Dear Officer Michelle, What is the best way to report a misdemeanor - physical assault - but no serious injuries? Online crime report does not have classification for this.  Is there a number I can call and file a report ? I tried 264-5471, but that has a long list to options and automated system cuts off half of what I say. Thanks Sk Dear Sk First of all, if it was a violent crime-in-progress, you would call 911. It is often not determined until later whether an assault crime is a misdemeanor or a felony. If someone uses an object to hit someone, even if it is a garden hose, it can be interpreted in the law as an assault-with-a-deadly-weapon, which is a felony. If the assault occurred

Hello, My name is Keith and I was wondering where I would put in a complaint about police, highway, and sheriff officers that are violating protocol? This came to me when I was driving on Folsom Blvd and saw a Folsom Police officer sitting under the Metro light rail bridge with his lights off his bike and he was checking peoples speeds. Now the problem is not him checking speeds, but under the bridge was very dark and a driver could not see him until the last minute and this would be very harmful if a driver was in an accident and needed to utilize the shoulder at last possible second. Thank You, Keith Dear Keith, If you have a concern or complaint about an enforcement procedure or “pr

Dear Officer Michelle, me and my wife have been serperated for 6 months and she recently charged $268 to one of my accoumts that she is not on. its soley in my name. is there any thing i can do as far as her doing this behind my back without my permission. and is there anything i can do against the business for charging on my account to someone not listed on it? Sincerely, mooreritter Dear mooreritter, My advice to you would be to speak to your civil attorney. California is a community property state and until you divorce, you will have a community property situation. If you and your wife decide to divorce, bring this $268 charge to the attention of your attorney. You may be able to s

Dear Officer Michelle Hello, I currently live in the Natomas area and for the past few months a man has been placing Music CD’s in my truck bed and on my doorstep. Nothing has been broken into or damaged and I am not harmed in anyway. However, I am not going to lie, I am creeped out. I didn’t want to offend whom ever was placing the CD’s in my truck a few months back so I took them. Now I feel obligated to take them as to not offend and possibly make him mad or put myself or my family in some sort of danger if he is an unstable person. I was wondering if you had any advice about how to handle this situation, I am usually not home when he comes to my house so I have not been able to confro

Dear Officer Michelle,  If you guys could patrol Mid town Sacramento more it would be nice. please patrol more down town like 20TH K street and J street people speed through there all the time it not safe to even walk across the streets. Thank you, tj2007 Dear tj2007, We get a lot of requests for the intersections of 21st and K Street, and 19th and H Streets. We do patrol those intersection and our Traffic Section goes out there on traffic projects frequently. You can speak to a traffic enforcement officer by calling 808-6128. You may have to leave a message, but they will call you back. I will also forward your message to one of the traffic sergeants. Thank you for your post. Offic

There are a couple of ways to approach a crosswalk in Sacramento's inner city: With trepidation, resignation or fearlessness. The last is probably the best, but it's also dangerous. You step into a downtown/Midtown street and your life is in your hands. Rather, in someone else's hands: Those hands gripping the steering wheels of the cars bearing down on you. And while you can claim all day long that pedestrians have the right of way in California - especially in a marked crosswalk - you don't want to be declaring said truth from a hospital bed. Fortunately, you have allies, and they're a little bit crafty: The Sacramento Police Department will be conducting an undercover operation aimed

Posted by Pbaptiste What can I stop this one relative from sending me porn pictures & videos via cell phone? I have asked them to quit doing that, but won’t and the cell phone companies do not have selective text messages blocking of a senders. Dear Pbaptiste, If you are asking me from a law enforcement perspective, I will tell you that your relative is in violation of the law. It sounds to me that you’ve tried the nice approach, and now it’s time to play hardball. You can tell your kin that they are in violation of 653m of the California Penal Code. This basically states that anyone using an electronic communications device to threaten or annoy someone is guilty of a misdemeanor under

Dear Officer Michelle, What is the best way for me to thank officers. I want to send a letter of thanks to the officers and their supervisor, with a bcc to the local newspapers. Is it appropriate to do that and name them, or could there be privacy concerns regarding the officers involved if I bcc the local papers? Thanks, billalbertson Dear billalbertson, Your desire to thank helpful officers is much appreciated. Unless they are working undercover, officer’s names are public information as seen on the name badges that are part of their uniforms! The best way to thank police officers is to send a letter to the chief (you may want to send copies to the officers and the press if desired).

Posted by mistycreek My daughter’s husband found an engagement ring on the street in Sacramento over a year ago (summer 2008). It did not appear to be a new ring, but it had been run over and scuffed. She put it on Craig’s List and received four inquiries with none of the four descriptions matching the ring she found. She asked me about it today (11-14-2009) and I suggested contacting Sac PD to determine if you had any lost property, theft or other crime reports involving an engagement ring dating from about the summer of 2008. She still has the ring. Nothing is engraved on it. Please advise or refer us to the appropriate section of your department. Thanks Dear mistycreek Your daugh

The Sacramento Police Department will be increasing our enforcement near area shopping centers this holiday season in an effort to prevent auto burglaries and auto thefts. Detectives will be working undercover, using bait vehicles and property, and patrolling areas that may attract holiday shoppers. Although auto thefts have decreased by 17.5% thus far this year, we would like this holiday season to result in an even larger decrease. The Police Department would like to remind those headed to the malls or holiday parties to take some proactive measures so that you are less likely to become a victim. The following are some suggested safety measures: • When leaving your vehicle, always lock

Posted by chriso I ride my bicycle around downtown alot. I just heard from a friend of mine that while he was riding his bike downtown an officer stopped him and told him to get off of the sidewalk and ride in the street. Are bicylists not allowed to ride on the sidewalk? I am not very comfortable riding in the street without a bike lane. Dear chriso, The truth of the matter is that the sidewalk is meant for pedestrians. In other words, it is illegal to ride on the sidewalks. Bicyclists must follow the same rules of the road as other “vehicles” and must ride as close as “practicable” to the right. Sacramento strives to be a bicycle friendly city with many bicycle routes, so people are e

Hello Officer Michelle, My concern is about a neighbor across the street. I frequently see him outside on his driveway, drinking beer and playing loud music with friends. I’m not shy to ask them to lower the volume and most times they comply. The issue I want to address is that they drive to the liquor store to get more alcohol when I know fully well that they have exceeded the legal alcohol limit based on the number of empty cans that strewn the driveway. Is this something I should report to the police? If so, how would I go about reporting a drunk driver if I do not know their location after they drive away from their home and when they return in only 15 minutes?   Dear Cogsboy, Cur

Posted by mhorrell My adult daughter was given a brownie at her workplace that was apparently made with marijuana Due to the severe affects she experienced after ingesting a small amount, we are concerned that it may have been laced with another drug as well. Is there any way we can bring the remaining brownies in to a police or sheriff station to have them tested? Dear mhorrell, Good grief! Talk about a hostile work environment! If your daughter knows the person who brought the brownies to work, she should confront the person and ask them what was in the brownies. If they admit that there was a harmful substance in the brownies, then your daughter could go forward and file a report. Sh

Posted by Sorren Hello officer Michelle, thanks for always answering my potentially pesky questions ;) I have another issue that has been bothering me a lot. As you of course know, some unfortunate kid got killed on campus a couple weeks ago. Three days before that, there were gunshots fired on my block in what I used to think was an upper-middleclass safe neighborhood. I don’t really feel safe anymore, and decided that I’m going to purchase a handgun immediately as soon as I can afford the one that I want. The issue is, that it’s not useful, if I can’t have access to it on a whim. I had my dad’s gun a few years ago when I lived in chicago. No CCW. So I had an unloaded, locked up pis

I feel like Rockwell: Is somebody watching me? This morning I received a phone call at 8:03 a.m. from a friend I've been waiting to speak with. She stated, "Hi, Rhonda I have the stuff." I replied something like, "Oh good. I haven't burned none in about two weeks. I ran out. You called at the right time. I've been under stress, angry at so many. Wow, it's good to hear from you, today of all days I need to burn some." I met her on a Native American Woman's Retreat. She makes her own soap, chap stick and candles. She's also shown me how to burn sage, cedar, sweet grass to release negative energy and bring in positive energy. She said she has to drop her son off at school and will meet me

Dear Officer Michelle, I have seen allot of kids and young adults wearing white t-shirts and standing around on the street. A few times I have seen Police making arrests of some of these people in my neighborhood. Could you tell me what the white t-shirt represents? Doe’s it signal gang affiliation? Dear MCE, The long and short of it is that these young adults that are hanging around in the extra long, white T-shirts are usually gang affiliated. They do this for several reasons. The younger ones have a dress code at school and are unable to sport their “colors.” Wearing gang colors is also a way for law enforcement to validate them as gang members. They distinguish themselves by hair st

Posted by concerned10 Hi, Can anything be done about noisy, rude neighbors? I live in an apartment complex, and my neighbors are EXTREMELY rude. They have loud parties in the middle of the week. Last night/this morning (wed/thurs) they were blasting their music super loud and screaming. It was about 2am, and they were actually screaming. It was just so ridiculous. But it didn’t stop there. About an hour later (around 3am) they starting having sex. And it sounded like more than two people, by the way. And they were having sex VERY loudly. Like they were trying to do it loud enough for everyone to hear. There are young children who live in this complex!! It was just so blatantly rude and di

If you spend a day at Fremont Park in Midtown, you’ll just have to “hold it” until you can find an open restroom elsewhere. Restrooms are shuttered at the park, which draws a range of citizens, including the homeless. When the city reopened bathrooms at many parks in August, the restrooms at Fremont Park remained closed because of public safety issues. In an example of how neighbors can change city policy, Fremont Park's bathrooms have been closed for more than a year. The city closed the park’s bathrooms in September 2008 to address neighbors’ complaints about crime. The Sacramento Police Department and the Park Safety Rangers unit reviewed the park’s public safety conditions and, in a F

Posted by smittylove On Tuesday, between 12:00 pm and 2:30 pm, a vehicle accident occurred on the corners of 29th & S Streets. When passing by on our way home from work that afternoon, we saw the remains of the accident. It looked like a pickup had run over a motorcycle, causing the motorcycle to rupture the gas tank on the pickup and both were burned to a crisp. My husband and I would like to know if anyone died in that accident? Dear Smittylove, There was a vehicle accident at 28th and S Streets on Tuesday involving a truck versus a motorcycle. The motorcycle slid under the truck causing the vehicles to catch fire. The motorcyclist fell off prior to the bike being wedged under the truc

The Sacramento County chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union is raising concerns that the city’s plans to use surveillance cameras in public locations would intimidate participants in peaceful protests and create potential for racial profiling. On Tuesday, the City Council will decide whether to approve a $615,000 in federal grant that would be used to install security cameras and related equipment at various sites in the city. The Sacramento County ACLU chapter has fought with the city for months over the planned purchase. City and police officials have said previously that the city plans to combat crime with a surveillance package consisting of 32 security cameras, four mobile su