About Mark on Veteran's Day

This will without a doubt be the longest one of these things I'll ever do.  Please bear with me.

For several years I taught Police and Society at Metro CC to a group of juniors and seniors from the Papillion-LaVista high schools who participated in their Criminal Justice Academy.  The program gives students who are interested in local, state or federal law enforcement the opportunity to earn college credits while still in high school.  The classes were held outside of normal school hours, very early in the morning.  Because of this, many of my students were not fully awake during a good portion of my ramblings.

In my first year of teaching I had a baby-faced student named Mark.  He was the exception, and always came to class prepared and alert.  Unlike myself when I was his age, he was interested, courteous and respectful of authority.  Mark was a true pleasure to have in class and ended up earning an A (I still have the grade book).  He seemed unusually mature for his age, expressed an interest in becoming a police officer, and I remember hoping that he'd someday apply with our department.

For several years after that I didn't see much of Mark.  Then one day he shows up at my house with my daughter after they started dating.  By then he was in college and enrolled in the Army ROTC program.  Turns out that his grandfather (who served in the military) and 9/11 served as inspiration to join the Army.  After that I saw quite a bit of him.  He hadn't changed much.  He still looked very young and was always respectful and pleasant.  Mark was a great kid to have around and I never worried when my daughter was in his company.  We spent many a holiday clowning around in the family room.

A fews year later my wife and I attended his Army commissioning at Creighton.  I think it was Mark's and his family's proudest moment.  I had been there myself at one time and could relate.  His uniform was immaculate as the lieutenant's bars were pinned.  I remember thinking how young he still looked in that grown-up uniform.  Next thing we know he completes several training courses throughout the U.S. and gets orders to Afghanistan.  It's my understanding that Mark was barely unpacked when he volunteered to take a patrol for another officer who was not feeling well.  Several hours later on August 30, 2010 1st Lt. Mark Noziska was killed instantly when an IED was detonated by a faceless, gutless fanatic who may have masqueraded as one of the civilians that Mark was sent there to protect.  He was 24 years old.  I got married and my oldest daughter was born when I was 24 years old.

Mark was buried in Grand Island where he grew up as a child.  His funeral procession was one of the most incredible experiences of my life.  It seemed as though the entire population of 50,000+ lined the streets between the church and the cemetery to pay tribute.  No one in our car could stop crying.

Next time you head west on Lincoln Street from 84th look left about 5 blocks down the road.  There you'll see 1st Lt. Mark Noziska Lane.  Usually there are flowers and maybe a flag at the bottom of the pole.  I find that gratifying, because I know that someone else out there still thinks of him.

Having served on active duty and in the reserves for almost 25 years, I've attended countless Veteran's Day celebrations.  Most involve speeches, music and alot of flag waving.  I don't much like to attend that stuff anymore, although I do put out my flag --- for 1st Lt. Mark A. Noziska.

If you are feeling generous, please consider making a tax-deductible contribution to the Mark Noziska Scholarship Fund through the Papillion LaVista Schools Foundation, located at 242 West Grant Street.  Last I checked they almost had enough funding to provide for a perpetual scholarship.  I can't think of a better way to honor Mark and other veterans who have suffered loss.  Pretty soon this thing in Afghanistan will be over and there will be little evidence that our troops were ever there.  I sure hope Mark is remembered on many Veteran's Days for years to come.

                                                                                                                    

Keep Your Money

Each month we send out a number of random community perception surveys to see what our customers think about us and to elicit anonymous suggestions and concerns.  One I recently received had the following comment/question:  "I get contacted by 5 different police organizations.  Do you get any of the money?  You do a great job!" 

I really liked that last part, so even though it has nothing to do with this post, I decided to leave it in.  Thanks Mr. M for your kind comment.

This post is about the first part of his comment, primarily because I've been asked about this before.  What Mr. M speaks of are those annoying telemarketing calls that we all get from time to time in which someone purporting to represent the police want our money for this or that law enforcement cause.  Next time you get one of these (just before you hang up), take time to ask the caller if he or she is actually a police officer.  They are not allowed to lie, and I'll bet they'll answer they are not.  To answer Mr. M's question:  The Papillion Police Department has NEVER received a dime from any telemarketing program, nor has PPD ever solicited donations from individual taxpayers.  Once in a while we accept unsolicited donations from generous corporate, community and non-profit partners, usually for specific targeted programs (DARE, Neighborhood Watch, K-9 program, etc.), and we might apply for a corporate grant from time-to-time.  We firmly believe that our citizens donate enough to our causes via their annual tax bill, and there's no need to shake anyone down for more.

I think there's a certain creepiness about these types of telemarketing schemes.  Although never stated overtly, there's always a hint that these law enforcement "organizations" have special license to coerce a buck out of people, especially those who can't easily distinguish between their local police departments and national or state organizations which use proceeds to lobby one cause or another.  The other fact that's never stated is that about 75 to 90 percent of amounts collected go to the telemarketing firm, not the cause that's being advertised or peddled.

If you are inclined to donate to a worthy charity, find one that doesn't use most of their collections to fund administrative fees or salaries.  There are plenty of them out there (i.e. Salvation Army), and you can research many on the web (A good place to start is http://www.charitynavigator.org/ ).

The Bottom Line:  If someone calls you, wants to get in your wallet, and says they are representing us ---- THEY AIN'T REPRESENTING US.    

I Wish I Would Have Thought Of It - Show a Cop, Get a Pop

One of the very best things about hiring good people is that many of them are smarter than the boss.  Yesterday KETV News did a piece and today the Papillion Times printed a story about our "Show A Cop, Get A Pop" initiative at both Papillion high schools.  Essentially, this was a very simple idea to encourage our high school students to upload Nebraska's Underage Drinking Hotline number into their saved phone contacts.  Presumably, when prom and graduation parties come to the forefront later this spring, a student might remember to dial the number if they observe dangerous (and illegal) underage alcohol consumption going on around them.  The simple act of report the activity might very well save someone's life. 

But I digress.  The reason I make this post is to thank the officers who brainstormed and worked this idea in the first place.  Sgt. Kevin Covi and his band of merry men in Crime Prevention (A. Foster - PLVHS South SRO, B. Stigge, PLVHS SRO, T. Foster and K. McClannan - DARE Instructors' Extroidinare, and Phil Tackett - SRO and Permanent Room Dad at Papillion Jr. High) got together during one of their regular Crime Prevention meetings (a.k.a Grouphug) and came up with the idea.  They then obtained the full support of both Principals at the high schools and solicited the local Pepsi distributor to donate enough pop to give both schools a sugar high.  The first few days of this program have been a smashing success and we'll hopefully see a payoff later this spring. 

Good ideas happen around here everyday, I just wish I could take the credit for them.  Great job fellas, and keep up the good work.   

Another Fantastic Papillion Days

The annual P-Days celebration stresses our department more than any other time during the year.  Virtually all our men and women work extra shifts to make sure we have extra patrols on the Midway, in the park and during dualathon and parade activities.  In fact, we spend approximately 20 to 25% of our non-grant assisted overtime budget during the 4-days of festivities.  As I review the calls for service from the past week, I'm pleased to announce that, other than several alcohol-related arrests, we had virtually no crime associated with any Papillion Day's activity.  This stat speaks extremely well of our community and those who attended.  I'm also very proud of our men and women in uniform.  Although all of them work long hours and soak up alot of sun while wearing heavy gear, extremely uncomfortable bullet-resistant vests and hot uniforms, they also show more restraint and patience than is probably required.  Alcohol overconsumption seems to give some special powers to verbally assault our officers, but all took it in stride.  If you saw something positive about something an officer did, I'd like to hear about it.  Likewise, if you observed something you think needs improvement, please let me know.  We know we can't make everyone happy, but we'd sure like to try.  Thanks again for making Papillion Days fun and family friendly.      

Is It That Time Of Year Already?

PRIDE (Prevention Resources & Information on Drug Education) Inc. just sent out the 2011 Metro Area Prom and Graduation schedules to all area law enforcement agencies.  In addition to the dates, times and locations of proms and graduation ceremonies, it also lists the locations of post-prom celebration events.  We cops like to use these things as kind of a roadmap of the stars to figure out when and where we'll concentrate our forces and turn our attention to youth revelers who might take things a bit too far.  The last thing we want to do is ruin someone's special night, but we will if we have to-----because the stakes are too high.  Tragedies surrounding underage drinking still occur far too frequently, even though the word has never gotten out more.  Several years ago we began airing a stark music video created by the band Simple Plan on our local cable access channel (Channel 18 on Cox in Papillion).  Word had it that the band wrote the song after a close friend was killed by a drunk driver.  Although the message was brutally unpleasant, I received more thanks for putting it on than any other thing we've ever done before or since.  So we'll do it again this year, in hopes that at least one kid out there will modify his or her behavior as a result of seeing it.  Kids:  Think about how much of a hassle it would be to work your way through the courts for an underage drinking arrest while you are also trying to get ready for college, military or whatever else you want to do after graduation.  Parents:  Take time to hassle your kids just a little bit by keeping track of what they are doing, who they are doing it with, and where they are doing it.  The old hippie saying used to be never trust anyone over the age of 30.  During this time of year and for this purpose I ask you to flip that one just a bit to never fully trust anyone under the age of 19.  Please be safe and smart because we'll be out there party crashing.  

On-Street Parking

Now and then I'm asked why certain laws are on the books.  As far as state laws are concerned, I rarely know the reasoning of our legislators in Lincoln.  They write'em and we enforce'em.  But when I'm asked why we've adopted a specific city code, I can usually come up with a reason (or at least an excuse).  Recently, someone asked why we have a city code which limits on-street parking to a maximum of 24 hours.  Quite honestly, the best I could come up with was "because we've always limited on-street parking to a maximum of 24 hours."  Not exactly a brilliant response. 

At tomorrow night's (March 1, 2011) Papillion City Council meeting, Ordinance #1604 will be introduced.  If ultimately approved, on-street parking for up to 72 hours (except where otherwise posted) will be permitted in our fine city on or about May 1, 2011.  I hope the ordinance is adopted, and here's why.

1. The current restriction can't be found in city code.  The 24 hour parking rule was enacted by Resolution #678 in 1992.  Actions instituted by resolutions are not integrated into city code, although they have the same force of law.  Adoption of this ordinance will put parking time limits into Chapter 190 of our city code, which is accessible by all our citizens.
2. The current restriction empowers the unneighborly neighbor to become even more unneighborly.  Believe it or not, more than a few of our residents call law enforcement at the 24 hour and 1 minute mark when the person living across the street leaves his/her car parked on the street.  Usually the dispute with the person living across the street has nothing to do with parking, but our law provides an excellent avenue for anonymous revenge (and just one more reason for the responding officer to be asked "Don't you cops have anything better to do?).  If the proposed change happens, at least Mrs. or Mr. Kravitz will need to pay attention to the neighbors parking habits for 3 whole days before calling us.
3. It will give us one less reason to nag our teenagers.  I remember speaking with one frustrated resident who had an unneighborly neighbor who loved turning him in for parking too long on the street.  He explained that he had 4 high-school and college-aged kids who each had their own set of wheels.  Add those to he and his wife's vehicles, and he had to worry about the docking of 6 cars in a manner that wouldn't tick off his unneighborly neighbor.  Although he tried to enact a rotation schedule that would keep Johnny Law off his back, he said he had a tough enough time just remembering his kid's names (and tuition payment schedules).  I can relate to his lament.  Hopefully, he'll soon only need to nag his kids every 72 hours (about parking anyway).
4. Decriminalization of the weekend getaway.  Now if someone leaves town from Friday to Sunday and forgets to put their other car in the driveway, they don't need to worry about coming back to a parking ticket slapped on their windshield.

Of course, there is justification to place time limits for on-street parking.  Most noteably, we don't want to devote public space for the indefinite storage of junked or inoperable vehicles.  If Ordinance #1604 is approved, the change will put us in line with most other municipalities in the Omaha metro.  Then when I'm asked why we have a 72 hour on-street parking restriction, I can reply "because everyone else has a 72 hour on-street parking restriction."  Ah, what a brilliant response!       

Snow Emergency Headaches

A snow emergency was declared last night and lasts until later today.  The most obvious purpose of the declaration is to have vehicles removed from public streets so our overworked public works employees can plow them clear.  One vehicle left on the street sticks out like a sore thumb and requires an additional pass of the plow once finally removed from the street.  In addition, the exercise of responding to complaints and identifying and locating the owner ties up our patrol officers for long (and often unnecessary) periods of time.  Once the emergency is declared, all vehicle owners are required to remove their vehicles from the streets within 6 hours.  If the vehicle is not removed within the prescribed time, our officers have the authority to have them towed (at owner's expense) to the Sarpy County Towlot.  Knowing that this option doesn't make us very popular, we do everything we can to locate someone who can move it off the street.  Often this is made more difficult because of out-of -date license registration information.  With the prospect of more snow on the way, please help us remain popular by complying with snow emergency requirements.  If you have a problem with non-compliance in your neighborhood, please call our non-emergency number at 339-3196 to report.  Meanwhile, why aren't those kids in school today?  When I was young I walked 5 miles through knee high snow................