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Second Quarter Report Presented to BCC
Sheriff Ted Mink presented to the Board of County Commissioners the Law Enforcement Authority (LEA) 2011 Second Quarter Report. Some of the highlights include:
Man attempts bombing at Southwest Plaza. On April 20, the Southwest Plaza Mall in south Jeffco was evacuated following the discovery of a crude bomb and a fire in a service hallway. Deputies swept the mall and found no other devices. The FBI and the ATF joined the investigation into the incident, which took on a heightened profile due to the possibility that the bomber had deliberately chosen a mall near Columbine High School on the anniversary of the Columbine shootings.
The Sheriff's Office mobilized its incident command bus, bomb squad, K-9s, investigators and public information officers. Bomb techs rendered the device safe and removed it from the premises. The FBI took the lead on the investigation. Evidence at the scene, security video from the mall, security video from an RTD bus, and tips from the public led investigators to identify the man as Earl Albert Moore, 65, recently released from prison after serving a bank robbery sentence. A few days later, a woman in Boulder recognized Moore in a grocery store, and Boulder police arrested him without incident.
Alpine Rescue Team honored at ceremony. In May, the Sheriff's Office hosted its semiannual exemplary awards ceremony at which the Alpine Rescue Team was recognized with a special award.
Colorado statutes give county sheriffs responsibility for all wilderness emergency responses. Many of those are handled by deputies. But on occasion, in the case of a missing or suicidal person, a lost hiker or child, when darkness is closing in and the temperature is dropping, there's no substitute for boots on the ground. In those cases the Sheriff's Office calls for help from the Alpine Rescue Team.
Alpine Rescue Team members come out in large numbers to do the job, regardless of the time of day or weather conditions. They're there when Jeffco needs them. The mountaineers who respond are so professional that its easy to forget they're volunteers, doing this job without pay, and that they have real jobs somewhere else. Not every mission has a happy ending, but no effort is spared to bring closure to the event.
In the summer of 2010, a hiker went missing on Lookout Mountain. He had walked up a steep hillside from near Clear Creek and disappeared. It would seem like such an easy area to look for a person. The area wasn't heavily wooded. Deputies walked the area but could not find the hiker. The Alpine Rescue, the "go-to guys" was called.
The professional mountaineers of Alpine Rescue came out, set up their command post and began bringing in resources. Over the next several days they searched every inch of the area, including miles of the very cold creek. Unfortunately, in this case the missing person had fallen from the top of the cliff and was lodged under some heavy brush that was almost inaccessible. Almost inaccessible - but not totally inaccessible to Alpine Rescue. They found and recovered the missing man's body. And because they did, his family can have closure.
Click here to read the entire report.
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