Sending a message
Police agencies arrest 54 suspects in warrant sweep
“Williejay, Williejayyy,” the detective said, pulling up behind two squad cars on Talley Road.
Monte Manka, of the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office, looked past the hula dancer figurine on his dashboard Wednesday afternoon toward the suspect in the driveway: Williejay Kalpo Kalaukoa, 41. He was wanted on warrants for failing to appear in court.
Chattanooga police officers were already in the driveway, and Kalaukoa dipped back in the house, just for a second. When he returned, an officer snapped handcuffs on him. Then, confusion. Kalaukoa wanted to know what was going on. So did another man in the driveway. The officers thought they had warrants for this second guy, too. As it turned out, they didn’t. But they wanted to know why Kalaukoa went back inside the house, if he hid something from them.
Then, a woman stopped in front of them and rolled down the window of her Hummer. “What’s going on?” she shouted. Kalaukoa, hands behind his back, hollered something about a warrant. The woman steered into a neighbor’s driveway, hopped out and marched
“We were able to make a significant impact, we hope, and send a message.”
— EDWIN MCPHERSON, CHATTANOOGA POLICE DEPARTMENT
toward the officers.
Manka tried to explain. Chattanooga police; Red Bank police; East Ridge police; the sheriff ’s office, the Drug Enforcement Agency; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and other law enforcement agencies were sweeping the city this week, looking for people with active warrants. Tuesday through Thursday, they arrested 54 suspects wanted on charges ranging from homicide to drug possession to, in one case, rape of a child.
Kalaukoa’s was a name on the list, wanted for allegedly robbing a bank in 2009. And allegedly trying to sleep with a prostitute, who happened to be an undercover officer. And allegedly trying to pay her with $60 or marijuana, depending on which specific arrest the warrant referenced.
“I was supposed to sign a marriage license today!” the woman told the officers, who came armed for bullets, not broken hearts.
The woman walked away, arms crossed, head shaking. Manka tried to
follow, talking quietly. Some other officers tried to talk to her, too. Their explanations wouldn’t help, she said. Family members were flying in for the wedding Saturday. She and Kalaukoa were leaving for their honeymoon Monday.
She ran toward her fiancé, but police stepped between them. One officer grabbed Kalaukoa by the arm and led him toward a patrol car.
“This is the same case I’ve been fighting!” he told the woman.
“I’m done,” the woman told him. “I’m done. I’m done.”
And, a few minutes later: “I hate you so much! I swear to God. If you weren’t in the back
seat of that — — car, I’d kill you myself.”
Manka, a 28-year veteran, walked away from the dispute.
“It is what it is,” he said, to no one in particular, tossing a can of Skoal between his hands.
More than anything, Chattanooga police Chief Fred Fletcher said a day later, the roundup of Kalaukoa and the 53 other defendants is the result of number crunching. The department’s crime analysis division predicted an uptick in shootings and street crimes this time of year, based on past instances.
It’s not clear exactly why mid-March would kick off a period of violence. Maybe the weather is heating up, so people are more often outside. Maybe some young offenders are home during spring break.
But for some reason, violent crimes in the city cluster. Fletcher said outbreaks come in about seven small bursts throughout the year. In total, 39 percent of the shootings and street crimes occur within a short span of just about 50 days.
“We take those times very seriously,” he said. “You are in the midst of one of those anticipated spikes.”
Edwin McPherson, assistant chief of the criminal investigations bureau, said law enforcement officers coordinated to serve warrants on “persistent offenders.” In most cases, those were supposed to be people with records of multiple violent crimes, and Chattanooga police say 17 of them are in gangs.
Officers plan to coordinate other warrants sweeps this year.
“We were able to make a significant impact, we hope,” McPherson said, “and send a message.”