Law Enforcement

LAPD's Beck says community partnerships vital to school campus safety
LAPD Chief Charlie Beck called Friday for an investment in community partnerships to keep school campuses safe at an event of educators, university security officials, professors and others. Addressing a sold-out crowd of the Campus Safety Conference at the Radisson Hotel near USC, Beck emphasized the importance of establishing key relationships and having a plan in place to keep everyone safe should a crisis arise.
Los Angeles Times

LAPD panel seeks to learn whether Beck eased discipline of sergeant
The commission that oversees the Los Angeles Police Department will look into whether Chief Charlie Beck played any role in softening disciplinary action against a male sergeant accused of having an improper relationship with the chief's daughter, who is an LAPD officer. The case centers on Sgt. George Hoopes, whom the department accused of violating rules against romantic ties between supervisors and those they command. The department sought to have him demoted.
Los Angeles Times
LAPD Response

LAPD seeks to limit civilian drone flights over police stations
Los Angeles police on Friday said they have asked the city attorney's office and county prosecutors to explore whether they can legally prohibit civilians from flying drones with cameras over department-owned parking lots. The inquiry was sparked after a South Bay man who routinely films police activity and posts the footage on his website flew his drone over the parking lot of the LAPD's Hollywood station this week and filmed squad cars going in and out.
Los Angeles Times

Protecting innocence to quash crime
A few weeks ago, I watched LAPD Assistant Chief Earl Paysinger salute the largest-ever graduating class of teenage cadets in a ceremony at USC's Galen Center, where he congratulated them for their commitment to public service. Last week, Paysinger was back in the same neighborhood for a very different reason. He pulled over on Figueroa Street and opened a laptop, saying he wanted me to see the faces of the teenage suspects in the horrific July 24 murder of a grad student.
Los Angeles Times

Husband kills wife, himself with shotgun in front of 7 kids: LAPD
A husband fatally shot his wife and then turned the gun on himself in front of seven children and grandchildren at a Panorama City apartment, detectives said on Saturday. The incident began Friday just before 10 p.m. in the 8700 block of Tobias Avenue when the husband and his 41-year-old wife started arguing after he had at least five beers to drink, a news release from the Los Angeles Police Department stated.
KTLA

LAPD finds motorcycle cop's missing shotgun; man arrested
Los Angeles police found a shotgun that fell off an officer's motorcycle and on Friday arrested the man accused of taking it from the area. Takee Williams, 43, was arrested for grand theft after officers were able to track down the shotgun a few miles from where it came off the officer's bike, according to a news release from the Los Angeles Police Department.
Los Angeles Times

Police dog bites LAPD officer during search for shotgun
A veteran Los Angeles police officer was severely injured Thursday when a police dog bit him in the calf during a search for a missing shotgun in South L.A., department officials said. Officers were searching streets near South Vermont Avenue and West Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard after a locking mechanism broke and the shotgun fell off a police motorcycle sometime Thursday afternoon.
Los Angeles Times

911 calls about Facebook outage angers L.A. County sheriff's officials
Officials at one Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department station were not happy after getting calls from residents because Facebook went down Friday morning. "#Facebook is not a Law Enforcement issue, please don't call us about it being down, we don't know when FB will be back up!" Sheriff's Sgt. Burton Brink of the Crescenta Valley station wrote on Twitter. In a later tweet, he said an unknown number of people called 911 about the outage.
Los Angeles Times

LAPD backtracks on murder statistics
Top officials at the Los Angeles Police Department have declined to release information that would show whether or not they solved hundreds of murders. Chief Charlie Beck's deputies first offered to present the records. Now they won't, and have referred the matter to the department's oversight office. During at least one news conference, Beck said the LAPD solved many more murders than it reported to federal and state authorities.
Los Angeles Daily News

Man critically wounded after being shot three times in Koreatown
A man riding his bicycle in Koreatown was shot three times and critically wounded Sunday morning by two suspects who fled, a police sergeant said. The shooting occurred at 1:15 a.m. at Leeward and Westmoreland avenues, said Sgt. Dino Caldera of the Los Angeles Police Department's Olympic Station. The victim, about 45 years old, was riding his bicycle when two suspects shot at him, Caldera said.
City News Service

Sketch released in attacks on women at Debs Park
Police sought the public's help Friday to identify a sexual battery suspect. Authorities said the man targets women walking in Debs Park, located in the 4200 block of Monterey Road in Montecito Heights. The first incident was reported Jan. 13 when a woman said she was groped by a Hispanic man on a bike. A similar incident happened on June 25 when the suspect approached a woman, asked to borrow her cellphone, and exposed his genitals to her, the LAPD said. On July 20, a third victim was walking her dog in the park when she was approached by a man with a knife.
CBS LA

Parole

California not following recommendation on parole agent caseloads
California never adopted the recommendation that the caseloads of agents supervising sex offenders be reduced, despite the urging of a blue-ribbon task force that was set up after an arrest in the kidnapping of Jaycee Dugard, and the deaths of others at the hands of those under the state's watch. Instead, agent caseloads remain at levels as much as twice what the task force deemed safe, while duties for those agents have been greatly expanded.
Los Angeles Times

City Government

Garcetti learns travails of travel
Perhaps this should be written into the City Charter as requirements to be mayor, beyond being a registered voter and over the age of 18. If you want privacy, do not run. If you think you can get away from the job, even for a few hours, do not run. Mayor Eric Garcetti, who is returning from a 10-day vacation in Michigan with his family, is learning that the hard way, much as his predecessors experienced at one point or another.
Los Angeles Daily News