FINE JOB CHARLESTON!!!!!!!!
Talk about a job having its ups and downs. With only four (4) of eleven
(11) elevators working in the two tallest buildings of the State Capitol
complex, more than 1200 state employees were limited to stairwells or an
escorted ride from five of St. Moritz Security Services guards, who now
assume that task through the 12-hour workday.
Due to upgrading of the elevators to meet the fire code regulations,
the state contracted with St. Moritz, which already conducts security
services for the Capitol, to provide elevator attendant services.
Thanks to our Regional Supervisor, Loral McNeeley, better known on
Capitol Hill as Captain Mac, and his officers for being ready and able to
assist in this matter.
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Quote of the Month: "If there must trouble let it be
in my day, that my child may have peace." – Thomas Paine (1737-1809)
IN SHAPE
Andrew Kamara, St. Moritz Guard Force Commander, US Consulate,
Vancouver, BC, completed the Vancouver Marathon on Sunday, May 7th, in a
time of 3:25. Not bad for a guy over age 50.
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GOV/SEC, US LAW AND READY EXPO &
CONFERENCE
St. Moritz Security Services, Inc. attended GovSec 2006 in Washington,
DC on April 26 and 27. With more than 500 exhibitors, the GovSec
conference offers Government Security Professionals the education,
products, services and solutions for every type of security, plus insight
on how to maximize effectiveness by working together.
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AEC 2006 NATIONAL LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE
St. Moritz Security Services Inc. is proud to announce that it will be
exhibiting at the AEC 2006 National Leadership Conference being held at
the Disney's Coronado Springs Resort in Buena Vista, Florida May 22, 2006.
Please take time out to visit our booth and see us to learn about our
security capabilities. Contact Joe Bigio, VP-National Services Division at
(570) 807-2600 for more information or to set aside a personal appointment
to visit us during the show.
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Travel Tip: To assist you in planning for your next
trip to the airport, TSA (Transportation Security Administration) is
providing historical wait time information for the security checkpoints at
the nation's airports. This tool, along with information from your airline
and airport, will allow you to estimate your arrival time during a
particular day and time. www.tsa.gov
AFFILIATE COORDINATING GROUP
As part of a re-organization the Affiliate Coordinating Group was
formally established in September 2005, assigning Jim Barletta as the
Director. The Group entails the Dispatcher Center, contract coordination,
security coordination, MWI jewelry scheduling and processing, and data
entry of retail and diamond transactions. As a recent assignment, the
Group prepares to embark upon re-issuance and coordination of contracts.
The dispatch center acts as the nucleus of varied functions, but serves
as the main artery of the ATM calls and escorts throughout the United
States and Canada. There are twenty-one (21) dispatchers assigned with a
Lead Dispatcher, Margie Streets taking on the role of maintaining
dispatcher scheduling and act as liaison between the dispatchers and
management. The dispatchers handle in excess of 9,000 ATM associated calls
per month for ATM escorts and another couple of hundred calls for other
varied informational functions. The dispatch center also dispatches alarm
response for varied locations throughout the Country. The dispatch center
has relocated to their present location in December 2004. This location
presents a professional environment and serves as a showcase for future
and present customers to tour. The professional appearance and use of
proprietary software at the dispatcher center instills in these customers
the confidence that their business interests are protected and served by a
professional and quality security company, St. Moritz Security Services,
Inc.
The role of National Coordinator is taken up by G. Stephen Liston and
Jonelle Warren. They are responsible for scheduling standing guard
requests for jewelry and retail stores, along with providing jewelry
escorts for MWI representatives. This involves seeking out new officers
and coordinating their scheduling with the Representatives for each
individual company. When needed they may data enter required information
into the Vision Program so that billing and payables are completed in a
timely matter. While working directly with officers and with the Vision
program, the National Coordinators are also the first line of contact for
solving and billing or payment issues that may arise. They also conduct
retail surveys which has become a valuable management tool in evaluating
our security service to those retail stores. In a re-organization move the
contract responsibility for scheduling and processing Movie Screenings
will be conducted by these coordinators effective May 26, 2006. Since
their employment of February 2006, Steve and Jonelle, acting as one,
quickly placed their initiative, teamwork and quality improvement skills
to action and made improvements in the scheduling, filing and coordination
process within the Group.
Data Entry of all retail and diamond transactions are completed and
under the direction of Robert Hreha who has through an energetic and
proficient manner established achieving close-out schedules and improved
upon the process since his employment in early February 2006. There are
some 2,500 entries completed in a two week payable period and
approximately 5,000 entries completed per month.
The Group employees serve one another and work as a team which
contributes to the success of the Groups mission in providing an
efficient, proficient and quality service.
The Group is housed within the dispatch center building and interacts
so that the success of the mission is achieved. Any facet of the Group may
be contacted through the dispatch center at telephone number
1-888-888-8958. Each staff member waits for the opportunity to serve you
and if you have any questions you may contact any member of the Group or
Jim Barletta at the aforementioned telephone number. The Group is ready to
maintain the proficient and professional service that you are accustomed.
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IS THERE A WARRANT? CHECK YOUR
EMAIL
A search warrant sent via e-mail to a computer in a police vehicle or
maybe to a handheld device such as a BlackBerry? Both may become possible
under a federal rule scheduled to take effect on Dec. 1. This brave new
world of electronic search warrants and affidavits comes courtesy of
Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 41(d)(3)(A), which simply states: "A
magistrate judge may issue a warrant based on information communicated by
telephone or other reliable electronic means."
The key words are "other reliable electronic means." "E-mail could be a
reliable electronic means," said Professor Sara Sun Beale of Duke Law
School, reporter to the Advisory Committee on Rules of Criminal Procedure
for the Judicial Conference of the United States. "The committee decided
not to try to list all reliable electronic means but leave it to evolving
standards as judges hear enough about a particular system," she explained.
The rule change, which becomes effective on Dec. 1 if Congress does
nothing, was actually proposed to facilitate the use of telephonic search
warrants, not to expand search warrants generally, said U.S. Magistrate
Judge Anthony J. Battaglia of San Diego, the proposal's author and an
advisory committee member. Under the current rule, when an agent calls a
judge and wants to use a telephonic warrant and the judge approves that
method, the agent is required to dictate the proposed warrant, and the
judge is filling in a warrant form on the other end of the phone, he
explained. Real estate descriptions, he noted, can be extremely lengthy.
There is also a very involved process in describing searches of electronic
storage devices, when and where they may be taken off-site, how long they
can be off-site, and when and if they can be returned to the owners, he
said. "This material can go on for pages and pages and pages," said
Battaglia.
Since society appears to have embraced the reliability of facsimile
documents, he added, the committee felt that the rule should provide for
faxing a warrant form with all of the required details to the judge, still
mandating that the agent be on the phone with the judge and that there be
a recording of their conversation. "In the interests of sanity, justice
and fairness, the procedure would take far less time," he said. The
committee used "other reliable electronic means" to be consistent with
other rules' amendments that recognize advancements in technology,
Battaglia added. "If a court determines a PDF file has that same efficacy
and reliability as a facsimile, that court could utilize it, recognizing
that all these other safeguards in the system remain," he said. "We're not
saying all warrants are going this way. But [the rule] recognizes we need
to be flexible because technology may give us other means."
Warrants via e-mail would be a "natural progression" in electronic
filing now under way in federal courts, said veteran criminal defense
attorney and Fourth Amendment expert John Wesley Hall of Little Rock, Ark.
"When [the rule] says 'by other electronic means,' what else can it mean
but e-mail?" he said. "We heard years ago about businessmen having
portable computers and printers in their cars. I'm sure you could get a
cheap laptop and printer and have it right there at scene of the search."
Probable cause concerns Warrants via e-mail are probably "better all
around" than warrants secured over the telephone, Hall said. The latter,
he explained, rely on the agent's memory. But he said, "I worry. I would
think the risk on the cop side would be that the affidavit for the search
warrant is just dashed off in e-mail instead of thought out and composed
on the computer." And that, he added, could lead to cursory affidavits and
more attacks on probable cause.
Others suggest that if e-mail makes it more efficient and speedier to
get search warrants, perhaps warrants should be required in more
situations. There could be fewer exigent circumstances excusing the
warrant requirement if a warrant can be obtained in a matter of minutes.
Whatever technology is used, the "hallmark" is "reliability," Beale said.
"To me, there is no reason to think something you would e-mail in would be
less reliable than a fax."
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Fact: The South refused to acknowledge Memorial Day,
honoring their dead on separate days until after World War I when the
holiday changed from honoring just those who died fighting in the Civil
War to honoring Americans who died fighting in any war.
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