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From LA Times

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Amid tsunami advisory people enjoy the beach

As California faced a tsunami advisory tonight, lifeguards in Los Angeles County were scheduled to begin clearing people from beaches at 8 p.m., an hour before an expected surge in the tide caused by this morning's 7.9 magnitude earthquake in American Samoa.

But at 8 p.m. at Venice Beach, there were no lifeguards in sight as couples and groups of friends continued to brave the crisp coastal air to walk up the pier and watch the waves crash.

Dozens stood on the wooden path and a handful of people could be seen sitting on the sand.

"We saw the news before we came out" said Ole Dahlmann, 37, a tourist from Denmark. "But we weren't too frightened."

Dahlmann stood on the dark pier with a friend, casually snapping photos of the sea.

In Crescent City in Northern California, where a huge tsunami in 1964 killed 11 people and destroyed part of the town, officials said they were bracing for the worst. The first potential surge of water will coincide with a 6-foot-high tide, authorities said, which could cause the water level to rise as high as 8 feet.

"We're going to restrict access to the harbor and we've advised people to stay away from low-lying areas," said Cmdr. Bill Steven of the Del Norte County Sheriff's Department.

Officials had predicted that some beaches could experience higher-than-normal tides around 9 p.m.  In the Los Angeles area, the potential rise in the water level occurred when the tide was dropping from a high of 5.1 feet at 7:11 p.m.

Earlier in the evening at the Newport Pier, the beach was open but mostly quiet. A few people tossed a Frisbee in the sand. Others lounged under an umbrella. Businesses remained open. Almost no one -- not even business owners and workers -- had heard about the advisory.

Pisanu Suttitanakool, who works at a corner doughnut shop just across from the pier and lives a block away, said he hadn't heard about the advisory. He didn't expect anything would happen, and said a small tsunami wouldn't be so bad.

"I want to see some action around here," he said. "Nothing ever happens."

At Venice Beach, more people were enjoying the sunset than worrying about the tsunami alert. Cyclists rode up and down the pier past calm surf and underneath a smattering of clouds that had turned neon pink.

Mike Waltos, 52, a homeless man who sleeps on the beach, said his brother called him from Pennsylvania to warn him about a possible tsunami in the area. But Waltos said he wasn't concerned. 

"If the big one comes and hits me, I'll be riding with the Big Kahuna for eternity," he said.

Lisa and Joe Pearson, who live just blocks from the pier, had no idea there was a tsunami alert. The two sat back to back along the sand silently watching the sun go down.

"I was surfing earlier. You would have thought a tsunami alert would have at least given us better waves," said Joe Pearson, 56, an animation producer and director.

But just in case, the couple said, they might pack their car with a few essentials.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/09/officials-had-predicted-that-some-beaches-could-experience-higher-than-normal-tides-around-9-pm-in-the-los-angeles-area-th.html#more

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Still no plan for fixing billing system for youth in L.A. County detention

Earlier this year, Los Angeles County probation officials vowed to fix their system for billing parents of youth in county detention after county supervisors questioned why the department had mistakenly billed low-income and foster parents. Supervisors gave a group of probation and other county officials three months to propose changes, but six months later the group has yet to present a proposal.

Probation officials declared a moratorium on new probation billing Feb. 13 after questions were raised by The Times and children's advocates about improper billing.

Los Angeles County has charged parents $11.94 a day for probation camps and $23.63 a day for juvenile halls for at least 15 years. By law, the county can bill parents and legal guardians of youths held in its 22 camps and juvenile halls for some daily incarceration costs, but only if parents can afford to pay.

Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky said probation officials have been dragging their feet on the billing issue.

"There's a cultural resistance in the probation department to doing what the law requires, which is not charging people who can't afford it," Yaroslavsky said. "It isn't easy to do this right, and what is becoming readily apparent as more people look at this is, is it worth it?"

The county spent $812,000 on a five-person probation fee collections office and $56,000 on an Austin, Texas-based collections agency last year but recovered only $2.6 million of the $23.6 million billed— mostly because of parents' inability to pay, probation officials have said.

Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas said he was concerned about why the group has yet to return with recommendations.

"I'm trying to get to the bottom of why it's taking this long," he said.

Probation officials met with youth, parents and children's advocates in June to discuss billing, and arranging that meeting delayed the group's recommendations, said Anna Pembedjian, justice deputy for Supervisor Mike Antonovich.

According to county records, officials have drafted recommendations that include billing parents based on their earned income — rather than total income, as they had in the past — and improving parents' ability to challenge bills. Both proposed changes are favored by advocates.

But most of their recommendations would expand billing, allowing probation officials to garnish parents' wages and tap their bank accounts, child support, welfare and private insurance, as well as accept payment by credit or debit card.

Probation Chief Robert Taylor said he had not been involved in drafting the recommendations and could not comment about them before the group releases a final report, expected next month.

Children's advocates said the group appears poised to expand billing, which will drive poor families into debt and hurt their chances of supporting troubled youth after they are released from county detention.

"You're actually punishing the communities that can least afford the bills, and we feel that's a human rights and civil rights issue," said Kim McGill of the Inglewood-based Youth Justice Coalition. "We would urge the board of supervisors that they hear in a real way from families before they make a decision on this."

The board is expected to consider the recommendations Oct. 8.

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

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L.A. requires anti-graffiti materials on all new single-family homes

Opening a new front in the city's efforts to reduce tagging, the Los Angeles City Council today approved an ordinance requiring that new homes built in the city include some type of finish that is resistant to graffiti spray paint.

The new law is an extension of rules that already exist in the Los Angeles Municipal Code that commercial buildings and apartments must be finished with a hard, smooth, impermeable surface, such as ceramic tile or baked enamel.

Previously, single-family homes and duplexes were exempt.

“The bottom line is we spend a lot of money on graffiti removal,” said council member Bill Rosendahl. “Wouldn't it be great if we didn't have to spend this much money?”

The ordinance, which was unanimously approved, offers an exemption to owners who sign an agreement with the city to remove any graffiti that appears on their property within seven days. 

Architects and developers had complained that the anti-graffiti measure limits their choice of construction materials.

City officials acknowledge that not all construction materials are compatible with approved finishes. Some types of coatings also cause discoloration to a building's surface.

The rules require that the first nine feet of the exterior walls and doors be covered by anti-graffiti materials.

Officials have tried many things over the year to reduce graffiti, including high-tech camera systems and programs to charge parents for their children's vandalism.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/09/la-requires-antigraffiti-materials-on-all-new-single-family-homes.html#more

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Opening of new LAPD jail threatened by staffing shortages

The Los Angeles Police Department's soon-to-be-completed jail is likely to be unusable because of staffing shortages, LAPD officials said today.

In a presentation to the Los Angeles Police Commission, Commander Jeffrey Greer told members of the civilian oversight panel that the department needs 164 detention officers to operate the $74-million Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles.

Only 83 detention officers are required to staff the old, smaller jail currently in use, Greer said, meaning the department needs to nearly double the size of the downtown jail staff. In addition, 19 detention officer positions at the downtown facility and satellite jails at some police stations are currently vacant, bringing the total number of new hires needed to 100.

Even in flush times, such an increase would have been a challenge, but with the city in the grips of a roughly $500-million budget shortfall, it is all but impossible. The LAPD has been ordered to cut $160 million from its budget and, for months, every city department has been under a civilian hiring freeze.

Detention officers, also called jailers, fall under this freeze since they are not sworn officers, but specially trained civilians. To hire more jailers, the LAPD first would have to receive a special exemption from the city-wide freeze.

"We're in a tough situation right now," Greer acknowledged to the commission.

The jail is meant to hold people arrested as they await arraignment, typically for no more than four days.

On any given shift, 62 detention officers would be needed in the new jail, double the number needed at the current site, Greer said. The new jail does not have twice the capacity, but the increased staffing is needed because the size of the jail is much larger and the facility is broken into several separate pod areas.

Originally projected to be completed in March 2008, the new jail has been beset by months of construction delays. City construction officials handed the keys of the jail over to the LAPD early this summer so the department could make small changes and train its jailers to run it, Rhonda Sims-Lewis, head of the LAPD's Administration and Technical Services Bureau, said in an interview. It is expected to be ready for use by Feb. 1.

Opening only part of the jail would not be feasible because of security concerns and because there would be too few cells available to house the constantly fluctuating number of suspects, Greer said in response to a question from a commissioner.

Commission President John Mack directed Greer to more fully explore the idea of raising funds for the jail by leasing out space to federal agencies in need of cell space.

Mack and LAPD Chief William J. Bratton expressed concern over the situation, but reiterated early promises that the department would not resort to using police officers to fill the empty positions. Bratton called on elected city officials to clear the way for hiring more jailers.

"It is going to require the city to take a much more focused look at these personnel needs," he said.

--Joel Rubin at LAPD headquarters

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/09/lapd-jail.html#more

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Roman Polanski's supporters sending wrong message about rape, minimizing director's crimes, critics say

Defenders of Roman Polanski have not minced words in their criticism of L.A. prosecutors for arresting the director three decades after he fled the U.S. before being sentenced for sexually abusing a 13-year-old girl.

His agent, Jeff Berg, has said that justice has already been served in the Polanski case.

Directors Martin Scorsese, David Lynch and Woody Allen are among dozens in the film industry to sign a petition calling for the immediate release of Polanski. Academy-Award winning film producer Harvey Weinstein, also a signatory to the petition, wrote in the UK Indpendent calling the original plea deal in Polanski's case a "miscarriage of justice."

"Whatever you think about the so-called crime, Polanski has served his time," Weinstein wrote.

But such comments don't sit well with advocates of sexual abuse victims, who think Polanski's supporters in their zeal to free Polanski are sending the wrong message and downplaying the seriousness of the crime.

"Most troubling to me is that people just don't understand the impact a crime like this has on a 13-year-old girl, and the fact that he has made some fabulous films is utterly irrelevant," said Katie Buckland, executive director of the California Women's Law Center. "It sends a message that the rich and powerful can get away with crimes that no one else can get away with."

The Polanski case has generated much debate about why prosecutors acted now. It's complicated somewhat by the fact that his victim, now in her 40s, has publicly said she believe he should not face prison time and that the matter should be dropped.

But Buckland said it is irrelevant that the victim did not want to press the case -- and that prosecutors should be praised for sticking with the case.

David Clohessy, national director of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, said he hears echos of "Polanski's apologists" in the scandal over child abuse in the Roman Catholic priests.

"In both cases we have the public and secular authorities giving every benefit of the doubt to clear wrongdoers just by virtue of their exalted positions. You could easily say if Polanski was a priest, he would be easily jailed," Clohessy said. "Somehow if you can make movies, dance well, shoot a basketball, essentially accumulate wealth or power and then you are somehow exempt from the basic societal laws and expectations. By not pursuing Polanski, we send a very disturbing message to criminals. Make yourself popular, get good lawyers, flee the country and you are home free."

UCLA law professor Peter Arenella said the intensity of the debate surrounding Polanski is less about legal issues than it is about changed social norms, although it does not in any way excuse what happened but it may explain it.

“I'm not saying at the time of Mr. Polanski's case that his behavior was justifiable under the prevailing social norms. It was still unjustifiable behavior on his part," Arenella said.

But he said there was "the same sensivity to the abuse of power issues."

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/09/roman-polanski-backers-sending-wrong-message-about-rape-minimizing-directors-crimes-critics-say.html#more

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(This was an Opinion article from 2003)

Judge the Movie, Not the Man

I met Roman Polanski in 1977, when I was 13 years old. I was in ninth grade that year, when he told my mother that he wanted to shoot pictures of me for a French magazine. That's what he said, but instead, after shooting pictures of me at Jack Nicholson's house on Mulholland Drive, he did something quite different. He gave me champagne and a piece of a Quaalude. And then he took advantage of me.

It was not consensual sex by any means. I said no, repeatedly, but he wouldn't take no for an answer. I was alone and I didn't know what to do. It was scary and, looking back, very creepy. Those may sound like kindergarten words, but that's the way it feels to me. It was a very long time ago, and it is hard to remember exactly the way everything happened. But I've had to repeat the story so many times, I know it by heart.

We pressed charges, and he pleaded guilty. A plea bargain was agreed to by his lawyer, my lawyer and the district attorney, and it was approved by the judge. But to our amazement, at the last minute the judge went back on his word and refused to honor the deal.

Worried that he was going to have to spend 50 years in prison -- rather than just time already served -- Mr. Polanski fled the country. He's never been back, and I haven't seen him or spoken to him since.

Looking back, there can be no question that he did something awful. It was a terrible thing to do to a young girl. But it was also 25 years ago -- 26 years next month. And, honestly, the publicity surrounding it was so traumatic that what he did to me seemed to pale in comparison.

Now that he's been nominated for an Academy Award, it's all being reopened. I'm being asked: Should he be given the award? Should he be rewarded for his behavior? Should he be allowed back into the United States after fleeing 25 years ago?

Here's the way I feel about it: I don't really have any hard feelings toward him, or any sympathy, either. He is a stranger to me.

But I believe that Mr. Polanski and his film should be honored according to the quality of the work. What he does for a living and how good he is at it have nothing to do with me or what he did to me. I don't think it would be fair to take past events into consideration. I think that the academy members should vote for the movies they feel deserve it. Not for people they feel are popular.

And should he come back? I have to imagine he would rather not be a fugitive and be able to travel freely. Personally, I would like to see that happen. He never should have been put in the position that led him to flee. He should have received a sentence of time served 25 years ago, just as we all agreed. At that time, my lawyer, Lawrence Silver, wrote to the judge that the plea agreement should be accepted and that that guilty plea would be sufficient contrition to satisfy us. I have not changed my mind.

I know there is a price to pay for running. But who wouldn't think about running when facing a 50-year sentence from a judge who was clearly more interested in his own reputation than a fair judgment or even the well-being of the victim?

If he could resolve his problems, I'd be happy. I hope that would mean I'd never have to talk about this again. Sometimes I feel like we both got a life sentence.

My attitude surprises many people. That's because they didn't go through it all; they don't know everything that I know. People don't understand that the judge went back on his word. They don't know how unfairly we were all treated by the press. Talk about feeling violated! The media made that year a living hell, and I've been trying to put it behind me ever since.

Today, I am very happy with my life. I have three sons and a husband. I live in a beautiful place and I enjoy my work. What more could I ask for? No one needs to worry about me.

The one thing that bothers me is that what happened to me in 1977 continues to happen to girls every day, yet people are interested in me because Mr. Polanski is a celebrity. That just never seems right to me. It makes me feel guilty that this attention is directed at me, when there are certainly others out there who could really use it.

*

Editor's note: The Times' usual practice is not to name victims of sexual crimes. Samantha Geimer's name is used here with her consent.

http://articles.latimes.com/2003/feb/23/opinion/oe-geimer23

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Protest by homeless activists stops L.A. City Council meeting

L.A. City Council offers $50,000 reward in gang-related shooting death of 4-month-old in Van Nuys

Anyone with information about the crime or the suspects is asked to contact the homicide detectives in Van Nuys at (818) 374-0040.

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

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Hundreds of L.A. County workers rally for contract support

They arrived in half a dozen charter buses, wearing T-shirts and toting signs from Service Employees International Union Local 721, which represents about 55,000 county workers.

“We're not asking for a raise -- they're trying to maintain their benefits,” said union spokeswoman Elizabeth Brennan.

Workers' chanting could be heard inside the building, where county supervisors were meeting this morning. Union officials expected at least 1,500 workers to attend the rally, including some who planned to address supervisors at the meeting.

Lila Johnson-Crenshaw, 55, of Rialto, a recreation services manager, has worked for the county for about 14 years, and some of her children also work for the county. She planned to ask supervisors to consult workers about ways to save money, rather than cutting their pay, benefits or jobs.

“We know how to cut corners and make efficiencies,” Johnson-Crenshaw said.

Ana Soueidan, 37, of Downey, a county animal control officer, has been involved in contract negotiations and is concerned that county officials will not cover workers' rising medical insurance costs. As a single mother with a 14-year-old daughter, Soueidan said she cannot forgo a raise and cover healthcare costs herself.

“It's like a double whammy,” she said. “It's a financial burden for me.”

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

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3 hospitalized in Valinda shooting

A Chino man shot and wounded his ex-girlfriend's father and brother in Valinda before shooting and injuring himself. Authorities said a fight over custody of a 3-month-old baby sparked the shootings.

Bryan Ornelas, 21, shot the two men, ages 16 and 58, at about 6:45 p.m. Monday in the 16200 block of Benwick Street after “a dispute … regarding child custody,” said Sgt. Dwight Miley of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's station in Industry.

Ornelas had been arguing with his ex-girlfriend when the two men tried to intervene, and Ornelas shot each man in the arm once with a handgun, Miley said. The sergeant said Ornelas and the woman were the parents of the infant at the center of the dispute.  A Sheriff's Department helicopter hovered overhead as Ornelas fled the home in a vehicle with patrol cars in pursuit.

Ornelas led deputies to another home in the 1600 block of Mullender Avenue, where he ran inside and shot himself with a rifle, authorities said. Ornelas had been at that home earlier in the day and was known to the residents there, Miley said.

Ornelas remained in the hospital today; his ex-girlfriend's brother and father were expected to recover from their injuries.

Valinda is in unincorporated Los Angeles County, bordered by La Puente, the city of Industry and West Covina.

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

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Saudi Arabia-based charities still funding terrorists, GAO says

Though the kingdom has done well in blocking such support from within its borders, foreign branches of charities continue to get money to Al Qaeda and the Taliban, U.S. investigators tell Congress.

By David G. Savage

September 30, 2009

Reporting from Washington

Despite success in shutting down the financing of terrorist groups within its borders, Saudi Arabia remains a top source of funding for Al Qaeda elsewhere and Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan, the Government Accountability Office said in a report to Congress.

The report does not name individuals or estimate how much money might be flowing to the terrorists.

Since 2003, the Saudis have barred charities from transferring money outside the kingdom, but the GAO said that this hadn't prevented Saudi-based charities with branches abroad from serving as funding sources for terrorist groups. Some of the money is being smuggled out of the country in cash through the use of couriers, it said.

The report cites the International Islamic Relief Organization and its branches in Indonesia and the Philippines as having provided fundraising support for Al Qaeda. It also points to the many branches of the Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation.

In 2004, the Saudi government said that Al-Haramain was being dissolved, but the organization's leadership reconstituted under different names and has continued to operate. Last year, the U.S. Treasury Department listed "all branches of Al-Haramain, including its headquarters in Saudi Arabia, for having provided support to Al Qaeda as well as other terrorists and terrorist organizations."

Despite the tightened financial controls within Saudi Arabia, the GAO concluded, charities with operations in several countries can still "move money out of the country."

However, U.S. officials don't blame the Saudi government.

Officials emphasized that "this funding allegedly comes from individuals or multinational organizations, not from the Saudi government," the report says, "and that the government of Saudi Arabia is pursuing terrorism financiers and cooperating with the United States to counter terrorism funding."

"Further, experts we spoke with agreed that there is no indication that the Saudi government is providing funding for terrorism," it says.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-terror-funding30-2009sep30,0,1080925,print.story

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Editorial

Facebook's online poll crosses a line

The social networking site reacted properly to an Obama assassination entry, but questions about responsibility remain.

September 30, 2009

Not content with more conventional ways of expressing disapproval, an unidentified Facebook user recently posted a poll asking whether President Obama should be assassinated. The poll was outrageous, and Facebook forced its removal even before the Secret Service called. The larger questions raised by the incident, however, are how much control companies should exert over the use of the megaphones they provide online, and how much information social networks expose about the people who use them.

The inflammatory poll, created over the weekend with an application available to any Facebook user, offered four possible answers to the question "Should Obama be killed?": yes, maybe, "if he cuts my healthcare" and no. Originally published on the application developer's Facebook page, it spread as voters notified their networks of friends about it. Users also could complain about the poll through links provided by Facebook and the developer, a start-up called Advanced Alien Technology. A Facebook spokesman said the company received the first objection early Monday, and the poll came down shortly thereafter.

The poll is especially disturbing in light of the sharp increase in reported threats to the president's life. A new book estimates that Obama receives 30 a day, a 400% increase over President George W. Bush. Heated rhetoric is a staple of political discourse, but death threats -- whether real or insinuated -- are not. Yet it's not Facebook's responsibility to police the daily utterances of its more than 340 million users -- such prior restraint is anathema to free speech, and it would impose an impossible burden on any popular site. Instead, given the size of its audience, it's appropriate for Facebook to give users the tools to police themselves. It's also incumbent on the company to make sure application developers do the same, and Facebook appears to have done that.

At the same time, however, Facebook gives developers the ability to collect a stunning amount of information about the people who use their applications. Unless they're savvy enough to change their privacy settings, users not only automatically reveal the personal data they've entered into their Facebook profiles, they also disclose similar information from their friends' profiles. Those disclosures and connections could prove a gold mine to investigators, exposing people to scrutiny simply because a friend gave the wrong answer on the wrong Facebook poll. Before that happens, Facebook should do a better job of teaching users how to guard their privacy against the risks posed even by seemingly innocuous applications.

http://articles.latimes.com/2003/feb/23/opinion/oe-geimer23

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From the Daily News

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Supervisors vote for elimination of five commissions

Estimating the action will save taxpayers nearly $1.5 million, Los Angeles County supervisors voted Tuesday to eliminate five more advisory commissions.

The move followed a vote in June to eliminate 11 commissions, committees and boards that hadn't met for a long time or have had very low attendance by members.

"These recommendations will also result in less overlap among bodies and cost savings that will mitigate curtailments in critical county public services," Chief Executive Officer Bill Fujioka wrote in a memo to the supervisors.

The commissions set to be eliminated on Dec. 1 are: Capital Projects Appeals Board, Child Support Advisory Board, Emergency Preparedness Commission, Task Force on Nutrition and Children's Council.

Proposals to eliminate the the Judicial Procedures and Information Systems commissions were continued.

Also continued were recommendations to consolidate other commissions - the Board of Governors, County Arboreta and Botanical Gardens with the Parks and Recreation Commission; and the Commission on Alcoholism with the Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Commission.

The move followed the release of a report earlier this year that found at least 14 of the county's 201 commissions are ineffective or dormant and should be eliminated. The report by Pasadena-based Arroyo Associates found 10 commissions hadn't met in years and were no longer needed and another four had failed to achieve their goals or had become irrelevant.

Lola Unger, a member of the Commission on Alcoholism, said the commission voted June 11 to oppose the consolidation with the Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Commission.

"We feel that the Arroyo report was missing a great deal of information," Unger said.

In a letter to the supervisors, Commission on Alcoholism Chair G. Lola Worthington wrote the costs associated with alcohol abuse are so great that the commission should remain independent.

She cited a report by the San Rafael-based Marin Institute that found costs related to alcohol abuse in the county grew from $7.4 billion in 2003 to $10.8 billion in 2008.

The report, which focused on costs associated with lost productivity, premature deaths, chronic illness and alcohol-related arrests, found alcohol abuse resulted in 2,297 deaths and 242,265 other incidents, including hospitalizations, accidents and arrests.

The report found alcohol is involved in more than 92 percent of violent offenses, including 20 percent of homicides, rapes and assaults, and is tied to 166,118 violent crimes.

"A potential dissolution and then reconstruction of the two commissions would result in a severe and determined worsening of an already dangerous situation in Los Angeles County that could de-emphasize the role that alcohol plays in many of our society's problems," Worthington wrote.

http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_13447399

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City, county seek clues in string of slayings

City and county officials offered rewards Tuesday in a string of high-profile murder cases - from the shooting of an infant in Van Nuys to the stabbing of a woman in Quartz Hill.

Calling it an "unspeakable crime" that no parent should have to witness, the City Council authorized a $50,000 reward in the weekend slaying of 4-month-old Andrew Garcia in Van Nuys, who was mortally wounded by stray bullets in an apparent gang-related shooting.

"Anyone who has information on this should come forward," said Councilman Tony Cardenas, who represents the area. "It is important that everyone understands when something like this happens, it is incumbent on anyone with information to come forward."

Detectives can be reached at 818-347-0400, and those with information will have their identities protected, he said.

Councilwoman Janice Hahn said the city's sympathy went to the infant's parents.

"We all get crime stats every morning, but something like this stands out," Hahn said. "This is an unspeakable crime that touched a nerve with all of us and we are all mourning the loss of this baby."

Also, Los Angeles County supervisors offered a $10,000 reward for information about the disappearance of Mitrice Richardson.

Richardson, 24, of Los Angeles was brought to the Malibu-Los Hills Sheriff's Station Sept. 17 after being unable to pay her $89 bill at Geoffrey's restaurant in Malibu. She has not been seen since she was released from the sheriff's station about 1:25 a.m. Sept. 18.

Her family says she was in no condition to be released and did not have transportation from the station, located on a remote stretch of Agoura Road.

The supervisors also extended existing rewards for another 90 days in the following cases:

A $20,000 reward in the fatal stabbing of Jean Clinton Roeschlaub in her Monterey Island condo in downtown Glendale on Aug. 2, 2006.

A $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Jesus Humberto Canales, who is wanted in the fatal stabbing of his girlfriend, Lucy Preciado of Quartz Hill, on July 12, 2008. Canales is thought to be driving a bronze 2002 GMC Safari van, license plate number 6CBY663.

A $10,000 reward in the stabbing death of 17-year-old Andrew Lopez in the 41600 block of 22nd Street West in Palmdale on May 9, 2008.

http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_13447397

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Increase in domestic abuse tied to recession

It was bad enough that Alejandra's husband had beaten and threatened to kill her and their five children for a dozen years.

But the attacks became even more brutal after the economy tanked, the husband lost his job and seven family members had to squeeze into a single room.

"I was hit and kicked and punched - in the past couple of years it was almost every day," said Alejandra, 32, of Panorama City, tears rolling down her cheeks.

In April, she added, "my two oldest daughters told me he was sexually molesting them."

Alejandra is one of 150 victims of domestic violence getting help at the Valley Family Service Center, a family counseling and educational service agency in San Fernando.

Since the recession began in December 2007, the number of families seeking help at the center has doubled. The number of serious domestic violence cases being prosecuted by the City Attorney's Office has jumped 10 percent.

Women, experts say, have borne the brunt of anger and frustration over lost jobs, foreclosed homes, repossessed cars and overdrawn bank accounts.

"You can't imagine what these people are going through, and yet they manage to survive," said Maria Leyva, coordinator for domestic violence programs at the Valley center run by the Catholic Sisters of Charity, which serves families from Santa Clarita to Long Beach.

"It's the economy. ... It's the stress. And the alcohol, because the violence doubles. And the fear to leave, for the women, is even worse."

But not all statistics support a surge in physical abuse.

Los Angeles police say violence against spouses and children has declined since the recession began.

There have been 9,331 domestic violence cases reported citywide this year, compared with 9,565 during the first nine months of 2008, a decrease of 2.4 percent. The number of cases in the San Fernando Valley has remained static - about 3,500, officials say.

The year-to-date comparison in child/spousal abuse since 2007 shows a decrease of 1.5 percent, according to Los Angeles Police Department statistics.

"During the recession, we have not seen an increase in any Part 1 (violent) crimes, including child/spousal abuse," said Detective Jeff Godown. "The bottom line is these two categories are down."

At the office of City Attorney Carmen Trutanich, the Family Violence Unit saw no increase in the number of domestic assault cases between September 2007 and today, or 6,300 assaults per year.

But during that same period, cases involving repeat offenders or those involving severe injuries rose 10 percent.

"There's just more stress," said Lara Bloomquist, supervising attorney for 10 lawyers in the unit. "It makes people more violent than they were before."

The problem for some has become so severe that hundreds of government officials, service providers and mental health professionals will meet in Los Angeles on Tuesday for a policy summit called End Violence Against Women.

"What we're hearing from people who provide services to this group of women is that we're seeing an increase in the number of women seeking assistance for shelter from domestic violence," said Julie Mairs, chair of the summit and a past president of summit host Soroptimist International of Los Angeles.

At the same time, she said, funding has decreased for women's shelters across the city - the best havens for domestic violence.

It was in April, after her husband was jailed on sexual abuse charges, that Alejandra was referred to the Valley Family Center.

Founded in 1987 by the nonprofit Sisters of Charity, the $5.7 million mission-style center in downtown San Fernando has become a get-well agency for thousands of needy families.

By day, about 200 women and their children receive domestic violence and sexual abuse counseling.

Each afternoon, failing teens attend an after-school Learning Center for homework and computer classes. And at night, the 165 mostly fathers who abuse their families receive court-ordered violence-prevention therapy. In addition, many also attend couples counseling or classes on how to be good dads.

At the center's heart are Irish-born Sisters Una Connally and Carmel Somers, whose spiritual mission is to help the poor.

"I tend to be a visionary," said Sister Somers, executive director of the center and a longtime community organizer. "We can all enable each other to become our best selves.

"The mission of this center is to recognize the basic human dignity in every person, the God-given gifts that they have - and to help them reach their potential."

Alejandra is on her way.

When the raven-haired mom first passed through the center portico, she had hung her head in shame. At every turn, her husband wielded an iron fist. When she was pregnant with their first child, he abused her with his hands and feet.

When she and the children asked if they could eat, he would often withhold money to buy food.

Then two years ago, when he lost his $24,000-a-year job as a warehouse worker, they were forced to move into a single room and apply for welfare.

She got a job cleaning homes, but he threatened to report her to immigration authorities if she fled with the kids. Then he was arrested and charged with rape.

And the family has found healing at the center.

She and the children have begun to smile again, she said. And Alejandra, known for making some of the best chimichangas in town, has started a catering business.

"I'm getting so much help at the Valley Family Center," she said in Spanish through a translator. "I want to rent my own place, and start a restaurant. My kids are working with me.

"I found my God again," she added. "I am very faithful to the Virgin de Guadelupe. Before, many times I wanted to take my life; I felt I had no way out.

"But praying to the Virgin ... I am finding my way back."

http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_13447396

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Council questions LAPD's push for 10,000 officers

With a class of 37 police recruits poised to begin training in October, the City Council debated Tuesday whether Los Angeles really needs a 10,000-officer force during a financial crisis.

While Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa continues to insist that the nation's second-largest city needs more cops, some council members say hiring civilians could prove a cost-effective alternative to keeping Los Angeles residents safe.

"I think having 10,000 officers is unsustainable for the city," said Councilman Paul Koretz, who chairs the council's Public Safety Committee. "It's not a real figure. There are a lot of phantom cops we have who are doing jobs that would be better performed by civilians.

"It's good P.R. to say we have 10,000 cops. But if we had 9,500 cops and the civilians providing support services, we would be better off financially and have no impact on public safety in the city."

Although he wasn't present for the council debate, the mayor stood by his proposal to continue hiring officers despite a $403 million deficit in the city budget.

"I don't want to return to the days when our officers were so badly outnumbered that our police force struggled to keep annual homicides below 1,100, and I don't want to turn back the clock on the great progress we've made," Villaraigosa said.

"Today, Los Angeles is safer - not just because crime is down to historic lows, but because our police force now has the numbers and flexibility it needs to be part of the communities they protect."

The mayor also has said he believes it would be a breach in the promise he made to voters four years ago when a trash fee was imposed to generate money to hire more police.

Police Chief Bill Bratton said he was "incredulous" that the City Council continued to debate the issue.

"We made a promise to the voters when we raised the trash fee that it would be used to expand the police force," Bratton said. "And, it has proven to be phenomenally successful."

Over the years, Bratton has continued to press for expansion of the department, saying he believed the LAPD needed to be even larger, perhaps with as many as 12,000 officers.

"Public safety is why we have so many tourists, it is why parents decide to send their children to institutions like USC and UCLA," Bratton said. "Public safety is what makes a city succeed."

The City Council has been divided over hiring recruits for the October class but decided to proceed since applicants had already been accepted. Future classes could be smaller, however, if cost-cutting measures are imposed.

The city's budget problems have been felt particularly on the civilian side of the Los Angeles Police Department, where officials said 55 support positions are being performed by sworn officers.

Money woes also are impacting plans to open the 520-bed Metropolitan Division Jail on Feb. 1. Capt. Clay Farrell told the Police Commission on Tuesday the opening may have to be postponed because of inadequate staffing.

The city has 369 detention officers but needs 81 more to staff the new jail, Farrell said.

The Police Commission has said it does not want to assign sworn officers to detention duty in the jails.

Councilman Dennis Zine asked for a more detailed report on officers performing in civilian jobs.

"We need the support personnel," said Zine, a retired police sergeant. "I don't want to see officers tied up with jobs that civilians can perform.

"We need to have balance in our hiring. Yes, we need more police, but it makes no sense to hire them if we don't have the support staff."

Councilman Bernard Parks, a former LAPD chief who now chairs the Budget and Finance Committee, said it was purely a financial issue.

"It makes no sense to hire new officers when we are asking our officers on the force to take time off to save us money," Parks said. "I don't know where the 10,000 figure came from. It's more a case of how they are assigned.

"We already have 70 percent of our budget devoted to public safety, before we begin looking at furloughs and layoffs. It's time to do what's right. We don't have the money."

Councilman Greig Smith, who has questioned the hiring plan, said he has been doing some research on past city policies.

"I saw a document from 1948 saying we needed to have 10,000 officers, so it's nothing new," said Smith, who is also a reserve police officer. "There is nothing magic about having 10,000 officers."

http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_13447394

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Disney offering a free one-day ticket in exchange for volunteering

The "Give a Day, Get a Disney Day" promotion will begin Jan. 1, with the goal of inspiring 1 million people to donate their time.

"In 2010, we want to recognize and add one more reason for celebration - - the contributions people make to their communities every day," said Jay Rasulo, chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts. "We want to inspire 1 million volunteers, people who will invest time and energy to make their own communities and neighborhoods a better place."

To help connect volunteers with appropriate agencies needing help, Disney partnered with the HandsOn Network, which has 250 volunteer centers throughout the country and connects people with more than 70,000 nonprofit agencies.

People who want to participate in the program can visit www.DisneyParks.com to search for local volunteer opportunities.

The program "fits perfectly with our long history of supporting and participating in volunteer efforts," said Bob Iger, president and CEO of The Walt Disney Co. "It's a great way to honor guests who are making a positive contribution to their communities."

http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_13444238

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County's Department of Children and Family Services upgrading to protect children

County Department of Children and Family Services employees are being retrained to spot potentially life-threatening situations, and computer systems are being modified to help better protect children from abuse, the head of the agency told the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday.

DCFS Director Trish Ploehn laid out a plan to enhance child safety in a report to the county Board of Supervisors.

Training focuses on interviewing techniques, evidence collection and notifying sister agencies that investigate child abuse, including sheriff's deputies and public health employees.

As part of an effort to increase managerial accountability and oversight, computer programs will trigger alerts, if a child is the subject of three or more referrals or two referrals within the last 12 months;

-- if a case has been open 15 days or more and a child has not been seen by a social worker;

-- if a family has a prior history of abuse with any state agency; and

-- if a DCFS employee is seeking to close a case initially assessed as high or very high risk.

The alerts are expected to be implemented by the end of November, Ploehn said.

Managers are manually reviewing referrals that are deemed unfounded while the system is being installed.

The updated system depends in part on other agencies using the Family and Child Index database to record incidents of alleged abuse or contacts with children at risk.

Six agencies other than DCFS are intended users, including the Sheriff's Department, the District Attorney's Office, the Probation Department, the Department of Public Health, Department of Public Social Services and the Department of Mental Health.

Supervisor Michael Antonovich asked Deputy Chief Executive Officer Jackie White, "Since its inception, has FCI ever been used by all seven departments?"

White responded by offering data indicating that the DCFS, Sheriff's Department and District Attorney's Office were active users of the database, while the other departments rarely entered information.

"You have to direct these departments to follow these procedures," Supervisor Michael Antonovich said to Chief Executive William Fujioka.

Antonovich expressed his frustration with bureaucratic delays and drew an analogy to firefighting, saying the agencies had to come together to be more effective.

"There's a fire. Put the damn thing out," he said.

Several other initiatives are under consideration as DCFS works with other county staff to develop a consistent methodology across agencies for handling child welfare cases.

In a letter to the board, the working group asked for 150 more days to complete its overall review and implement changes.

http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_13444234

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Jury is still out on whether stimulus funds have helped Los Angeles

TREASURY Secretary Timothy Geithner recently held a town hall meeting to talk about the one-year anniversary of the collapse of the pillars of the banking industry, and the first influx of economic stimulus, or TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program) funds that followed.

Geithner said that the government's infusion of several hundred billion dollars into the banks was the "moral and just thing to do" because our "financial system depends on public trust and confidence."

Many feel that the stimulus funds were used to bail out large institutional banks, which have used those funds to pay off their debts, but failed to make capital available to small and medium-sized businesses throughout the country. Despite hundreds of billions of dollars in stimulus funding, we still face record-high 10 percent unemployment nationwide. The rate in Los Angeles is even higher.

In addition, minority workers are disproportionately represented in the ranks of the unemployed, despite the fact that one of the major goals of the stimulus package was to create jobs in urban areas.

So has the stimulus worked? Where are we one year after hundreds of billions of public funds were pumped into the economy? Where have stimulus funds gone, and how should the government move forward with bolstering our still-flat economy?

For small and midsize businesses in Los Angeles, the jury is still out, but we are willing to be patient.

While funds have flowed freely to the larger banks, Congress has not yet created incentives for these banks to lend TARP funds to local businesses that can generate badly needed jobs in Los Angeles' distressed communities.

Lax and nonexistent regulations were a major cause of last year's economic meltdown. Along with financial assistance, the federal government now has the moral authority - and responsibility - to create meaningful legislation that will truly enable the next infusion of stimulus funds to reach their intended recipients. These regulations will ensure that taxpayer money is used in the most beneficial way possible - helping the unemployed and underserved become self-sufficient.

The Los Angeles Local Development Corp., a trusted name in community-based business lending, has found that existing businesses in traditionally distressed areas are eager to grow and invest even more deeply into the community, creating a stronger and broader job base. Our typical clients usually need loans too small for the larger banks to consider, so we serve as a conduit for the funds that these businesses need to grow, prosper and employ people from their local communities.

In other words, we take the risk that the banks would normally assign to our clients - and for nearly 30 years, we have successfully delivered more than $250 million into distressed communities - and have been repaid more often than not.

With a dearth of large businesses choosing to locate their corporate headquarters in Los Angeles, small and medium-size businesses in the inner city will serve as the foundation of our region's economic recovery process, and they must have access to capital to accomplish that.

LDC is a community-based financial lender that works hand-in-hand with banks, government agencies and small and midsize businesses to create a strong business environment in distressed communities. Just like many businesses, we saw our lines of credit shrink or disappear in the past year.

We would have a greater ability to create jobs if the banks that have received stimulus funds were required to lend them where they will do the most good - to the small and midsize businesses that are the engine driving Los Angeles' recovery.

http://www.dailynews.com/opinions/ci_13448440

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Water defiance: Let Los Angeles' lawns be lush

LAST week, Valley Councilman Greig Smith announced that he was intentionally violating the city's strict twice-a-week lawn sprinkling rules.

Smith said that, in fact, he runs his sprinklers three times a week for eight minutes each time. And though he's been risking a $100 fine every week, his lawns, even in the harsh Northwest Valley heat of summer, have never looked better.

The announcement was a direct challenge to Department of Water and Power officials, a kind of throw down to get them to get to loosen the twice-a-week watering rules and let people reach mandatory conservation their own way.

In so doing, Smith became a champion for the hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Angelenos who have been quietly risking a fine to keep their landscapes from drooping, wilting and keeling over.

We should all rally behind Smith's coming out as a water scofflaw and let the sprinklers run a third day every week. Or a fourth even, if that's what it takes to keep the streets of Los Angeles looking like the streets of Los Angeles should. What does it matter what days we sprinkle our grass or trees or vegetables, so long as we don't exceed water allotments or run the water during the heat of the day?

Water conservation is, of course, still an important goal. And one that Los Angeles is embracing. The DWP's own reports show that Los Angeles water users have substantially cut back on their water use in the last two years. This June, the month when the water conservation rules took effect, Angelenos cut back usage by 12.7 percent compared with June 2008, and by nearly 17 percent compared with June 2007. And that's true for Smith as well. Though he's violating the rules, he said he's still saving water.

Those numbers indicate a positive downward trend that the city ought continue to encourage. That means adjusting the rules when they don't quite fit. That's exactly what the city did for itself when, by midsummer, it couldn't keep the parks green with only two days of watering. But instead of extending that courtesy to any resident who might want to keep his or her lawn presentable in exchange for getting low-flow faucets installed, it's transformed us into a city brimming with water criminals - one phone call away from a $100, $200 or $500 fine.

That's the wrong way to coax Angelenos into adopting new watering habits, as we must to deal with what is likely to be a long-lasting water shortage. What will work is treating customers like adults who can make decisions about how to use their water allotment, when and on what.

We stand with Smith. Let Los Angeles' sprinklers flow.

http://www.dailynews.com/opinions/ci_13448763

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From the LAPD

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COMPSTAT Citywide Profile

Crime Statistics September 26, 2009

VIOLENT CRIMES                 2009**           2008**          % Chg

Homicide                             236*              279           -15.4%
Rape                                    572               629             -9.1%
Robbery                              9048             9681             -6.5%
Agg Assaults **                    8119            9099            -10.8%
Total Violent Crimes         17,975          19,688            -8.7%

PROPERTY CRIMES

Burglary                            13,260           14,128           -6.1%
BTFV                                 20,939           21,958           -4.6%
Personal/Other Theft         19,993           20,601           -3.0%
Auto Theft                         13,388          16,466          -18.7%
Total Property Crimes     67,580          73,153           -7.6%
Total Part I Crimes          85,555          92,841          -7.8%

* Numbers reflects a change in reclassification for Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) guidelines and numbers are adjusted accordingly.

** Prior to 2005, Aggravated Assaults included Child/Spousal Simple Assaults

September 29, 2009

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

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From the Police Protective League

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(other news, from other sources)