Six Rescued, Seven Arrested Locally in Multi-Agency Operation Targeting Child Prostitution

HAYWARD, CA—The FBI and its local and state law enforcement partners announced the recovery of six children, who were being victimized through prostitution, and the arrest of seven individuals, commonly referred to as pimps, who exploited them throughout the Bay Area on state and local charges as a part of Operation Cross Country.

The operation is a three-day national enforcement action that is coordinated through the Innocence Lost National Initiative, which is a partnership between the FBI, local law enforcement partners, and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that targets child prostitution.

The San Francisco Division of the FBI and multiple local and state law enforcement participated in the operation from June 20 through June 23 in several cities in the Bay Area.

Nationwide, 79 children were rescued and 104 pimps were arrested for various state and local charges. The efforts in the Bay Area account for 7.6 percent of the rescued children and 6.7 percent of the total number of pimps arrested throughout 57 participating cities.

The origins of this nationwide effort started in northern California over seven years ago when the Bay Area Innocence Lost Working Group sought to target the growing problem of child prostitution by conducting a joint, multi-day operation to rescue children and to arrest those who exploited them.

The following agencies were a part of the operation: Alameda County Probation Department, Alameda County Sheriff’s Office, Alameda County Sexual Assault Felony Enforcement (SAFE) Task Force, Alameda County Vice Enforcement Task Force (ACVET), California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Division of Adult Parole Operations, Concord Police Department, Contra Costa District Attorney’s Office, Petaluma Police Department, Richmond Police Department, San Francisco Police Department, San Jose Police Department, San Rafael Police Department, Oakland Housing Authority Police Department, Oakland Police Department, and the Oakland Unified School District Police Department.

ACVET consists of the following agencies: Albany Police Department, California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, California Highway Patrol, Emeryville Police Department, Fremont Police Department, Hayward Police Department, Livermore Police Department, Newark Police Department, and the University of California Berkeley Police Department.

Members of the media should call FBI Public Affairs Specialist Julianne Sohn or Peter Lee at 415-553-7450.

U.S. Marshals Arrest San Jose Robbery Suspect in Cross-Border Operation

San Jose, CA – U.S. Marshal Don O’Keefe is proud to announce the arrest of Jarek Brown, wanted for multiple armed robberies, armed carjackings, and assault with a deadly weapon on a law enforcement officer.

On Tuesday, December 20, 2011, Milpitas police detectives were in San Jose conducting an investigation into a carjacking that happened on December 7, 2011. At approximately 8:40am, police saw the suspect, Jarek Brown, jump into a car and speed away. After a brief chase, Brown crashed the vehicle and fled on foot, entering a home of an elderly man and stealing his car keys. Brown then used the man’s vehicle to escape from police, crashing into a San Jose police motorcycle which was being used in a police roadblock. Brown fled the scene and was able to elude capture.

Yesterday afternoon, March 12, 2012, Mexican officials, along with United States Marshals Service personnel, were conducting surveillance at the suspected location of Jarek Brown directly south of the border in Mexicali, Mexico. At some point, the suspect became aware of the surveillance and a high-speed pursuit ensued. Brown, along with his brother Isaac Brown, eventually crashed the vehicle they were using. Both were taken to the hospital and are now in the custody of the United States Marshals Service.

The U.S. Marshal for the Northern District of California, Don O’Keefe, stated, “This is an example of how our multi-jurisdictional agencies work for one common goal, to show that out-of-country fugitives can’t escape justice by fleeing the United States. The United States Marshal’s Task Force brings together the resources and expertise of state, local, and federal agencies in a coordinated effort to arrest dangerous and violent fugitives.”

Participating in the investigation and subsequent arrest of Brown were the United States Marshals Service Pacific Southwest Regional Fugitive Task Force, the Santa Clara Co. Sheriff’s Department, San Jose Police Department, Milpitas Police Department, California Parole Fugitive Apprehension Team, and the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The U.S. Marshals Service is the primary federal agency charged with conducting fugitive investigations throughout the United States. The U.S. Marshals Service regularly works in concert with other federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies to seek out and arrest violent fugitives and sex offenders, and has established task forces throughout the nation to facilitate the apprehension of fugitives.

Comelli, Flanders and Ruge

April 4, 2008 (San Dimas, CA) Police-Writers.com is a website that lists state and local police officers who have written books. The website added three police officers from California agencies.

In 1959, Ivano Franco Comelli graduated from San Jose State College and joined the San Jose Police Department. His law enforcement career spanned 37 years culminating with his retirement at the rank of captain. Ivano Franco Comelli is the author of La Nostra Costa (Our Coast): A Family's Journey to and From the North Coast of Santa Cruz, California (1923-1983).

According to the book description of La Nostra Costa (Our Coast): A Family's Journey to and From the North Coast of Santa Cruz, California (1923-1983), “In 1959, the author, leaving la costa behind, joined the San Jose Police Force. In chilling detail he describes how certain violent acts, such as the assassination of his best friend, changed his life forever. Using actual events, the author gives us a disturbing glimpse into the murky world of the police and outlines the personal rules he followed in order to survive. For those readers who like their history told in a narrative fashion and embedded in a true life story, La Nostra Costa fills the bill. This never-before told story of the ranceri on the north coast of Santa Cruz, will keep the reader turning the pages, seeking the final out come of this family’s journey to and from la costa.”

Linda Flanders, a former San Francisco Police Department detective is currently the CEO of Taproot, Inc., a business that “provides education on essential social/behavioral issues-through the use of art, entertainment and digital technology.” Linda Flanders has a degree in criminal justice and is the author of In Hollywood Endings and How to Get One.

According to the Midwest Book Review, “In Hollywood Endings and How to Get One, former San Francisco police detective and current educational video producer Linda Flanders has created and crafted a original self-help instructional guide to creating the life one desires.

In 2005, after 18 years of law enforcement service, Rodger Ruge retired from the Santa Rosa Police Department. He started his own business, Ready Force Inc. Rodger Ruge is the author of The Warrior's Mantra. According to the book description, “The book teaches the ancient Eastern technique of mantras, or positive affirmations, as a means to improving one's warrior spirit and experiencing its life-altering power.”

Police-Writers.com now hosts 924 police officers (representing 391 police departments) and their 1934 police books in 33 categories, there are also listings of United States federal law enforcement employees turned authors, international police officers who have written books and civilian police personnel who have written books.

Cops writing on how to do cop stuff

Police-Writers.com is a website dedicated to listing state and local police officers who have authored books. Four police officers were added to the website who have significantly added to the written body of knowledge on how to perform the law enforcement function.

Craig Steckler is the chief of police of the Freemont Police Department. He holds a B.S. degree from CSU Los Angeles, and is a graduate of the FBI National Academy and the POST Command College. The Chief Craig Steckler’s law enforcement career spans 31 years, and has included positions in San Clemente and Chief of Police in Piedmont, California. Chief Craig Steckler came to Fremont as Deputy Chief in 1986 and was promoted to Chief in 1992. He was the Year 2000 President of the California Police Chiefs Association.

Chief Craig Steckler is the co-author of two books on law enforcement subjects. According to the book description of Written and Interpersonal Communication: Methods for Law Enforcement, “The purpose of this book is to improve the reader’s communication skills, both oral and written. Particular attention is paid to the reports and forms commonly used in the criminal justice system.” According to the book description of Fundamentals of Police Administration, “This introductory text for police administration provides a balanced perspective between legal, practical, and scholarly information. The book provides in-depth coverage of patrol, administration, and the impact of local financing on the police budget.”

George T. Payton Is a former Patrol Sergeant with the San Jose Police Department. He has a B.A. and M.A. from San Jose State University and an Ed.D. from the University of Southern California. When he left the police department to become Department Chair at a local college, Dr. George Payton transferred to the San Jose Police Department Reserves in order to keep abreast of new developments in the field; he is a lieutenant in that organization. He also organized the first regional Criminal Justice Training Academy in Santa Clara County and established the first Campus Police in San Jose City College.

Dr. George Payton is a veteran of two wars. He served first in the U.S. Navy and was later commissioned in the military police. His is the author or co-author of seven books: Peace Officer's Guide to Criminal Law; One Thousand Police Questions and Answers: Concepts of California Criminal law; Peace Officer's Promotional Manual; California Criminal Law, for the Community College Student; Patrol Procedure and Enforcement Concepts; and, Patrol Operations & Enforcement Tactics.

Derrick Watkins and Richard Ashby are the co-authors of Gang Investigations: A Street Cop’s Guide. According to the book description, the book “provides a step-by-step guide to gang identification, arrest, search and seizure, prosecution, and other programs that have been used successfully by criminal justice agencies nationwide. Anti-gang strategies are discussed along with the results of their implementation. This guide will better prepare every police officer and detective to deal with the modern street gang. With Watkins’ and Ashby’s knowledge, departments and officers can develop better strategies to curb gang violence and the fear of street terrorists.”

Derrick Watkins is a retired gang detective from the Santa Ana Police Department, having worked in Los Angeles County prior to Santa Ana. He has focused his career in the area of gangs as a patrol officer, while in major narcotics and as a gang detective. He spent nine years of his career dedicated to criminal street gangs. He is a court-recognized expert in Hispanic and White Supremacist gangs, having testified in the superior and federal courts of Los Angeles and Orange Counties. He has conducted training for the California Department of Justice, the State Attorney General, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, and numerous local, state, and federal agencies across California and in several neighboring states. He currently works as a private law enforcement consultant regarding the methods and attributes of criminal street gangs across the country.

Detective Corporal Richard Ashby is a 20-year veteran of the Santa Ana Police Department. He has focused his career in the area of gangs as a patrol officer, a member of special details, and as a gang detective. He is a court-recognized expert in Hispanic gangs and has spent twelve years as a detective with the Santa Ana Police Department’s Gang Detail. During those twelve years he worked as a gang suppression detective, investigating all gang related assaults and attempt murders within the city of Santa Ana. He was also assigned to the Santa Ana Gang Homicide Detail, investigating gang related homicides. In March of 2004 he was promoted to the rank of Corporal and supervised the Santa Ana Gang Homicide Detail until February of 2006.

Police-Writers.com now hosts 532 police officers (representing 219 police departments) and their 1132 books in six categories, there are also listings of United States federal law enforcement employees turned authors, international police officers who have written books and civilian police personnel who have written books.

Rookies and Chiefs

Police-Writers.com, a website dedicated to listing state and local police officers who have authored books, has added two police officers and their seven books to the lengthy list of police writers.

In 1962 T. Mike Walker received his MA in Language Arts and Creative Writing. He was an associate editor for Etc. Magazine of General Semantics from 1963-65, and taught Creative Writing at San Francisco State University. He worked his way through college as a police officer for the San Francisco Police Department. In 1969, his novel, Voices From The Bottom of the World: A Policeman's Journal, was published.

In Voices, the story of a rookie police officer is told through a journal he keeps. According to the book description, “The book opens with a description of Danny's training at the police Academy and his indoctrination into the rituals of sanctioned force. Then, as a rookie cop on the beat, he relates his experiences, his sometimes ludicrous and almost tragic mistakes, the gradual loss of his naiveté, and the disintegration of his marriage. He is then assigned to help guard the stadium at the Monterey Jazz Festival—during this sunny interlude he lives in a dream world of music and sex. The journal ends with Danny's duty in the Misdemeanor section of the city prison, where he slowly learns to become indifferent, and even brutal, to the prisoners, absorbing the idea of violence almost without realizing what is happening to him.”

T. Mike Walker’s other books are Respect: Hippy High School in the Summer of Love and The Butter Fly Bride.

Chief of Police Joseph D. McNamara (retired) began his career as a New York Police Department police officer. While still in his 30s, he rose to the rank of Deputy Inspector (one rank above captain in NYPD’s hierchy). He left NYPD to become the Chief of Police of the Kansas City Police Department (Missouri). At that time, he was likely the youngest chief of police in a major city. He left Kansas City to take the reigns of the San Jose Police Department (California) as their chief.

Joseph D. McNamara has written for novels. The first three, The First Directive, Fatal Command and The Blue Mirage feature the character Finnbar Fraliegh. The books follow Fraliegh’s career from a detective sergeant in a large police department, to a newly formed police department as the chief of detectives and finally to the acting chief of police in a third.

According to the book description of Joseph D. McNamara’s fourth book, Code 211 Blue, “Kevin McKay is a hometown boy who grew up to be a cop. Now he's out of the fire and into the heat--transferred from narcotics to a serial rape case that is turning into murder. But while McKay scours San Francisco from the Tenderloin to Chinatown for a perp known only as Ski Mask, a web of betrayal is being spun by the most dangerous enemies a cop can ever have--the ones who carry a badge. Trusting no one--not his bosses, not the rich lady he's falling in love with--McKay is fighting back against a death trap with his wits, his courage, and his honor . . . on streets stained forever with blood.”

Police-Writers.com now hosts 342 police officers (representing 144 police departments) and their 772 books in six categories, there are also listings of United States federal law enforcement employees turned authors, international police officers who have written books and civilian police personnel who have written books.