Officer of the Month

Jan 13th, 2009

Detective Heath Harville has been named the Officer of the Month for December. Detective Harville is a three year veteran of the Mobile Police Department and is currently assigned to the Fourth Precinct with General Investigations.

On December 01, 2008, Detective Harville was investigating a burglary on Vista View Drive, when he learned from the victim that possibly knew the suspect. Detective Harville checked the pawn history of the suspect and discovered that the suspect had a lengthy pawned history. Detective Harville photographed some of the pawned items at the pawn shop and matched that with a description provided by the victim. Detective Harville photographs were able to assist that victim in recovering some of her property that she did not know was stolen.

On December 02, 2008, Detective Harville was contacted by the store manager at Party City in reference to an employee theft. Detective Harville vigorously worked the case throughout the month by reviewing video tapes of the suspect giving away over $10, 000.00 dollars of store merchandise.

On December 03, 2008, Fourth Precinct patrol officers arrested two individuals for automobile burglaries in the Country Club Village neighborhood. The suspects were identified and had an extensive criminal history and would not cooperate with the investigation.. Detective Harville was able to elicit the assistance of one of the suspect and obtain a full confession to eight (8) automobile burglaries that were committed during the night. Property was recovered that did not belong to any of the known victims. During the month Detective Harville was able to locate the owners of the property, although no report had been written. Detective Harville’s skillful interview techniques made this arrest a success, as he was able to restore confidence from the citizens that were affected during this night’s crime spree.

On December 06, 2008, Detective Harville was called out to another patrol arrest of a known prolific burglar was arrested after breaking into a residence on McGregor Avenue. Detective Harville was able to recover the stolen property from the residence.

On December 10, 2008, Detective Harville executed a search warrant on Sea breeze road. This search warrant was made possible through outstanding investigative work conducted by Detective Harville. He had been investigating a series of burglaries with few leads. He was able to talk to one victim who provided him with detailed list of pawned jewelry. Detective Harville executed the search warrant and found all three of the suspects inside of the residence, as well as the stolen items. The suspect also confessed to seven (7) additional burglaries.

On December 30, 2008, Detective Harville was called to the scene of an arrest for Receiving Stolen property First degree which was stolen from Prichard, Alabama. Detective Harville was again able to obtain a confession from the suspect.

Detective Harville also deserves recognition for a case in which he didn’t make an arrest. A burglary occurred at Forest Ridge Road West and was captured on a home security system during the month of November. The video was high quality and a suspect was soon discovered. Detective Harville did not want to trust his judgment based solely on a video. He canvassed the area spoke with the alleged suspect as well as neighbors. Detective Harville was convinced that the alleged suspect juvenile was not the suspect. Towards the end of December Detective Harville learned that a robbery suspect had confessed to this crime.

In addition to his many duties, Detective Harville also finds time to keep Fourth Precinct website running. He designed and implemented the website and patiently works with the captain to keep it updated and overcomes any technical difficulties.

Detective Harville was assigned forty-five (45) cases during the month of December. He cleared twenty-five (25) cases which gives him a clearance rate of fifty-five percent (55%). This is a phenomenal clearance rate for any investigator working property crimes much less with one month of criminal investigation experience.