Articles by Chuck Ledbetter

Purchasing items online has become a normal part of everyday life, just as child custody exchanges have become more and more prevalent. Meeting in a neutral and safe location to perform custody exchanges or purchase transactions, especially with someone unknown, can sometimes become heated, tricky and perilous. For these reasons, law enforcement all across the country are setting up Safe Exchange Zones, where online transactions and child custody exchanges can occur under video surveillance to provide greater safety and documentation for all parties involved. The City of Charlestown and Charlestown Police Department recognizes the value of the above outlined reasons, and have created a Safe Exchange Zone in the east parking lot of police headquarters, located at 703 Main Street, in Charlestown. Two parking spaces have been marked and posted reserved for the purpose of safe exchange; available twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week without reservation. The Charlestown…

The Charlestown Police Department Neighborhood Watch Program, in partnership with Charlestown’s State Farm Dale Robinson Agency roll out of “DNA for Property” during the 2019 Founders Day Celebration. The Charlestown Police Department is a proactive agency and is always looking for new resources that will help protect the valuables of both the residents and businesses of the community. CHPD plans to use the DNA for Property program to enhance their current efforts with their neighborhood watch and other crime prevention campaigns. “DNA for Property” is a special forensic adhesive that can be applied to all types of valuables. The adhesive is swabbed on an item and will permanently dry clear and invisible to the naked eye. Suspended in the adhesive are thousands of “microscopic dots” .05mm in size, that is smaller than the size of a grain of sand. Chemically etched into the microdot is a unique alpha-numeric PIN (personal…

If you receive a letter similar to this one, use caution and beware that it is an attempt to obtain your personal information and use it for their personal gain…..because it is not from the “real US Internal Revenue Service”. This is the latest scam naming the IRS to hit the country; see https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/tax-scams-consumer-alerts for more official information and currently reported scams. The United States Internal Revenue Service explains in the above link what literature and forms are legit and how to safely determine your current refund status. Don’t be a victim, always use extreme caution when dealing with telephone calls, emails, door knocks and literature via the mail. If you think you are a victim of identity theft, take quick action. If you have confirmed you have experienced a loss, contact your bank(s) and creditors involved, file a police report immediately. The US Federal Trade Commission provides very helpful…