By Tim Broughton
Speed Walking.
On Wednesday, January 10, at 2 a.m. officers of the Santa Monica Police Department received a radio call informing them that a suspicious person was trespassing at an apartment building located in the 600 block of Santa Monica Boulevard. The officers drove to the location and spoke with the reporting party who happened to be the security guard at the complex. The security guard told the officers that the suspect had been loitering inside the apartment building and that he didn’t have any business being at the complex. The security guard furnished the officers with a detailed description of the suspect and also told the officers the direction in which the man had headed. The officers went in search of the man and discovered him walking briskly in the area of Seventh Street and Santa Monica Boulevard. The security guard had informed the officers that as an ambassador for the apartment building he was desirous of a prosecution for trespass. The suspect was detained and searched and the officers discovered that this man was in possession of several “baggies” of methamphetamine, or “speed.” The officers arrested this 56-year-old resident of San Pedro and he was later charged with trespass without consent, prowling and possession of methamphetamine with intent to sell. Bail was set at $30,000,
Slender James.
On Thursday, January 11, at 8:29 p.m. a Community Service Officer (CSO) was on patrol in Parking Structure Number Four, located at 1321 Second St., when he spotted two suspicious looking characters hanging around in the structure. The CSO studied these two individuals and as he was doing so one of these men ran away while the other stayed inside the parking structure. The CSO used his radio to summon the assistance of Santa Monica Police Officers who, upon receiving the request hastened to the scene. The officers detained the suspicious man inside the parking structure. The officers asked this man for some identification and the man was unable to produce any form of identification so the officers searched the man and discovered that he was in possession of a flashlight, a “slim Jim” (A slim Jim, or more technically known as a lockout tool, is a thin strip of metal roughly 24 inches long and about 0.79–1.57 in wide. Slim Jims are used to unlock automobile doors without use of a key. It acts directly on the levers and interconnecting rods that operate the door, completely avoiding the complexity of dealing with the lock mechanism itself. The hooked end of the tool is slipped between a car’s window and the rubber seal, catching the rods that connect to the lock mechanism. With careful manipulation, the door can be opened) as well as a methamphetamine smoking pipe. This was all the evidence the officers needed to arrest this 53-year-old man from Rosemead and he was later charged with loitering in a City Parking Structure, possession of narcotics paraphernalia and possession of burglary tools. Bail was set at $500.
From One-Many.
On Friday, January 12, at 4:26 p.m. officers were on routine patrol in the area of the 1400 block of Fourth Street when they saw a man riding his bicycle on the sidewalk. This is a flagrant violation of a Santa Monica Municipal Code so the officers stopped the suspected criminal. The officers chatted with this man for a few minutes and during the chat the officers discovered that this man was on active probation with search conditions for grand theft. The officers thus performed a probation search and discovered a treasure trove of suspicious and potentially illegal items. These items consisted of two knives, including one switchblade knife, methamphetamine, a methamphetamine smoking pipe, a credit card and identification belonging to another person. The officers arrested this 37-year-old Santa Monica resident and he was later charged with possession of methamphetamine, possession of narcotics paraphernalia, possession of a switchblade knife, misappropriation of lost property, and last but not least, riding a bicycle on the sidewalk. Bail was set at $1,000.
Editor’s Note: These reports are part of a regular police coverage series entitled “Alert Police Blotter” (APB), which injects some minor editorial into certain police activities in Santa Monica. Not all of The Mirror’s coverage of incidents involving police are portrayed in this manner. More serious crimes and police-related activities are regularly reported without editorial in the pages of the Santa Monica Mirror and its website, smmirror.com.
