Excerpts from yesterday and today's news:...Millville police officer Robert Vanaman pleaded not guilty to a charge of first-degree murder during his arraignment in Cumberland County Superior Court this morning. His cash bail remains $750,000. The police sergeant has been suspended without pay pending the outcome of his upcoming trial. He is also charged with hindering an investigation; suppressing, concealing, destroying or tampering with evidence of a crime; tampering or fabricating physical evidence; and filing a fictitious report with law enforcement in connection with the May 11 shooting death of his wife, Barbara Vanaman.... "We feel confident after a review of the evidence collected we can overcome the burden of disproving self-defense... We don't believe it was self-defense."... on stab wounds Robert Vanaman suffered in the incident were inflicted by Barbara Vanaman during the altercation - "We believe we can disprove (Barbara Vanaman) inflicted the injuries to him"...
[NJ] Barbara Vanaman shot & killed by police officer husband
Shooting victim buried in Millville
ReplyDeleteSurvivors remember Vanaman's smile, spirit
By SABA ALI
May 18, 2006
...Robert Vanaman did not attend the funeral, nor did anyone from his family except for a niece...
http://pressofatlanticcity.com/news/story/6364825p-6221042c.html
Something is brewing in me that needs to be said. I'm working on that within me now.
ReplyDeleteIn the meantime a few excerpts that I can't think of a better place to post this morning than here.
"A FAMILY AFFAIR"
POLICE: The Law Enforcement Magazine
Issue, February 2005
by Gina Gallo
http://www.policemag.com/t_cipick.cfm?rank=90855
(The author of the following article, Chicago PD Officer Gina Gallo also wrote the book, Armed and Dangerous : Memoirs of a Chicago Policewoman)
A few excerpts:
...Retired Chicago Police Department Homicide Lt. Dennis Banahan believes it would be impossible to estimate the number of domestic homicides that occurred within police families during his 31-year career because of the unofficial protocol for handling such cases. “Since the earliest days of law enforcement, domestic violence in police families was considered an officer’s personal business, one of those private realms into which departmental administrators chose not to involve themselves,” Banahan says. “Their attitude was that unless the problem affected an officer’s job performance, they’d prefer to ignore it. Whatever happened behind closed doors remained private. Since a large part of a cop’s M.O. is to maintain a game face, personal problems were considered just more of what we were expected to suck up and keep hidden”...
...“She’d be told that an arrest would serve no one’s best interests, and would absolutely jeopardize the officer’s job, thereby threatening the family’s security,” says Banahan. “That was a rationale I always found particularly offensive. In effect, that’s telling a bleeding victim, ‘Hey, sorry about the broken arm and that your nose will never be the same again, but drop a dime on this guy and you’ll all be in the welfare line tomorrow’”...
...One cop, a 24-year veteran of the Los Angeles Police Department, still vividly remembers his first experience with a police-involved domestic homicide. In that case the officer locked his kids in the bedroom before beating and killing his wife, and then he shot himself. “There was never any question of how it would be handled,” says the officer, who asked to remain anonymous. “As the new kid, I was schooled by my supervisors in ‘the police way’ of doing things. And there I was, a green kid struggling to handle all of this while my sergeant was telling me, ‘This is a police family, so we gotta take care of things. This was one of our own, and we owe him that’”...
Most know that I only post a few stories on this blog and moderate a group where it's all followed. I posted this yesterday there.
ReplyDeleteTo: police_dv@yahoogroups.com
Thu, 30 Nov 2006 04:36:12 -0800
WHY I RAN AWAY FROM THIS GROUP FOR A FEW DAYS
Who cares really...
but I'll put it here anyway.
Barbara Vanaman wasn't just killed by her husband Millville Officer Robert Vanaman.
He wasn't arrested.
He wasn't charged.
And because he wasn't charged, he did NOT have to talk to investigators.
And he DIDN'T.
We all know that. It's been awful witnessing him
get to keep his kids,
not have to answer questions,
be invited back to work - whenever he feels up to it,
annnnnnd
GET TO LIVE IN THE CRIME SCENE
with no forensics done...
just haul out the dead wife and go on.
OH... can I say
there was even a FUND for poor Robert raising his kids...
the dad-shot-mom- and-refuses- to-answer- any-questions fund, or something.
Okay okay... we all know that TOO.
The waiting has been painful.
SO FINALLY, after six months - surprise. He's arrested.
I felt UP. I thought maybe I'm just imPATIENT to think it would happen any sooner, and okay,
it did take too long but AT LEAST it finally happened.
As I was gathering the info to put together announcing his arrest here on the group (http://groups. yahoo.com/ group/police_ dv/message/ 6346) I was glancing over some old articles and one of them said
that Robert
did not attend
his wife's funeral,
and none
of his relatives
did either -
except for
a niece.
(http://groups. yahoo.com/ group/police_ dv/message/ 6348)
It stood out to me this time.
It threw me.
HOW DID THEY PULL THAT OFF?
HIS FAMILY, BARBARA VANAMAN'S IN-LAWS?
BARBARA'S IN-LAWS did not attend.
HER CHILDREN'S GRANDPARENTS? AUNTS AND UNCLES? COUSINS?
These were HER family members - by marriage.
HOW DID THEY ARRIVE AT THAT
COLLECTIVELY?
Lord, how UGLEEEEEE is that?
So, I JUST COULDN"T LEAVE BAD-ENOUGH-ALREADY
ALONE.
NOOOOOooooOOOOO.
I JUST HADDDDDD TO WRITE A REPORTER AND ASK IF ANY POLICE SHOWED UP.
SEE.
JUST TYPING THIS MAKES ME CRY.
What a fucked up question.
But the answer was worse.
No police were observed present.
If a spouse is so disregarded, insignificant, and such an OUTSIDER that the police can't make an OBLIGATORY SHOWING, a PRESENCE for show,
at the funeral of an officer's wife
what does that
MEAN?
What does it MEAN?
There is the POLICE FAMILY - and then there is the OFFICER's family.
The reason I hesitated in typing this is because
don't we already KNOW that?
After thousands of articles in this group and the Crystal Judson group, don't I know that?
I thought I did,
but I'm rescanning the cases I've seen.
I am REALIZING it at a much more sinister level.
Spouses think they are in a group.
Ask the women over in the Yahoo group for survivors of police suicides.
ABANDONED.
They have no family. There are exceptions - rarely - but almost entirely they are devastated not only by the DEATH of their SPOUSE - but the complete abandonment of people they
thought
were their friends and support.
POOF!
Spouses are not in. I think what hit me was the delusion that spouses are experiencing too. OH they are rough defenders of their spouses, the force, and anything that may look like it's raising a negative cast.
But once MURDERED, these lionesses - these victims
are appearing to me now
to be little more than police
trash.
Take it out.
And for someone like ME who thinks things can maybe change if the big iron wall gets pushed on long enough and consistently enough -
it's a blow.
I don't know.
If this was religion, I'd say my faith is shaken.
So - I'm still processing and reassessing.
Anyone who's got a word of insight feel free to write me.
Truth is all that matters,
not consolation or encouragement.
Just truth.
On myspace the law enforcement officers - almost all of them in the general groups - have attacked me for bringing up dv in law enforcement families.
I am a hippy greenpeace communist terrorist cop hating lesbian that should be sent to Gitmo.
(I love them too.)
LUCKY for me I have GOOD cops on my personal friend list there - but getting a glimpse into the collective talk of ANONYMOUS assholes with badges has been frightening as well. My theory is that they do not represent officers in general - that there are a disproportionate amount of MEAN HATEFUL officers who play on myspace - and are the most visible because they are NOT professional. I DO NOT think police are assholes or hateful...
I can't.
I HAVE MET ENOUGH NICE PEOPLE WHO ARE OFFICERS, AND TALKED WITH ENOUGH OFFICERS WHO WANT TO SHINE, AND WITNESSED ENOUGH OFFICERS STAND UP AGAINST THE IGNORANCE -
that I'm going to hang in there
and believe it's not all hopeless.
DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY OFFICERS EX'S WRITE ME AND SAY
THERE IS NO HOPE FOR US.
IT WAS TRAUMATIC THE FIRST TIME I HEARD IT
AND IT DOESN'T GET ANY EASIER.
AW - GETTIN' TEARY AGAIN. :)
My world view is of women sure they will die
unable or afraid to go the conventional routes of victims.
Nowhere to hide.
That's enough... just thought I'd throw out here what's been holding me up.
I ran away.
I'm back.
Just wanted to write and let you know that I agree with you in many ways...However this is not one of them. In the case of no family members attending the funeral...I understand from the mortition that this was a second one which was open to press. All of the police friends and family went to the first one. Please check this out for the rest of the people who can not.
ReplyDeleteI also don't believe that this was a perfect couple. I live in town and have seen many harlets in action. I will say no more.
I have followed this case closely since I grew up in the town this happened. In fact, I knew Mr Vanaman in High School. It is true that there were two funerals. He and his family and friends attended a private service. Even if his story that he was attacked is true, as a police officer, I am sure his training would have given him many non-lethal options if he were being attacked by a knife.
ReplyDeleteCouldn't he have just picked up a chair to keep her away? Why would he reach for his service revolver and shoot her twice in the chest? If he had to pick up a weapon, why not shoot her in the leg? I heard they were not a perfect couple and were about to separate.
Having said that, we'll see how this plays out in the courts. Being a reasonable person, I feel he had many non-lethal options and just can't imagine a scenario where a trained police officer would have to shoot his knife wielding wife. His wounds seem to be superficial.
I feel for the kids here. Their mom is dead and their father has disgraced himself, the police department and his family and he will soon be in prison for a long time. The kids are going to have to life with this mess.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteWhoever just tried to post about the sexuality of someone in the families involved - I can't post what you said here.
ReplyDeletePlease, consider your intentions before you strike out.
it wasn't him that killed his wife his son did and he tried to cover it upto protect his son
ReplyDeleteI'm trying to figure out who would say that...
ReplyDelete