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From LA Times

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Four people are considered front-runners, but interviews with the Police Commission and with the mayor could prove crucial, observers say.

By Joel Rubin

October 21, 2009

As the Los Angeles Police Commission meets today to begin interviews with candidates vying to become LAPD's next chief, four department insiders who were early favorites remain leading contenders, according to city, community and law enforcement leaders monitoring the confidential selection process.

The top candidates, most officials say, are Assistant Chiefs Jim McDonnell, Earl Paysinger and Sharon Papa and Deputy Chief Charlie Beck.

Beck, a 32-year veteran of the force who has established a strong reputation among the LAPD rank and file and civic leaders alike for being both a tough cop and progressive thinker on crime, is widely perceived to have gained a slight advantage over the others. Papa, meanwhile, is viewed as more of a long shot in light of some missteps made in recent months by parts of the department under her command, according to several sources.

LAPD watchers cautioned, however, that the competition is far from decided and that the candidates' performance in the interviews before the commission and later with Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who has the final say, will play a significant role. One dark horse mentioned by some as having a chance if she bowls over the commission in her interview is Deputy Chief Sandy Jo MacArthur, who heads the LAPD's training group.

For weeks now, those jockeying to replace outgoing Chief William J. Bratton have had to walk a delicate line, pursuing their interests in the job without appearing to be campaigning for it. Unlike political races where public endorsements, cash contributions and votes are eagerly sought, the unofficial campaign for chief demands two things: discretion and the mayor's support.

On its face, the rules of engagement appear simple: Identify the politicians, LAPD officials, high-powered attorneys, civic leaders, Hollywood moguls and others whose counsel Villaraigosa might seek in making his decision. Call them up and ask for help. In reality, it is far more complicated.

"It is a very, very weird process," said one prominent LAPD official, who, like everyone else interviewed for this article, asked that his name not be used because the selection process is confidential. "There are the people you absolutely must call and pay homage to -- the elected officials and whatnot. There are the people who could do you some harm and, so, who you need to neutralize. And then there are the people who can actually put in a good word for you with the mayor. You need to navigate all of these waters, and you need to do it skillfully."

In a letter to the commission sent earlier in the month, Villaraigosa said he had convened an advisory group chaired by Warren Christopher, who headed an oversight panel in 1991 that recommended sweeping reforms for the LAPD after the Rodney G. King beating, to offer "thoughtful advice" on candidates and the process for evaluating them. Joining Christopher will be civil rights attorney Connie Rice; retired judge Lourdes Baird; Stewart Kwoh, president of the Asian American Justice Center; and attorney Ron Olson. On behalf of the group's members, Christopher declined to comment.

But Villaraigosa has been talking to and hearing from far more than these five. In an interview, he declined to offer specifics but said he'll "be seeking advice from a broad cross section of individuals and leaders. I'll be accepting every call and making my own calls to solicit input."

A candidate's failure to reach out to the right people can be costly. One city official who has close ties to the LAPD and met with the mayor to discuss the selection voiced dismay that only two candidates had contacted her. "I am surprised more have not reached out," she said. "It would have been good if they had."

Acting swiftly to lock up support is also important. In a particularly awkward encounter, an influential attorney was eagerly approached by a candidate and had to tell him he was too late because she had already committed her support to one of his competitors.

The issues of race and gender are also delicate ones. In past chief selections, when divisions within the department and ill will between the LAPD and the city ran deeper, race and gender politics played a major role.

This time around, however, they are on the periphery, and candidates risk hurting their chances if they overplay the issues, several people said. As a Latino mayor who recently selected a black fire chief and has made other similar high-profile appointments, Villaraigosa can more easily dismiss such pressures, they said.

"If he picks someone who doesn't get the job done, the hit he's going to take politically will be far worse than any bump he might get from picking a minority or woman," one observer said.

Winning the support of Bratton himself is perhaps the most coveted prize. The impressive gains the department has made under Bratton in fighting crime, improving oversight of officer conduct and building ties to minority communities have bolstered the mayor's standing considerably, and Villaraigosa has been clear that he wants the next chief to come from a similar mold.

"I'm looking for a chief that understands that the reforms that we have implemented . . . are reforms that are permanent," the mayor said in an interview.

Publicly, Bratton has insisted he is not lobbying Villaraigosa for anyone in particular and has said only that he believes strongly that his replacement should come from the group of deputy and assistant chiefs applying from inside the department. Several sources, however, said Bratton has been pulling quietly for Beck. At a convention of U.S. police officials in Denver a few weeks ago, "it was an open secret," said the chief from another major city.

Beck, 56, who became a deputy chief only a few years ago, is a relative newcomer to the upper ranks of the department compared to McDonnell, Paysinger and Papa. He rose quickly into a position of authority under Bratton, who increasingly entrusted him with more responsibilities and looked to him to handle crises as they erupted. Most recently, Bratton took control of the department's forensic laboratory away from Papa and gave it to Beck after the division was beset by a series of high-profile gaffes, including mistakes made by fingerprint analysts.

A preliminary cut made by the city Personnel Department with input from the Police Commission's president and vice president winnowed the pool of 24 applicants to about a dozen, although commission members remain tight-lipped about the actual number.

With 11 of the spots occupied by LAPD insiders, it is believed that only a few, if any, candidates from outside the department will be interviewed. Today and Thursday, the commission is scheduled to hold back-to-back, hourlong interviews before going into private deliberations on which three candidates to tap as finalists. From those three, Villaraigosa will select the next chief.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-police-chief21-2009oct21,0,3268906,print.story

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THE NEXT CHIEF

Merit, not race

For the first time in years, racial politics need not play a big role in choosing who will lead the LAPD.

October 21, 2009

In politicized, ethnically diverse Los Angeles, it is naive to assume that any major public policy decision is made without regard to its implications for the city's racial politics. But recognizing racial politics and practicing them are two different things. For a variety of reasons, the next chief of the Los Angeles Police Department can and should be selected on merit, without regard to race.

That is easier said than done. Indeed, there have been moments in recent years when race did play an important part in the qualification of a would-be chief, and appropriately so. After the beating of Rodney G. King in 1991 and the riots the following year, it was clear to any sentient Angeleno that a sharp break from the LAPD's history was required in order to restore public trust in the police. So much antagonism had built up between the department and minority communities -- particularly the African American community -- that a wholly new direction was needed. In addition to redoubling efforts to diversify the ranks of the department, that meant it was essential to reach outside the LAPD for its next chief, and it argued strongly for a minority chief. The result was that city leaders hired Willie L. Williams from Philadelphia.

Williams' tenure was not without accomplishment. He charmed Los Angeles and calmed the LAPD, particularly in his early months. But he proved a waffling and evasive leader, and the Police Commission came to question his honesty. He was denied a second term, and Mayor Richard Riordan opted for Bernard C. Parks, one of the most senior African American officers in the LAPD and one whom Williams had publicly demoted. Riordan's choice was not entirely or even mostly a racial calculation, but race played a part. The appointment of another nonwhite chief helped reassure residents that Williams' failure would not be attributed to his race or held against other black officers.

In 2002, the dynamics were different, but race still figured in the debate over whether Parks deserved a second term. Mayor James Hahn, heir to a family name revered in much of black Los Angeles, had been elected by a strange coalition of African Americans and San Fernando Valley moderates and conservatives (his opponent was the more liberal Antonio Villaraigosa). Given his background, Hahn gambled that he could defy racial politics and drop a black chief in favor of a white one. He did, hiring William J. Bratton. Whatever the merits of that decision, the political implications for Hahn were profound: Dropping Parks cost Hahn one half of his coalition, and his successful campaign against Valley secession cut deeply into the other. He lost his bid for reelection.

Hahn's decision cost him dearly but has paid many dividends for the city. As Bratton prepares to leave the department, Los Angeles can proudly point to this moment as one in which racial politics, for the first time in many years, might not play a significant role in the calculations of choosing a police chief. The LAPD, which saw its public approval rating plummet in the early '90s, today enjoys broad and deep appreciation. A Harvard study conducted this year concluded that 83% of Angelenos approve of their police. Although white support for the department was highest, more than two-thirds of blacks and Latinos joined in commending its work. By contrast, in the aftermath of the King beating, 50% of whites disapproved of the LAPD; two-thirds of Latinos agreed, as did eight out of 10 blacks.

The department's progress in racial terms also can be seen in its ranks. Once an overwhelmingly white, male institution, the LAPD today is notably diverse -- white males no longer constitute a majority of the force. Those gains are partly the result of consent decrees on hiring and promotion, and partly the product of enlightened leadership, not just by Bratton but by his predecessors as well. For the next chief, the qualification for office is not to be a certain race or gender but to ensure that the policies that have diversified the LAPD continue.

The field of candidates being interviewed by the Police Commission this week includes women and men of various ethnicities: Assistant Chief Earl Paysinger is the department's highest-ranking black officer; deputy chiefs Sergio Diaz and Mark Perez are ranking Latinos. Two candidates are white women: Assistant Chief Sharon Papa and Deputy Chief Sandy Jo Mac- Arthur. And Assistant Chief Jim McDonnell and Deputy Chief Charlie Beck are white men. As the commission considers the credentials of those and other candidates, it should ask who would best execute the fundamentals of fighting crime, maintaining public order, encouraging diversity and insisting on accountability.

The racial dimensions of this decision are muted by another fact, easily observed though rarely discussed. Although the LAPD has never had a Latino chief, the decision in this case will be made by the first Latino mayor of modern Los Angeles. Villaraigosa does not need to prove his ethnic political credentials. Riordan was a former venture capitalist, a Republican and a white man; Villaraigosa is, notably, none of the above. That gives him a freer hand politically, and he should use it -- not to deny a qualified candidate but to select, without regard to gender or ethnicity, the most promising contender to lead the LAPD, to improve where improvement is needed and to build on Bratton's successes.

This is a rare opportunity for any mayor, and one that Villaraigosa must not squander. To this day, Mayor Tom Bradley's legacy remains tarnished by his unhappy relationship with Chief Daryl F. Gates -- the two had not spoken in more than a year at the time of the 1992 riots. Mayor Hahn's career as a politician, as noted, hit the rocks in part because of his break with Chief Parks. For Villaraigosa, then, the perils of choosing poorly should be obvious. Luckily for him, he has the chance to choose well.

Next in this series: What qualities should the next chief have?

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-ed-lapd21-2009oct21,0,4865911,print.story

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Draft deal reached on Iran's nuclear program, IAEA says

If Tehran and other capitals approve, most of Iran's enriched uranium would be sent to Russia, diplomats say.

Times Wire Services

5:06 AM PDT, October 21, 2009

VIENNA

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency said today that Iran and three world powers have a draft deal to help allay concerns about Tehran's nuclear program.

Diplomats said the deal would have the country ship most of its enriched uranium to Russia, stripping Tehran of most of the material it would need to make a nuclear weapon.

IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei said today that representatives of Iran and the U.S., Russia and France have signed off on the draft, which he hoped would be approved by the nations' capitals by Friday.

He gave no details at the end of 2 1/2 days of difficult negotiations at IAEA headquarters here. But a diplomat inside the closed meeting said the draft foresees the export of most of Iran's stockpile of enriched uranium.

Iran says it is enriching to provide fuel for a future network of nuclear reactors. But enriched uranium can also be used to make the fissile core of nuclear warheads.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fgw-iran-nuclear22-2009oct22,0,4362327,print.story

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Congress passes green-card bill for spouses of deceased U.S. citizens

Widows and widowers would now be eligible regardless of when their partners died or how long they were married. The measure awaits President Obama's signature.

By Anna Gorman

October 21, 2009

Congress passed a bill Tuesday that would make widows and widowers of U.S. citizens eligible for green cards even if their spouses died before their applications were approved.

The measure, part of the more than $40-billion Homeland Security appropriations bill, ends the "widow penalty," which required couples to be married for two years before the surviving spouse would be eligible to apply for residency. Now, surviving spouses can apply for a green card for themselves and their children regardless of when the U.S. citizen died or how long they were married.

There are believed to be a few hundred cases affected nationwide, including that of Dahianna Heard, whose husband was fatally shot while working for a private security contractor in Iraq; Raquel Williams, whose husband died of sleep apnea and heart problems; and Ana Maria Moncayo-Gigax, whose husband was killed in a car crash while on duty with the U.S. Border Patrol. Many are fighting deportation, and others have already been deported.

"It was just something crying out to be fixed," said Brent Renison, who has been fighting to get the law changed since 2004. "These cases should have been approved."

Renison had fought the case in courts around the nation, including in Los Angeles, where a judge this year ordered the Department of Homeland Security to reopen the immigration cases of nearly two dozen people who were denied green cards because of the deaths of their spouses.

In June, the federal government announced that it would suspend deportation proceedings for two years so applicants could stay in the U.S. while resolving their legal status. But Renison said that didn't go far enough and continued to push Congress to change the law.

The bill now goes to President Obama.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-widows21-2009oct21,0,2512494,print.story

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Notorious Los Angeles gang member added to FBI Most Wanted list

A Los Angeles gang member and Mexican drug cartel enforcer who authorities say has killed four people, including the mother of his child, is now on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted fugitive list.

Law enforcement officials say Jose Luis Saenz , a Cuatro Flats gang member, a decade ago shot to death two rival East LA Trece gang members in a Boyle Heights housing project. Then he allegedly kidnapped, raped and killed his girlfriend, the mother of his infant daughter, because he feared she would talk to authorities.

For more than a decade, LAPD detectives searched for the elusive Saenz, who also goes by the name Joe.

Then last year a video emerged of a smiling man calmly walking up to the front door of a Whittier-area home, rubbing his hands together like he was there for a friendly visit.

Moments later the gunman executed a 38-year-old victim who apparently owed money to a drug cartel. When sheriff's homicide detectives showed the video to LAPD investigators, they recognized the gunman as Saenz.

Saenz "is one of the worst offenders I have ever seen," according to Special Agent Scott Garriola, a 22-year veteran of the FBI. "He's got a long career of killing, and that's just what we know about." 

Federal agents and detectives say Saenz, who also has called himself "Zapp," "Smiley" and "Toro" during a decade on the run, has transcended from gang member to enforcer for a drug cartel and travels with apparent ease over the border.

Police say he has previously vowed to kill any police officer coming after him.

Authorities allege Saenz executed Josue Hernandez and Leonardo Ponce in 1998 . Saenz then fled from the scene and hid at the apartment of his girlfriend, Sigreta Hernandez.

Police say he then kidnapped Hernandez and drove her to a house in an unincorporated area of Los Angeles County. Authorities claim he raped her and shot her in the head. His grandmother discovered the woman's body. Prosecutors charged Saenz with three counts of murder, one count of kidnapping and one count of rape, and secured a warrant for his arrest.

Despite a hefty reward from the L.A. City Council, Saenz was not seen again until last year.

In August 2008, two members of the Lott Stoner gang were stopped by a Missouri state trooper while driving a rental vehicle. A search turned up $620,000 in cash in a hidden compartment, wrapped and marked with the name "Toro" -- Saenz's street name, according to the FBI.

Two months later, one of those gang members was killed at his Whittier-area home. Saenz is seen on a home security tape arriving at Torres' house, chasing the victim out of his front door and then shooting Torres in the head.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/10/notorious-east-la-gang-member-added-to-fbi-most-wanted-list.html#more

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Supreme Court upholds ban on traffic stops based on a caller's tip

The justices uphold a ruling in a drunk driving case that officers must see a suspicious act before stopping a vehicle. Chief Justice Roberts dissents, saying it will give drunk drivers 'one free swer

By David G. Savage

October 21, 2009

Reporting from Washington

The Supreme Court cast some doubt Tuesday on the legal authority of a police officer to pull over a suspected drunk driver based solely on a caller's tip.

Over a strong dissent by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., the high court let stand a Virginia Supreme Court ruling that held a police officer can follow but cannot stop a suspected drunk driver's car until the officer sees the driver do something suspicious, such as swerve in a lane.

"The effect of [this] rule will be to grant drunk drivers 'one free swerve' before they can be pulled over by the police," Roberts said. "It will be difficult for an officer to explain to the family of a motorist killed by that swerve that the police had a tip that the driver of the other car was drunk, but that they were powerless to pull him over, even for a quick check."

Roberts noted that hotlines and other services encouraged the public to report suspected drunk drivers.

The Supreme Court's action is not a formal ruling, and it does not require other states to follow Virginia's lead. But the case is likely to encourage more legal challenges to police stops that rely solely on anonymous tips.

The Virginia ruling freed Joseph Harris of Richmond, who was arrested early one morning after a caller had reported his green Nissan Altima was headed south on Meadowbridge Road. The tip included a partial license plate number as well as his name.

Harris stumbled out of his car and appeared obviously intoxicated when the officer tried to question him. Nonetheless, the Virginia high court said it was an "unreasonable search" to stop and question a motorist based entirely on a caller's tip.

Most state courts, including those in California, have upheld car searches based on a tip from a caller, so long as the vehicle matches the description given.

By a 7-2 vote, the justices turned down without comment an appeal from Virginia prosecutors, which was backed by Mothers Against Drunk Driving. The group said more than 12,000 Americans died every year in alcohol-related crashes. Its lawyers argued that the Virginia rule, if adopted widely, would crimp efforts to get drunk drivers off the road before they caused injuries or death. Justice Antonin Scalia joined Roberts in dissent.

Nine years ago, in a case involving a Miami youth who was arrested at a bus stop, the Supreme Court said police could not frisk a pedestrian based solely on an anonymous call. In that case, a caller said a youth wearing a plaid shirt was carrying a gun. The Virginia judges cited that precedent when ruling in favor of the drunk driver.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-drunk-drivers21-2009oct21,0,2855007,print.story

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Swine flu is 'a disease of the young'

More than half of recent hospitalizations for H1N1 influenza involved people younger than 25, and almost a quarter of fatalities were in that age group, according to the CDC.

By Thomas H. Maugh II

October 21, 2009

New data on hospitalizations and deaths caused by the pandemic H1N1 influenza virus show that it is "a disease of the young," said Dr. Anne Schuchat of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday.

From Sept. 1 to Oct. 10, there were 4,958 hospitalizations from laboratory-confirmed swine flu in the 27 states reporting to the CDC, said Schuchat, who is director of the agency's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. More than half of those cases, 53%, involved people younger than 25; 39% were ages 26 to 64, and only 7% were 65 and older. In contrast, with seasonal flu, 60% of hospitalizations involve patients 65 and older.

The disparity is even higher for fatalities. During the same time period, there were 292 deaths from swine flu in the 28 states reporting. In that group, 23.6% of those who died were younger than 25, 65% were 25 to 64, and only 11.6% were 65 and older. "That is dramatically different from seasonal flu, in which 90% of the fatalities occur in those over 65," Schuchat said at a morning news conference.

The difference, most researchers now suspect, is caused by the fact that senior citizens have been exposed to a swine-related virus in the past and that has produced some residual immunity, so they are less likely to be infected and are not as severely affected when they do contract it. Younger people have no such immunity.

Schuchat said the CDC is emphasizing the use of antiviral drugs such as Tamiflu in people with severe illness who have underlying health conditions or who are pregnant.

"If you suspect flu in these groups, give the antiviral," she said. "We don't want to wait for laboratory confirmation." She also noted that physicians should not be fooled by a negative finding on a rapid test for flu because it is relatively inaccurate. If a patient is sick, "don't believe a negative rapid test," she said.

As of Monday evening, there were 12.8 million doses of swine flu vaccine available, more than half of them the injectable form. About 10.8 million doses had been ordered by states.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-sci-swine-flu21-2009oct21,0,7213725,print.story

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Opinion

Detainee-abuse photos and democracy

Pending legislation that allows the pictures to be kept secret would grant the government broad authority to evade accountability now and in the future.

By Jameel Jaffer

October 20, 2009

Absent an unexpected groundswell of opposition, Congress this week will pass legislation that gives the Defense Department the authority to suppress evidence of its own misconduct.

The legislation -- originally proposed by Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) -- is an amendment to the 2009 Homeland Security appropriations bill that was passed by the House and is headed for a final vote on the Senate floor. The amendment is aimed at a 2008 appeals court decision requiring the Defense Department to release photographs showing Afghan and Iraqi prisoners being abused and in some cases tortured by U.S. military personnel. Its ramifications will be sweeping and will extend far beyond the specific lawsuit it is meant to quash.

The amendment is directed at a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union to enforce a Freedom of Information Act request submitted in 2003. After a court ordered the Bush administration to respond to the request, the Defense Department acknowledged the existence of the prisoner-abuse photos but sought to withhold them from the public on the grounds that their disclosure could provoke violence against U.S. troops and others in Afghanistan and Iraq.

A federal District Court rejected that argument, and a unanimous three-judge panel affirmed that decision, reasoning that a generalized and speculative fear of violence was insufficient to justify the photos' suppression. The Obama administration, after first saying that it would release the photos, changed course and appealed to the Supreme Court, which is slated to decide this month whether to hear the case.

The legislation is meant to substitute Congress' judgment for that of the courts. Of course, the FOIA is a statute, not a constitutional provision, and Congress has the authority to amend the statute if it wants to. It is extraordinary, however, for Congress to attempt through legislation to control the outcome of individual cases. Its effort to do so here is especially disturbing because, as the appeals court noted, the release of the photos is consistent not only with the language of the FOIA -- language that Congress is now poised to revise -- but with the broader principles underlying that statute.

The basic purpose of the FOIA, the Supreme Court has previously recognized, is "to ensure an informed citizenry, vital to the functioning of a democratic society, needed to check against corruption and to hold the governors accountable to the governed." As the appeals court in the current case observed, the photos "place government accountability at the center of the dispute."

Their release would allow the public to understand better what took place in the military's detention centers, and why. They might show patterns that have until now gone unnoticed, and they would surely convey, better than mere text ever could, the cruelty of such practices as stress positions, hooding and mock executions. And disclosure of the photos might also spur calls for a more thorough investigation into prisoner abuse than has been conducted thus far.

The fear that the country's enemies will use the photos as propaganda is not baseless, but it is a mistake to give violent extremists a veto over the FOIA. The argument that the government has made in court -- and that animates the proposed legislation -- would give the greatest protection from disclosure to records that relate to the worst governmental misconduct, because it is those records that are most likely to be inflammatory. Suppressing such records might deprive the country's enemies of propaganda, but it would also deprive the American public of information that is crucial to the democratic process.

The legislation would suppress many more photos in government custody than the ones at issue in the ACLU case. It covers images taken between Sept. 11, 2001, and Jan. 22, 2009, that relate to the treatment of individuals "engaged, captured or detained" by the armed forces. It would cover photos depicting the abuse of prisoners, but it could also cover, for example, video footage of aerial attacks that resulted in civilian casualties or photos showing the conditions of confinement at the Bagram detention center in Afghanistan. The legislation establishes a regime of censorship that would extend to many images of the military's activities abroad.

The legislation does include what may at first appear to be a silver lining. Rather than categorically exempt images from the FOIA, it invests the secretary of Defense with the authority to exempt photos. This creates the possibility that the secretary could decide to release some photos that the legislation gives him the authority to suppress.

In the end, however, the fact that the secretary could select which images to release and which to suppress may only deepen the proposed legislation's invidiousness. Consider the possibility that the secretary, invoking his authority under new legislation, withholds half of the prisoner-abuse photos. How should we interpret the photos that are disclosed? What conclusions can we fairly draw about the kinds of abuses that were inflicted on prisoners, or the Defense Department's responsibility for that abuse, when the secretary of Defense has chosen which images the public is entitled to see? The legislation almost certainly will deprive us of information we would otherwise have had access to, but its even more nefarious effect will be to corrode the integrity of the information we can still obtain.

Supporters of the legislation have said that the bill is motivated by concerns about security, but no democracy has ever been made stronger by concealing evidence of its wrongdoing. The last administration's decision to endorse torture undermined the United States' moral authority and compromised its security. The failure of the country's current leadership to fully confront the abuses of the last administration -- a failure embodied by the legislation that Congress is preparing to enact -- will only compound these harms.

Jameel Jaffer is the director of the ACLU National Security Project.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-jaffer20-2009oct20,0,6228477,print.story

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From the Daily News

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Chief Bratton highlights crime drop at new CompStat center opening

In one of his final acts as police chief, William Bratton unveiled the new CompStat center in the new Los Angeles Police Administration Building on Tuesday, giving him another opportunity to outline his success in reducing crime.

During Bratton's tenure from 2002 to 2009, homicides in the city dropped 53 percent, rapes 38 percent, robberies 28 percent and aggravated assaults 67 percent, according to the latest crime figures.

"My successor will have his or her work cut out for them to keep this goal," said Bratton, 62, who leaves at the end of this month to work at a global security firm in New York.

The CompStat opening included a large cake bearing the center's logo and Bratton's name that was rolled out by officers to commemorate both the unveiling and Bratton's role in reducing crime.

The statistics also showed a significant drop in property crimes during his tenure. Overall, crime fell 38 percent, including a 53 percent drop in violent crime and 32 percent in property crime.

Other major drops included 33 percent in thefts from cars and 26 percent in burglaries.

The LAPD under Bratton also took a big bite out of gang crime - down 34 percent overall, including 59 percent in gang-related homicides.

"There is a possibility," said Bratton, "we could end this year with as few as 300 homicides or close to it, and that's extraordinary when you think that in 1990, we had 1,100."

Bratton said the CompStat system will help reduce crime even more in the future.

"We are fast approaching a state," said Bratton, "where we are going to be able to predict with some degree of certainty where crime or crime patterns are emerging and can be stopped before they effectively emerge."

http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_13605476

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WHO: Nearly 1 in 5 babies still missed by vaccines

WASHINGTON (AP) — A record 106 million infants were vaccinated last year against life-threatening diseases, but nearly 1 in 5 babies still aren't fully protected, global health authorities reported Wednesday.

To get the full round of first-year vaccinations to children in the poorest countries will take another $1 billion a year, says the report from the World Health Organization, UNICEF and World Bank.

Most of the unprotected babies are in Asia and Africa, particularly in rural or strife-torn areas that are difficult for aid workers to reach.

It's a good investment, the report argued. Vaccination is preventing 2.5 million child deaths a year. But if 90 percent of the world's children under age 5 got the vaccinations that are routine in wealthy countries, another 2 million deaths a year could be prevented by 2015.

"We must overcome the divide that separates rich from poor, between those who get lifesaving vaccines and those who don't," said Dr. Margaret Chan, director-general of the WHO.

The report suggests that overcoming that gap may be a bigger challenge in coming years: In 2000, the world was spending, on average, $6 per live birth on vaccinations in developing countries. That's expected to be $18 by next year and could rise above $30 as newer, more expensive vaccines become available.

http://hosted2.ap.org/CAVAN/d02b5398f652462d97efa000a53de433/Article_2009-10-21-US-MED-World-Vaccination/id-pf42a8459b78441a4ae5eb05d23c018dc

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CDC concedes vaccine production behind schedule

WASHINGTON (AP) — A top-ranking official of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says production of a vaccine for swine flu virus is behind schedule and people should take precautionary steps to prevent its spread.

Dr. Anne Schuchat (SHU'-kit) said "more vaccine is coming out every day" but production isn't where it was expected to be at this juncture. Interviewed on CBS's "The Early Show" Wednesday, Schuchat said "we wish we had more vaccine, but unfortunately the virus and the production of the vaccine aren't really cooperating."

For people anxious about getting their vaccinations, she said officials expect "widespread availability" by mid-November. Schuchat heads the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases.

http://hosted2.ap.org/CAVAN/d02b5398f652462d97efa000a53de433/Article_2009-10-21-US-Swine-Flu-Vaccine/id-p3b0c0a7c6542497cbbf71a97563b2a14

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Let's not return to the bad old days with selection of new LAPD chief

I have been watching Los Angeles politics since 1937, when our home was bombed by a crooked LAPD captain, just three days before Halloween.

It was midnight, and our neighbor saw a figure run across his backyard, jump into a car and back out the driveway onto Western Avenue.

It didn't take us three kids long to rush through the smoke-filled hallway, down the stairs and into the blasted kitchen. The Los Angeles Times carried a front page story of the event, so all our classmates got a eyeful. Even our teachers were curious.

It was all my dad's fault. He was embroiled in a battle with the corrupt mayor and several other city officials over protected illegal gambling, off-track horse race betting and houses of prostitution, all of which were paying bribes to dirty cops in order to stay in business.

Six weeks later, dad's private investigator, who was tying down details of the corrupt operations, stepped on his car's starter and was blown up.

Harry Raymond, survived the 150 pieces of shrapnel in his body and was brought into the courtroom in a wheelchair some weeks later to testify against the same police captain who had planted the bomb under our home.

This true story has been documented by many. Yes, there was a time when our city was run by dishonest, dishonorable and mercenary politicians. But there were a few bold heroes, like my dad, who had guts enough to lead a successful recall of the mayor and his crooked collaborators.

The current situation takes me back to those corrupt days of the 1930s.

The present system calls for a political pick for chief of the Los Angeles Police Department because the mayor selects the chief. It is a process overloaded with cronyism.

It is a shame that the voters changed the City Charter back in 1992 with Proposition F to again allow the mayor to select the chief of police like in the old days. I was co-chair of the Committee to defeat Prop. F. We lost, and our present system prevailed.

Common sense tells us that the new police chief, who will serve at the pleasure of the mayor, won't be moving in a direction that varies far from the mayor's. Our old system of civil service protection was not understood by the public, but it gave the LAPD chief a shield from the political pressure.

It is not an ideal world, nor an ideal city, but it is my hope that we end up with a new chief chosen from within the present department. We do have some highly qualified choices. Some of the attributes I think are important for the next chief of police:

The ability to lead and to be out front of those he/she manages. The ability to manage, assess, measure and delegate; holding others accountable for results. The maturity to take personal responsibility for results of job performance.

The personal charisma and "track record" to attract the respect of those supervised. The strength to resist political pressures and to honor common sense.

The integrity and character of a saint.

Donald Clinton was a restaurateur for 63 years in Los Angeles and co-chairman of the Committee to Defeat Prop. F in 1992.

http://www.dailynews.com/opinions/ci_13585801

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The science of ignorance and swine flu hype

I had an "agree to disagree" discussion with my longtime friend the other day. She and her family were vaccinated for the H1N1 strain of the flu, and she was very upset that my family will not get the vaccine. She was especially bothered because I have an 18-month-old. "Don't you know that children under 6 are the most susceptible and dying?" she said.

Yes, I know the partial-reality hype. I've seen the same "Swine Flu" graphic over the shoulder of Brian Williams every single night for the past several months.

I tend to trust the science of vaccination, have regularly received flu shots and have gotten my child her recommended vaccines (albeit, on a staggered schedule). What I cannot trust, based on track record, is government organizations, manipulation of the media and pharmaceutical bottom lines.

I was actually in rural Thailand among birds and pigs during the Avian Flu panic. I was actually mask-free in China during the SARS scare. I never so much as got a runny nose.

I am not oblivious to the potential, but I am impervious to the hype. When you look a little further than the nightly news, there is some interesting information to consider.

According to the British Medical Journal, a study of 8,500 health care workers in Hong Kong taken at the height of their H1N1 panic last May revealed half of them would refuse the swine flu vaccine, fearing side effects and doubting its effectiveness. Here in the U.S., fewer than 50 percent of health workers get vaccinated against the regular flu.

The rush and inadequately tested nature of the vaccine's production is highly questionable. It's been a mere seven months since the first cases of swine flu appeared in the United States, and 77 million vaccines have already been distributed. Just two months ago, clinical trials involved only 500 adults for a two-week period. This would imply that the vaccine and dosages are essentially still being tested - on all of us - despite government assurances.

A vaccine used to treat swine flu in 1976 was associated with Guillain-Barre Syndrome, a disorder that leads to nerve inflammation causing muscle weakness. At that time, one person died from the actual swine flu - 25 died from the vaccine, and several hundred developed crippling GBS. The vaccine was withdrawn after 10 weeks and the U.S. government was forced to pay millions to those affected. CDC claims that since then, influenza vaccines have not been clearly linked to GBS.

Here again, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is fervently recommending the most "at risk population" - 159 million people - get H1N1 vaccines as soon as they can. This coming from the same organization that championed the disastrous 1998 rotavirus vaccine, hailed as a way to fight childhood diarrhea. It was approved by CDC and Food and Drug Administration despite tests showing children were more immune to rotavirus without the vaccination. It was also known to cause intussusception, a condition causing one section of a child's intestine to enfold within another, resulting in vomiting, bloody stools, abdominal pain and possible surgery.

Less than a year following its release, the vaccine was pulled after intussusception occurred in 102 infants, causing two deaths.

The CDC Web site states the anticipated safety profile of the licensed 2009 H1N1 vaccines will be similar to seasonal influenza vaccines with serious adverse events being "uncommon." They further report side effects following immunization may be "coincidental or just casually related to the vaccine" - a rather convenient assumption.

In lieu of adequate clinical trials, the CDC has also implemented a monitoring response to the new vaccine that will include tracking and evaluating "clinically significant adverse events," and "the risk of GBS syndrome associated with the vaccine."

Perhaps most important to consider is the symptoms of swine flu mirror classic flu - fever, cough, sore throat, headache, chills, muscle aches, diarrhea and vomiting. While "feeling like you just got hit by a bus," a quote from swine flu sufferers, does not sound like fun, my family and I have healthy immune systems that, despite popular belief in this country, may actually work just fine on their own.

Ignorance is bred from fear. In this case, the fear-inducing hype of dying from swine flu and the fear of being first in line to get the untested vaccine are contented partners at the dance.

Shannon Master is an Emmy Award-winning television and documentary producer/writer from Santa Clarita.

http://www.dailynews.com/opinions/ci_13585800

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From the Department of Justice

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The Justice Department Recognizes Domestic Violence Awareness Month

This afternoon Justice Department leadership came together in a rare joint event to commemorate the Justice Department's recognition of October as Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

Attorney General Eric Holder, Deputy Attorney General David W. Ogden and Associate Attorney General Tom Perrelli all delivered remarks at the ceremony to celebrate the work that has been done around the country to end violence against women and, more importantly, to discuss the work still left to do in order to end such violence once and for all.

Attorney General Holder began by speaking about a survivor he met while visiting SHAWL House, a women's shelter in California.

At SHAWL House, I heard from women whose struggles and successes inspired me.

Every woman there had a compelling story to tell. One person I met there, Gabby, grew up in a household of drug users with an abusive father. She found herself in trouble from an early age as she became involved in abusive relationships with her partners, and she began using illegal drugs herself. After losing her four children and winding up on the streets, Gabby turned to SHAWL's transitional housing facility. There she received the help she so desperately needed, got “clean,” graduated from the program, and turned her life around.

Gabby's story – and the stories of others like her – illustrate how personal courage and community support can give survivors a chance at a fresh start and the hope of a bright future.

The Attorney General also stressed our responsibility to act:

But just listening to, and learning from, these women is not enough. We also need to take action, both in our personal and professional lives, to help others in our community who find themselves in this situation. We owe it to them. We owe it to ourselves.

Last year, there were over a half million non-fatal violent victimizations committed against women age 12 or older by an intimate partner. And more than 2,000 women and men were killed by intimate partners last year. These are not mere statistics we are talking about – we are talking about individual human beings: friends, colleagues, co-workers, neighbors, relatives. We should be appalled that this type of violence is visited upon them in this day and age. And we must do everything in our power to stop it.

Attorney General Holder, Deputy Attorney General Ogden and Associate Attorney General Perrelli all called on Americans to end the cycle of violence against women that affects too many families and too many communities around the country. The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), signed into law in 1994, has provided significant support for survivors of domestic violence and helped to reduced the number of Americans who are killed by an intimate partner but that number that is still much to high.

There is still much work to be done. Deputy Attorney General Ogden focused his remarks on the prevalence of violence against women in Indian Country and our responsibility to address that problem:

There's no doubt that we've seen significant improvements. The landmark VAWA was made possible through the tireless commitment of so many in this room. Since its enactment, VAWA has provided new support for survivors of domestic violence and reduced the intolerable number of Americans who are killed by an intimate partner.

But domestic violence continues to have a severe impact on our society, and we have much work left to do. So many women, men and children in our country – of every background, ethnicity, age, disability and sexual orientation – are damaged by this devastating crime.

I also want to focus on a particular aspect of the problem: Violence against women and children in tribal communities. Given the federal government's trust responsibility and its unique authority to prosecute serious crime on tribal lands, this is a unique federal responsibility. The levels of violence against American Indian and Alaska Native women are shocking, and cannot be tolerated. Indeed, in some tribal land counties, murder rates for American Indian and Alaska Native women are 10 times the national average. As in many communities, poverty and lack of educational opportunities may both contribute to the scope of the problem and make it especially hard for victims to escape abuse.

Associate Attorney General Perrelli spoke about the Department's commitment to raising public awareness of violence against women:

We at the Department have planned a year's worth of activities meant to raise public awareness, to make sure that survivors everywhere know that they have a place – and a voice – in this administration, and to build toward a future where domestic abuse and sexual assault are eradicated…

…We will mark this year with our renewed dedication. We want to use this year not merely to commemorate an anniversary, but to recommit ourselves to ending domestic and sexual violence. Our government and this Department have a responsibility to speak out and act on issues of violence against women. Far too many communities in the United States and around the world are affected by this issue and it must stop. We are committed to this cause and will work with state, local and tribal partners to ensure that all communities – particularly those that have been chronically neglected – are given the resources and support they need.

The Associate Attorney General also thanked those who have lent their name to this important cause and “Joined the List,” including the day's musical guest Marcus Johnson, event special guest Olympic Gold Medalist Dominique Dawes, and celebrities including Mariska Hargitay, John Lithgow, Wynton Marsalis, Faith Hill, Kyra Sedgwick, Omar Epps, Meryl Streep, Kevin Spacey, Ellen DeGeneres, Eva Mendes, Scarlett Johansson and Los Angeles Dodgers Manager Joe Torres.

The audience, arrayed in purple and sporting purple ribbons to honor Domestic Violence Awareness Month, also heard from Catherine Pierce, Acting Director of the Office on Violence Against Women, who detailed the tireless work that her office does to support victims of domestic violence around the country.

Additionally, survivors of domestic violence and advocates who provide support for victims shared their stories. These moving stories demonstrated violence against women can be debilitating, but with hard work and dedication, women can heal themselves and their families can recover. We'll be sharing those stories with you throughout the week.

The Department of Justice is committed to working with state, local and tribal law enforcement partners to end violence against women in America. We have a long way to go, but through the leadership of the Office of Violence Against Women, and the critically important work of thousands of advocates around the country, we will get there.

If you, or someone you know, are a victim of domestic violence, please call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-SAFE (7233), 800-787-3224 (TTY). For more information on resources that may be available to you, visit: http://www.ovw.usdoj.gov/hotnum.htm .

http://blogs.usdoj.gov/blog/archives/211

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