Find Your Command Voice

LAPD officers almost blinded by lasers. Two LASD deputies shot. Two Louisville police officers shot. One of our own assaulted in the Harbor Police Station. Make no mistake about it, the attacks on law enforcement are real and are getting more frequent. Some of these attacks are being partially fueled by those in political and appointed leadership positions who refuse to strongly condemn these attacks or call for the swift apprehension and strong prosecution of those who now feel it is OK to kill, attempt to kill or hurt police officers. It’s sickening.

Security Video Captures Attack Where Man Pistol-Whipped Officer Inside LAPD Station

New security video captures the Saturday night struggle inside a Los Angeles police station in San Pedro, where a man is accused of pistol-whipping a veteran officer before shots were fired. Robert Harris, director with the Los Angeles Police Protective League, says watching the video is both disturbing and should be a reality check for all. “I think anybody that looks at that video, it is not hard to visualize what could have ultimately happened in that video. By the grace of God, that officer walked away from that incident with his life,” he said. Harris says the security video is a frightening example of the dangers law enforcement face, both in and out of the field. “I know there are people in society that say, 'This is what you signed up for.' No, this is not what we signed up for. We are a reflection of the communities we serve -- attack on us is an attack on the community,” Harris said.

Americans Mostly Agree on Policing. The Difference Is Priorities.

Even as a pandemic and the resulting economic crisis occupy much of the news, President Trump and Joe Biden often talk about something else: crime and justice. Specifically, they are talking about policing and safety, while offering sharply competing visions of America. Yet a survey reveals that Americans are not as divided on issues related to policing and law and order as you might think. Far from it. Voters have emerged after months of social unrest with a clear sense of what they want: to maintain police funding but overhaul police practices. Large majorities in both parties oppose defunding the police; large majorities in both parties want to ban chokeholds; and majorities in both parties reject decreasing the scope of police work. So why has this become such a big political fault line heading to the election on Nov. 3?

LAPD Chief Welcomes Most Diverse Group Of New Recruits

Los Angeles Police Chief Michel Moore on Monday welcomed the department’s most diverse recruit class in its history. Jennifer McGraw reports for the KTLA 5 Morning News at 11 a.m. on Sept. 28, 2020.

2 More Suspects Wanted In Venice Beach Sports Bar Shooting

Police need help to identify two more suspects in a shooting at a Venice Beach sports bar. Police say a man and a woman were wounded last Wednesday while they were with family and friends in the outdoor patio of a sports bar on Washington Boulevard, just west of Pacific Avenue in the Venice Beach area. A verbal dispute turned into a physical fight with three suspects, one of whom fired a gun, according to the LAPD. The woman was treated at the scene. The man who was hit was taken to a hospital in stable condition. The gunman, who is from Los Angeles and was not identified by police, was arrested in Norwalk the next day and evidence including the handgun believed to have been used in the shooting was seized, according to the LAPD. But detectives still want to identify two more suspects involved in the shooting.

LAPD Seeking Witness After Making Arrest In Chinatown Hit-And-Run That Left 70-Year-Old Woman Severely Injured

Police made an arrest in a Chinatown hit-and-run that severely injured a 70-year-old woman, and now they need help tracking down a witness to the crash. Tips led to the identification of the suspected driver after Los Angeles police officials released security video of the Sept. 4 crash at North Broadway and College Street. Detectives arrested 24-year-old Christopher David Smith at his home in Menlo Avenue Friday. Smith has since been released after posting $50,000 bail. The elderly woman was crossing North Broadway in a crosswalk with a “Walk” signal when she was struck by a black Mercedes-Benz sedan making a left onto Broadway from westbound College Street. She remains hospitalized in critical condition. Video taken from inside a pharmacy on the corner show several people came to the woman’s aid, including one that police now say they are hoping to question further.

L.A. Man Sentenced To 25 Years To Life For Murder Of Transgender Woman

A Los Angeles man was sentenced Monday to 25 years to life in prison for the murder of a 33-year-old transgender woman he met online and stabbed in the back before setting her Pico-Union apartment on fire. Kevyn Ramirez, 32, had pleaded no contest to killing Victoria Ramos Gutierrez, along with a charge of arson, in a case which could have carried a death sentence. Los Angeles Superior Judge Craig Mitchell ordered a separate eight-year sentence on the arson count to run concurrently. Gutierrez was killed Jan. 10, 2018, inside a two-story, multi-unit home at 1711 S. New Hampshire Ave., between Venice and Washington boulevards. Ramirez was arrested the following evening. The criminal complaint included special circumstance allegation of murder during the commission of an attempted first-degree robbery, as well as allegations of use of a deadly weapon, arson of multiple structures and use of an accelerant.

Crew Member On Container Ship Heading To LA Charged In Fatal Stabbing

A crewmember on a container ship heading from China to the Port of Los Angeles was charged Monday, Sept. 28, with a federal offense and accused of a fatal stabbing of another employee. Michael Dequito Monegro, 41, a resident of the Philippines, was named in a complaint that charges him with one count of performing an act of violence against a person onboard a ship that is likely to endanger the safe navigation of the ship, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. The felony offense carries a sentence of up to life in federal prison or the death penalty. The complaint, filed in federal court in Los Angeles, alleges that Monegro used two knives to repeatedly stab the victim on the MSC Ravenna on Sept. 20 while the vessel was traveling to the Port of Los Angeles, its destination after a voyage from China.

L.A. Man Accused Of Luring Teenage Girls In Ventura County

A 20-year-old Los Angeles man stands accused in Ventura County Monday of illicit activity with two minors. Over the summer, Bryan Cervantes used social media in an attempt to persuade a girl he thought was 17 and one who was 15 to send him “pictures with sexual content” in exchange for payment, according to the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office. He also sought to have sex with the girls, according to investigators. Detectives with the Ventura County Human Trafficking Task Force and the Ventura County Sheriff’s Special Crimes Unit started monitoring Cervantes in July and executed a search warrant Sept. 17 at his residence, authorities said. He was arrested on suspicion of luring a minor for sexual purposes and booked at the Pre-Trial Detention Facility in Ventura that morning before being released just before 7 p.m. the same night, jail records show.

Six Arrested In Burbank For EDD Scam, Found With $40K Cash, Gun

Burbank police arrested six people in an unemployment scam involving California state benefits. Officers were called to a Bank of America branch around 11 p.m. Saturday due to what they only described as suspicious activity. After investigating, they took six people into custody and found them with 40 stolen benefit cards from the California Employment Development Department, along with $40,000 in cash and a loaded gun. Fraud and scams related to EDD benefits have been on the rise this year, as the state agency handles an unprecedented number of unemployment claims during the COVID-19 pandemic. Police in Riverside say they are currently investigating more than 200 cases in a recent unemployment mail scam.

Public Safety News

Behavioral Health Center For Firefighters Opens In Arleta

At a time when the suicide rate among firefighters increasingly concerns officials, fire crews and their families have a new center in a former firehouse where they can go for behavioral health treatment. United Firefighters of Los Angeles City and Los Angeles Fire Department officially opened the Center for Health & Wellness in Arleta at Old LAFD Fire Station 7 on Monday, Sept. 28, during National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month. The center is the first in the state to serve firefighters and their families with counseling, stress management, resiliency training and alcohol and drug addictions. The UFLAC/LAFD 24/7 Peer Support Team, with 100 firefighter members, will also be run out of the center. LAFD Chief Ralph Terrazas said he realized when he became chief that he had to do more for behavioral health in the department.

L.A. County Reports Lowest Daily Death Count Since March, But Officials Urge Caution For Those With Underlying Conditions

Los Angeles County had been bracing for a possible surge in COVID-19 cases associated with the Labor Day holiday, but that increase has yet to surface leaving health officials optimistic. “We are now three weeks out from Labor Day and have not experienced a surge in cases similar to after Memorial Day and July 4th,” County Public Health Director Barbara said at a news conference Monday. “While we may still see increases in cases due to activities over the Labor Day Holiday, we do not predict a similar surge.” Health officials reported 663 new cases and one new death on Monday, bringing the countywide total to 268,455 with 6,515 deaths. There are 689 people currently hospitalized with COVID-19, 34% percent are being treated in the intensive care unit.

Local Government News

LA City Council Considers Resuming Parking Enforcement

The relaxed parking enforcement measures brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic are scheduled to expire Thursday, and the Los Angeles City Council is expected to vote Wednesday, Sept. 30, on new schedule related to them. If the schedule is approved, Los Angeles would resume parking enforcement and impounds when applicable on Thursday for street cleaning, abandoned vehicles, oversize and overnight restrictions, peak-hour and anti-gridlock zones, and expired registration. On Oct. 15, the city would resume enforcement of expired preferential parking district permits and suspend imposing new citation late penalties until Oct. 22. The plan would also delay the proposed Jan. 20 date for resuming impounds of oversized vehicles that the violate the city’s Oversize Vehicle Ordinance and to have the Los Angeles Department of Transportation report to the City Council in 30 to 60 days with a plan for the next steps.