Law Enforcement

LA man convicted of battery at Lakers celebration
A Los Angeles man has been sentenced for scuffling with police during last summer's rowdy celebration of the Lakers' basketball championship. Arthur Duran was convicted Thursday of battery on a peace officer. A judge sentenced him to serve either 45 days in jail or perform 30 days of highway work, and he must stay away from the Staples Center arena for the next two years.
Associated Press

How many police? It depends on how much crime you want
Since 2007, jurisdictions across the country have been hit by one of the toughest financial crises in U.S. history. As a result, we can review the experiences of other departments to understand the consequences of reductions in the ranks of police. Many of the communities that have proven an exception to the downward trend in crime have something in common: They have dramatically cut their police forces.
Washington Post

Immigration

States rebel over deportations
Lawmakers and law-enforcement officials in several states, including California, are turning against a mandatory federal program that is a cornerstone of the Obama administration's immigration policy. The Secure Communities initiative is designed to spot and deport illegal immigrants who have been convicted of crimes. Under the program, fingerprints of people booked into a jail are transmitted to a database reviewed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE. If found to be in the U.S. illegally, they can face deportation.
Wall Street Journal

Homeland Security

Cities nationwide heighten vigilance on terror
In large and midsize cities across the country, police chiefs and domestic security officials say they have drastically increased counterterrorism operations under the assumption that a "lone wolf" or a small group of terrorists will try to strike on American soil to avenge the killing of Osama bin Laden. "In the short term, we are facing more danger from lone wolf actors who will see Bin Laden's death as justification in their minds to mobilize and do something here," said Deputy Chief Michael Downing, head of the Counter-Terrorism and Special Operations Bureau in the Los Angeles Police Department.
New York Times .

City Budget Crisis

L.A. firefighters protest cuts
More than 100 off-duty Los Angeles firefighters marched to City Hall on Friday in protest of a new deployment plan that would save the city $54 million but which they contend would also endanger lives. The new deployment plan would take various firefighting resources out of service, though it would boost the department's medical response capabilities. The firefighters union claims it would endanger the public by reducing the department's ability to respond quickly to fires.
Los Angeles Daily News

Prisons & Parole

Lieu targets state's convict parole program
A state senator from Torrance is seeking to halt a newly enacted state law that allows unsupervised parole for thousands of California convicts released from prison after one former inmate was charged with a double homicide in Southern California. Zackariah Timothy Lehnen, 30, is charged with fatally stabbing and beating a woman and an elderly man this month in Culver City, and faces arraignment late this month. He was placed on unsupervised parole in November after serving less than five months of a 16-month prison sentence for drug possession.
Associated Press

Correctional officers union OKs tentative pact
The California Correctional Peace Officers Association said Saturday that its members have approved the union's tentative agreement with Gov. Jerry Brown by a wide margin. CCPOA spokesman JeVaughn Baker said 11,651 of the ballots cast, 85.6 percent, favored the contract. He said 1,960, or 14.4 percent, opposed the deal. The union represents roughly 32,000 correctional and parole officers who have been working without a contract since 2006.
Sacramento Bee