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From LA Times

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7 Westside homes reportedly burglarized in 10 days

Seven Westside homes have been hit by burglars in 10 days, according to a Neighborhood Watch group that keeps tabs on residential crimes.

Melrose Action keeps watch over neighbors' safety in the West Hollywood-West Los Angeles area east of La Cienega Boulevard along Melrose Avenue. The group was formed in the wake of a street killing last year Katan Khaimov, 70, of West Hollywood was stabbed and left for dead.

Since then, the group has developed a public safety network to alert homeowners, residences and business owners to crime and safety issues developing in their neighborhoods.

The WeHo News has more:

They report that, in addition to a walk-up armed robbery of a mother and two toddlers at 3rd Street and Gardener on Sept. 9, more than half a dozen home burglaries were either attempted or accomplished between Aug. 31 and Sept. 9. The armed robbery took place at 9:30 a.m. as the trio, the kids in a stroller, walked in their neighborhood.

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

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L.A. firefighter, ex-girlfriend plead not guilty in scam

A Los Angeles city firefighter and part-time real estate broker pleaded not guilty today to charges that he and his former girlfriend orchestrated a real estate scam in Hacienda Heights.

Brent Lamont Mathews, 43, is charged with six counts of forgery, three counts of attempting to file a false or forged document and two counts of grand theft. His girlfriend at the time, Joi Rochelle Smith, 33, also pleaded not guilty today to the same charges, the Los Angeles County district attorney's office said.

Mathews allegedly put his name on the title of a Hacienda Heights property without the owner's knowledge or consent through a series of forgeries and false filings, prosecutors said.

Mathews allegedly then went on to defraud two investors last year after recruiting them as partners to "flip" the house, the district attorney's office said.

The two victims lost $146,000 in the deal, prosecutors said. Smith, a notary public, notarized key documents used in the scam, prosecutors allege.

If convicted, Mathews and Smith could each be sentenced to 11 years in state prison.

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

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Broken water main floods Topanga Canyon Boulevard

Topanga Canyon Boulevard in Canoga Park was shut down during the busy afternoon commute today after yet another broken water main flooded the street and sent dirty brown water pouring into nearby businesses.

The break — the fourth major gusher this week — occurred just before 3 p.m. in a 12-inch pipe under Topanga near Victory Boulevard.

Topanga is a major state highway connecting the 101 and 118 freeways, and some city officials predicted traffic chaos. Councilman Dennis P. Zine, who represents the area, said he wants the city Department of Water and Power to figure out what is going on beneath the streets — and fast.

Earlier this week, DWP officials said the city had been experiencing significantly more “major blowouts” in water pipes in the last three months. They said they don't yet know why. In recent days, broken water mains have flooded portions of Studio City, created a sinkhole in Valley Village so big it almost swallowed a firetruck and flooded streets and damaged property around the city.

“Why is this happening?” Zine said. “We need to get answers.... Every day we hear of another one breaking.” The latest break cut water to about 50 customers, according to DWP officials.

It follows breaks earlier this week in the same area, including one on Corbin Avenue in Warner Center and another on Burbank Boulevard in Winnetka.

“It looks like a filthy, brown river,” said Shawn James, 43, who drove by the intersection about 3 p.m. and said he noticed water gushing out of a hole in the middle of the pavement.

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

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LAPD opens new high-tech crime analysis center

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa today officially opened the Los Angeles Police Department's new high-tech crime analysis center.

The LAPD unit is housed in the same new building as the city's $107-million Emergency Operations Center, the nerve center where officials will coordinate the city's response to major earthquakes, wildfires, acts of terrorism and other potential disasters and public safety threats.

Officers and detectives in the LAPD's new Real-Time Analysis and Critical Response Division will sift through a collection of data — 911 calls, the location of GPS-monitored parolees and up-to-the-minute developments at crime scenes — to assist with investigations, suspect information and geographic profiling.

Detectives also will have access to LAPD and Department of Transportation video cameras, the ability to use facial-recognition software to track down suspects, and software to pinpoint and decipher vehicle license plates on the video feeds.

“It's the heart and soul of the emergency operations response for the city and for the region,'' said Jim McDonnell, the LAPD's first assistant chief.

The new center is on East Temple Street, east of the federal courthouse.

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

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LAPD officers are fired on by 2 men during foot chase

Los Angeles police are investigating an incident in South Los Angeles in which two fleeing suspects fired at officers, officials said.

The officers were not injured and two men were arrested in connection with the shooting, which occurred about10:30 p.m. Wednesday near 67th Street at 11th Avenue.

Police were pursuing a car when the driver stopped and jumped out with another man and both fled on foot. After a short distance, both suspects began shooting at the pursuing officers.

The officers did not return fire, and the suspects eventually were taken into custody. Investigators also recovered an unspecified weapon.

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

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Man convicted in 1975 fatal stabbing gets life in prison

A man linked through fingerprints to the fatal stabbing of an 84-year-old woman in 1975 was sentenced today to life in state prison.

Carl Eric Price, 51, was convicted last month in the brutal stabbing of Mamie Johnston of South Los Angeles, prosecutors said.

A comparison of fingerprints from the crime scene resulted in a match to Price, who was 17 at the time. He was charged in March 2008.

Two others, Phyllis Carraway and Alvino Ray Love, also were linked to the crime. Carraway was identified through fingerprint evidence, prosecutors said.

Carraway was charged in 1994 and pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter a year later. Love is believed to have been fatally struck by a train.

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

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L.A. City Council may vote on labor package Friday

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's top labor negotiator said today he will continue talks with six city unions in hopes of finalizing a labor agreement by Friday morning that helps eradicate a $405-million budget shortfall.

A bargaining committee comprised of Villaraigosa and four City Council members gave instructions to City Administrative Officer Miguel Santana to seek a new employee package for a 10 a.m. vote Friday.

Santana, facing reporters this afternoon, would not say whether the council has managed to resuscitate a plan for giving 2,400 employees early retirement.

The council took the first steps Wednesday to impose layoffs and furloughs if an early retirement plan cannot be reached. Villaraigosa has criticized the council over the last 24 hours for not moving fast enough.

But Santana said the instructions were given unanimously by the council and mayor this afternoon.

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

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Seasonal flu shots, available now, are urged for public

State health officials today urged the public to get seasonal flu shots -- one of two flu shots recommended this year -- which are now available in California.

Although vaccinations for swine flu, a separate strain, will not be available until next month, health officials are recommending that the public ask their doctor, pharmacy or local health department for their seasonal flu shot now.

Officials had initially feared that people might need two flu shots just for the swine flu, but further testing has shown that one swine flu shot provides adequate immunity . The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that in general, anyone who wants to reduce his or her chance of becoming sick with the seasonal flu should receive a flu shot, which is available by injection or nasal spray.

Some populations are considered at higher risk and should get the seasonal flu shot every year, including toddlers, children, teenagers, pregnant women, adults older than 50, the frail, and healthcare workers.

For the swine flu, the populations health officials say should be vaccinated first vary slightly . Those populations include toddlers, children, teenagers and young adults up to age 24, anyone between ages 25 and 64 who are frail or have weakened immune system, pregnant women, anyone who cares for infants younger than 6 months old, and healthcare workers.

Read more about federal guidelines on the flu at http://www.flu.gov/ .

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

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L.A. Jewish leaders launch campaign to end hunger in the city

On the eve of the Rosh Hashana holiday, Jewish leaders in Los Angeles are launching a campaign to end hunger in the city by rallying individuals and congregations around the cause.

The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles and other groups are promoting the “Fed Up With Hunger” drive by placing 40,000 information packets and reusable grocery bags in more than 50 synagogues during this weekend's celebration of the Jewish new year. Rosh Hashana begins at sundown Friday and continues through Sunday.

The activists are asking Jews to volunteer at food banks or pantries, organize neighborhood food drives, or donate food or money to turn Los Angeles into a hunger-free zone.

“L.A. is euphemistically called the hunger capital of America,”  federation President John R. Fishel said during a news conference today outside the agency's Wilshire Boulevard headquarters. “As we approach Rosh Hashana, [we] felt it was important to take the initiative and address this problem.”

The federation is running the campaign with the Board of Rabbis of Southern California, the Sova Community Food and Resource Program, and Mazon, a Los Angeles group that funds hunger relief agencies in the U.S. and abroad.

The website www.givelifemeaning.org, sponsored by the federation, provides more information about the campaign.

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

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Villaraigosa names new deputy chief of homeland security

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa today picked a veteran federal prosecutor to be the city's new deputy mayor for homeland security and public safety.

His choice, Eileen Decker, currently serves as chief of national security for the U.S. attorney's office in Los Angeles, responsible for counter-terrorism and counterintelligence investigations and prosecutions.

As deputy mayor, she will oversee the mayor's public safety initiatives, emergency preparedness and counter-terrorism policies. She also will administer $400 million in federal and state homeland security grants awarded to the city.

“She has a monumental task ahead of her, but I'm confident that Eileen will serve with the integrity that's become the hallmark of her career,'' Villaraigosa said this morning.

Decker replaces former Deputy Mayor Arif Alikhan, who left to join the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

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

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Supreme Court refuses to examine conviction in Santa Monica farmer's market crash that killed 10

The California Supreme Court today refused to review the conviction of an elderly man who plowed his car through the Santa Monica farmer's market in 2003, killing 10 people and injuring 63.

As a result, his conviction stands.

George Russell Weller was 86 on July 16, 2003, when he crashed his 1992 Buick LeSabre through a wooden-and-plastic barricade and plowed through pedestrians at the popular open-air market.

Prosecutors in the criminal case against Weller suggested that he had been trying to flee a minor accident. Though lasting less than 20 seconds, the mayhem claimed, among others, an infant, a 3-year-old, a married couple, a homeless man and an octogenarian.

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

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Time's up for Schwarzenegger on prison plan

The governor must submit to judges today a proposal to reduce prison overcrowding by 40,000 inmates, as ordered. He's likely to offer a mix of old and new ideas -- and to push the midnight deadline.

By Michael Rothfeld

September 18, 2009

Reporting from Sacramento

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger fought against having to give federal judges a plan to reduce state prison overcrowding, but he lost. The proposal his administration must present by today's court-ordered deadline is likely to reflect a reluctance to take direction from the court.

In recent weeks the governor advocated in vain for lawmakers to ratify a plan that would have helped reduce the state budget and cut the prison population by nearly 40,000 within two years, as a panel of three federal judges has demanded. The judges have acknowledged that the plan would have come close to meeting their requirements.

But with substantial pieces of the budget plan rejected by lawmakers, aides indicated that Schwarzenegger plans today to offer the judges a combination of old ideas and a few things with which the Legislature has already agreed.

For instance, the governor intends to revive a plan to spend billions of dollars constructing new prison beds, an idea that has already been dismissed as unrealistic by U.S. District judges Thelton Henderson and Lawrence Karlton and 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Stephen Reinhardt.

Although new prisons could relieve overcrowding, the judges have pointed out that despite years of discussion the state has not managed to build anything to house more inmates.

"Any reduction in the crowding of California's prisons resulting from the construction . . . remains years away," they wrote Aug. 4 in ordering the state to produce a plan to alleviate overcrowding.

The judges issued their order after ruling that overcrowding in a prison system that holds nearly 170,000 inmates is causing inadequate medical and mental healthcare. The state has appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. The high court will consider the appeal but has denied Schwarzenegger's request to delay submitting an overcrowding reduction plan until the state's appeals are exhausted.

In any case, whether the judges accept the plan or order a different one, the state will not have to implement it until the Supreme Court decides the case.

Aides to the governor and his prisons chief, Matt Cate, indicated that the proposal due today was still in flux Thursday and might not be filed until midnight, the final deadline. They have said it may not meet the court's demands on the number of inmates or the timeline for change.

This week, Schwarzenegger administration officials have -- as ordered by the judges -- discussed their plans with stakeholders such as lawyers for inmates and legislative staff. They gave no indication that the proposal would include several ideas the governor pushed this summer in his drive to cut the state budget. Those ideas were approved by the Senate and rejected by the Assembly. The governor had criticized Assembly members for lacking "the guts" to sign off on them.

Those proposals, the target of severe opposition by local law enforcement groups, included home detention for elderly and sick inmates and those with a year or less to serve on their sentences, as well as changing some felony crimes to misdemeanors so inmates could serve time in county jails rather than prisons.

Administration officials did say, however, that they will include ideas lawmakers did approve. Those ideas included changes to the state parole system to reduce monitoring on low-risk offenders and increase it on higher-risk ones, and cutting down on so-called "technical" parole violations such as failing to show up for an appointment or failing a drug test.

"I got the idea that they were just saying whatever had been passed by the Legislature and very little more," said Michael Bien, a San Francisco-based attorney for inmates in the overcrowding case.

The governor's aides have said he will also propose to the judges turning over undocumented immigrant prisoners to federal authorities for deportation -- which he has already agreed to do as part of the state budget. Schwarzenegger also plans to suggest sending more inmates to less expensive prisons out of state, authority he now has under a declared prison overcrowding emergency.

No matter what Schwarzenegger proposes, the effectiveness of many potential solutions to overcrowding remains uncertain.

The governor's plan to hand off undocumented immigrant prisoners to federal officials, for instance, depends on three judges of the California Supreme Court approving those releases for the most serious criminals.

Reducing parole supervision on less serious offenders could cut the number who return to prison on parole violations. But the prison population could actually increase under the measure if local prosecutors decide to bring new criminal cases against some of those parolees instead, said Joan Petersilia, a Stanford University professor who has studied the state correctional system.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-prisons18-2009sep18,0,3694377,print.story

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Co-worker's return after 169 days behind bars shocks hospital staff

Harbor-UCLA surgical technician Norris Smith was convicted of shooting into a car. Last week he was back at work, despite the county's efforts to crack down on employees with criminal records.

By Kimi Yoshino

September 17, 2009

A surgical technician convicted of firing a gun into an occupied car was back on the job last week at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, just days after being released from jail, despite vows by Los Angeles County officials to crack down on medical personnel with criminal records.

Norris Smith, 53, had spent 169 days behind bars before pleading no contest to the felony charge Aug. 26. In exchange for the plea, a five-year state prison sentence was suspended. He was placed on probation and ordered to undergo psychiatric treatment and abstain from alcohol, according to court records. Three other felony charges were dismissed.

Smith's return to work at a county hospital shocked colleagues, who said they have been concerned about his behavior since 2005, when he was suspended after threatening a doctor. He was arrested by Long Beach police in 2004 on suspicion of assault with a firearm, a charge prosecutors declined to pursue.

His case raised new questions about whether adequate measures are in place to screen county employees for criminal conduct.

Harbor-UCLA officials declined to comment on Smith's employment, calling it a "personnel matter." His August conviction was unrelated to any workplace issues.

Michael Wilson, spokesman for the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services, said Smith is currently employed, earning an annual salary of about $45,000. But he declined additional comment, saying that the issue is under "administrative investigation."

Although Smith returned to work at the hospital for at least a couple of days last week, his defense attorney, Christopher Darden, said Wednesday that he is now on administrative leave.

L.A. County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, whose district includes the hospital campus, said there are no provisions in place to allow the county to run criminal background checks on longtime employees who remain in the same job.

"The matter of persons in the county's employ who have not been [given criminal background checks] and are working in sensitive positions at hospitals . . . has to be corrected," he said. "That is not a good personnel policy and practice."

Since 1999, the county has required that all employees must undergo criminal background checks when they are hired or receive new assignments. But county health officials say veterans like Smith, a 29-year employee, fall outside those rules.

Last year, The Times reported that 152 employees at Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Medical Center -- more than 10% of those checked -- had criminal records. Their criminal histories came to light only after the hospital was shuttered and workers were eligible for new background checks as they were transferred to other facilities.

County officials have repeatedly declined to provide the names of those employees, their job descriptions or the types of crimes involved, beyond saying that they were, at a minimum, serious misdemeanors.

Although a criminal history does not preclude employment, county policy dictates that the crime should not interfere with the job and that decisions are made on a case-by-case basis. A convicted bank robber, for example, would not be allowed to hold a job as a cashier.

Smith declined comment on the advice of his attorney. Darden said he would not address issues related to Smith's employment but disputed allegations that Smith posed a threat to others.

Darden described Smith's 2004 arrest, which predated his work suspension, as a family dispute.

And he said, referring to the November 2008 shooting that led to Smith's conviction, that his client had not gone out "looking for trouble." "This was a situation where people came to his house at almost midnight and created, in his mind, what was a physical threat to his physical safety," said Darden, adding that no one was hurt. "I strenuously object to the notion that he's a danger to anybody. He does not have a violent personality."

At Harbor-UCLA, one staff member said Smith's reappearance caused an uproar among the nursing and anesthesiology staffs. The employee, a nurse anesthetist, spoke to The Times on the condition that he not be named out of concern for his safety.

More than three years ago, Smith was suspended without pay for 20 days after allegations that he had threatened a female doctor. County personnel records, which became public when Smith appealed his suspension to the Los Angeles County Civil Service Commission, detail his alleged threats.

According to the records, in December 2005 Smith came to work on his day off to demand that the female doctor explain why she had hung up on him earlier that day.

Two doctors present during the incident filed statements describing Smith as belligerent and smelling of alcohol. He repeatedly called the doctor he was confronting a "bitch," hurled racial insults at the other doctors and said he was going to "kick [the doctor's] ass," the records said. Security escorted Smith out of the building.

Five days later, Smith returned to the hospital -- again on his day off -- and confronted the doctor a second time, according to the records. The doctor, who said she had hung up on Smith after he cursed at her and was rude -- reported being uncomfortable at work, scared and worried for her safety. In his unsuccessful appeal of his suspension, Smith said he apologized to the doctor and was only seeking an explanation from her.

The doctor later transferred to another hospital. Smith continued working as both a surgical and anesthesia technician, which brought him in contact with patients, often in the operating room.

After he was charged in the November shooting, his friend, Tracy Evans, filed a letter with the court asking the judge to show consideration for Smith.

She called him a "good listener" who had only reacted to threats she said had been made by her estranged husband and her father.

"He is a good and decent man," Evans wrote to the court. "He would not hurt anyone or shoot at anyone unless he believed his life might be in danger."

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-harbor-ucla17-2009sep17,0,4783221,print.story

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Baca orders faster probes of deputy-involved shootings

Past investigations of shootings of unarmed people have dragged on for more than a year. Activists are upset about an Athens shooting this week.

By Richard Winton

September 18, 2009

Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca has ordered a quicker turnaround on department investigations into deputies who shoot unarmed suspects, a sheriff's spokesman said Thursday.

Investigations that typically dragged on for more than a year should be completed within 90 days to "provide better accountability to the communities served," said Steve Whitmore, a department spokesman.

Baca's move to speed up such probes coincides with his efforts to address concerns among community activists upset over a shooting Monday in Athens in which a deputy shot and killed an unarmed man. On Wednesday, Baca announced that he was convening a panel of his top shooting experts to examine deputy-involved shootings and the tactics his officers use in such confrontations.

So far this year, Los Angeles County deputies have shot and killed 10 people, double the number during the same period last year.

In Monday's shooting, sheriff's officials said, deputies were searching for two robbery suspects when they spotted Darrick Collins, 36, and another man shortly after 10 p.m. in the 1200 block of Poindexter Street. As they tried to detain Collins, he ran up an alley next to a home and went into a gated yard, officials said. A deputy tried to follow.

Believing Collins was going for a weapon in his waistband, the deputy fired three shots, officials said. Collins was hit twice in the side and once in the back of his neck. The deputy fired at least two of the rounds through a 6-foot wooden gate, according to investigators. Detectives found a cellphone but no weapon on Collins. They also determined that he was not the robbery suspect they were looking for.

Collins, the father of two, had been arrested two weeks before on suspicion of drug possession, investigators said. On Monday, he was found with 24 tablets made with Ecstasy and methamphetamine, officials said.

Baca has refused to identify the deputy involved in the shooting.

"This deputy is shooting blind through the gate. They always say they saw a weapon, but he couldn't see this young man," said Brian Dunn, a lawyer who represents Collins' family. "The community is going to be upset. . . . We're seeing this too much in that area."

He said investigators from his law firm have interviewed witnesses who said they saw the deputy's partner confront him after the shooting and express concerns about it.

Baca's decision to speed up shooting investigations was prompted by a suggestion from Michael Gennaco, the head of L.A. County's Office of Independent Review, which provides oversight of the department.

Gennaco said sheriff's homicide detectives often spent several months on a criminal investigation before presenting their findings to prosecutors for review. An administrative probe would start only after prosecutors complete their review.

"A typical shooting would take a year and half or more to be resolved, and that is too long for a community to get answers," Gennaco said. "If we didn't put [the Collins investigation] on a short time period, we'd be talking about this in 2011."

He said the department needed to be more responsive to the concerns of the community, especially in cases of what he called "mistakes of fact," when deputies fire their weapons under the mistaken belief that a suspect is armed.

To quicken the pace, the criminal and administrative probes in shootings of unarmed people will be conducted simultaneously, according to Gennaco.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-sheriff18-2009sep18,0,1034968,print.story

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Oath Keepers organizer sees need to sound an alarm

Rand Cardwell drums up support for an antigovernment group whose views illustrate the disconnect that has come to define popular political discourse in President Obama's first tumultuous year.

By Richard Fausset

September 18, 2009

Reporting from Farragut, Tenn.

There would be no screaming at Rand Cardwell's meeting tonight, no histrionics, no playing to the cameras. The atmosphere was PTA. Garden Club. Kiwanis.

Cardwell had called this second meeting of the local chapter of Oath Keepers, and on a recent Tuesday night about 16 of his fellow Tennesseans trickled into a suburban Town Hall community room. Now they sat quietly around some folding tables, with all eyes on Cardwell, the chapter president.

Cardwell, a 48-year-old laid-off aluminum plant worker, was new to this activism stuff, but he wasn't nervous. He'd led enough meetings back in his days as a Marine Corps sergeant.

The group who had answered his call was made up of men and women. Some were just off work, while others were dressed in the casual garb of the retired and unemployed. All were white, which was no surprise in this white-majority Appalachian county. But they brought a diversity of worries.

Bobby May, 44, a laid-off salesman, feared that the Obama administration would restrict his gun rights.

Ben Kazinec, 31, an employee with Kraft Foods, had heard that the U.S. armed forces were training with foreign troops to respond to domestic emergencies. "I feel threatened by it," he said with an incongruous smile.

A woman who gave her name, and then retracted it, harbored doubts about the president's citizenship.

"All right," Cardwell said, in a low, firm voice touched with his native mountain lilt. "Let's kick this thing off."

The first order of business was a recent report from the Southern Poverty Law Center, which called the Oath Keepers -- which claims more than 1,000 members nationwide -- a "particularly worrisome example" of a "virulently antigovernment 'Patriot' movement" that has been reinvigorated, in part, by the fact that the president is black.

The center documented angry videos that had been posted on the Oath Keepers website; in one of them, a man called Obama an "enemy of the state."

Cardwell betrayed only a hint of the exasperation that this line of criticism stirs in him. Nothing, he said, could be further from the truth. He served side by side in the Corps with African Americans. One of his best friends is a black guy.

"Our goal," he said, "is to support and defend the Constitution, and that's where it begins and ends at. . . . We're not a hate group. We're not a racist group. We're not calling for armed revolt against the government."

Founded this year by Stewart Rhodes, a Yale-educated lawyer and former staffer of Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), the group calls itself nonpartisan and features on its website a 1776 quote from George Washington warning of an incipient moment that would determine whether Americans will be "Freemen, or Slaves; whether they are to have any property they can call their own; whether their Houses, and Farms, are to be pillaged and destroyed."

"Such a time," the site says, "is near at hand again."

That kind of sentiment helps explain the disconnect that has come to define popular political discourse in Obama's first tumultuous year.

A vociferous group of Americans is warning that the country is not just headed in the wrong direction -- but over a cliff. They are mainstream media commentators, like Fox News' Glenn Beck. They are religious leaders, like "Bible Answer Man" Hank Hanegraaff, who told radio listeners last month that "socialism and fascism" were "slipping quietly through the back door."

And they are everyday people like Rand Cardwell.

Other Americans, meanwhile, are struggling to understand the dire language that has erupted at town hall meetings, on talk radio and at anti-tax Tea Party protests. Some fear that the rhetoric, with its emphasis on gun rights and harsh words for a black president, could be paving a path to tragedy.

To Cardwell, these fears are nonsense, though he concedes that the anti-Obama crowd contains some angry and even unsavory elements.

He says his opposition is rooted in deeply American values -- the same ones Obama acknowledged in his recent speech to Congress, when he noted "our rugged individualism, our fierce defense of freedom and our healthy skepticism of government."

But as Cardwell watched federal power grow -- first under President George W. Bush -- that healthy skepticism has led him to conclude that now is the time to sound an alarm.

And that is why Cardwell found himself standing before hundreds at a July 4 Tea Party in Asheville, N.C., two hours away from here, reading out Oath Keepers' "Declaration of Orders We Will Not Obey."

Although Cardwell welcomes all concerned citizens to his meetings, the Oath Keepers' main message targets military and public safety personnel, active and inactive. It reminds them that they swore allegiance to the Constitution, not to politicians or bureaucrats. As such, they have the right to refuse orders they deem unlawful.

Cardwell barked them out at the Tea Party, to great applause: They will not obey orders to disarm Americans or confiscate property, including food. They will not help the government blockade American cities or confine Americans to concentration camps. Nor will they assist foreign troops brought onto U.S. soil to "maintain control."

Cardwell doesn't think the country is in immediate danger of having Obama-imposed concentration camps. But he is haunted by a lesson he has drawn from reading history -- that bad things happen when government grows.

"You might be going out on a limb saying, 'This is what's happening in the United States,' " he said over coffee recently. "But let's go back to the German concentration camps, and the people who were saying, 'If we would have done something from the beginning, so many millions of lives would have been saved.' "

There is a reasoned calm, even a gentleness, when Cardwell says such things. He and his wife are Lutherans, but not regular churchgoers. Gay rights don't get him very riled. Legalized abortion he finds "unsettling." He admits that it bugs him when he calls somewhere, and has to press "1" for English.

He's a gun owner, and he frets about Democrats' commitment to gun rights. He takes in his share of Fox News and right-wing radio, but not uncritically: He suspects Beck, who has fomented so much anti-Obama protest, to be a "patriot for profit" who is mostly in it for the book deals.

About 45 minutes before the chapter meeting, Cardwell had pulled his black Dodge pickup into the Town Hall parking lot. He affixed a big vinyl Oath Keepers sign -- one he'd paid for himself -- to the tailgate, and waited like a Realtor at an open house.

Cardwell had voted for Republican John McCain as the lesser of two evils. But he doesn't see himself as much of a party man. The individualist streak in him, he said, goes a long way to explaining his belief in limited government. It is an outgrowth of the pioneering spirit that helped the Scots-Irish settle the rugged mountains of Tennessee -- a spirit, he said, of "leave us the hell alone, we don't need your help."

For most of his life, he kept his opinions to himself. He was too busy to get too involved in politics. There were kids to raise, Little League to coach, and an education to be earned -- not just at college, where he received a two-year computer science degree, but in various jobs, from roofer to salesman to Marine Corps sniper.

He remembers feeling a vague sense of worry about NAFTA's effect on American manufacturing jobs. A few years ago, at a Knoxville City Council meeting, he protested the city's plan to install cameras to monitor traffic at red lights. Cardwell gave a little speech and handed one councilman a copy of Orwell's "1984" -- to no avail.

His concerns began massing toward the end of the Bush administration. There was warrantless wiretapping, the Patriot Act, and the 2005 Real ID Act -- the proposed law, currently in administrative limbo, that would establish national standards for driver's licenses.

But it was the Troubled Asset Relief Program, the multibillion-dollar bailout of the financial system launched under Bush in autumn 2008, that compelled him to act. Cardwell feared TARP would give government unprecedented sway over private sector companies.

"That was the spike going into my forehead," he said. "Because our nation was already in huge debt. The fact that you've got the federal government that's going to take our tax dollars and give them to financial institutions violates the very principles our nation was founded on."

He called his congressman for the first time ever, and urged him to vote against TARP. In November, Obama was swept into office.

In May, Cardwell was laid off from his control room job at the Alcoa plant. In July, he was standing at the Tea Party podium, basking in applause.

He was pleased enough with the turnout tonight. A few miles away, over at Knoxville City Hall, the council was discussing a new state law allowing gun permit holders to bring their weapons into parks. Tennessee cities and counties have the right to opt out of the law, and Cardwell figured a number of his supporters were in the council chambers, arguing that the city should opt in.

Those who had come to the chapter meeting listened politely as he rattled off the items on his agenda.

He told the group he would be a featured speaker at Nashville's version of the then-upcoming Sept. 12 tax protests. There was talk of carpooling and caravaning.

He told them that Oath Keepers was hoping to raise money to send 40,000 care packages to military personnel overseas. He encouraged them to read the testimonials of the servicemen who had signed up on the Oath Keepers website.

He told them about an upcoming Tennessee appearance by one of the highest-profile Oath Keepers, former Arizona Sheriff Richard Mack, described by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a "longtime militia hero" who once collaborated on a book with Randy Weaver, the white separatist and target of the Ruby Ridge raid.

Mack has called the center's charges "hate speech," and noted his admiration for Rosa Parks. At the Tennessee meeting, Cardwell emphasized Mack's 1994 legal challenge to the Brady Act, which called for background checks on gun buyers.

He turned his laptop around and showed the group an Oath Keepers video. The room swelled with music befitting a Hollywood epic as various images appeared -- Iwo Jima, a World War II beach landing, Revolutionary War soldiers. Text flashed on the screen:

" They Fought Fascism and Communism Over There . Will we Suffer Fascism and Communism here ?"

News footage from Hurricane Katrina followed. TV reporters described people being kept in the Superdome by government authorities, and turned back as they tried to leave the city limits. A New Orleans police officer said, "We will take all weapons."

Later, as the meeting was about to adjourn, somebody said they should all pray for Cardwell's wife, Cathie.

A week earlier, Cathie Cardwell had a cancerous spot on one of her lungs removed. On the day of the meeting, she was feeling nauseated. So her daughter had driven her back to the hospital.

Rand would've driven her under normal circumstances, but Cathie is worried about the country too and insisted he hold the meeting as promised.

The family's health insurance runs out at the one-year anniversary of his layoff from Alcoa. He said he would keep looking for a new job with benefits. But he won't be looking for some big solution from Washington.

"Socialized healthcare. . . . It's not the government's responsibility to ensure that I'm insured."

As the meeting ended, the new Oath Keepers mingled for a few minutes in the parking lot, exchanging ideas and pleasantries. Cardwell pulled the sign off his tailgate and roared off into the darkness, toward the hospital and his wife.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-oath-keepers18-2009sep18,0,6608954,print.story

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Colorado man's home searched in FBI terrorism inquiry

FBI agents question Najibullah Zazi and search his home. He had stayed at a Queens, N.Y., home that was searched for bomb-making materials. His attorney denies he has any links to terrorists.

By DeeDee Correll

September 18, 2009

Reporting from Denver

Najibullah Zazi, 24, drives passengers to and from Denver International Airport for a living.

He has also worked at a fast-food restaurant and sold coffee and doughnuts, said his attorney, describing Zazi as a hardworking immigrant who hopes to become an American citizen, not a bomb-making terrorist suspect with a possible link to Al Qaeda.

FBI agents questioned Zazi on Wednesday and Thursday and executed search warrants at his apartment in the Denver suburb of Aurora, as well as the nearby home of his aunt. An FBI spokeswoman declined to discuss the case, but Zazi's attorney, Art Folsom, said he believed agents would have arrested Zazi had they found anything suspicious.

Zazi's name emerged this week after the FBI and police searched for bomb materials at three homes in Queens, N.Y., one of which Zazi recently visited. No arrests were announced.

Citing two unnamed law enforcement officials, the Associated Press has reported that an FBI-New York Police Department task force suspected that Zazi may be involved in an alleged plot involving homemade hydrogen peroxide-based explosives. In interviews to the media outside his apartment this week, Zazi denied any terrorist involvement.

Folsom attributed the FBI's interest in Zazi to an "unfortunate set of coincidences," including his periodic travel to Pakistan to visit his wife and his trip last week to New York, where he spent the night at the home of a friend, Naiz Khan, who apparently was already under surveillance.

"We're pretty sure that's what sparked the attention," Folsom said.

Folsom, who advised Zazi not to speak to the media, said Zazi was born in Afghanistan and moved with his family to Pakistan when he was 7. Zazi lived there until he was 15, when his family immigrated to Queens. In January, the family moved to Colorado for its cheaper cost of living and to be near other relatives, Folsom said. Zazi has worked at an airport shuttle service, but left the job this week in the wake of the investigation. He travels to Pakistan once a year to see his wife, whom he wed in 2006 and has sought unsuccessfully to bring to the U.S., Folsom said.

On Sept. 9, Zazi drove to New York to visit friends and family and take care of a business license renewal and other issues over a vending cart business in which Zazi owns an interest, Folsom said.

As he entered the city on the George Washington Bridge, authorities pulled Zazi over for what he thought was a random drug checkpoint, questioned him and let him continue, Folsom said. It's unclear whether that encounter had anything to do with the FBI investigation.

Before Zazi left New York two days later, his car was towed, allegedly for a parking violation, said Folsom, who believes federal officials searched it. Some media reports have cited anonymous sources saying that officials found bomb-making documents in the car, a claim Folsom denies.

Folsom said he and Zazi had contacted the FBI on Wednesday and offered to answer questions, adding that his client was stressed and overwhelmed.

"He's a very shy guy, very soft-spoken. He spends his life working or with his family, and now suddenly, he's one of the biggest news stories in the country," Folsom said.

A legal permanent resident, Zazi will become eligible next month to apply for citizenship and intends to do so, Folsom said. "He loves being here. He looks at it as a land of opportunity."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-denver-terror18-2009sep18,0,1867379,print.story

Pot shops sprouting — and so are robberies

There have been at least 200 robberies at medical marijuana dispensaries in the Valley in the last two years -- or an average of two for each of the Valley's estimated 100 facilities, according to Los Angeles police. They say the nature of the business -- dealing in drugs and cash -- makes them prime targets for thieves.

The most recent stickup occurred about 10 p.m. Wednesday, when masked gunmen tied up employees at a Canoga Park clinic and made off with an undisclosed amount of money and marijuana.

The disturbing trend exposes the vulnerability of the businesses, where thieves can potentially snag tens of thousands of dollars and pounds of drugs.

"It certainly is a phenomenon that has happened with the proliferation of these dispensaries," said LAPD Deputy Chief Michel Moore, the top-ranking officer in the San Fernando Valley. "They are easy targets."

Marijuana was legalized for medical use when voters approved Proposition 215 in 1996. Operating like a co-op, the facilities are allowed to grow and distribute marijuana to members who have a "recommendation" from a physician.

The law also empowered local jurisdictions to establish guidelines for the dispensaries.

800 dispensaries in L.A.

The number of dispensaries has exploded in Los Angeles, from four in 2005 to an estimated 800 today. The growth accelerated this spring after the Obama administration said federal prosecutors would no longer pursue drug charges against medical-marijuana clinics.

"We went from about five in the Devonshire (Division) area before this to now we have about 40," said LAPD Detective Robert Holcomb. "They're opening every day."

With names that often include words like "Holistic," "Organic" and "Caregivers," dispensaries have opened despite a moratorium on new establishments that the City Attorney's Office imposed in fall 2007. At that time, 185 dispensaries were operating citywide.

Some new operators tried to get around the moratorium by filing a hardship application claiming they had been unable to register before the ban was imposed. Operators then opened their doors while awaiting a hearing on their application.

The city has since eliminated the hardship exemption.

"They filed for hardship, opened up and waited for a hearing," said City Councilman Dennis Zine, who has sought stronger regulation of the clinics. "This is an absolute disgrace and a mockery of law.

"It's not about compassion. These people have turned it into a moneymaking enterprise. They could care less about compassion."

Zine's concerns echo those voiced by police -- that the dispensaries are simply selling marijuana to anyone rather than distributing it to members with health problems.

But operators and advocates dispute Zine's accusations, saying they take their responsibilities -- and their security -- seriously.

At the Herbal Healing Center in Valley Village, for instance, patrons must first slip their doctor's "recommendations" through a slot in the locked front door before entering, manager Tom Leavell said.

Patients are then allowed inside, but friends and relatives must wait outside. Leavell credits the limited entry and a surveillance camera system for keeping the collective secure.

"We've been here for two years, and we've never had an issue," Leavell said.

"We have a lot of regular customers who we know on a first-name basis. If a group of people come to the door, we definitely ask for identification and weed out patients and nonpatients."

But Deputy Chief Moore believes some dispensaries haven't reported problems, so the number of heists may actually be higher than 200.

"On the basis of the information that I have, these locations are an attractive site for suspects to either commit burglary or robbery," Moore said. "They're going to get narcotics, and they're going to get money."

Investigation expands

Authorities are investigating whether any of those robbers may have been involved in a string of heists that began in the West Valley in late May. Suspects in those stickups pistol-whipped employees at one dispensary and shot a man in the back at another.

Following the May 23 robbery at Benefit Corp., located in the 6400 block of Topanga Canyon Boulevard, operators installed panic buttons, a bulletproof wall and a security cage where patrons are checked for weapons by an armed guard before entering the shop.

"I'm trying to control as many variables as I can," said an employee, who asked not to be named for safety reasons. "If someone tries to muscle something from us once they get in, they have to go past the armed guard to get out."

The marijuana dispensary robberies remind Moore of a rash of heists of banks, pharmacies and convenience stores years ago. Those businesses beefed up security, just as the clinics are being forced to do.

But Marc Kent, chairman of the Los Angeles Marijuana Collective Association, questioned the high number of burglaries and robberies that police are reporting.

"I question the reason that such an outrageous statement was made," he said. "I question that there's some other motivation behind it, such as trying to create the illusion that medical marijuana collectives are nuisances when, in fact, it's just not true."

http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_13362515

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High-tech facility will be a boon to police

Touting technology that "puts us close to James Bond," Los Angeles officials on Thursday opened a Real-Time Analysis and Critical Response operation at the city's new Regional Crime Center.

The facility, located in the Emergency Operations Center built with Proposition Q funding, allows detectives to monitor all 911 calls coming in to the LAPD and receive information as they travel to a crime scene. It also receives feeds from closed-circuit cameras mounted at more than 400 locations around Los Angeles.

During the ceremony to open the center, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced the appointment of Eileen Decker as deputy mayor for homeland security. Decker, who has worked for the U.S. Attorney's Office for 14 years and most recently handled counterterrorism issues, will take over in October for Arif Alikhan, who was appointed to a Homeland Security Department post in the Obama administration.

Decker will serve as Villaraigosa's top aide on homeland security and other public safety matters.

"We live in a time where something that happens in another part of the world can happen here in five minutes," Decker said. "Los Angeles, like all major cities, has to be constantly on alert."

The RACR center previously operated in cramped quarters four floors below City Hall East. Its new quarters in the Emergency Operations Center allow officials to use high-tech gadgetry to monitor activities around the city from a central location.

Experts are also working to develop technology for facial recognition and geographic profiling.

Lt. Sean Malinowsky said RACR is on the cutting edge in the use of crime-fighting technology, but officials also are aware of privacy considerations.

LAPD is hosting a conference next month for civil rights leaders to discuss privacy issues and when the department should limit its capabilities.

http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_13362303

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Mayor prepared to order furloughs

City officials and union leaders returned to the negotiating table Thursday in the struggle to cover a $405 million shortfall, as Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa reasserted his authority to order layoffs and furloughs.

City Administrative Officer Miguel Santana led discussions with the Coalition of City Unions about a proposed early-retirement incentive package and will report to the City Council today on their progress.

If no agreement is reached, Santana said, the council will proceed with plans to furlough workers - 26 days a year for all those scheduled to get cost-of-living increases this year and 18 days for those not receiving an increase.

Coalition Chairwoman Cheryl Parisi said union leaders hope a compromise can be reached. "We are committed to working together and believe we can reach an agreement," Parisi said.

But earlier in the day, Villaraigosa insisted that he needed to be able to keep the city solvent and operating efficiently without being hamstrung by a provision prohibiting furloughs and layoffs.

"If we don't do something to stop the hemorrhaging (of money), we could lose a lot more people," Villaraigosa said. "I don't want to do this. I don't wake up every morning and say, `I want to lay off or furlough workers.' These are good, hard-working people and they have families. I recognize that."

Acknowledging his role in developing the early-retirement incentive plan - which was designed to reduce the city work force by 2,400 to take pressure off the payroll - Villaraigosa said the most recent financial estimates of the city's problems caused him to reverse himself.

Those projections are the city now has a $405 million shortfall with revenues coming in at $75 million less than anticipated. He said the city spends at least $1 million a day more than it brings in.

The early-retirement plan originally was estimated to provide $111 million in savings this year and $1.2 billion over the long term, Villaraigosa said. That estimate now has been dropped to $11 million in savings this year.

But the mayor also said the retirement program is not the complete issue.

"It is more about me having the flexiblity to run the city and that includes layoffs and furloughs," Villaraigosa said.

The City Council on Wednesday did order city officials to begin preparing a work plan to implementthe furloughs, which would require the city to make $27 million in back cost-of-living payments to union coalition members. The payments were part of an existing contract, which the union members had agreed to forego in exchange for the early retirement program.

Union attorney Victor Gordo said they are prepared to go to court.

"The city has its contingency plans, we have ours," Gordo said.

http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_13362302

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Audit: Convention Center is wasting more than $1 million

The Los Angeles Convention Center wasted more than $1 million in taxpayer money by failing to properly control employee overtime and lacks a system for keeping track of its fixed assets, according to an audit released Thursday.

The audit -- the first by new City Controller Wendy Greuel -- also found that the convention center has no clear policy or oversight of fee waivers. It also recommended that a flexible demand-based pricing program be implemented, allowing management to fill the Convention Center during slower times by reducing rental prices.

Convention Center General Manager Pouria Abbassi said the audit was being reviewed and changes would be made.

"We need to identify efficiencies within our organization as a business like any other business, but also efficiencies with our over-arching organization of the city," Abbassi said.

According to the audit:

• The convention center uses city employees from other departments and pays them overtime instead of expanding its pool of as-needed employees who can provide services at regular rates. Such a move could have saved $1.4 million in overtime costs over the past two years.
• Employees are being paid overtime even though they are no longer full-time city employees.
• The center reported having 61,893 fixed assets worth nearly $11.4 million, but auditors who sampled 60 items to verify their existence could not locate about 25 percent of the items.
• Complimentary parking cards are not canceled in a timely manner, resulting in unauthorized free parking.

  The audit noted that the city will likely have to spend $13 million from the general fund to cover LACC's expenses in the current fiscal year due to increased debt service payments and lower revenues.

  A 2007 study estimated that the economic impact of the convention center to the Los Angeles region is more than $1 billion a year, according to the audit.

• http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_13362299
  
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Station Fire victims are getting help

After Erika Pelayo and her family lost their Big Tujunga Canyon home in the devastating Station Fire, they moved to a bare apartment without any belongings or beds.

But after visiting a Local Assistance Center that opened for emergency relief on Thursday, they began to restore their lives.

"I have a lot of hope," said Pelayo, 34, with two of her four children in tow. "I really have a lot of faith that I'm going to get help."

Relief was at hand from nearly three dozen local, state and federal agencies at the disaster relief assistance centers in Acton and Sylmar.

The Acton center was only open Thursday, while the Sylmar center will be open until Sept. 24.

There, victims of the Station Fire can get help from 32 public and private agencies on how to apply for aid, file insurance claims, replace lost records and more.

All help is confidential for renters, homeowners and the business owners.

"What I've observed this morning is a tremendous cooperation of all these agencies working together to provide assistance," said Millie Jones, a senior deputy for county Supervisor Michael Antonovich. "We are extremely aware of the strain and stress these victims are under, and we want to help."

Throughout the day, dozens of families made the rounds from the Red Cross to the Small Business Administration, which is offering loans for homes and businesses.

Many were heartsick over their loss, social workers said. And guilt-ridden that they couldn't prevent it.

The Station Fire, which on Thursday was 93 percent contained, burned 160,000 acres and destroyed 89 homes, 26 businesses and 94 outbuildings -- and claimed the lives of two firefighters.

The Tzu Chi Foundation, a Buddhist charity, gave needed blankets and financial aid to the Pelayos.

Two weeks ago, fire ravaged the Pelayo ranch home, which they rented for $600 a month. Now they pay hundreds more for a two-bedroom apartment in Sunland.

Gone are their beds. Their furniture. Pots and pans. The family Bible. Precious family photos. And teddy bears beloved by the kids.

But despite the loss, Pelayo said she's grateful to have survived.

"It was very beautiful," she said of her former Big Tujunga paradise, through a translator. "I was blessed. Now it's all gone."

If you need help

Villaraigosa names new deputy mayor for homeland security and public safety

If confirmed by the City Council, Eileen Decker will replace Arif Alikhan, whom President Barack Obama appointed assistant secretary for policy development at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Decker, who has been a federal prosecutor for more than 14 years, currently heads the national security section in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California, where she coordinates multi-agency international and domestic counter-terrorism investigations and prosecutions.

"She will oversee and advance all aspects of my public safety policy initiatives, our emergency preparedness and our counter-terrorism policy; serve as the principal liaison to federal, state and local government; and also administer some $400 million in federal, state and homeland security grants," Villaraigosa said.

He said her extensive experience in coordinating investigations and prosecutions with federal, state, and law enforcement agencies will "undoubtedly enhance our ability to go after the most violent offenders who think they can hide past our city limits."

Decker said she will work hard to prevent the budget crisis from affecting public safety.

"The biggest challenge will be to maintain the level of police force and working with our budget issues to maintain that high level of security and protection that the people in the city of Los Angeles want, to maintain a low crime rate and try to basically get more with less," Decker said.

Since joining the U.S. Attorney's Office in 1995, Decker has also served as deputy chief of the organized crime and terrorism section, and the organized crime strike force.

She began her legal career as a judicial law clerk to U.S. District Judge Gary Taylor in Santa Ana, California. She then joined L.A.-based firm Gibson, Dunn and Crutcher, where she was responsible for general business litigation matters in state and federal courts.

Decker received her law degree from the New York University Law School and holds a Bachelor of Arts from the School of Business and Public Administration (now known as The Stern School of Business).

http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_13359162

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"Free' money'" It's no surprise that security funds went for TVs, boats, lawnmowers

NO one should have been surprised that state inspectors found $15 million in questionable spending of Homeland Security grants by California agencies.

Nor that the Center for Investigative Journalism's California Watch program discovered scores of cases of wasteful spending, purchasing violations, error-prone accounting and shoddy oversight by agencies throughout the state during the early years following 9-11.

Some of the purchases seem not just questionable, but far-fetched. Sonoma State University's buying a 40-inch plasma television is a laughable example. What's the link between a plasma TV and protecting your citizens from a terrorist attack?

How about Los Angeles County buying a Chevrolet Monte Carlo sports coupe? Or purchasing 70 replica firearms? Or buying a shotgun safe?

Or Colusa County buying a lawnmower?

Marin County got $100,000 for surveillance equipment for its water treatment system. That seems reasonable, until state inspectors discovered much later that $67,000 of this equipment had yet to be unpacked from shipping boxes.

Some seem downright odd, such as Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa transferring $661,439 in federal funds to the L.A. County sheriff to buy a fast-response boat with a kitchenette as well as a M60 machine gun mount. Maybe patrolling our drinking water system on county land is a reasonable pursuit. But on a 44-foot boat? That seems excessive. Maybe only the 44-foot model came with a machine gun mount and a kitchenette.

And state Homeland Security officials said the city failed to get advance authorization and only filled out the paperwork after state inspectors discovered the boat.

Los Angeles County apparently had trouble with its paperwork. According to state inspectors' reports, there were records of 392 modifications for three grants totaling $70 million.

The Homeland Security auditors said this shows the county "did not have sound investment justifications, therefore they did not meet their homeland security goals and objectives."

Monitoring records show that for two years the county had not inventoried the huge volume of equipment it got with grant money. County officials didn't know where some of it was stored and had no idea who would know.

Local officials have reasonable justifications for some of this. The guidance they get from the state is not always clear. And some agencies had no problems managing the money they got and met regulation standards.

None of these problems should have surprised anyone.

When you spend other people's money - in this case taxpayers' cash - prudence has a tendency to fall by the wayside. Free money fosters free spending.

The goal of monitoring is to fix what's broken. Washington has earmarked $465 million in economic stimulus money for public safety programs.

Local agencies, as well as state and federal Homeland Security, will get a second chance to do it right.

http://www.dailynews.com/opinions/ci_13358821

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From the LAPD

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Grand Opening of new facility for Real-Time Analysis and Critical Response Division

In March 2002, the people of Los Angeles voted to fund Proposition Q, the Citywide Public Safety Bond Measure that provided $600 million for the construction of 11 new police facilities and the renovation of 12 existing police stations.  One of those new facilities is the Los Angeles Emergency Operations Center, which houses the city's Emergency Management Department, segments of LAPD's Incident Management Support and Emergency Operations Divisions as well as Real-Time Analysis and Critical Response (RACR) Division.

RACR Division was previously housed four floors underground, in the basement of City Hall East and long ago outgrew the space.  The Division, now staffed by 67 sworn and civilian members, has evolved from a small notifications unit into a Regional Crime Center which, while still providing notifications on significant, impactful events, additionally offers situational awareness, an emergency operations component and investigative support for field units.

The 84,000 square-foot facility in downtown Los Angeles cost $107 million.  The center is environmentally efficient, is designed to withstand a magnitude 8.0 earthquake and features blast-resistant exterior surfaces.  It abuts the new Fire Station 4 and will also eventually be home to the LAFD Dispatch.  

The Center was designed by the architectural firms HOK and Fluor Corporation and was constructed by S.J. Amoroso Construction Company.  It features executive boardrooms, a media room, and training and management rooms.

For more information about the new Emergency Operations Center call Media Relations Section at 213-485-3586.

September 17, 2009

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Harbor Area Formal Command Inspection

Chief Bratton on Harbor Inspection - podcast

Capt Hays on Harbor Inspection - podcast

On Wednesday, September 16, 2009, Harbor Division Officers with buffed badges were shining brightly as they held their first Formal Uniform Inspection at their new facility. The Officers proudly stood at attention as Harbor Area Captain William Hayes led Chief William J. Bratton, First Assistant Chief Jim McDonnell, Assistant Chief Earl Paysinger, Deputy Chief Kirk Albanese, and Commander Andrew Smith as they inspected the rank and file.

Chief Bratton thanked the Officers for giving him seven years of extraordinary accomplishments, historic levels of crime decline, and for high approval of citizen satisfaction with the relationship, confidence and trust the public currently has in the Department.  He further praised Harbor Area Officers by stating “Out of the twenty one commands in the city, I know of one that has a stronger relationship with its communities and the support mechanism than this command.”

The strong support and relationship that Harbor Area has with the citizens of its community was demonstrated by the presence of citizen volunteers during the inspection. Present at the inspection were Harbor Area Crisis Response Team, Harbor Area Volunteers, and the Harbor L.I.T.E.S “Ladies Involved in Time, Effort, Service.” The Harbor L.I.T.E.S celebrated their 40th anniversary last year.

They hold monthly meetings at Harbor Station and are involved in fundraisers that benefit the station, and serve as a support group in times of need.

During the ceremony Chief Bratton honored and presented ten of Harbor Area's best with a 20 years of service pin. Those honored were Lieutenant John Pasquariello, Sergeant Catherine Plows, Detectives Gave Almeida, Brian Gasparian, Kelvin Higa, and Police Officers Tony Lobato, Danny Shry, Steven Angulo, Maria Tippet, and Perry Alvarez.  

September 17, 2009

http://lapdblog.typepad.com/lapd_blog/