Police reports

Drugs 101: What every parent should know

By Annette Christie

On Saturday, October 15, 2016 from 8 a.m. to noon, a free community presentation will take place at Lakeshore High School Auditorium sponsored by the Voice. Change. Hope. Alliance.  The informative and educational program is being held in response to the August 28 Prescription Drug and Heroin Conference at St. Joseph High School.  The attendees requested further guidance on how to identify if a family member, friend, or student is likely to be using drugs and what resources are available to help.  This outstanding presentation was selected for that demand. Any adult wishing to learn more to combat drug and alcohol use is welcome to attend, no matter the community they are from.   Instructors from St. Joseph Mercy Health System of Ann Arbor will be traveling to highlight a mock teenager’s bedroom for adults to observe and attempt to identify the obvious and not-so-obvious drug related paraphernalia.  Parents, grandparents, guardians, coaches, teachers, administrators, and other adults gain facts about trends in teen drug use, tools to identify potential teen drug use, and skills to engage kids in conversations.  Directly after the program, a panel representing law enforcement, a judge, a parent of a recovering addict, and a recovering addict will be answering any questions.    This presentation is made possible by the Lakeland Health Foundations’ Community Wellness Endowment grant to the Voice. Change. Hope. Alliance in order to raise awareness of the prescription drug and heroin epidemic, while finding new ways to help those who have been affected.    To reserve a spot by Friday, October 14, contact by email or phone:  Loganm4@michigan.gov or 269-921-5741.

Michigan State Police sets Operation Safe Driver Week

  Michigan State Police motor carrier officers will engage in heightened traffic safety enforcement aimed at unsafe driving behaviors by commercial motor vehicle drivers and passenger vehicle drivers during Operation Safe Driver Week, which is October 16-22.    Operation Safe Driver Week is sponsored by the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance, in partnership with government, industry, and safety organizations.  During Operation Safe Driver Week, the MSP will increase commercial vehicle and non-commercial vehicle traffic enforcement in an effort to reduce crashes and traffic fatalities.    “Last year in Michigan we saw almost a 20 percent reduction in fatal crashes involving commercial motor vehicles,” stated Capt. Michael Krumm, commander of the MSP Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Division,  “Operation Safe Driver Week is one way we focus on increasing traffic safety and moving Michigan Toward Zero Deaths (TZD).”   Nationwide in 2013, there were 3,964 people who died in large truck crashes and 310 people who died in bus crashes.  Many of those crashes were the direct result of driver error, both truck and bus drivers, as well as the passenger-vehicle drivers operating unsafely around them.   This effort is part of the MSP CVED’s participation in TZD, which is the United States’ highway safety vision.  TZD unites stakeholders from engineering, enforcement, education, and emergency medical services, with the common goal of reducing traffic fatalities to zero. More information is available at www.towardzerodeaths.org.

Retail fraud halted

 On September 25, 2016 at approximately 1:20 p.m., the Coloma Township Police Department responded to Harding’s Friendly Market for a belated retail fraud. When officers arrived they were told another retail fraud was in progress.   Store personnel watched a woman conceal several bottles of alcohol and attempt to leave the store.  When confronted by store personnel the suspect got into a minor physical altercation with them.    The suspect, a 23 year-old Muncie, Indiana woman, was taken into custody without incident by Coloma Township Police Officers. She was lodged at the Berrien County Jail for retail fraud and unarmed robbery.