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September 5, 2003, 07:35 AM
http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-detect04.html
Shopping detective accused of ignoring robbery
September 4, 2003
BY FRANK MAIN Crime Reporter
Chicago police Detective Janice R. Govern was walking into a Dominick's on
the South Side to buy some water when two people warned her about a robbery
inside.
But all she did was tell a security guard in the store and motion for
someone to call 911--then continued shopping, police investigators say.
When officers showed up, she was still standing in the check-out line. The
robbers got away.
Now Govern is facing possible dismissal for her actions on Aug. 25, 2001.
A Police Board hearing next week will determine whether the 13-year veteran
should be fired for failing to perform her duty, making a false report,
discrediting the Chicago Police Department and not reporting a crime
promptly.
Two armed robbers stole about $10,000 from a South Shore bank branch in the
grocery and fled, police said. The crime remains unsolved, according to an
FBI spokeswoman.
Govern, 44, was suspended without pay in April when then-Supt. Terry
Hillard filed administrative charges against her and asked the Police Board
to fire her.
"She is a wonderful lady," responded her attorney, Joe Roddy. "She was not
at the bank at the time of the robbery. As she was coming in, someone said
the bank has been robbed. But the robbery already occurred."
Roddy said he expects to prove she is innocent of any rule violations.
A police Internal Affairs investigation showed that Govern parked her
unmarked squad car in the grocery pickup lane in front of the Dominick's at
2101 E. 71st, police spokesman David Bayless said. The South Shore branch
is just inside the door.
Although she was told a robbery was "going on" in the store, Govern claimed
to have seen nothing unusual, Bayless said.
"Patrol officers from the 3rd District arrived before she left and found
her in the checkout line," he said.
They had looked for her because a security guard told them a plainclothes
officer was in the store, Bayless said.
"She told the officers she was approached by a citizen about a robbery and
instructed someone to call 911," he said. "She bought her water and left."
A higher-ranking lieutenant showed up at the store, learned she was just
there and ordered her to come back to the scene, Bayless said.
Govern, an Area 1 detective, could have tried to arrest the robbers, get a
description of them or at least preserve the crime scene for evidence, but
she didn't do any of that, investigators said they found.
"She told someone to call 911--but she was the person they're supposed to
be calling," one detective said. "It's absolutely terrible."
When questioned about the incident by Internal Affairs investigators months
later, she gave false information, officials say. No details were
available.
In recent years, there have been many stories about Chicago police officers
who did take heroic action when they learned of a holdup while they were in
a store or restaurant.
Dennis Walsh, an Area 2 sergeant, was honored for valor in May for fatally
shooting an armed robber at Ford City Mall where Walsh was working off-duty
as a security guard in 2002.
More recently, an off-duty Chicago cop, Andre Watkins, was wounded Aug. 23
when he tried to stop two robbers outside a pizza parlor on the South Side.
Shopping detective accused of ignoring robbery
September 4, 2003
BY FRANK MAIN Crime Reporter
Chicago police Detective Janice R. Govern was walking into a Dominick's on
the South Side to buy some water when two people warned her about a robbery
inside.
But all she did was tell a security guard in the store and motion for
someone to call 911--then continued shopping, police investigators say.
When officers showed up, she was still standing in the check-out line. The
robbers got away.
Now Govern is facing possible dismissal for her actions on Aug. 25, 2001.
A Police Board hearing next week will determine whether the 13-year veteran
should be fired for failing to perform her duty, making a false report,
discrediting the Chicago Police Department and not reporting a crime
promptly.
Two armed robbers stole about $10,000 from a South Shore bank branch in the
grocery and fled, police said. The crime remains unsolved, according to an
FBI spokeswoman.
Govern, 44, was suspended without pay in April when then-Supt. Terry
Hillard filed administrative charges against her and asked the Police Board
to fire her.
"She is a wonderful lady," responded her attorney, Joe Roddy. "She was not
at the bank at the time of the robbery. As she was coming in, someone said
the bank has been robbed. But the robbery already occurred."
Roddy said he expects to prove she is innocent of any rule violations.
A police Internal Affairs investigation showed that Govern parked her
unmarked squad car in the grocery pickup lane in front of the Dominick's at
2101 E. 71st, police spokesman David Bayless said. The South Shore branch
is just inside the door.
Although she was told a robbery was "going on" in the store, Govern claimed
to have seen nothing unusual, Bayless said.
"Patrol officers from the 3rd District arrived before she left and found
her in the checkout line," he said.
They had looked for her because a security guard told them a plainclothes
officer was in the store, Bayless said.
"She told the officers she was approached by a citizen about a robbery and
instructed someone to call 911," he said. "She bought her water and left."
A higher-ranking lieutenant showed up at the store, learned she was just
there and ordered her to come back to the scene, Bayless said.
Govern, an Area 1 detective, could have tried to arrest the robbers, get a
description of them or at least preserve the crime scene for evidence, but
she didn't do any of that, investigators said they found.
"She told someone to call 911--but she was the person they're supposed to
be calling," one detective said. "It's absolutely terrible."
When questioned about the incident by Internal Affairs investigators months
later, she gave false information, officials say. No details were
available.
In recent years, there have been many stories about Chicago police officers
who did take heroic action when they learned of a holdup while they were in
a store or restaurant.
Dennis Walsh, an Area 2 sergeant, was honored for valor in May for fatally
shooting an armed robber at Ford City Mall where Walsh was working off-duty
as a security guard in 2002.
More recently, an off-duty Chicago cop, Andre Watkins, was wounded Aug. 23
when he tried to stop two robbers outside a pizza parlor on the South Side.