Law Enforcement

Los Angeles Police Protective League announces candidate endorsements
Voters will head to the polls on February 15 for the special primary election and on March 8 for city council elections. Today, the Los Angeles Police Protective League, which represents over 9,900 LAPD officers, announced its endorsements. After a formal and standardized process that included questionnaires and interviews by the Delegate Political Action Committee (PAC), and with the committee's unanimous recommendation, the Board of Directors made its formal endorsement of candidates.
Press Release

LAPD gang units dismantled in some high-crime areas
The Los Angeles Police Department has temporarily dismantled anti-gang units in several of its most crime-plagued neighborhoods because officers in those squads refused to comply with a controversial financial disclosure rule that they view as misguided and invasive. Police officials have sent the defiant officers back to regular patrol duties and expect that it will take several months to rebuild the gang units with others willing to abide by the policy, which requires officers to periodically submit information regarding their assets and debts.
Los Angeles Times

LAPD clears backlog of more than 6,000 rape kits
Two years after a public outcry prompted changes in how rape kits are processed, the LAPD has cleared a backlog of more than 6,100 of the tests, officials said Tuesday. The Los Angeles Police Department has completed DNA and other tests on all of the 6,132 rape kits - some of them years old - that were reported in 2008 to have been sitting untouched in lab freezers, Capt. Kevin McClure told the Police Commission. A secondary backlog of rape kits generated since that time stands at about 275 - after hitting 2,500 at one point, LAPD officials said.
Los Angeles Daily News

57 arrested in 38th Street Gang sting
Federal and local law enforcement personnel arrested 37 suspects connected to L.A.'s 38th Street Gang during a racketeering sting Tuesday. Twenty more people were detained on weapons and narcotics charges. Almost 800 ATF special agents and LAPD officers participated in Tuesday morning's operation. Fourteen defendants were already in custody. There were seven federal fugitives still at large Tuesday.
ABC7

L.A. serial killer charged with four more killings
Chester Dewayne Turner, one of Los Angeles' most prolific serial killers who prowled the streets of South L.A. in the 1980s and 90s, was charged Tuesday with four additional murders linked to him through DNA. The charges were filed after a DNA test recently connected Turner to the 1997 slaying of Cynthia Johnson, whose abandoned body was found near a church in the Green Meadows neighborhood. The LAPD had labeled the killing as cleared after the arrest and unsuccessful prosecution of another suspect months after Johnson's death.
Los Angeles Times

Everson Griffen won't face felony charge in LAPD crotch-grabbing incident
The Los Angeles County district attorney's office declined to file felony charges Tuesday against former USC football standout Everson Griffen, who allegedly grabbed the crotch of a Los Angeles police officer during a traffic stop near campus. Prosecutors said they would refer the case to the city attorney's office for possible misdemeanor filing because Griffen, who now plays for the Minnesota Vikings, does not have a criminal record and because of the "absence of injury" to the police officer.
Los Angeles Times

FBI set to turn up advanced security search engine
The FBI says it is set to roll out is N-DEx search engine and information sharing program to a wider swath of the federal, state and local law enforcement community. The FBI has been developing N-DEx since 2008 and says that once this latest round of development is complete, law enforcement agencies will be able to search, link, analyze, and share information such as case reports on a national basis to a degree never before possible, the agency stated.
Network World

Immigration

City Budget Crisis

City Council makes $16 million in budget cuts
The City Council whittled $16 million from the Los Angeles budget Tuesday, but avoided ordering more employee furloughs, although it faces the prospect of having to cut $30 million more by July. Tuesday's action, which follows $18 million in cuts made last week, is linked to uncertainty over a delayed plan to lease out city garages. A report on that proposal is due within two weeks. The largest reductions Tuesday were $1.25 million to the Fire Department, and $1 million to the Police Department.
Los Angeles Daily News