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Typically, when you are in law enforcement your name is only brought up in connection with crime and it can usually leave a negative impression. You are blamed for the crime rate, and then someone else takes credit when the crime rate drops. It takes experience and thick skin.
During the last five weeks I have learned how experience in office benefits Whitfield County not only in investigative procedure, but in earned respect and urging action from other law enforcement agencies.
I want to thank Sheriff Scott Chitwood and his officers for their exceptional, well-organized operation of informing, coordinating information flow and motivating police agencies throughout the southeastern U.S. to work together in catching a serial thief that struck more than 80 ice houses from Tennessee to Panama City, Fla., stealing more than $50,000 in cash during a 30-night, multi-state crime spree.
With Chitwood’s experience and respect he has earned from other law enforcement agencies, he was able to manage his staff in coordinating work between law enforcement agencies which led to the arrest of a Chattanooga man near Tallahassee, Fla., on Sept. 3 (Labor Day night). More often than not, these type crimes go unsolved. Warrants were issued for our local July 30 break-ins, and if not for the Whitfield County sheriff department’s communication between county agencies in Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee and Florida, this criminal would still be terrorizing Twice the Ice owners.
As ice house owners, we quickly learned that without Chitwood’s experience in working with other law enforcement agencies we would continue to be victimized by this serial thief. Armed with video, vehicle description and suspect photos, we (as owners alone) tried to warn other law enforcement agencies that the thief was headed their way. Law enforcement insisted they could do nothing until a crime was committed in their county. Once the crime was committed in their county, the thief moved to another county and these agencies stopped looking for him when their jurisdiction was no longer at risk. Other law enforcement agencies were indifferent and considered the crimes business as usual. With the exception of Whitfield and Spalding County, this was the case in almost every police jurisdiction involved, in every state.
Three of our local Twice the Ice houses were burglarized along with three others in neighboring counties on the first night of this crime spree. When the criminals began to systematically move to other ice houses in North Georgia, North Alabama and East Tennessee, most police offices closed the books and ended their investigations when the thieves left their county. Two or three burglaries in their county were hardly worth the man-hours, especially since the thieves were not coming back to their county.
However, Chitwood instructed his staff to do some police work. Over the next 30 nights more than 80 ice houses were burglarized and the Whitfield County Sheriff’s Office took the lead. Police departments all over the Southeast began to call Whitfield County for information. As our ice house owner group began to share information, every owner in every county (Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee and Florida) and their local police each praised “those guys in Whitfield County for working every angle to help catch this criminal.”
This arrest could not have been possible without the help offered by the Whitfield County Sheriff’s Office.
In today’s economy, crime will continue to be committed by thieves willing to exploit the hard work of others. Knowing that my sheriff’s office and staff are here to protect me and take it personal when their citizens are attacked is OK by me.
Michael and TeQuita Hilton
Polar Ice Express
