Lexus owners beware

Free Press, May 8, 2013. Click to enlarge.

On EP week, thank an emergency responder

Cote Saint-Luc’s finest in orange: volunteer Citizens on Patrol

As Emergency Preparedness Week winds down across Canada I believe it’s important for everyone to take a moment to thank someone involved in emergency services and emergency preparedness, especially those who volunteer their time.  It is because of these fine individuals and their sense of dedication that all of us are safer where we live, play and work each day.

Cote Saint-Luc’s long-serving EMS volunteers being congratulated by City Council

I salute everyone involved in Cote Saint-Luc’s Public Safety Department starting with our volunteers.  These folks who give so much of themselves within EMS and vCOP are terrific in so many ways.  Without salary, they show up for their shifts, rain or shine, heat wave or deep freeze.  They do continuous training and provide extra coverage at special events, all to ensure our safety.  They respond when called upon and are always at the ready.  Thanks so much to all of you.

CSL launches eco-friendly COP Scooter Patrol

Our CSL Public Security agents patrol our streets 24/7.  They are friendly and helpful professionals here to maintain order within our city, to educate our residents and visitors and to help when help is needed. They enforce our bylaws to ensure our neighbourhoods are clean and orderly.  Merci a tous l’équipe pour vos efforts remarcable.

Cote Saint-Luc volunteer Emergency Medical Services honour guard

Our emergency communications staff, also known as dispatchers, must answer all the phone calls and send the right resources, quickly and professionally.  They juggle phones, Urgences Santé and EMS radio systems, computer-aided dispatch screens and more. Thanks to them for keeping calm under pressure and for their polite and helpful interactions with residents.

Public Safety Director Jordy Reichson

Public Safety Chief Jerome Pontbriand

 

Our team is headed by Director Jordy Reichson and Chief Jerome Pontbriand.  Jordy oversees the entire operation of 150 volunteers and some 20 staff members.  He also plans for wide scale emergencies. Jordy deals with residents and partner agencies and plans strategically to keep our city safe.

Jerome works directly with our volunteers in vCOP and EMS.  He helps to bring them ongoing training and improvement to help them meet the challenges of servicing our city. Jerome is a seasoned paramedic who makes sure you get a first responder fast when you need one.

Both Jordy and Jerome are committed emergency professionals, dedicated to the safety and security of all Cote Saint-Lucers as well as those working and visiting here. YOu may even bump into one of them on a 911 call.

EMS Chief Sheldon “Shloime” Goldberg and his team of skilled and dedicated medics are always close at hand, ready to spring into action

So please be sure to salute our emergency responders that are in and around Cote Saint-Luc (and all across our country). In addition to those solely in our city I mentioned above, there are also Montreal police officers and firefighters and CP Rail police.  You’ll occasionally see the RCMP here as well.  And of course there are the paramedics of Urgences Santé, responding to all of our medical 911 calls.  Please thanks them for all they do to keep us safe and secure, for answering our calls, for being ready when we need them most.

Cote Saint-Luc Public Security officer Jean-Noel Champagne

 

vCOP takes to two wheels

vCOP members Peter Kovac and Gerry Trager getting ready to patrol on electric bikes

The sun is shining, the roads are dry and members of the city’s all volunteer Citizens on Patrol program are back out patrolling on two wheels.

VCOP patrols are not limited to the four marked patrol vans that can be seen on the road 365 days a year. The fleet also includes two mountain bikes and two electric bikes, all donated, as well as four electric scooters.

Members receive extra training to ensure they are safely cycling and scooting while providing surveillance on the road and in parks.

vCOP forms an integral part of Cote Saint-Luc’s emergency preparedness plan. As this is EP week, be sure to say thanks when you see one of our volunteers scoot, cycle or drive past.

Police chase ends in Cote Saint-Luc

Cote Saint-Luc residents were bewildered at the rare sight of three Montreal Police cruisers that were involved in a pursuit of a stolen black BMW.

Police intercept stolen BMW in Cote Saint-Luc. Photo: Lewis Cohen.

The excitement came to an abrupt ending on Wildwood Ave yesterday afternoon, as reported and photographed by resident Lewis Cohen.   Two suspects, a male and female, were driving in the stolen BMW until they were cornered on Wildwood, in the Kildare/Parkhaven area.  The two escaped custody after the high speed chase.

Resident Lewis Cohen witnessed the conclusion of this police chase on Wildwood Ave. Photo Lewis Cohen.

The vehicle was dumped on Wildwood Ave, just across from Cohen’s house, where the suspects fled running through Fion park.  The suspects remained at large as of yesterday afternoon.

Police retrieve stolen BMW and load onto a flatbed. Photo: Lewis Cohen.

EMS busy responding, vCOP averts potential disaster

The Free Press. April 23, 2013. Click to enlarge.

Station 9 Police Watch

Free Press. April 23, 2013. Click to enlarge.

Run. Hide. Fight. What to do if…

It’s a sad reality that such a video even needs to be produced. Such is the case for the US Department of Homeland Security that funded this piece that was produced by the Houston Texas Mayor’s Office of Public Safety and Homeland Security.

Of course, one never expects to be in the presence of an active shooter.  But given that such events have indeed taken place, albeit far less so in Canada, it’s worthwhile to take a few minutes to watch the video and think about how you would handle such a horrendous and frightful experience.

Lockdowns and simulations for active shooter scenarios have been organized right here at home (in particular at Cote Saint-Luc’s Bialik High School) by Police Station 9 Commander Sylvain Bissonnette in conjunction with local emergency services.

Hampstead break-in good warning for CSLers too

Although the break-in described in the news clipping below occurred a couple of weeks ago in Hampstead it is a stark reminder to all homeowners that one must take precautions to secure one’s home before vacation.

Always have a friend or neighbour ensure that your home does not look vacant while you’re away.  Pick up newspapers and mail, shovel the walk, keep a car in the driveway, and make your place looked lived in.  Timers are an excellent way to ensure lights and TVs cycle on and off to add to that lived in look.

For more information contact Police Station 9, your insurer or any of a number of excellent and reputable organizations’ websites.

Free Press. Feb. 26, 2013. Click to enlarge.

Station 9 Police Report

Click to enlarge. Free Press. Jan. 29, 2013.

Check your garage door before leaving your home.

Here’s a handy safety tip courtesy of the Town of Hamsptead:

Most people are very careful to ensure that their doors are locked before leaving the house, but did you know that garage doors are often left unlocked, and in some cases, are left wide open? Whether by accident or due to carelessness, an open garage door is a sure-fire way to attract thieves to your home. Before you leave the house:

Ensure that your garage door is securely locked by using a key or keypad locking system.

Before leaving your driveway, make sure that your garage door has completely closed. Many garage doors will reopen automatically as a safety feature if the encounter an obstruction in the door frame, and stay open until the obstruction is cleared.

Where possible, store garage door openers in the house, and not in the car. This way, should someone break into your car, they will not gain access to your house as well.

If you are going to be absent for an extended period of time, disconnect the automatic garage door opener so that it cannot be accidentally opened.

By following these helpful tips, you can help prevent an unsettling surprise when you return home.

 

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N’invitez pas les cambrioleurs ! Vérifiez bien votre porte de garage avant de quitter la maison.

 

La plupart des gens prennent bien soin de vérifier que toutes les portes sont verrouillées avant de quitter la maison, mais saviez-vous qu’il arrive souvent que la porte de garage soit laissée déverrouillée, et dans certains cas, grande ouverte ? Que ce soit par accident ou par négligence, une porte de garage laissée ouverte est le meilleur moyen d’attirer chez vous les voleurs. Avant de quitter la maison :

Assurez-vous que la porte de garage est verrouillée de façon sécuritaire à l’aide d’une clé ou d’un système de clavier.

Avant de quitter l’entrée d’auto, assurez-vous que votre porte de garage est complètement fermée. Beaucoup de portes de garage sont munies d’un système de fermeture qui interrompt automatiquement la fermeture de la porte par mesure de sécurité si un obstacle quelconque est détecté dans l’encadrement, et la porte demeure ouverte jusqu’à ce que l’obstacle soit enlevé.

Si possible, gardez l’ouvre-porte de garage dans la maison plutôt que dans la voiture. De cette façon, si un individu s’introduit dans votre voiture, au moins il ne pourra avoir accès à la maison.

Si vous partez pour une longue période, débranchez l’ouvre-porte de garage automatique pour éviter qu’il ne soit actionné par accident.

En suivant ces quelques conseils, vous vous éviterez une mauvaise surprise au retour.

Related articles

• 9 Tips to Secure the Most Vulnerable Room in Your Home: The Garage (simplisafe.com)

Parole doesn’t last long for career criminal in Côte-St-Luc

 

BY PAUL CHERRY, GAZETTE CRIME REPORTER JANUARY 4, 2013

MONTREAL – A career criminal who recently admitted to firing shots in the direction of the CEO of a telecommunications company in Côte-St-Luc was returned to a federal penitentiary so quickly the Parole Board of Canada didn’t have time to officially revoke his previous release.

 

The parole board recently released a decision in which it informed Mike Hatzidoyiannakis, 48, the statutory release he qualified for in June was officially being revoked. Within the same decision, the board acknowledged the revocation was a mere formality seeing as how, in November, Hatzidoyiannakis had already received a new 5-year prison term to go with a still current 7-year sentence that would have expired in October 2014.

 

The statutory release was suspended following his arrest in a Sept. 20 shooting on Borden Ave., a normally tranquil part of Côte-St-Luc. According to evidence heard in court, as the CEO arrived home, just before 7 p.m., and was about to open the front door when Hatzidoyiannakis pulled up in a Black Honda Civic and said “you think you can do it?” before firing three shots from what turned out to be a fake firearm. The executive noticed the stranger on his front lawn was struggling with the firearm because it had jammed. The victim picked up a brick and chased after Hatzidoyiannakis who jumped into the Civic and fled.

 

When the victim called police, a patrol car noticed Hatzidoyiannakis’s car nearby and gave chase. Two parked cars were damaged in the pursuit, but Hatzidoyiannakis managed to pull into the parking lot of a fast-food restaurant, near the corner of Paré St. and Décarie Blvd., and went inside. The Montreal police located the Civic and began to question people inside the eatery, including Hatzidoyiannakis, who bolted when the officer questioning him suddenly came to the realization he matched a description of the shooter.

 

He managed to avoid arrest for about four hours, until he showed up at his apartment in Laval in a taxi while police were waiting outside. During his brief period on the lam Hatzidoyiannakis called the police to report his car had been stolen.

 

However, while being interrogated, he confessed to the crime and said he “only wanted to scare” the CEO on behalf of a friend he claimed had been wronged in a financial matter.

 

On Nov. 16, Hatzidoyiannakis pleaded guilty, at the Montreal courthouse, to using a firearm in the commission of an offence, possession of a weapon for criminal purposes, and assault with a weapon. An attempted murder charge was dropped and he was sentenced to the 5-year prison term, which will be combined with the 7-year sentence he was already serving for a series of robberies he carried out, in financial institutions and businesses, in 2005 and 2006. Previous to that, he had served a 16-year prison term for a series of crimes including several while he was out on some form of release. Most of his criminality has been attributed to drug abuse.

 

He was denied parole in October 2011 after the parole board determined that his “credibility was questionable and your risk would not have been acceptable.” Statistical information placed Hatzidoyiannakis in a category where “one out of three offenders with comparable characteristics to (his) will not reoffend.” Or, in other words, he fit in a category were two-thirds of offenders reoffend before their sentence expires.

 

By June 2012, Hatzidoyiannakis reached his statutory release date, the two-thirds mark of his sentence, where almost all federal inmates qualify for a release if they were previously denied parole. The board was limited to imposing a series of conditions on the release. He agreed to follow a methadone program and briefly kept his medical appointments at a detox centre. By July he appeared to be following his conditions to the letter and began a program intended to help him develop his skills.

 

But two months later, in September, everything changed. He was alleged to have shown up for a Cocaine Anonymous meeting “intoxicated and with a criminal.” As the information was about to be relayed to a parole officer Hatzidoyiannakis was arrested as a suspect in the shooting in Côte-St-Luc.

 

pcherry@montrealgazette.com

 

© Copyright (c) GAZETTE CRIME REPORTER

 

Cars targeted – Station 9 Police Report

Free Press, December 19, 2012 – Click to enlarge

Happy Holidays to CSL Citizens on Patrol

Happy patrollers: (L-R) Harvey and Susie Schwartz, Mitchell Herf, Lewis Cohen, Glenn J. Nashen, Ruth Kovac, Dr. Gerry Trager, Peter Kovac

On Tuesday night the Cote Saint-Luc volunteer Citizens on Patrol turned out in large numbers to City Hall.  This was not an emergency civil preparedness drill.  To the contrary, this was a festive gathering to thank our dedicated volunteers for their deep commitment in helping to keep our city safe.

Volunteer supervisor Susie Schwartz organized a lovely buffet dinner for the 80 vCOP members who patrol Cote Saint-Luc streets, parks and facilities at all hours of day and night.

Several members were recognized for going above and beyond the call of duty in terms of hundreds of hours of service during the year as well as for giving extra time to serve as team leaders and supervisors, handling administrative tasks, training of new members, continuing education of existing members, scheduling, vehicle maintenance and much more.

Also in attendance were CSL Public Safety Director Jordy Reichson and Manager Jerome Pontbriand along with Police Commander Sylvain Bissonnette and his right hand man Lt. J.P. Theoret.

Bissonnette and Theoret have been staunch supporters of the vCOP program and through close collaboration between vCOP, police and CSL Public Security, Bissonnette reaffirmed that Cote Saint-Luc continues to be the safest community on the Island of Montreal.

Mayor Anthony Housefather was on hand to personally thank each vCOP on behalf of Cote Saint-Luc residents.  The mayor has shown continuous support and much enthusiasm for the vCOP program since its inception six-and-a-half years ago.

I saluted the time, effort and passion that our vCOP members contribute to the community.  Our volunteers are unlike any group in Quebec.

Similarly, I had the pleasure of thanking our EMS volunteers at their holiday dinner just a few nights earlier.  EMS troops dedicate hundreds of hours, 24/7, responding to some 3000 emergency medical calls each year.  With enough volunteers at the ready, EMS has even responded to four simultaneous emergencies on several occasions this year.

At the vCOP celebration I also introduced Councillor Ruth Kovac as my partner in crime prevention.  Ruth and I have been actively involved in emergency preparedness for over 30 years.  Her husband, Peter, joined vCOP last year.  Ruth prepared a poetic tribute to the vCOP members as well as to their spouses who give them the time to serve their city.

ODE TO A VCOP (by Ruth Kovac)

Twenty four hours in every day

Where do you go to give some away?

Time is such a precious gift

And yet you come here and do a shift!

Whether it’s Allan, Gerry, Peter or Paul

It’s a rewarding experience for one and for all

Driving a scooter, a van or a bike

It’s your eyes and ears

And your voice

Over the mike

From dispatch you might hear

“A child is lost”

So you summon all the troops

And all this at no extra cost

At Special events your presence

Is so needed

So once again

The request has been heeded

You don your gear

So proud in orange and black

Your heads are held high

There is no turning a back.

You might stand for hours

Watching over the crowd

Our Cote Saint Luc Residents

Can surely feel proud.

It might be boring

Bur never a complaining word

Just “doing the job”

For our wonderful suburb

Friendships have been strengthened while

Being on shift

You have also learned CPR

And radio protocols, all a personal development lift.

You often take photos

Of things that you see

And send them to Glenn…….

And then he sends them on to me

We talk about the those questions

And discuss at great length

How you all make Cote Saint Luc better

As we go from strength to strength

Perhaps you have seen

An opened garage door

Come upon a car accident

Or seen water gushing into a ground floor

The shifts might be many

Or perhaps just a few

But each one is precious

A donated gift from you

And no matter how your time is spent

Cote Saint Luc knows each of you is heaven sent!

So from Glenn and myself

And Council too

Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah

Volunteers…THANK YOU!!!

Police Station 9 warns of “Letter Scam”

The Free Press – November 27, 2012

The Police Report is intended to inform readers of recent police activity in the community. The articles are written from information taken from police reports and given to the reporter by a Station 9 constable.

While we’ve all heard of phone, email and door-to-door scams, con artists are still sending a letter by post to take advantage of potentially gullible people.

Station 9’s Constable Marie-Christine Nobert said recently a Côte St. Luc resident received a letter from Spain with rather flowery, slightly confusing script that boiled down to a request to help recover a dead client’s $10 million. The information in the letter said the recipient shared the same last name as the deceased and, with that, the recipient could collect the inheritance and keep 50 percent of the wealth.

“All I require is your honest cooperation to enable us [to] achieve this deal,” the letter states. The letter is signed by a Alejandro Ebrat Picart.

“If it’s too good to be true,” said Nobert, “then it’s too good to be true. Think twice when you receive something like this.”

Residents in the area are being targeted, she said, and this is not the first time. Norbert recommended that people who receive letters like this one contact the RCMP or the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF). Residents can also verify the legitimacy of a business through the website: lautorite.qc.ca.

Related articles

• Scammers use email and letters to target kiwis (nzherald.co.nz)

 

Motorist pepper-sprayed

Station 9 Police Watch

Isaac Olson, The Free Press

October 23, 2012

Station 9’s Constable Vincent DeAngelis commended a young Côte St. Luc resident’s courage and ability to stay calm and within the confines of the law during a violent, seemingly unprovoked road-rage assault.

On October 5, just after 4:30 pm, the 20-year-old victim was driving on Mackle Rd. near the somewhat confusing Stephen Leacock Ave. intersection, said DeAngelis. The area, under heavy construction, has been difficult to navigate in recent weeks and the driver was taking longer than usual at a stop sign as he sorted out which way he was supposed to go. A 22-year-old motorist behind him, however, did not appreciate the delay and started honking. The victim says he indicated, with a hand gesture, that he needed one minute to sort out which direction to go, said DeAngelis. In response, the suspect exited his vehicle and approached the victim. The victim rolled down his window to talk to the other driver, but the suspect unloaded a can of pepper spray into the young man’s face. The suspect then hopped back into his car and took off, said DeAngelis, but the victim was able to regain his composure and follow the suspect to Cavendish Blvd. to record his license plate.

In the mean time, however, the suspect noticed he was being tailed, spotted some friends nearby, demanded their help and, together, they crowded around the victim’s car at a stoplight and started pounding on the vehicle. The pepper-spraying suspect went as far as to smash the rear window.

After the suspects fled, a witness approached the victim, handed him his business card and said, “I’m a lawyer. I saw everything. Let me know if you need any help with pressing charges.”

With the license plate and witness reports, it didn’t take long for police to track down and arrest the suspect at his home in CSL. The suspect’s vehicle was searched and the pepper-spray can was found in the car. The suspect has not said a word, said DeAngelis and because the case is still being investigated, the police cannot release his name.

So far, the suspect faces several charges such as mischief and armed aggression that could, if convicted, lead to a prison sentence.