Law Enforcement

Crime alert for Exposition Park
Crime reports are up significantly for the latest week in one L.A. neighborhood, according to an analysis of LAPD data by the Los Angeles Times' Crime L.A. database. One neighborhood reported a significant increase in violent crime. Exposition Park was the most unusual, recording 14 reports compared with a weekly average of 7.2 over the last three months. Alerts are based on an analysis of crime reports for Feb. 13-Feb. 19, the most recent seven days for which data are available
Los Angeles Times

Shocking mug shots reveal toll of drug abuse
With disturbing before and after photos of drug users' faces, a new anti-drug campaign may succeed where others have failed, grabbing teens' attentions by appealing to their vanity. The pairs of mug shots, which graphically display the damage drugs can do to the face, were collected by the sheriff's office in Multnomah County, Ore. Faces that were normal - even attractive - in initial photos, shot when addicts were first arrested, metamorphose over years, and sometimes just months, into gaunt, pitted, even toothless wrecks.
MSNBC

Suspect dies after struggling with LA officers
Los Angeles police are investigating the death of an assault suspect who struggled with officers and was hit with a stun gun during an arrest. The LAPD says officers responding to a call of a gun assault discovered the suspect fighting with four men at a downtown business. Officials say in order to subdue the man, officers used body weight, punches, and a stun gun numerous times. Hobble restraints were used to control the suspect's arms and legs. An ambulance transported the man to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Associated Press

San Jose police ground helicopter in search of savings
In the face of massive budget cuts and officer layoffs, San Jose police have mothballed the use of a helicopter they have flown for years to find fleeing criminals and missing people. The San Jose Police Department says it will suspend its flights for at least three months to evaluate cost savings and public safety impact. The chopper, which routinely flies about three missions a day, costs the department about $1.4 million a year, mostly in salary and benefits for the pilots. True savings would be about $400,000 in fuel and maintenance.
San Jose Mercury News

State & Municipal Crises

California budget deadline nears as GOP balks on taxes
After weeks of political maneuvering in the Capitol, the coming month will go a long way toward determining how California's massive budget deficit will be resolved. Gov. Jerry Brown has given lawmakers a March 10 deadline to call a June special election during which voters would be asked to extend increases passed two years ago to the personal income, sales and vehicle taxes. If he cannot get sufficient Republican support to call the election, the Democratic governor has said the alternative is deep spending cuts to close the $26.6 billion shortfall.
Associated Press

State and local budget cuts are slowing U.S. economy
Deep spending cuts by state and local governments pose a growing threat to an economy that is already grappling with high unemployment, depressed home prices and the surging cost of oil. Lawmakers at state capitols and city halls are slashing jobs and programs, arguing that some pain now is better than a lot more later. But the cuts are coming at a price -- weaker growth at the national level. The clearest sign to date was a report Friday on U.S. gross domestic product for the final three months of 2010.
Associated Press

Election 2011

Social Media

Rival links Craigslist to 12 deaths, 330 crimes in past year
Craigslist can be dangerous, so much that a recently released study - commissioned by rival Oodle, which runs Facebook app Marketplace - calls it "a cesspool of crime." The report links the famous classified service to 330 crimes and 12 deaths in the U.S. over the course of a year - 20 deaths total since the site began 16 years ago. These findings have Craigslist's CEO protesting the innocence of the site, which conducts hundreds of millions of transactions among more than 50 million U.S. users.
MSNBC