Richmond police cruiser set on fire in Barton Heights
A parked Richmond police cruiser was found early today on fire and with its rear windshield smashed out by a brick.
No injuries were reported in the vandalism, which was discovered about 12:50 a.m. in the 2900 block of Barton Avenue, Capt. Dave Martin said.
The cruiser had been parked along the street in Barton Heights for a short time as part of the department's strategy of placing unmanned cruisers in neighborhoods as crime deterrents.
"One of the sergeants came back and saw smoke coming from the vehicle," Martin said.
After the fire had been extinguished, police found a brick on the floor of the car, Martin said.
It was not immediately clear what had been used to start the fire, Martin said.
"We've towed it to hold for an investigation, but we couldn't tell," he said.
Anyone with information can call Crime Stoppers anonymously at (804) 780-1000.
-- Joe Macenka
Reader Reactions
As I said, there are multiple strategies being utilizied. I have every confidence they will work - along with community support! WE have to be the ones who say ENOUGH! and work with the RPD. Slowly, I think so bart is coming around. Wish us luck.
Drug dealers aren’t stupid. They have lookouts, people watching “the stash” etc. Any police car just sitting there for hours is not a deterrent.
If Richmond wants to get agressive, they need to employ the methods of larger cities where cops can “shake down” people who look suspicious like they do in LA or Baltimore. The dealers go inside and then Vice can take the houses one by one. Set up at-risk neighborhoods as “drug zones” and bring the hammer down on tresspassing, dealing, etc. It will take some time but the message will eventually be heard and once the residents see progress they will be appreciative.
I live in southern barton heights and I can say YES THIS WORKS! Believe it or not THUGS ARE STUPID! This is just one of the strategies being used in our community to weed out THUGS and DRUG DEALERS! I will match our police department with any of those in the surrounding counties any day of the week. These folks work very hard to make our community a safe place to live. Unfortunately, we do not have a gate and fence surrounding our community…and frankly, wouldn’t want it anyway. I for one would like to thank the RPD men and women for all they do in our community! They are extremely responsive and put their lives on the line everyday. THANK YOU RPD!!!
I’m still trying to figure out what a “constructional right” is.
Like a previous poster said. Put motion sensing equipment and cameras on these unmanned automobiles. You can get them for any car alarm, you’d think the police might do the same for these expensive pieces of equipment.
Its a scam for the cops to get new cars. No really, its a shame someone would do this. They should setup a sting with hidden cameras/ or cops and find see if the perp is dumb enough to do it again. Bet it would work.
It’s a good thing they bought all of those no-bid cruisers, as per last weeks headlines.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It’s highly unlikely that those who engaged in such destructive behavior are contributing to the city’s tax base.
So what else is new in the crime River City? Another mark against the City.
This doesn’t surprise me at all. The indicates absolutely no respect for authority in this society. Everyone wants to do their own thing and could care less if it hurts someone or cost a city or county big bucks.
This is a case of arson and the investigators will find this simple person and hopefully the courts will punish them and not say that it was their constructional right to set a police car on fire.
If these punks set a police car on fire they will set a private citizens car or even their home on fire as well!
The overall tone of the comments seems more directed at the police admin, than the street LEO.
(shrugs) The “Scarecrow” affect has been known to work, simply because people who are not from a particular neighborhood would assumed an officer moved into the area.
Soooo, finding them is as easy as finding the neighborhood people who know there isn’t one… Occam’s Razor.
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