Law Enforcement

LAPD officers win tentative contract with 8.2% raise
"We believe this proposed contract includes a number of terms that reconcile the impasse and is a positive outcome for both the City and the officers who protect it," Craig Lally, president of the L.A. Police Protective League, said in the statement. The new 4-year contract would include an 8 percent cost of living adjustment from 2016 to 2018 (4 percent the first year and 2 percent each of the following), a 5 percent increase for health care, a $500 increase in the annual uniform allowance and changes to overtime rules, including an optional buy down, a boost in cash payments and an end to the practice of sending officers home in lieu of paying overtime, according to the statement."Currently we feel very confident that what we are bringing before the officers next week will be ratified. I feel very optimistic that it is going to pass," Craig Lally, president of the L.A. Police Protective League, told KPCC.
Los Angeles Times, KPCC

LAPD uses its helicopters to stop crimes before they start
They seem as common as squawking gulls, and true Angelenos may not even bother to look up when one of the LAPD's 17 helicopters rattles their windows, its spotlight searching for a car-jacked Camry or an assault suspect hiding under a jacaranda. In a city of 469 sprawling square miles, few doubt that more bad guys would get away without the nation's largest police helicopter fleet to help chase them.
Los Angeles Times

LAPD Officer Vows To Run L.A. Marathon In Full Uniform To Honor The Fallen
An officer with the Los Angeles Police Department plans to run this year's Los Angeles Marathon in uniform to honor the fallen and raise funds for their families.Kristina Tudor, 28, says her every stride March 15 will represent perseverance through adversity, which is what families of LAPD officers injured or killed in the line of duty face daily.
CBS Los Angeles

LAPD Says 1 Of 2 Missing Girls Found Safe
One of two missing girls being sought by the Los Angeles police department has been found safe. Officials with the Olympic Division of the LAPD said 11-year-old Madelyn Rosales was found about 1:30 p.m. Saturday after spending Friday night at a friend's house. There is nothing suspicious about her disappearance, police said.
CBS Los Angeles

Hours-Long Standoff in South LA Ends With Man's Surrender: Police
An hours-long standoff in which a man claimed to be armed and have a child with him in a South LA home garage came to an end when he surrendered to SWAT officers Sunday afternoon. The man barricaded himself inside the home in the 5800 block of 8th Avenue just before 9 a.m., according to the Los Angeles Police Department.
NBC Los Angeles

Surveillance from above
The LAPD is pioneering the use of helicopters to fly over criminal 'hot spots' and stop crime before it starts.
Los Angeles Times

Police across the country show support for slain detective
It's anticipated the services for slain police detective Terence Avery Green will be one of the largest law enforcement funerals ever held here. Hundreds of police officers from all over the nation have expressed interest in attending. A police union representative says law enforcement is a brotherhood. Michael Pulliam, himself a beat cop for twenty-six years, says officers will celebrate Green's life.
MyFoxAtlanta.com

Holder says he's ‘prepared' to dismantle Ferguson police department if necessary
Attorney General Eric Holder said Friday the Department of Justice is ready to take any and all steps that are needed to reform the Ferguson, Mo., police department, including the potential dismantling of the force. Speaking to reporters at Andrews Air Force Base after a trip to South Carolina with President Obama, Holder said he was stunned by what the investigation uncovered, and will go to all necessary lengths to address racial bias and other systemic issues within the force. A Department of Justice report released Wednesday showed the police department demonstrated a pattern of racial bias and committed constitutional violations.
The Washington Post

Thieves Steal $200,000 of Firefighters' Rescue Equipment
Thieves have stolen $200,000 worth of rescue equipment from a closed fire station in San Bernardino California. They broke into a secured conex box where the gear was being stored outside of the shut-down building at Mill Street and Arrowhead Avenue, San Bernardino Fire Department said Friday.
NBC Los Angeles

About $15K Worth of Band Equipment Stolen From Pasadena School; Some Items Recovered
A portion of some $15,000 worth of stolen musical instruments belonging to a Pasadena school have been recovered and are expected to be returned to the campus Monday, officials said. Pasadena police responded to a burglary report at Marshal Fundamental Secondary School on Tuesday, according to a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department news release.
KTLA 5

50 Men, Women Begin Careers as LA Sheriff's Deputies
Los Angeles County Sheriff's recruits received their certificates and graduated Thursday, an event that took almost six months. Sheriff Jim McDonnell said 50 men and woman were all sworn in and are beginning their careers during a challenging time. A time when there is a mistrust of law enforcement in many communities.
ABC 7

City Government

Garcetti spokesman Yusef Robb leaving City Hall
Word went out Friday to Mayor Eric Garcetti's staff that the mayor's chief spokesman, Yusef Robb, will be leaving "to pursue new opportunities." Chief of Staff Ana Guerrero's note to the staff credited Robb with "5 years of leadership in telling Team Garcetti's story and keeping us back to basics."
LA Observed

Jobs

Local Unemployment Rate Drops, More Jobs in County
Los Angeles County's jobless rate dipped below 8 percent in January for the first time in nearly six years, according to state figures released Friday. The unemployment rate fell to 7.9 percent, the lowest level since mid-2008, from 8 percent in December. (December's figure was revised upward from 7.9 percent.) More households reported people working in January, even as more people were looking for work. The county's jobless rate still exceeded the statewide rate of 6.9 percent and was well above the national rate of 5.7 percent.
Los Angeles Business Journal