After 2 letters I sent, here's the Chief's response....

When This article appeared in my local paper, I was angered and outraged that my local police department sent officers to hear this man's hate speech. I wrote a letter to the Chief of Police

Dear Chief Harmon,

          My name is Darci Huddleston.  I’m writing to you on this Sunday afternoon after I had read an article in the Daily Press regarding an “Occult Crime” seminar that occurred on Saturday January 15, 2011. I’m concerned that the “expert”, Don Rimer is not as accurate as he says he is. I have seen Don's seminars that he gave to the general public. As a member of the occult community for over 15 years I feel that he uses a lot of half truths and misinformation to scare people and make his money. I’m greatly disturbed however that some of my tax dollars went to having officers go to this training seminar, given by a man who has been debunked by many people.

          Don gives broad statements and no evidence to back it up. He claims that he's an Occult Specialist; however there is no standard or training course to certify one as being such an expert. He makes statements such as “The Church of Satan is growing” or that “Occult crime is on the rise”. He gives no evidence or resources to back this up. The FBI does not keep statistics on Occult crime. If the FBI doesn’t keep those statistics, who does?       

          Obviously they know something that Don does not, the problem is not the Occult but mental illness. In just about every case he goes through, the perpetrator had a long history of mental illness. Don would lead you to believe that the Occult drove normal teenagers crazy.

          So you may ask “how do you know what he says is untrue?” I’m a practicing Pagan, and have been so for over 15 years. I’m also a law abiding taxpayer, voter, Psychology major and blogger / journalist. I’m familiar with the wider Occult community including the Goth, Pagan/ Wiccan, and Vampiric communities. I know who’s who and what’s what. I sit on an elder’s council in the community, which is not generally offered to anyone as young as me. I’m 33.

          I decided to see one of Don’s talks when he was in Williamsburg a few years ago. It was just as I had feared a lot of unsubstantiated statements and broad generalizations. He does attempt to explain Pagan/ Wiccan practices to the crowd and makes it a point to say “Wiccans are not the problem”. He also makes statements such as “I’m in great with the Wiccan community”. I know for a fact that the man does not like Wiccans. I think the only reason he does try to get it right with them is the fact that he needs them for information. He says he’s been to some of the public rituals held for Samhain, which is possible but I know for a fact that he was kicked out of Mystic Moon’s drum circle for harassing some of the patrons. The security personnel escorted him off the property and made it clear that he was not welcome back. He’s worked with and continues to work with one person, Drema Baker. However, other elders in the community, such as Betsy Ashby of Out of the Dark stated in the article “The Cycle Continues” by Kerr Cuhulain

          "Don Rimer is a self proclaimed ‘occult crime expert’ with the Virginia Beach Police Dept. When he first started out (about 10 years ago) he was an OK guy. He just wanted to catch criminals and I am down with that. There was a murder in Virginia Beach that was definitely occult related, and he came to me for help identifying some of the symbols at the crime scene. He did the same thing in 1996 when there was a disappearance/ murder in the Vampire sub culture. I went into their culture and fished out info for him.
            When he started speaking publicly, he made it real clear that actual "occult crimes" were very rare, and he used to give a fair explanation of Paganism and Wicca.
            He got A LOT of media attention due to his involvement in the Vampire case and other high profile cases he was ‘consulted’ on. Basically, some cop from somewhere in the country would call him for advice about an ‘occult crime’ ...and then he would call me with questions. ...which was cool.  Then around 1998-1999 he started getting offered money to speak at various conferences... usually sponsored by Fundy Christians. His speeches got more and more extreme over the years as he tried to please the Fundy Christian crowd that gives him big bucks. Now to hear him tell it ‘occult crime’ is a big problem. One of his favorite tricks is to have himself ‘emergency paged’ during a speech, disappear briefly on the phone, then come back and announce to his audience ‘that call was about an occult crime I am currently working on.’
            We haven't had an "occult crime" in his jurisdiction in 5 years.
            He still calls me from time to time, but I will not help him at this point unless he shows me proof that physical harm has been done to someone first. Towards the end of the 90's I found out he was using some of the info I gave him in his talks AFTER twisting it around quite a bit. He doesn't know shit about the occult himself.”

I can also tell you that after he did his speech, which I sat through quietly, he said “If I’m wrong, tell me”. I took him up on his offer. I can tell he was surprised that someone such as me would confront him in Williamsburg. I found him to be dismissive and somewhat rude. I could tell he did not like being corrected. I’ve also heard this from others as well.

to try to invite the man to dinner, my treat, at a local restaurant. He took off like he was afraid of me. He has continued to spread his lies and half truths over the years; however the occult community is starting to come out of the woodwork and confront him. His seminars would be ignored by us if it didn’t hurt innocent people in the process.

“I have heard him speak and he does not, repeat does not like Wiccans. He thinks everything that is not Christian is Satanic and he does not like being corrected. I’ve tried to correct him in several talks that he had given locally and he does not appreciate being corrected, because he finds Satanism in everything that he does, including pentacles. He thinks pentacles are the work of Satan, and if you wear one, you are a Satanist. He is considered an ‘expert’ around here on occultism and the powers that be around here like calling him in to identify items found at crime scenes or in teen’s bedrooms as Satanic. He is almost becoming a one trick pony in that he finds what he seeks.”

I went as far as to try to invite the man to dinner, my treat, at a local restaurant. He took off like he was afraid of me. He has continued to spread his lies and half truths over the years; however the occult community is starting to come out of the woodwork and confront him. His seminars would be ignored by us if it didn’t hurt innocent people in the process.

I can name 3 specific cases where hate and fear lead to death and incarceration. Tempest Smith was 12 years old. She had an interest in Wicca and Gothic themes. After months of incessant teasing by Christian students at her school (which was ignored by the administration), she hung herself. In many ways she has become a martyr in the Wiccan community, a symbol of what hate can do.

Sophie Lancaster was walking with her boyfriend, Robert Maltby in a park when they were viciously attacked by a group of teens between the ages of 15-19. They attacked the couple because they didn’t like “weirdo, mosher, freaks”. When the police arrived, they could not tell who was male and who was female. Robert survived the attack; Sophie fell into a coma and died. When one of the kids was brought in to the station for questioning, he laughed about the attack (along with his mother).

In West Memphis Arkansas, 3 young boys were found murdered. The police and a “Occult crime expert” jumped on the idea that the murder had to be the work of Satanists. The police quickly arrested 3 young men, and got a rambling confession out of one of the boys (who was not allowed access to an attorney or his parents). The boy, Jamie Miskelly, was developmentally disabled, and functioned on the level of a 6 year old. Soon 2 others were implicated, including Damien Echols, a local high school dropout who wore black, listened to Metallica and read Poe. On flimsy evidence, all three were convicted and still remain jailed in Arkansas, despite tons of support from activists and from celebrities such as Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam, Johnny Depp, and the Dixie Chicks.

So to get to the point, why would I tell you all of this? We have a saying in the Occult community, “Never again the burning”. Unfortunately there are some people who could care less about the innocent people they hurt as long as it makes them a buck. I’m here to make sure we do not have any such “Witch hunts” in Williamsburg/ JCC, and that if the officers want it, accurate information that can help them down the line.

 If your department would like to speak to someone as a consultant regarding Occult related crimes or issues, I’m at your service. I live in JCC and the last thing I want is someone using my faith as an excuse to prey upon others. I’m also enclosing photos of Tempest Smith, and Sophie Lancaster (before and after the attack). I want you to look at these photos sir, and think to yourself, “Do we want another dead kid on our hands?”

                                                                    Sincerely,

                                                             Darci Huddleston

                                                  Co Regent, Court of Septum Civis

After a month, I had not recieved a response. So I was not going to let this go, I sent another letter

Dear Sir,

          My name is Darci Huddleston. I wrote you a letter about a month ago, concerning JCCPD officers attending a seminar on “Occult Crime” given by Don Rimer. I also explained in depth why I feel that Don is not the expert he claims to be, and his lack of respect for people involved in the Occult community. I am one of those people

I’m a law abiding, tax paying and VOTING individual. Despite what Don might lead you to believe, we’re not all devil worshipping pedophiles.

I’m a little upset that in one month’s time you never responded to my concerns. Perhaps you would like to write me off as “some kook”, and hope that if you ignore me I’ll go away. If that is the case, then sir do so at your own peril. I’ve begun contacting other local members of the Pagan community (who live in JCC), and if you continue to ignore our concerns, we will have no other choice but to contact the local media. Even if they don’t care for us and our rights, I’m sure there are many people who would want to know why our officers are wasting taxpayer dollars on seminars regarding a rare form of crime (that has not happened in JCC is quite a few years), when we’ve had how many hotels get robbed this past year? Not to mention the fact that the so called “expert” has been debunked in the past by other law enforcement officers and by members of the Occult community.

          We are not the bogeymen Don would have you believe that we are. We have families, homes, and pets (and no, we don’t sacrifice them). We are mainly peaceful people, but if attacked or slandered, we will fight back with all legal tools at our disposal. We would rather cooperate with law enforcement when you need the correct information, as opposed to a man who sees the devil in anything that isn’t Christian.

                                     

                                                                            Sincerely,

                                                                      Darci Huddleston

                                                                         Co-Reagent, Septum Civis

Well it seems that the threat to protest and take the issue up with the press got somewhere. This was his recent e-mail to me

Ms. Huddleston,

Since your first letter listed a phone number I tried to contact you by that method, but I wasn’t able to leave a message. Therefore, I‘ll address your concerns by email instead. Your main concern with my department seems to be one of wasting taxpayer money due to JCC officers attending this training seminar, since it was instructed by someone you believe is not a subject matter expert . This seminar was sponsored by the Newport News Police Department and Regional Organized Crime Information Center. This was a one-day training seminar and the informational brochure and resume of the instructor (Don Rimer) made it appear to be a topic that would interest law enforcement officers. Also, the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services credited each attendee with eight hours of continuing education credits, which is something every sworn officer in the state must renew every two years. Consequently, we sent three of our officers (out of force of 93 sworn) to the seminar. Whether or not your allegations against Mr. Rimer are true is not up to me to decide. You should make your complaint to the sponsors of the training seminar.  If I can be of any further help regarding this matter please contact me at any of the below listed numbers or addresses.  

Emmett H. Harmon
Chief of Police

Police Department
P.O. Box 8784

5087 John Tyler Highway
Williamsburg, VA 23187-8784
P: 757-259-5141

F: 757-229-8729
C: 757-592-6479

eharmon@james-city.va.us     

So there you have it. In Virginia, at least JCC, if you are not a Christian they will not take your complaints seriously. Read into it what you will. Any suggestions?