when an emergency vehicle anywhere near them has lights and sirens, so that's what they do. Private vehicles headed toward the island engage in "lookie-loo" slowdowns, but keep moving out the Causeway. If, at this point, anybody tries to run past the patrol vehicle, they'll probably make it -- and they'll also get shot at. When an officer has been injured, the other law enforcement personnel are a lot less likely to hesitate before shooting. If the perpetrators don't kill the officer, he'll call for assistance and may get at least a partial license number. He'll certainly get a partial description of the vehicles. 0+18 minutes: If no one has successfully run the road-block, other vehicles arrive at either end of the Causeway and block lanes. Reporter arrives and begins taking pictures. 0+20 minutes: Trunks have been opened and officers how have shotguns. Any with SWAT training have automatic weapons. Causeway is blocked at both ends by vehicles with lights and sirens. Law enforcement personnel begin to deploy tire-shredders. 0+25 minutes: Galveston Island is locked down to land vehicle traffic. Police chief and/or sheriff have put in calls to the governor and the U.S. Coast Guard. Officers not involved in the Causeway blockade deployed to the various docks and piers to prevent departure of watercraft, or check for signs of break-in. 0+40 minutes: Officers arrive at docks and piers, and begin to check for signs of forced entry. Chief and sheriff call the various administrators of the docks and wharves and marinas to ask them to assist officers in those locations. The editor of The Daily News has arrived at the newsroom, and is sitting at his desk. He begins to call other reporters to come in to help cover the breaking news, as well as the page design personnel to re-design the front page. 0+70 minutes: Administrators of seafront assets on scene and assisting officers. Coast Guard helicopter in-bound, if one available, as is a law enforcement chopper from Houston. All cars on the Causeway have been checked and cleared, and permitted to continue on their way. Any others will have to stop for inspection before they'll be allowed to continue. This is a faster timeline than originally assessed, I think, but Galveston is a small community with limited traffic -- especially after midnight -- and that means cops get places fast. Also, the fact that only one way exists for land vehicles to get off the island makes it easy for the incident commander to deploy his people. For a larger community with more traffic, add at least five minutes, and probably 10. This raises a couple of interesting points -- the sicarios are actually better off if they don't kill everybody. If the first couple of responders are busy rendering first aid, they won't have time to shift their thinking to "ICS mode." That would buy precious minutes for the escape, and could make the difference between getting away and getting trapped. Secondly, given the serendipitous location of the offices of The Daily News, the reporters might actually see the vehicles of the perpetrators. Since the cars driven by newspaper reporters are, at best, described as "nondescript," the hit-team might pay no attention to the car that just pulled on the highway behind them. If the reporter realizes what he or she sees, and doesn't freak out (an experienced one will get a bonus to a fright-check), he or she will drift back and try to get a one-handed shot through the windshield. If the car has a dash-cam, the reporter won't even do that -- he or she will just follow for as long as his or her nerve holds out.
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-- MXLP:9 [JD=1, DK=1, DM-M=1, M(FAW)=1, SS=2, Nym=1 (nose coffee), sj=1 (nose cocoa), Maz=1] "Some days, I just don't know what to think." -Daryl Dixon. Last edited by tshiggins; 06-04-2019 at 11:24 PM. |
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06-05-2019, 12:17 AM
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#77 |
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Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Iceland*
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Re: US Law Enforcement Response, Time, Scale and Coordination (Galveston, TX)
Thanks, tshiggins, these are some great points!
I'll get to more of them later today, but I want to note, in case you missed it, that the kidnapping of Alice Talbot and the discovery of the six bodies in the Seawall Walmart took place on the 27th of December, 2018, which was a Tuesday. Friday, December 28th, 2018, was therefore a pretty busy day for both the Galveston PD and the GCSO, at least for detectives, forensics personnel, interagency liaisons, spokesmen and senior officers. In fact, Chief Vernon Hale and Sheriff Trochesset had both been on the go since the morning of the 27th when they finally went home for Friday dinner after office hours on the 28th. Mind you, while the names of the identified victims are known to the press, the existence of 'Gwen Delvano' is not. Her name is on the credit card used to rent an apartment where the two suspects in custody stayed, but while the landlord disclosed that fact to the police, he is hoping to keep the fact that he rented to the suspects a secret, so he hasn't leaked it to the press. And no one else knows the name 'Gwen Delvano', only the PCs, Raul and his OpFor. So, at 23:45, on the Friday night of December the 28th, 2018, when a Galveston PD patrol officer spoke to dispatch about the ambulance headed their way, nothing specifically linked that call to the murder and kidnapping case of the day before. And at 23:56, when the officer used the name 'Gwen Delvano' over the radio and was told to take her into the UTMB TDCJ Hospital for examination before processing her, a listening reporter would not necessarily know that what was being discussed was a suspect (albeit not apparently a dangerous one) in a case involving six murders and a kidnapping, and not, for example, a tourist arrested for a disturbance aboard a private yacht. However, depending on what the reporters can see and/or what frequencies they can hear, a Galveston PD radio car turned up around 23:00 at the pier just east of the Pelican Marina, where the yacht Penemue, owned by the notoriously eccentric billionaire J. R. Kessler, is moored. A few minutes after that, the Galveston County Sheriff's Office dispatch sent a patrol car to "Mr. Kessler at his yacht, to render assistance as directed". And while there was nothing on the radio about it, two more Galveston PD vehicles arrived there, another patrol car at 23:40 and an unmarked detective car at 23:55. Then again, Mr. Kessler and his senior staff are huge benefactors of both departments, especially the GCSO, and a lot of his security personnel are Reserve Deputies in the GCSO and/or the Sheriff's Offices of other neighbouring counties. Given that Kessler's employee had been kidnapped the day before (her name, through ferocious influence and [legal] intimidation, has not been published, but the good reporters still know it), it wouldn't be surprising to see numerous officers and deputies carrying out security checks in case there was any kind of threat to other staff or Kessler himself. Oh, and the Ball Tornados played their last game of the season away at Texas City on the 9th of November, 2018, so the season has been over for six weeks. It's the holidays and Ball High School did not play the kind of football where you chase playoff glory after the regular season. They had a losing season 3-6 (and a cancelled game). Raul and his OpFor, Spetsnaz and sicarios both, are considering an ambush at the corner of Broadway Street and 71st Street at a few minutes after midnight on Friday, i.e., properly speaking, Saturday, December the 29th, 2018, at 00:01 to 00:10 or so, depending on whether the PCs do anything to delay the departing officers or 'Gwen Delvano'.
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Za uspiekh nashevo beznadiozhnovo diela! |
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06-05-2019, 07:56 AM
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#78 | |||
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Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Denver, Colorado
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Re: US Law Enforcement Response, Time, Scale and Coordination (Galveston, TX)
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In the United States, all actions of the police are subject to public review, and the first part of that takes place with the publication of "police blotter" reports. Generally, the reporter (or reporters) with the cop beat(s) heads down to the station to check the "blotter" -- or reports of police activities for the previous 24 hours. This is a fairly typical example of what the police put on the Internet. The actual written reports are usually more complete. http://www.springsgov.com/units/poli...iceblotter.asp Given that the arrests have been made, the press will be pressuring the PD or Sheriff's Office to release as many details as possible. If they're getting pushback, they'll want to know why. Quote:
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If a duty reporter is single, though, he or she could be listening in from home.
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-- MXLP:9 [JD=1, DK=1, DM-M=1, M(FAW)=1, SS=2, Nym=1 (nose coffee), sj=1 (nose cocoa), Maz=1] "Some days, I just don't know what to think." -Daryl Dixon. |
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06-05-2019, 10:29 AM
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#79 | |
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Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Iceland*
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The Press and Kessler
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Oh, and any veteran reporter would know that anyone who published the name anyway, exposing Ms. Talbot to stress, unwelcome attention, further psychological trauma and even potential danger, would be courting the vindictive wrath of a well-connected billionaire. A billionaire who is infamous for being very protective of his privacy and the well-being of his personal employees, to the point that there are legends that he has arranged to have government troops attack a rebel compound in an undisclosed African country to avenge the murder and kidnapping of some of his employees there. The warlord responsible was allegedly made the sole priority of the government forces and eventually killed with all of his men. Less colourfully, but perhaps more plausibly, Kessler is reputed to be quite prepared to spend millions upon millions on legal fees to seek damages from news agencies, and from reporters personally, if they outrage his quaint notions of honour. And quite a number of readers and advertisers seem to side with J.R. Kessler when something like that happens, as the old devil is a silver-tongued rogue who somehow always manages to come across as charmingly eccentric, and exemplifies quite a few popular Texan virtues, to go with the kind of flaws many Texans secretly admire. While Kessler is probably too old for such shenanigans now, many reporters will recall him publicly challenging a newspaper editor to a duel in the 70s over a harmless gossip column alleging a romantic relationship with a young beauty queen turned rodeo contestant, claiming that the editor had besmirked the name of a lady and offering him choice of weapons, "any of the little weasel's favorite armaments, from mud pies, rumour, vicious innuendo to flat-out lies". They'll also remember, pretty vividly, how Kessler bought ad space in every other media for months, to call for horsewhipping cowardly rumour-mongers and mock every embarassing detail of the editor's early career and lampoon his professional failures. The well-informed know that a corporation with ownership ties to Kessler eventually acquired the offending newspaper and while the ensuing interview was in private between the two men, the result was that the editor publicly apologized to the offended lady for his incorrect and insulting insinuation. The most plausible rumour was that the editor had a choice between that and being fired on the spot, but the more entertaining versions have Kessler promising to find a way to hire an actual weasel in his place if he did not apologize. Strangely, the same editor later published several pieces critical of Kessler's business practices in the African mining industry, but no negative fallout was observed. And even more strangely, thirty years later, at the editor's retirement party, the two old men were observed getting very drunk on good bourbon and laugh until they cried at remnisciences from their old feud. --- Reporters also have the names of four out of six murder victims, the fifth was only recently identified (so no leak yet) and the sixth still hasn't been. While I'm sure that the authorities asked that reporters respect the privacy of victims and their families, not to mention being concerned that families didn't learn of the deaths on live TV, I'm sure the names have been published by now, over 24 hours after the first reports. What I'm imagining that reporters do not know is the name 'Gwen Delvano', which only appears on the credit card payment for the apartment where the two suspects were staying. This fact means that the police urgently wish to speak with her, but the lead detectives in the case hope to avoid panicking her into flight by naming her as any kind of suspect or person of interest. They initiated all sorts of searches for this person in law enforcement databases and are in the process of filing the necessary paperwork to get her financial information, but have not disclosed the name publicly.
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Za uspiekh nashevo beznadiozhnovo diela! |
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06-05-2019, 10:30 AM
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Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Iceland*
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The Press, Law Enforcement and the Crimes
Quote:
Any good reporters are also aware that J.R. Kessler belongs to the board of the Galveston County Deputy Sheriffs Association (albeit Emeritus), that Kessler has been the largest contributor to the Association and to several funds and charities that ultimately benefit GCSO, deputies or their families for four decades and that Kessler is godfather to Sheriff Trochesset's youngest and gives lavish Christmas and birthday gifts to all eight of Trochessets' grandchildren. In fact, Kessler is not only a family friend to the current Sheriff, he is also one of the closest friends of legendary former Sheriff Joe Max Taylor (Sheriff 1981-2000, 'Undersheriff' 1971-1981, joined the GCSO in 1957), the man who first hired young Trochesset and was responsible for much of the modern form of the GCSO. Considering that J.R. Kessler clearly tightened the security around his yacht over Friday the 28th, calling in numerous employees from vacation early, it wouldn't be surprising if he had asked Sheriff Trochesset to coordinate with his personal security in going over potential threats. After all, no motive for the kidnapping of Ms. Talbot has yet been established and while she may have been randomly targeted, it is also possible that the kidnappers knew she was employed in Kessler's personal household. An ordinary reporter might believe that this also explained the Galveston PD patrol cars, but a canny one would realize that while J.R. Kessler had historically been deeply involved in charitable works related to Galveston PD, the current Chief of Police, Vernon Hale, is an outsider hired from Dallas at the beginning of 2018, did not know Kessler before his appointment as Chief of Police and is rumoured to be anxious to avoid any appearance of favoritism or preferential treatment toward local elites. In fact, a smart reporter might even have been working on a story about how Chief Hale had ended several programs where charitable donations from various sources close to Kessler had been used instead of city funds to equip or train officers, allegedly because Chief Hale was concerned that these might cause the department to be viewed as unduly influenced by private citizens and corporations. And how officers were unhappy with this and feared that Chief Hale next meant to tamper with a charitable fund for defraying officers' medical costs in retirement, which would adversely affect the situations of those who feared their pensions were inadequate. In short, a very smart reporter might wonder if Chief Hale would be entirely happy to see Galveston PD apparently tiptoeing around J.R. Kessler, his attorneys and staff, conducting the investigation in accordance with Kessler's wishes. And whether several cars from Galveston PD at Kessler's yacht so long after business hours were there with Chief Hale's approval or perhaps even without him knowing about it, as there are indications that senior officers in the Galveston PD are anxious to position themselves to be the next Chief of Police, if, say, Chief Hale were to be found wanting, as an outsider unaware of how BOI people do things. As potential corruption stories go, it's not very juicy, though. "Local law enforcement extra diligent in protecting kidnap victim due to connection with a famous benefactor of local law enforcement" is a very "Dog bites man" story and shouldn't surprise anyone. It's hardly worth incurring the emnity of Kessler's formidable business manager, Ms. Marchant, over a story that will only shock extremely naive outsiders and be greeted with "well, duh" from most people who know how small towns work. Quote:
There was also a great deal of speculation to be wrought from the way a Lieutenant in the Galveston PD, to the great consternation of his Chief, responded to a question about "alleged occult aspects of the murders" by saying, honestly, but perhaps without reflection, that the department had consulted experts on Satanic cults and that investigations were ongoing into whether the two suspects in custody had belonged to a cult of some sort. Especially as a Traci Cartwright, assistant manager of the Walmart where the bodies were found, was so very willing to speak openly about her belief that the murders were connected to the notorious haunting of the Seawall Walmart, but that she had reason to believe that through the power of prayer, the malign influences of the terrible killers had been contained and that she did not fear going to work again, "as I know for a fact that just as there are evil forces that stalk this Earth, there are also guardian angels that protect our souls, as the police do protect our bodies, And we here, we're guarded and these evil ones, they know we guarded. They know. I got my cross and been praying." Any reporter deeply involved in the dramatic story is pretty likely to be either asleep at home after working too much for the last 24 hours. Of course, that most likely leaves an ambitious colleague, either young and hungry, or old and alcoholic (stereotypically), anxious to get the next big story on the case. Even, possibly, wondering about this occult angle, because just like EMTs, cops and coroners, a lot of reporters have been coming across things they can't explain in the past years and decades. The Facade means that publishing stories about the supernatural tends to ruin your credibility (not to mention most reporters, like most other people, have a hard time believing in it themselves, even after pretty compelling evidence), but any reporter who is Curious would have to know, wouldn't he? Even if he couldn't print the truth, because no one would believe him.
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Za uspiekh nashevo beznadiozhnovo diela! Last edited by Icelander; 06-05-2019 at 10:43 AM. |
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