Law Enforcement

LAPD honors 15 officers with Medal of Valor or Purple Heart
15 LAPD officers received one of the highest honors the Department can award in either the Medal of Valor or the Purple Heart. The ceremonies featuring actress Jamie Lee Curtis and LAPD Chief Charlie Beck, were held in the grand Ballroom at the Hollywood & Highland Center.
Los Angeles Daily News Photos

SWAT officers respond to two Westside incidents
By 3 a.m. Friday, Los Angeles Police Department SWAT officers had already had a hectic night, with call-outs to deal with barricaded suspects in two Westside neighborhoods, including one in which a man took his girlfriend and two young children hostage, one of them an infant. The incidents began about 8 p.m., Thursday, when a man attempted to rob a retired police officer in the Wilshire area.
Los Angeles Times

LAPD busts hookers where residents are scared to go out
It's a quiet little neighborhood that isn't so quiet at night. As Jeff Nguyen reports for CBS2 and KCAL9, the tree-lined neighborhood is being overrun by pimps and prostitutes. And he says the problem has gotten so out-of-hand, some families are afraid to venture out in this Sun Valley neighborhood when the sun goes down.
CBS2/KCAL9

LAPD makes more than 75 drug arrests with influx of downtown officers
LAPD's Central Division in downtown received an influx of about 50 officers last month to help reduce crime in the area -- mainly, by cracking down on drugs. Capt. Horace Frank said 85 to 90 percent of Central's property crimes are committed by narcotics suspects.
Blogdowntown

Report of shots fired in South Los Angeles leads to LAPD shooting
Los Angeles police responding to a "shots fired" call Thursday afternoon in South Los Angeles became involved in an officer-involved shooting, authorities said. No officers were reported injured in the incident, which occurred about 2:30 p.m. in the 800 block of West 70th Street, said LAPD spokeswoman Karen Rayner. It was not immediately clear if any of several reported suspects were wounded as a result of the shooting, Rayner said.
Los Angeles Times

Unlicensed driver pleads guilty in fatal Santa Rosa crosswalk hit-and-run crash
A Santa Rosa man pleaded guilty Thursday to a crosswalk hit-and-run crash that killed a 4-year-old boy and rekindled the debate about unlicensed drivers. Marcos Lopez Garcia, 24, admitted guilt for the three charges against him in the Aug. 18 death of Christopher "Buddy" Rowe near Santa Rosa's Jacobs Park. Garcia, whose trial was scheduled to begin today, now faces a maximum 5-1/2 years in prison at his June 29 sentencing.
Press Democrat

FBI selects counterterrorism executive to lead L.A. division
A veteran agent who has been involved in wide-ranging investigations from counterterrorism to a CIA leak scandal has been appointed as the new head of the FBI in Los Angeles, the bureau announced Thursday. Ralph S. Boelter, a native of Wisconsin, has been an agent since July 1991 and most recently served as assistant director of the FBI's counterterrorism division at headquarters, according to an FBI news release.
Los Angeles Times

FBI impersonation scams popular
An organization created to address online fraud says scams in which criminals impersonate FBI agents were one of the most common types of Internet crime complaints last year - a total of 14,350 nationwide. The Internet Crime Complaint Center says it has handled over 300,000 complaints in each of the past three years. The 314,246 complaints in 2011 marked a 3.4 percent increase over 2010, when complaints totaled 303,809. The amount of money lost by the victims last year: $485.3 million.
Associated Press

Ballot Initiatives

Human trafficking measure qualifies for California ballot
A California proposal aimed at curbing sex slavery and other forms of human trafficking has qualified for the November ballot. The initiative increases penalties for human trafficking violations, upping the maximum sentence to 15 years to life in prison and fines of up to $1.5 million. It would also require that sex offenders, including people convicted of human trafficking crimes, report information about their online accounts, such as email addresses or social media pages.
Sacramento Bee

Legislation

Facebook passwords private, Assembly decides in passing bill
Without a dissenting vote, the California Assembly passed legislation Thursday that would bar employers from requiring their workers or job seekers to provide access to passwords for Facebook or other social media. Assemblywoman Nora Campos, a Democrat who crafted the bill, Assembly Bill 1844, said that information posted in social media accounts does not necessarily reflect a person's job competence.
Sacramento Bee

Prisons

High-tech plan to block prison cell phones 'unwise,' report says
A deal between Gov. Jerry Brown's administration and a private communications company to deploy special equipment to block the rampant use of contraband cell phones by state prison inmates is based on a technology that is unproven and could undermine public safety, according to a new report. A study by the nonpartisan California Council on Science and Technology released this week raises "significant concerns" about plans to install "managed access technology" in the state's 33 adult prisons.
California Watch