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Bellevue, Nebraska A message from 
Welcome to the official website of the Bellevue, Nebraska Police Department. As summer is upon us we, the Bellevue Police Department, need to enlist your support to ensure everyone is able to enjoy the season. Now, more than ever, communication between neighbors could not be more important. With the increase in traffic (foot, bicycle, vehicular, etc) more people are out and about, some of these have bad intentions that will affect you. Talk to your neighbors, know when they are gone each day and know when they plan on being away for a few days. Offer to watch over their residence. When you see something that does not belong or appears strange and out of the ordinary, we are asking you to call 9-1-1. We are happy to come and look into the matter before something serious happens. In the same respect, if you plan on being away for an extended period of time, we ask that you practice some basic crime prevention methods that will assist both you and the police. Stop your mail and newspaper, put timers on lights and some electronic devices, have your lawn mowed. Have a friend, relative, or neighbor make regular checks of your property. Contact us and have your residence put on our vacation watch list so that we can make periodic checks of your home as well. Check our homepage often. We update it regularly with stories about special BPD events. We are proud of the work we do and equally proud to share information about what we do with you, and we constantly strive to improve our service to the City of Bellevue. If you have any comments on how we can improve police service to the community, please email me personally at john[dot]stacey[at]bellevue[dot]net. If you have suggestions as to how our website can serve you better, please contact Lt Mark Elbert at mark[dot]elbert[at]bellevue[dot]net. Sincerely,
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Sarpy Sheriff, Bellevue and Papillion PD's Form Joint Traffic Unit
A grant from the Nebraska Department of Highway Safety will allow the law enforcement agencies of Bellevue, Papillion and Sarpy County to form a joint traffic unit. Bellevue and Papillion are each funded to add one officer and purchase a new cruiser. Sarpy County will add two officers and cruisers. The joint unit will work only on traffic issues. The officers from across the agencies will work together at events with high traffic activity and maintain statistics on traffic hotspots. Chief Stacey said the traffic unit is the first of its kind in the state and that he expects the new unit will ease some of the workload of officers, "I'm hoping to see our patrol officers relieved of some traffic calls and to be able to go back to handling calls for service and also concentrate on their patrol areas and to get back to having more face time with citizens." The unit should be operating by October 1st. Stacey said BPD will likely reassign a current officer to the new unit and then hire that officer's replacement in the upcoming year. That officer hasn't been determined yet. While the grant covers all of the personnel and cruiser costs, the ancillary traffic equipment that was not part of the grant is available through other grant sources that are being pursued? BPD Nabs Internet Child Predator
An internet investigation that started early last year, has resulted in the arrest of a 49 year-old Iowa man who was preying on who he thought was a 15 year-old Bellevue child. It began in February of ‘08, a BPD Detective set up a profile in a "romance" chat-room. It didn’t take long before a 49 year-old Iowa man contacted who he thought was a minor. Minutes later photos were exchanged and the conversation turned sexual. The detective and the person continued to visit by Internet once or twice a week throughout the months of February and March of ‘08 and all of the conversations were sexual in nature. It was also established that the person the detective was posing as was 15 years of age and the other person was a 49 year old married man. In April of ‘08 the two were once again conversing by internet when the male party brought up his web camera and transmitted images of sexually explicit conduct to the teen he believed to be 15. The conversations and transmissions of sexual material continued through August. The detective began researching the person believed to be conversing with him and was able to tentatively identify him as Alan R. Ahrenholtz age 51 of Woodbine, Iowa. It was later established that Mr. Ahrenholtz had since moved to Harlan, Iowa. Earlier this month, Mr. Ahrenholtz was contacted by phone and requested to come to the Bellevue Police Department to visit with the detective about an ongoing investigation and Mr. Ahrenholtz agreed to do so. Mr. Ahrenholtz met with the detective and following their conversation he turned over to the detective a laptop computer, thumb drive and cell phone. Those items are currently being forensically examined. Lieutenant Dave Stukenholtz, BPD Commander of the Criminal Investigations Bureau, said these types of investigations are usually quite simple adding that his detective merely set-up a profile saying he was a 15 year-old, and Ahrenholtz made the contact, "it quickly went to ‘I’m a 49 year-old married man, too old for you?’ to which the detective replied, ‘not if I’m not too young for you'" and it went from there. Mr. Ahrenholtz was subsequently arrested and transported to the Sarpy County Law Enforcement Center where he was charged with Enticement by Electronic Communication Device, a class IV Felony. Photo: Alan R. Ahrenholtz All stories previously published on this homepage can be found in the story archive. |
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