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Commendations February 6, 2008 - Personnel Order #2008-6 Patrol Officer Timothy Stephenson On December 17, 2007 two officers who were in the Centre Street parking lot were approached by the assistant manager of Qdoba Mexican Grill located at 289 Harvard Street. This assistant manager reported to them that two males had vandalized the bathroom of the restaurant. These two males had used magic markers to mark the bathroom with a considerable amount of graffiti. Patrol Officer Timothy Stephenson, who specializes in graffiti-related crime, responded to the scene to conduct a follow-up investigation. Upon observing the graffiti, Officer Stephenson, through his knowledge and experience, recognized the graffiti “tags” and knew of two persons who frequented Brookline who used these “tags” to mark up various properties. As part of his follow-up investigation, two separate photo arrays were shown to the assistant manager and a video was reviewed. Upon completing these tasks, Officer Stephenson had linked the two persons referred to above as having been responsible for the damage at the Qdoba Mexican Grill. One of these subjects voluntarily came to the Police Station and spoke with Officer Stephenson. As a result, he was charged with this specific crime. The other subject failed to keep his appointment with Officer Stephenson and an arrest warrant was issued. On January 9, 2008, Officer Stephenson arrested this second subject. A follow-up investigation led to this subject being charged with the above mentioned crime as well at 19 other incidents of graffiti throughout Brookline. This is but one example of the quality of work that Patrol Officer Timothy Stephenson has done while dealing with graffiti-related crimes. He has built a base of knowledge surrounding graffiti-related incidents, tactics, and “tags” as well as persons who are actively committing these types of crimes. He is to be commended. Patrol Officer Sean Williams On December 20, 2007 Officer Sean Williams responded to a medical call at 129 Fisher Ave where one of the school custodians reported “chest pains” while shoveling snow. Officer Williams, along with the Fire Department and Fallon Ambulance responded and found the victim was alert. The victim was put in the ambulance to be transported to the hospital. Officer Williams was leaving the medical call and following the ambulance down Fisher Ave to Rte. 9. He noticed that the ambulance had stopped at the intersection and thought they needed assistance in blocking traffic on Rte 9 so they could proceed. Officer Williams went around the ambulance to block the traffic and then noticed that the driver was not at the wheel of the ambulance. Officer Williams then got out of his cruiser and went to the back of the ambulance and found the two EMTs doing CPR as the victim had gone into cardiac arrest. One of the EMTs requested that Officer Williams get in and assist in doing CPR. Officer Williams radioed for additional assistance and assisted the EMTs in performing CPR on the victim. A second ambulance arrived shortly and one of the EMTs from the second ambulance got into the drivers seat and proceeded to drive the ambulance to the hospital. Officer Williams stayed in the back of the ambulance doing CPR with the EMTs until they arrived at the hospital. Officer Williams is to be commended for his alertness and quick action that assisted a person in need of life saving medical care. Domestic Violence Advocate Doreen Gallagher Doreen Gallagher has served the Brookline Police Department and the entire Brookline Community as a Domestic Violence Advocate for a number of years. Doreen continuously extends herself to the Brookline Community on a regular basis during both her on-duty and off-duty hours without hesitation. She is always willing to listen and offer support and advice to victims, school students and faculty. Many of the situations that she is involved in are highly emotional and can involve complex situations and relationships. Mediating these situations can be stressful for all involved, even those who are attempting to resolve the matter. An illustration of these efforts occurred recently involving a situation at one of our elementary schools where the principal was made aware of a student who was sexually assaulted in an outside jurisdiction. The principal reached out to Doreen for assistance and advice. Doreen was able to work collaboratively with members of the Brookline Police Department and the outside jurisdiction to discover the facts of the incident. She was then able to asses any further risk factors for the student and the school, advise the principal and offer support. The principal’s statement was “Doreen was amazing. She guided us every step of the way, gave us excellent guidance, and made herself available 24/7. I’m not sure any of us would have known what to do without Doreen”. Her efforts aligned with the stated Mission of the Brookline Police which is in part, “To work together to solve problems and provide the most responsive and highest quality police service”. Doreen is to be commended for her hard work, professionalism and dedication to victims who have suffered abuse. Sergeant Andrew Lipson On January 9, 2008 at approximately 8:45 p.m. a call was dispatched reporting that three males had just robbed a person on the street at 139 Harvard Street. A description and direction on flight was also given out. Patrol Officer Thomas Shea, who was patrolling along Harvard Street, spotted three individuals fitting the suspects’ descriptions and conducted a stop of these subjects. He was immediately joined by Patrol Officer Brian Keaveney, Brian Sutherland, Kevin Fallon and Thomas Ferris. A threshold inquiry of the three individuals who were stopped was initiated under the supervision of Sergeant Andrew Lipson. As a result of this stop, these officers elicited incriminating statements from the suspects, recovered the property that was stolen, obtained a positive identification of the three suspects by the victim and placed all three under arrest for the robbery. All of these officers are to be commended for their quick actions and thorough investigation which removed three dangerous individuals from our streets. These arrests, no doubt, prevented future crimes from occurring. Detective Lieutenant Myles Murphy On January 25, 2008, just after midnight, Detective Lieutenant Myles Murphy was driving west on Boylston Street heading home after work. When he was approaching Reservoir Road, Lieutenant Murphy observed a vehicle operating in an erratic manner westbound on Boylston Street in the passing lane. Lieutenant Murphy conducted a traffic stop of this vehicle on Boylston Street at Hammond Street. After notifying dispatch of his location, he was quickly joined by Patrol Officer Thomas Ferris who was also off duty and on his way home. After obtaining statements from the operator and making other incriminating observations, Lieutenant Murphy placed the operator under arrest. Patrol Officer Robert Mayer then began to conduct an inventory search of the motor vehicle as is required by Police Department policy. This thorough search led to the discovery of 60 individually tied off small clear baggies containing a white powder substance believed to be cocaine. These baggies were located in different areas of the vehicle. Furthermore, Patrol Officers Michael Disario and Patrol Officer Daniel Yanez were responsible for the safe handling of this prisoner. Part of this responsibility includes the integrity of the transport vehicle and thoroughness of prisoner searches. Upon removal of the prisoner from the transport vehicle, they located an additional package of cocaine that was identical in appearance to those recovered in the suspect’s vehicle thereby making an even stronger criminal case against the operator. Lieutenant Myles Murphy and Patrol Officer Thomas Ferris are to be commended for their dedication to duty by choosing to become involved in a situation while they were off duty and thereby removing an impaired driver from our roads. Furthermore, this operator was in possession of a considerable amount of cocaine which was intended for sale. Patrol Officers Robert Mayer, Daniel Yanez and Michael Disario are to be commended for their thoroughness and professionalism in carrying out their duties as part of this arrest process. Detective Lieutenant Myles Murphy On January 20, 2008 at approximately 6 p.m., Brookline Public Safety Dispatch received a call reporting an armed robbery at the Village Market, 4 Brookline Place. A description of the two suspects was obtained but responding officers were unable to locate them. Four nights later, on January 24th at approximately 6:15 p.m., we received another report of an armed robbery at the Horai-San Store located at 242 Washington Street. The descriptions of the suspects in these two robberies, as well as the manner in which the robberies occurred were very similar. Sergeant Andrew Lipson and Patrol Officer Thomas Shea were the first officers to respond to the Horai-San Store. They obtained the preliminary information and protected the crime scene. By doing so, they were able to inform Detective Carlos Crespo that there was a possibility that one of the suspects left his fingerprints at the crime scene. Detective Crespo was able to develop latent fingerprints on the cash register. These fingerprints were then forwarded to Detective Lawrence Crapo who was able to link the fingerprints to a suspect. Once a suspect was identified, Detective Crespo, and other members of the Detective Division, were able to conduct a thorough follow-up investigation. As part of this follow-up, Detective Crespo was able to locate a registration number of a vehicle that was possibly used by the suspects. Sergeant Paul Kelliher, who is assigned to our Traffic Division, initiated a check with the City of Boston’s Parking Department and was able to uncover a street in Jamaica Plain where this vehicle had received a parking ticket. On January 26, 2008 at approximately 1:30 a.m., Detective Lieutenant Myles Murphy went to the street identified through the parking ticket and located the vehicle in question. A surveillance was set up that lasted throughout the night and into the morning. At that point, an arrest warrant was obtained and an entry made into the house by a team of Brookline and Boston Police officers. Located inside the house were two persons who matched the description of both suspects in our two armed robberies. As a result, incriminating statements by both subjects were made, evidence recovered from the Jamaica Plain home and both subjects were taken into custody and both were charged with two counts of armed robbery. This case involved quality teamwork by members of our Department. From the preliminary investigation, to the follow up to the arrest and subsequent questionings, our officers did an exemplary job. Officers from various Divisions all participated in this investigation and were successful in bringing two very dangerous persons into custody. There is little doubt that these individuals would have committed more armed robberies to support their crack cocaine habit but were prevented from doing so by the quick, thorough and professional response by a number of Brookline police officers. Detective Carlos Crespo On January 26, 2008 at approximately 9 p.m., we received a call of a woman screaming in the area of 180 High Street. A subsequent call reported this to be a robbery in progress. Detective Carlos Crespo responded immediately to the area and observed two subjects walking quickly towards the Chestnut Street Rotary. He was then flagged down by a citizen who provided him with a description of the suspects. This description matched the two subjects he previously observed. Detective Crespo immediately went after the two subjects and observed them to be running. He was able to apprehend one of them in the rotary and broadcasted the description of the other subject. Other responding officers apprehended the second subject on Perkins Street near Jamaica Pond Subsequent investigation revealed the victim to be a 66 year old woman. She was coming from her daughter’s home and was walking along High Street near Highland Road when she was approached by an unknown subject. She walked away from this subject but within a very short period of time felt someone rip her bag from her arm. When she looked, she observed the suspect who had first approached her running away with her bag. She then began screaming. A threshold inquiry was then conducted by Detective Crespo and other officers of the two subjects who were stopped. As a result, incriminating statements were made and all of the stolen items recovered. Both subjects were placed under arrest and charged with unarmed robbery of a person over 60 years of age. Detective Crespo is to be commended for his quick response to this crime and his alertness in first observing these subjects as they fled this robbery scene. The above are examples of the excellent police work that was conducted over the last two months by the men and women of the Brookline Police Department. I am honored to commend these members of the Brookline Police Department for their efforts in keeping Brookline a safe place to live, work and visit. Daniel C. O’Leary
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