Canada's tightening immigration policy may be felt in U.S.

The revelation that an L.A. arson suspect entered the U.S. after losing an asylum bid in Canada has focused attention on stringent policies that could force more immigrants to seek refuge in the U.S.

For years, Canada has had one of the most generous immigration policies in the world, welcoming tens of thousands of asylum applicants who claim to be fleeing persecution in their homelands.

But Canada's Conservative government has begun rolling up the welcome mat, stepping up efforts to track down and deport thousands of asylum-seekers whose applications have been denied.

The clampdown is likely to be felt not only across Canada, but in the United States.

Fresh from the revelation that Los Angeles arson suspect Harry Burkhart traveled to the U.S. from Vancouver after losing his nearly three-year bid for refugee status, immigration analysts here warn that the United States could become a new destination for thousands of asylum applicants soon to be pushed out of the pipeline in Canada.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-canada-immigration-20120115,0,448505,print.story

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Lebanese rally against rape, sexual violence

Demonstrators gathered outside the Interior Ministry and marched through the rainy streets of Beirut to the nearby parliament.

"Marital rape is void, discrimination is void," women and men in the crowd shouted. Rally-goers carried banners saying, "We want laws that protect women from all sorts of sexual violence."

Under Lebanese law, spousal rape is not considered a crime, and neither is domestic violence. Moreover, the Lebanese criminal code stipulates that if a man rapes a woman, his sentence will be annulled if he agrees to marry her.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/world_now/2012/01/lebanese-rally-against-rape-sexual-violence.html

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Police in Calif. say homeless killer is in custody

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) – Investigators are "extremely confident" a man in custody is responsible for all four recent killings of homeless men in Orange County, Anaheim Police Chief John Welter said Saturday, easing a month of worry and fear among the homeless and their advocates.

Investigators have tied the killings to Itzcoatl Ocampo, 23, of Yorba Linda, who was detained Friday night after a fourth homeless man was stabbed to death in the parking lot of a fast-food restaurant, Welter said.

Witnesses and bystanders at the crime scene chased Ocampo on foot, and he was captured by a police officer who was part of a perimeter set up in response to dozens of 911 calls and other reports.

Three other homeless men have been found stabbed to death in north Orange County since mid-December, and a task force had been looking for the single suspect they believed was responsible for all three.

"We are extremely confident that we have the man that is responsible for the murders of all four homeless men in Orange County," Welter said. "We plan to request from the district attorney that he be charged with four counts of murder."

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2012-01-14/homeless-killer-arrest/52551212/1?csp=34news

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Jan 14, 2012

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San Francisco County sheriff charged with domestic violence

Five days after he was sworn in as sheriff, Ross Mirkarimi is also charged with child endangerment and dissuading a witness, the result of a fight with his wife, a former Venezuelan telenovela star.

Reporting from San Francisco -- Five days after he was sworn in as San Francisco County sheriff, Ross Mirkarimi was charged Friday afternoon with misdemeanor domestic violence, child endangerment and dissuading a witness, the result of a New Year's Eve fight with his wife, a former Venezuelan telenovela star.

In announcing the charges against Mirkarimi, 50 — a former county supervisor who is now one of the highest-ranking law enforcement officers in San Francisco — Dist. Atty. George Gascon said police are investigating the possibility that Mirkarimi may have been involved in earlier incidents of spousal abuse.

Gascon also said that a judge was signing an emergency protective order that would bar Mirkarimi from his home and prohibit any contact between him and his wife, Eliana Lopez, and their toddler son, Theo. The order also would require Mirkarimi to give up all his firearms within 24 hours. Gascon said that he is "not aware of any" other sheriff in California who cannot carry a gun.

"While this case involves a high-profile elected official, we are treating this case as we would any of the hundreds of domestic violence cases we review and charge each year," Gascon said. "While I do not relish having to bring charges against a San Francisco elected official … it is my solemn duty to bring criminal charges when the evidence supports such action."

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-0114-sf-sheriff-20120114,0,3606634.story

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1st charge filed in FBI probe of L.A. sheriff's deputy misconduct

The case involves former Deputy Gilbert Michel, who admitted smuggling a cellphone and other contraband into Men's Central Jail for an inmate who promised him $20,000.

Federal prosecutors filed their first criminal charge in the ongoing investigation of deputy misconduct in the Los Angeles County jails, saying that an ex-guard has agreed to plead guilty to felony bribery and is cooperating with the FBI.

The case involves former Deputy Gilbert Michel, who admitted smuggling a cellphone and other contraband into Men's Central Jail last year for an inmate who promised him a total of $20,000. Michel, 38, didn't know that the inmate was an informant helping the FBI and that the person who eventually handed him money was an undercover agent.

Federal officials on Friday declined to detail the information Michel has provided. But the Sheriff's Department has acknowledged that Michel implicated several other jailers in "improper" uses of force against inmates. Michel spoke to investigators at least twice over the last few months, beginning in September, according to court papers.

U.S. Atty. Andre Birotte Jr. said Friday that the investigation into alleged brutality and other misdeeds by L.A. sheriff's deputies is continuing. The FBI probe has looked into claims that deputies carved racist initials into one inmate's head and broke the jaw of another inmate, among other allegations. "Obviously it's important that corruption and any criminal misconduct in any law enforcement agency get rooted out, not just for public safety but, frankly, for the sake of the organization," he said.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-deputy-cellphone-20120114,0,7696542.story

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Natalee Holloway justice? Joran Van der Sloot gets 28 years

Van der Sloot was sentenced Friday in Peru to serve 28 years in a prison for fatally beating another young woman, Stephany Flores, 21, in his hotel room in Lima. It's unusual for such a murder case in a foreign land to make headlines in America. But U.S. media have covered this case because it gives a bittersweet measure of solace to the grieving Holloway family -- and to all parents who can feel their suffering.

Flores and Holloway's parents never met. But Flores possibly met her end while trying to help Natalee Holloway's family. Investigators have long believed that Van der Sloot violently turned on the Flores after she found something, perhaps a clue, related to Holloway on his computer. Flores' murder took place May 30, 2010. That's precisely five years to the day that Holloway was seen leaving a nightclub in Aruba with Van der Sloot and two other men on May 30, 2005.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/nationnow/

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Challenging eyewitness evidence

The Supreme Court this week made it harder for criminal defendants to challenge one of the most common flaws in the criminal justice system: the use of mistaken eyewitness evidence.

The Supreme Court this week made it harder for criminal defendants to challenge one of the most common flaws in the criminal justice system: the use of mistaken eyewitness evidence. The 8-1 decision needlessly narrows the ability of judges to suppress eyewitness testimony marred by inconsistency or other indications of error, leaving the task of evaluating the reliability of such evidence to juries.

Statistics show that 76% of 250 convictions overturned since 1989 because of DNA evidence involved mistaken eyewitness identification. A host of factors can lead to mistakes. Most are attributable to manipulation by the police, such as lineups or photo arrays in which the suspect is grouped with people who look nothing like him. There is also evidence that a witness has a harder time making a correct identification when he and the suspect are of different races.

Courts, legislatures and police departments admirably have taken steps to prevent officers from unduly influencing witnesses. For example, 21 police departments in California conduct "blind" photo lineups, in which the person administering the viewing doesn't know who the suspect is. Perhaps most important, the Supreme Court has ruled that judges may suppress eyewitness testimony before trial if there is evidence that police "have arranged suggestive circumstances leading the witness to identify a particular person as the perpetrator of a crime." This is an important safeguard because jurors tend to give too much weight to eyewitness testimony, even if the judge advises them that it can be fallible for various reasons.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/opinionla/la-ed-eyewitness-20120113,0,2236526,print.story

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4th homeless man in month killed in S. Calif.

Police detained a man in connection with the latest stabbing death of a homeless man in Orange County as a task forced investigated if there were any links to the slayings of three other homeless men, believed to be the work of a serial killer.

The dead man was found between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. Friday near a fast-food restaurant at the intersection of La Palma Avenue and Imperial Highway in Anaheim, police said.

Witnesses followed a man who ran from the restaurant parking lot and led police to him, Anaheim police Deputy Chief Craig Hunter told the Orange County Register. He was taken to the Anaheim Police Department for questioning.

Police set up a massive containment area at the crime scene in a search for the killer and scoured nearby neighborhoods, including a mobile home park, the Los Angeles Times reported.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2012/01/14/national/a023230S90.DTL

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Predictive policing is not 'Minority Report' ...at least not yet

Using computer algorithms, 'predictive policing' estimates where certain types of crime may occur, in a similar way that meteorologists forecast weather

Intelligence-led policing, an umbrella concept which includes “predictive policing,” could help move police departments beyond the increasingly outdated Community Policing model and toward a more-professional approach that envisions crime suppression and control as the most important result of good police work. The premise of “predictive policing” is that human behavior is predictable , which opens the door to computer-assisted techniques that can forecast subtle patterns of specified criminal activity.

Though at first blush it appears that intelligence-led policing and “predictive policing” are the same, they are, in fact, slightly different. According to David Sklansky of the University of California at Berkley, “[t]he main distinction between intelligence-led policing and predictive policing is that predictive policing claims to be more ambitious and more technologically sophisticated...” In other words, “predictive policing” may be more aggressive in its application of intelligence-led policing techniques, a distinction that may be more obvious in theory than practice.

Let's also be clear at the outset. “Predictive policing” isn't predictive. Using computer algorithms it estimates where certain types of crime may occur, in a similar way that meteorologists forecast weather or seismologists estimate earthquake aftershocks. No crystal balls, necromancy, witchcraft, prophecy, or freakish “precogs” — only inputs, outputs, and informed analysis of criminal patterns, not individual criminal behavior.

http://www.policeone.com/pc_print.asp?vid=4941161

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Jan 13, 2012

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Op-Ed

Mother's new little helper — Adderall

Stressed-out women are turning to the ADHD drugs their children take.

All over the country in recent weeks, mothers of children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder have been scrambling to fill prescriptions for their kids' stimulant medications, due to suddenly scarce supplies.

Drug firms blame the shortage on quotas of the psychoactive ingredients, set by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to control abuse. Some DEA officials counter that the drug firms have chosen to use their limited allotments to make more of the pricey, brand-name drugs, causing a dearth of the cheaper generics.

Manufacturing issues aside, however, the National Institute on Drug Abuse suggests there may be another, more ironic reason for the stimulant shortages: namely, a dramatic increase in their use — and abuse — by women of childbearing age.

Over the last decade, the number of prescriptions written each year for generic and brand-name forms of Adderall, an amphetamine mix that has recently become the most popular ADHD remedy, has surged among women over 26, rising from a total of roughly 800,000 in 2002 to some 5.4 million in 2010. A particularly startling increase has been for women aged 26 to 39, for whom prescriptions soared by 750% in this time frame.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-0113-ellison-adhd-drug-shortage-20120113,0,1314929,print.story

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Natalee Holloway Declared Legally Dead

(BIRMINGHAM, Ala.) — An Alabama judge signed an order Thursday declaring Natalee Holloway dead, more than six years after the American teenager vanished on the Caribbean island of Aruba during a high school graduation trip.

Judge Alan King signed the order at the close of a hearing in a Birmingham courtroom that was attended by the missing woman's divorced parents, Dave and Beth Holloway. (See "From Aruba to Lima: The Case of Joran van der Sloot.")

Dave Holloway told the judge in September he believed his daughter had died and he wanted to stop payments on her medical insurance and use her $2,000 college fund to help her younger brother. Thursday's hearing was scheduled long before a suspect questioned in Holloway's disappearance, Dutchman Joran van der Sloot, pleaded guilty Wednesday in Peru to the 2010 murder of a woman in Lima.

Natalee Holloway disappeared in Aruba on May 30, 2005. The 18-year-old was last seen leaving a bar early that morning with van der Sloot. Her body was never found and the ensuing searches for the young woman garnered intense media scrutiny and worldwide attention.

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2104377,00.html

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Canada

New Community Policing programs in place

Williams Lake safer communities co-ordinator Dave Dickson proudly told city council the community provided more than 2,500 volunteer hours for a variety of programs in 2011.

In restorative justice alone, the community clocked more than 1,000 hours on 47 cases. “It's a great program and a flagship for the province. We're relied on and referred to. We have eight fully-trained trainers that go around the province,” he said.

Crimestoppers, also very successful this year, garnered 49 tips, mostly around grow-ops and criminal activity. Last year, Dickson initiated Realty Watch, where he works with realtors in town to quickly relay e-mails.

“It's a very quick tool, especially with missing children, because the realtors are in the community and are very community minded,” Dickson explained, adding in addition, he's in the process of partnering with the Northern Realty Team, which will mean in excess of 200 real estate agents from communities between Prince Rupert along Highway 16 to Prince George and south to Williams Lake will participate.

http://www.wltribune.com/news/137135603.html

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Slogans, Earthquake Safety & the Central U.S. ShakeOut

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Jan 12, 2012

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Mexico government sought to withhold drug war death statistics

Official records show both the administration and the attorney general's office late last year refused formal requests for updated statistics. Under pressure, partial figures for 2011 have been released.

Six months before a presidential election that his party is widely expected to lose, President Felipe Calderon is on the defensive about the government's blood-soaked drug war, with new revelations that it sought to conceal death toll statistics from the public.

By unofficial count, at least 50,000 people are believed to have been killed since Calderon deployed the military in the first days of his presidency in December 2006.

A year ago, the government released an official death toll up to that point — 34,612 — and pledged to periodically update a database and make it public. But official documents show that the offices of both the president and the attorney general late last year refused formal requests for updated statistics filed under the Mexican equivalent of the Freedom of Information Act.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-mexico-dead-numbers-20120112,0,1311879.story

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Van der Sloot pleads guilty: Closure for Natalee Holloway's family?

It's a moment that Natalee Holloway's family has wanted for years: Joran van der Sloot on Wednesday admitted in a court of law that he is a killer.

His guilty plea came in connection with the May 30, 2010, death of a 21-year-old Peruvian woman, Stephany Flores, who was killed in Van der Sloot's hotel room in Lima.

The killing took place precisely five years to the day that Holloway disappeared during a trip to Aruba to celebrate her graduation from high school in Alabama. On the night she vanished, Holloway was seen leaving a nightclub with Van der Sloot. She was never heard from again.

"Yes, I want to plead guilty. I wanted from the first moment to confess sincerely," Van der Sloot told the court Wednesday. "I truly am sorry for this act. I feel very bad," he said, according to the Associated Press.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/nationnow/

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Missing in Aruba for 6 years, Natalee Holloway's father asks judge to declare her dead

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — An Alabama judge has scheduled a hearing in Birmingham on whether to sign a court order declaring Natalee Holloway dead more than six years after the 18-year-old woman disappeared in Aruba.

Thursday afternoon's hearing was scheduled before a suspect questioned in Holloway's disappearance, Joran van der Sloot, decided to plead guilty Wednesday to killing a young woman in Peru.

Probate Judge Alan King is hearing a request by Holloway's father to have her declared dead. The judge ruled in September that Dave Holloway had met the legal presumption of death for his daughter and it was up to someone to prove she didn't die in Aruba. He set the hearing Thursday to allow time for anyone to come forward.

The father's attorney, Mark White, says no new evidence has emerged.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/missing-in-aruba-for-6-years-natalee-holloways-father-asks-judge-to-declare-her-dead

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Monterey County Ranks #1 for Youth Homicide Victimization in California for Second Year in a Row, New Study Reveals

WASHINGTON, Jan. 10, 2012 -- Annual Study Compares Rates of Homicide Victimization for Californians Ages 10 to 24 by County, Race, Ethnicity, Weapon Used, Circumstance, and Location.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 10, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Monterey County's young people suffer a murder rate that leads all California counties and is nearly three times the overall state rate for the same age range, according to "Lost Youth: A County-by-County Analysis of 2010 California Homicide Victims Ages 10 to 24," a study analyzing unpublished California Department of Justice Supplementary Homicide Report (SHR) data released today by the Violence Policy Center (VPC). The study, available at http://www.vpc.org/studies/cayouth2012.pdf and funded by The California Wellness Foundation, uses the most recent data available to rank California counties by their homicide victimization rates for youth and young adults ages 10 to 24.

This is the second year that the VPC has released the study and the second year that Monterey County has led the rankings. While for 2010 Monterey maintained its top ranking compared to other California counties, the county's homicide victimization rate for this age group dropped from 31.24 per 100,000 in 2009 to 24.36 per 100,000 in 2010.

http://www.sacbee.com/2012/01/10/v-print/4177236/monterey-county-ranks-1-for-youth.html

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Jan 11, 2012

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An anguished search for his daughter's killer

Donglei Shi was found dead in an Alhambra park nearly two years ago. No witnesses and little evidence were found. Her father, George, has tirelessly pursued his quest and is offering a $200,000 reward.

The rain had washed away his daughter's smile by the time George Shi reached the parking lot.

Gently, he glued a new flier over the old one, smoothing each crease, until her photo and his message again shone clear:

REWARD: $200,000 to anyone who helps find her killer.

It is all Shi can do, nearly two years after his daughter, Donglei Shi, was strangled and her body dumped in an Alhambra park, leaving behind a case with no witnesses and little evidence.

Donglei, also known as Kyral, was Shi's only daughter, the older of two children. She had become her father's right hand after the family emigrated from China. At 31, the graphic designer helped him manage his acupuncture business, took him for long walks in the park, even bought his ties, his glasses, his belts and his razors.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-alhambra-murder-20120111,0,2857170.story

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L. A. County jailers more likely to use force on mentally ill inmates

Mentally ill inmates make up about 15% of the Los Angeles County jail population but are involved in about a third of use-of-force incidents by deputies.

Los Angeles County jailers are more likely to use force against mentally ill inmates than other prisoners, according to a new Sheriff's Department report that acknowledges the lockups need specially trained staff to reduce the violence.

Roughly a third of the 582 deputy use-of-force cases in the jail system last year involved inmates with mental health histories, according to an analysis released Tuesday. About 15% of the jail's 15,000 inmates are classified as mentally ill.

The numbers provide a more detailed picture of the confrontations between deputies and inmates, an issue that has sparked intense scrutiny over the last few months and prompted a heated debate Tuesday between Sheriff Lee Baca and some L.A. County supervisors.

Baca presented the report to county supervisors in response to their concerns about conditions in the jails, which are the subject of an FBI investigation. Federal authorities are investigating several specific allegations of deputy misconduct and excessive force and last year even smuggled a cellphone into the jail as part of the probe.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-sheriff-jails-20120111,0,2284536.story

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Appeals court affirms order blocking Oklahoma sharia law ban

The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, in a ruling released Tuesday, affirmed an order by a district court judge in 2010 that halted the law from taking effect. The ruling also allows a Muslim community leader in Oklahoma City to continue his legal challenge of the law's constitutionality.

The measure, known as State Question 755, was approved with 70% of the vote in 2010.

The law is an amendment to the state constitution and bars courts from considering the legal precepts of other nations or cultures. “Specifically, the courts shall not consider international law or sharia law,” the law reads.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/nationnow/

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Detroit police stations cut hours

Strapped city looks to avoid takeover

DETROIT — Detroit, which has one of the highest crime rates among large American cities, is now closing its police stations to the public for 16 hours a day — including overnight — as the cash-strapped city struggles to slash expenses.

Public desks at the eight stations that represent the eight precincts or districts of the Detroit Police Department began closing this week at 4 p.m. daily and reopening the next morning at 8. It means residents could have a harder time quickly finding face-to-face help from police during many hours.

The moves are expected to lead to "virtual precincts" as desk officers are redeployed to the streets during the affected hours.

The administration of Mayor Dave Bing is under intense pressure to cut hundreds of millions of dollars in costs. The city estimates it could run out of money within a few months if immediate action is not taken. The state is conducting a financial review that could result in a takeover.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/site/newspaper/news/sc-nw-detroit-police--0111-20120111,0,6535083,print.story

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Jan 10, 2012

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Florida man charged with plotting attacks to avenge Muslims

Sami Osmakac, 25, of Pinellas Park, Fla., near Tampa, was arrested Saturday. On Monday, in his first appearance in federal court, he was charged with one count of attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction. He was kept in custody after he waived a hearing and bond, said Amy Filjones, a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney's office, in a telephone interview with The Times.

If convicted, Osmakac faces a maximum sentence of life in prison and a $250,000 fine. According to the criminal complaint, Osmakac, who was born in Kosovo, recorded an eight-minute video explaining why he was planning the attacks.

Sitting cross-legged on the floor of a hotel room, the document says, Osmakac describes Muslim blood as more valuable than that of those who are not adherents of Islam, and he says he wants “payback” for wrongs done to Muslims. He is holding a pistol and has an AK-47 behind him, according to the complaint.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/nationnow/

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Washington, D.C., pushes bid to become New Columbia, the 51st state

With the nation's attention focused on New Hampshire, officials in Washington, D.C., are headed to the Granite State to publicize their bid to make the District of Columbia the 51st state.

A delegation led by Mayor Vincent C. Gray will appear Jan. 12 before a New Hampshire legislative committee in their first stop at state capitols across the country to build support for giving the district voting representation in Congress.

Washington's lack of a vote in Congress has been a long-standing gripe.

"Taxation without representation" appears on D.C. license plates. And a D.C. councilman recently polled residents on the idea of renaming Pennsylvania Avenue to perhaps Free D.C. Avenue, 51st State Way, Let D.C. Vote Way or another name.

The district's 600,000 residents pay federal taxes and can vote for president but have a nonvoting delegate in the House and no representation in the Senate.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/nationnow/

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LA Crime Stats: Can You Trust the Spin Doctors?

RETHINKING LA - LA's Mayor Villaraigosa and Police Chief Beck have taken the city's 2011 crime stats on the road, holding them aloft and touting the fact that the crime in Los Angeles continues to decline and is currently as low as it was in the 50's.

As Villaraigosa and Beck take a victory lap around the city in anticipation of the upcoming budget hearings, Beck humbly acknowledged that LA's decade of annual crime rate reductions is a combination of police doing their job well and the “informal social standards' set by communities, a soft analysis that begs the question “Says who?”

Villaraigosa's exclamation that “The numbers are mind-boggling!' only serves to stir the embers of an old unresolved debate over the factors that play a role in crime rates.

The larger overarching issue is one of simple data collection and analysis within LA's City Hall.

The City of LA is the largest city in the most populated state in the most powerful country in the world, and yet we allow City Hall to run itself without the accountability that comes from solid statistical analysis, conducted by professionals who challenge assumptions of causality.

http://www.citywatchla.com/lead-stories/2693-la-crime-stats-can-you-trust-the-spin-doctors

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Jan 9, 2012

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Iran sentences American man to death in CIA case

An Iranian court has convicted an American man of working for the CIA and sentenced him to death, state radio reported Monday.

An Iranian court has convicted an American man of working for the CIA and sentenced him to death, state radio reported Monday.

Iran charges that as a former U.S. Marine, Amir Mirzaei Hekmati received special training and served at U.S. military bases in Iraq and Afghanistan before heading to Iran for his alleged intelligence mission. The radio report did not say when the verdict was issued. Under Iranian law, he has 20 days to appeal.

Hekmati, 28, was born in Arizona. His family is of Iranian origin. His father, who lives in Michigan, said his son is not a CIA spy and was visiting his grandmothers in Iran when he was arrested.

The U.S. State Department has demanded his release. The court convicted him of working with a hostile country, belonging to the CIA and trying to accuse Iran of involvement in terrorism, Monday's report said.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fgw-iran-cia-20120109,0,1572910.story

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State convicts arrive in L.A. County with costly mental illnesses

Newly released state prisoners are arriving in Los Angeles and other counties with incomplete medical records and mental illnesses that have officials struggling to provide treatment.

As California begins shifting supervision of thousands of newly released state prisoners to local probation agencies, ex-convicts are arriving with incomplete medical records and more serious mental illnesses than anticipated. And mental health officials are scrambling to provide appropriate — and often costly — treatment.

"At the start, every day ... there was a crisis," said Dr. Marvin Southard, director of the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health. "There was somebody we didn't know what to do with."

In some cases, he said, released inmates have had to be immediately transferred to hospitals or residential centers for psychiatric care.

A new state law designed to reduce prison crowding and cut costs requires that certain nonviolent convicts serve their time in county lockups rather than state prisons. It also makes counties — rather than the state parole agency — responsible for supervising such inmates after their release.

http://www.latimes.com/health/la-me-prisoners-mentalhealth-20120109,0,4970554.story

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Gary Sinise plans benefit to build home for wounded Marine

Sinise, now starring in TV's “CSI New York,” is set to address the Temecula City Council on Tuesday. The concert tentatively would be March 1 at Town Square Plaza and feature Sinise's Lt. Dan Band, named for his character in “Forrest Gump.”

The Gary Sinise Foundation and the Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation plan to build a specially equipped home for Marine Lance Cpl. Juan Dominguez, who was wounded in Sangin, Afghanistan, in October 2010.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/

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Sheriff Joe Arpaio stays in the spotlight

The Arizona sheriff is a lightning rod for both sides in the debate over the nation's irrational immigration system.

It was no surprise to learn last week that Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, Ariz., will seek reelection. The 79-year-old sheriff has shrugged off lawsuits, investigations and allegations that he practices unconstitutional policing that routinely violates the rights of Latinos. Arpaio regards all of that as a political campaign led by those who seek to use him "as the whipping boy for a national and international problem." So why not run?

In one sense, Arpaio is right. Congress' failure to provide a comprehensive fix to the nation's irrational immigration system has fueled widespread frustration among Republicans and Democrats alike. Federal inaction has prompted a wave of Arizona-style state laws that prescribe new immigration duties for police. Yet few state or local agencies have been so reckless in their use of those expanded powers as Arpaio's. He may be the product of a broken federal system, but he's also proof of why local law enforcement should not step into the breach.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/opinionla/la-ed-arpaio-20120109,0,2828583,print.story

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New York

Pleasantville Police Urge Community Spirit

Chief Love encourages community members to be comfortable with officers.

Even during these colder months, you may notice Pleasantville police officers frequently patrolling the village on foot.

In an effort Chief of Police Richard Love calls "community policing," patrol officers are often assigned to walking tours.

"We are working with the community to prevent crime," he explained. "We also want people to be comfortable with police officers and be able to work with us and try to be on the same page."

http://pleasantville.patch.com/articles/pleasantville-police-urge-community-spirit

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Neighborhood Watches Welcomed By Cops

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Metro Nashville's police chief said 2011 saw the lowest homicide rate in 45 years. He's attributing that, in part, to community policing.

"We have over 500 neighborhood watch groups," Chief Steve Anderson shared with the press last weekend at the grand opening of Madison's new police precinct.

The president of the local Fraternal Order of Police welcomes the additional sets of eyes.

"You won't ever be able to put enough police officers in every neighborhood to catch every criminal and everything going on," said Sergeant Robert Weaver. "We've got to have that community support! It's vital to what we do."

Community policing is also a concept relatively-new Hendersonville Police Chief Mickey Miller is trying to drive home.

http://www.newschannel5.com/story/16472973/neighborhood-watches-welcomed-by-cops?clienttype=printable

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Illinois rules force many cities to drop auxiliary police units

Dec. 30 marked the end of an era for the Milan Police Department.

Milan Police Chief Mark Beckwith said that new training rules for auxiliary police in Illinois have forced the disbanding of the city's auxiliary unit that for 42 years added police presence to the streets during times of floods and festivals, windstorms, snowstorms, parades, concerts and city events.

“The unit was truly community policing in every sense of the word,” Beckwith said.

Many of the auxiliary officers worked in other careers but wanted to give back to the community, he said, while students used the job to gain experience to be a police officer or to decide whether they wanted a career in law enforcement. But they all cared about serving their community in some way, Beckwith said.

http://qctimes.com/news/local/illinois-rules-force-many-cities-to-drop-auxiliary-police-units/article_59f88ec8-3a7a-11e1-983f-0019bb2963f4.html

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Connecticut

Despite record homicides, violent crime drops

New Haven's murder count reached a 20-year high last year after a grisly 2011 that saw 34 homicides. Although city and police officials admitted the homicide rate — 10 higher than the 2010 figure — was concerning, they pointed to improvements in the city's overall rate of violent crime in recent years as an indication of continued policing efforts. Officials and community leaders agreed that there is no simple explanation for the Elm City's uptick in murders, but several new strategies have been implemented to bring the rate down in the future, coinciding with the arrival of new New Haven Police Department chief Dean Esserman, who was sworn in Nov. 18.

“The homicide rate in 2011 was clearly unacceptable and it's something that the city and the police department are going to focus efforts on in 2012,” said City Hall spokeswoman Elizabeth Benton '04. “The new chief has been tasked with reducing the homicide rate and the rate of violent crime in the city and we're optimistic that his efforts will be successful.”

The Elm City reached its final murder count for the year after two fatal shootings in as many days. NHPD officers responded to a report of a shooting at 50 Houston St. around 12:50 a.m. on Dec. 23. There, they found 27-year old Joseph Zargo of West Haven with a gunshot wound to the chest. He was taken to Yale-New Haven Hospital and pronounced dead shortly afterward.

http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/2012/jan/09/violent-crime-down-despite-homicide-record/

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