On Tuesday, August 1, 2006 communities throughout the United States will be celebrating "Annual Night Out Against Crime." It is a national program to demonstrate how citizens can play a vital role in assisting their police departments through joint crime, drug and violence prevention.
The Marshall Police Department will hold their event from 7:00 P.M.-9:00 P.M. at the Brooks Fountain Circle.
The family, friends and supporters of Mary Lands will also be on hand in front of the police department for a protest demonstration handing out literature about Mary's disappearance. It will be similar to the highly successful protest that was conducted over the long Memorial Day weekend.
We will carry protest signs asking that the Federal Bureau of Investigation take over the primary investigation of Mary's case from the Marshall Police Department. It has been nearly 29 months since Mary Lands disappeared and that investigation was mishandled by the local police department from its initial stages. We all would like to promote anti-crime efforts in our neighborhoods, but we also need to demand thorough and complete investigations of any crimes that are ongoing. There are too many murders and violent crimes in Calhoun County and law enforcement barely has enough time to investigate current offenses much less older cases. When criminals realize they will be held accountable for their actions, that in itself will reduce crime and violence.
Please join the family of Mary Marshall Lands during our protest walk and carry a sign.
For two years we have been asking, Where is Mary? We continue to also ask, When will we have justice for Mary?
Jim Carlin
Saturday, July 29, 2006
Monday, July 10, 2006
Marshall Police Department Release FOIA Request Concerning Charges of Home Invasion.
The Marshall Police Department today finally released a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Request that I filed concerning a complaint by Chris Pratt, the former boy-friend of Mary Denise Lands. In the complaint Mr. Pratt alleges that Mary's parent's, Clifford & Anita Marshall, the leasing manager of the apartment complex where she once resided, and I broke into the apartment and stole property. After an investigation by the Marshall Police Department a warrant request was then submitted to Calhoun County Prosecutor John Hallacy. They cited crimes including Home Invasion, Burglary-Forced Entry, and Theft. After a review of the complaint and the investigation by the Marshall Police Department the Calhoun County Prosecutor declined to issue any warrants in this case.
The 24 pages of documents clearly indicate that during the first three hours of this investigation the Marshall Police Department was fully aware that no crime had occurred, however on June 20, 2006 they still requested that Mr. & Mrs. Marshall come into the police department for an interrogation. Upon arriving and being advised they were the subjects of a criminal investigation the Marshall's were asked to waive their rights under Miranda. They then declined to speak with any officer without their attorney present and departed. For the first time in my life on the previous day, I also had to invoke my rights under Miranda and refused to speak with any officer without an attorney being present.
This is just more documentation that Chief Mike Olson and the Marshall Police Department continue to utilize harassment and intimidation against the family and I because we have been highly critical of their mishandling of Mary's case. Any individual in law enforcement would have immediately recognized after speaking with the leasing manager that the claims by Mr. Pratt were not only unfounded, but also totally false. He failed to pay rent and was considered a "skip" by management yet after giving permission to Mr. Marshall to take a few small items from his former vacant apartment he signed a complaint that the property was stolen. These were small items once possessed by their daughter which were abandoned by Mr. Pratt after he vacated the premises. How can an individual be a suspect of a home invasion when the premises were vacant and unoccupied, and Mr. Pratt had no legal standing to even be there himself? It will be interesting to see how quickly the Marshall Police Department might seek a warrant request against Mr. Pratt for filing a false police report.
On July 12th Mary Lands will have been missing for 28 months. If the Marshall Police Department would have aggressively pursued the person/s responsible for Mary's disappearance as they did against her parents for an alleged Home Invasion the case could have been solved two years ago. They continue to display their incompetence and these keystone-kops antics by members of any police department are a total disgrace. Where is the leadership and professionalism of the police management in this agency? Their actions display just how truly incompetent they really are in the performance of their sworn duties. With this type of attitude it is no wonder that the Marshall Police Department cannot solve Mary's case. Barney Fife wouldn't have ever even considered these frivolous charges against the parents of a woman who is missing and now presumed murdered. Chief Olson and some members of his department continue to demonstrate that they have absolutely no empathy or respect for the family.. Their sole objective today is not to solve the Mary Lands case, but to make the family go away and forget that it ever happened. Mr. Olson, that will never occur and you need to wake up and do the job for which you are being paid. You receive a salary of $65,352,00, and are supposed to be Marshall Police Department's top cop, After all your years on the job, try to be one!
Jim Carlin
The 24 pages of documents clearly indicate that during the first three hours of this investigation the Marshall Police Department was fully aware that no crime had occurred, however on June 20, 2006 they still requested that Mr. & Mrs. Marshall come into the police department for an interrogation. Upon arriving and being advised they were the subjects of a criminal investigation the Marshall's were asked to waive their rights under Miranda. They then declined to speak with any officer without their attorney present and departed. For the first time in my life on the previous day, I also had to invoke my rights under Miranda and refused to speak with any officer without an attorney being present.
This is just more documentation that Chief Mike Olson and the Marshall Police Department continue to utilize harassment and intimidation against the family and I because we have been highly critical of their mishandling of Mary's case. Any individual in law enforcement would have immediately recognized after speaking with the leasing manager that the claims by Mr. Pratt were not only unfounded, but also totally false. He failed to pay rent and was considered a "skip" by management yet after giving permission to Mr. Marshall to take a few small items from his former vacant apartment he signed a complaint that the property was stolen. These were small items once possessed by their daughter which were abandoned by Mr. Pratt after he vacated the premises. How can an individual be a suspect of a home invasion when the premises were vacant and unoccupied, and Mr. Pratt had no legal standing to even be there himself? It will be interesting to see how quickly the Marshall Police Department might seek a warrant request against Mr. Pratt for filing a false police report.
On July 12th Mary Lands will have been missing for 28 months. If the Marshall Police Department would have aggressively pursued the person/s responsible for Mary's disappearance as they did against her parents for an alleged Home Invasion the case could have been solved two years ago. They continue to display their incompetence and these keystone-kops antics by members of any police department are a total disgrace. Where is the leadership and professionalism of the police management in this agency? Their actions display just how truly incompetent they really are in the performance of their sworn duties. With this type of attitude it is no wonder that the Marshall Police Department cannot solve Mary's case. Barney Fife wouldn't have ever even considered these frivolous charges against the parents of a woman who is missing and now presumed murdered. Chief Olson and some members of his department continue to demonstrate that they have absolutely no empathy or respect for the family.. Their sole objective today is not to solve the Mary Lands case, but to make the family go away and forget that it ever happened. Mr. Olson, that will never occur and you need to wake up and do the job for which you are being paid. You receive a salary of $65,352,00, and are supposed to be Marshall Police Department's top cop, After all your years on the job, try to be one!
Jim Carlin
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)