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June 12, 2011

Here's how to opt out of Facebook's facial-recognition feature

If you don't want Facebook to automatically identify you in photos posted by friends, you must opt out. It's a bit tricky, so we'll walk you through the process.

If you haven't seen it yet, Facebook's new facial-recognition software is a crafty feature. Pass a cursor over a photo that you just uploaded to Facebook and, viola, the person's name pops up like magic. But what if you're in the photo and you don't want Facebook to automatically identify you? As with many of the social network's features, users have to opt out, and that means navigating a complex web of settings.

If you're worried about revealing too much, here are some ways to shield yourself. Facebook says the facial-recognition technology makes suggestions only when people upload new photos and it suggests identities only from among their friends. Friends are notified when they are tagged and can remove the tag. Some people have found this feature useful, but if you want to turn it off, here's how.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-techsavvy-facebook-20110612,0,1258021,print.story

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Badi women of Nepal are trapped in a life of degradation

Sometimes called untouchables among the untouchables, they have for decades been doomed to supporting their impoverished families through prostitution.

Bina Badi tends her garden behind a picket fence. Goats leap. Boys fly kites. Water buffalo laze in the river. Idyllic, except for the used condoms that litter the road and the fact that men have visited her house virtually every day for 28 of her 38 years to enjoy her body, and she sees no escape.

South Asia's caste system is infamous. The ancient tradition that once rigidly defined people's occupations continues to shape their social status and sense of self-worth. But few living under its influence are as degraded as the Badis of southwestern Nepal. Sometimes called untouchables among the untouchables — a term more about social than physical contact these days — Badi women have for decades been born into a life of prostitution.

"I started before menstruation, probably around 10," said the round-faced Bina Badi, wearing a flowered dress and gold earrings. "The first time was traumatic. I was terrified. I cried, so afraid."

Bina said her parents didn't force her, although they quietly encouraged her to follow tradition at a time when she was too young to know to do otherwise. One daughter often financially supports several family members.

Adding to Bina's indignity, many of the customers who pay $1 for sex — as many as 10 a day during festival times — are local politicians, businessmen, police officers. These luminaries from higher castes take advantage of her, she said, while shunning her in public, never once using their social position to counter the discrimination underpinning her fate.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-nepal-prostitutes-20110612,0,6459509.story

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California students must have whooping cough immunizations by fall

More than 1,000 people in California have been infected with whooping cough this year, and health officials Friday encouraged the public to get immunizations against the bacterial disease.

A new law goes into effect on July 1, requiring middle and high school students to show proof that they have received a whooping cough booster shot, known as Tdap, before entering school this fall. Authorities urged parents to make sure their children get the vaccine early in the summer to avoid a rush of vaccinations in August and September.

So far in 2011, there have been 1,102 cases of whooping cough, also known as pertussis, reported to the state. That's a rate of about 8 cases of infection per 100,000 people. The rate is higher than normal, but also shows an improvement from the peak of the epidemic last year, when there were about 23 cases per 100,000 people.

"While it is too early to know if this year will reach the same high levels of this debilitating disease, California is currently experiencing more cases than would be typically expected," Dr. Howard Backer, interim director of the California Department of Public Health, said in a statement.

Whooping cough is a dangerous disease that killed 10 infants in 2010, all of whom were too young to have received the first three doses of the vaccine. Health officials say it is especially important that anyone in contact with a newborn baby is vaccinated, in order to cocoon the infant from the dangerous bacteria.

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

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Costa Mesa police chief warns cutbacks would hurt city's 'community policing'

However, in a letter to Hatch, interim Police Chief Steve Staveley said that significant cuts to the force would hinder its ability to continue to do community policing, where officers solve problems at their roots instead of merely responding to calls.

"Let me be very clear … I am a very strong advocate and longtime practitioner of what is now called community-oriented or -based policing," Staveley wrote. "Anytime an agency as busy as the Costa Mesa Police Department falls below a certain level of staffing you must expect that it will develop into a strictly law enforcement agency."

The plan would add 10 sworn reserve positions, two K-9 units to patrol, two park rangers, a crime scene specialist and four support jobs, as well as transfer four helicopter pilots to ground-based duties, city spokesman Bill Lobdell said in a news release. The plan also proposes that Costa Mesa share SWAT team duties with neighboring communities, outsource the city jail and fold the 911 center into the Police Department.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/06/police-chief-warns-cutbacks-would-hurt-community-policing-in-costa-mesa.html

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June 11, 2011

At least six women, perhaps dozens, victimized by webcam peeping, police say

Hundreds of thousands of images of undressed women were found on Trevor Harwell's computers, investigators say. Some victims attended Bible college with suspect.

A computer technician who was arrested on charges of taking photographs of naked women via webcam is facing charges involving at least six victims, some of whom are students at a Christian college he attended.

Trevor Harwell, 20, who posted $50,000 bond Wednesday, may have victimized dozens of people, police said Friday.

Investigators said a search of his computers revealed hundreds of thousands of images of women, mostly 18 to 25 years old, in various states of undress. The women are believed to be from Orange and Los Angeles counties.

"We have six victims in which he is facing two charges for each of them," said Fullerton Police Sgt. Andrew Goodrich. "It's every fear that you're really not alone, that someone is watching your private moments."

Prosecutors said Friday that Harwell faces 12 felony counts of computer access and fraud.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-computer-peeper-20110611,0,5278681,print.story

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Violent crime down in L.A. County Sheriff's patrol areas

Violent crime dropped more than 10% through May, compared with the same period last year, and serious property crime was down more than 5%, according to the data.

Though homicides have reached historic lows overall in recent years, the period through May saw a small spike compared with the year before, with 73 homicides this year, compared with 71 during the same period in 2010.

The department polices three-fourths of Los Angeles County, covering approximately 4 million residents.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/06/violent-crime-down-in-la-county-sheriffs-patrol-areas.html

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FBI investigates growing housing scandal

Ronald Chamberlain, owner of D & A Coating & Restoration of Fullerton, told The Times the FBI took records involving his work at the home of John Drayman, who lost his reelection bid for the Glendale City Council in April. Chamberlain said agents also questioned him about Drayman.

The allegation is the latest in the growing scandal involving Advanced Development & Investment, an affordable-housing developer accused by its own court-appointed overseer of defrauding Los Angeles, Glendale and other government agencies of at least $134 million as it built dozens of subsidized apartment buildings for low-income families. Construction and maintenance problems have since been identified at many of those projects.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/06/fbi-investigates-growing-housing-scandal.html

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June 10, 2011

Alabama enacts anti-illegal-immigration law described as nation's strictest

Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley signs a bill that, among other things, bars illegal immigrants from enrolling in or attending college; prohibits them from applying for or soliciting work; and makes it illegal to rent them property. The ACLU says it will sue to try to overturn the law

Alabama set a new national standard for get-tough immigration policy Thursday with Gov. Robert J. Bentley's signing of a law that surpasses Arizona's SB 1070, with provisions affecting law enforcement, transportation, apartment rentals, employment and education.

The new law, combined with legislation passed in May by neighboring Georgia, has arguably made this swath of the Deep South the nation's hottest immigration battleground, with the region's troubled racial history fueling the fire.

Opponents here, perhaps predictably, often refer to that history in denouncing new laws they deem to be not only unconstitutional but motivated by bigotry.

The 72-page legislation known as HB 56 also touches on issues as diverse as contract law and voter registration. It makes Alabama the fourth state, after Georgia, Utah and Indiana, to follow Arizona's lead in enacting significant statewide immigration laws, potentially mollifying those voters frustrated with Washington's perceived failure to deal with the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants living in the U.S.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-alabama-immigration-20110610,0,2484697,print.story

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30 more gang members arrested in continuing crackdown in Central Valley

Atty. Gen. Kamala D. Harris announced Thursday that 30 alleged gang members were arrested in Tracy, the day after a similar law enforcement operation netted 75 suspected gang members in Merced and Madera counties.

Wednesday's sweep in Tracy was part of an effort by local, state and federal authorities to crack down on street gangs associated with Nuestra Familia, a criminal enterprise run out of the state prison system by inmates using coded letters and packages.

Gangs in recent years have been menacing many small farm communities. After law enforcement conducted raids in Salinas last year, gang leaders moved into other towns. Police say the gangs have ties to drug cartels in Mexico. "Today the Department of Justice delivered another blow to the criminal gangs that have been making inroads into California's Central Valley," Harris said.

Agents from the state Department of Justice served 28 arrest warrants and 24 search warrants Wednesday and recovered 11 guns and about a quarter of an ounce of methamphetamine. The suspects were booked into the San Joaquin County Jail. Wednesday's sweep involved more than 200 law enforcement officers from the state Department of Justice, the state prison system, Tracy police and the FBI.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/06/30-more-gang-members-arrested-in-continuing-crackdown-in-central-valley-.html

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California prisons: 'Non-revocable parole' is too dangerous

The parole program, designed to save money and resources, is poorly run and frees too many dangerous offenders.

In Culver City last month, Zackariah Lehnen was charged with the murder of a young woman and an elderly man who were stabbed and beaten to death. In Los Angeles last July, Javier Rueda shot and injured two Los Angeles Police Department officers before he was fatally shot.

What's the connection between these violent incidents? Both Lehnen and Rueda were on the streets after being released from state prison — without any parole supervision or parole restrictions — under the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation's "non-revocable parole" program.

How many more innocent people will be injured or killed before we end this failed experiment?

The program, created by Senate Bill X3 18, became effective in January 2010. Under this program, the Department of Corrections is allowed to release from state prison a limited number of nonviolent, nonserious and nonsex offenders with no parole conditions and no parole supervision. These felons cannot have their parole revoked, even if they commit future crimes.

In theory, only the least violent and least risky felons who have served their time would qualify for non-revocable parole status, and the parole system would use fewer resources and cost the state less money. In practice, thousands of violent and dangerous prisoners have been erroneously freed without parole supervision or parole restrictions.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-lieu-nrp-20110610,0,6496317,print.story

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Keeping Children and Teens Safe Online: June is National Internet Safety Month

June is National Internet Safety Month. With the school year ending, kids will be spending more time online. In fact, according to the National Cyber Security Alliance, children and teens aged 8-18 spend an average of 7 and a half hours each day during the summer with electronic devices – where they may be vulnerable to cyber bulling, cyber predators, and other criminal activity.

To ensure a safe cyber environment, each of us plays a part. Parents can talk to their children and teens about cyber threats, and follow these easy steps:

http://blog.dhs.gov/2011/06/keeping-children-and-teens-safe-online.html

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Attorney General Eric Holder Speaks at the Northwest Indiana Cyber Security Summit

Thank you, U.S. Attorney Dave Capp, for your kind words, and your two and a half decades of distinguished service here in the Northern District of Indiana.

As an Assistant U.S. Attorney, and as interim U.S. Attorney – on no less than three occasions – you've proven both your leadership skills and legal expertise. Today, in your role as United States Attorney, you serve as an advisor to me and as an example to your colleagues. And the contributions that you and your team are making are felt across – and far beyond – this District.

It's a pleasure to stand with you this morning – and I want to thank all of you for welcoming me back to Hammond. As Dave just mentioned, I had my very first jury trial here – in your old courthouse. What Dave – very graciously – failed to mention is that I ended up losing that case. But I learned an awful lot here – and it's wonderful to return to the Northern District today.

I am deeply grateful for the outstanding work that Dave and his colleagues – along with the FBI's Indianapolis Field Office, the United States Steel Corporation, and so many other law enforcement and private sector partners – have done to bring us all together.

http://www.justice.gov/iso/opa/ag/speeches/2011/ag-speech-110609.html

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Associate Attorney General Tom Perrelli Speaks at Justice Department Anti-Violence Event in Roanoke

Good morning. I would like to thank U.S. Attorney Heaphy and all of you for both having me here today and for joining us in this important discussion about how to make the Roanoke community safer and stronger.

As Tim said, I am the Associate Attorney General, the third-ranking official at the Justice Department. I am also happy to say that I'm a life-long Virginian. And so, this forum has special meaning to me. I take pride in the Commonwealth and making sure that my kids and yours grow up in an environment that is free of violence.

Everyone knows that the Department of Justice and our U.S. Attorneys enforce federal law and keep our communities safe by pursuing and prosecuting the worst offenders, especially in areas like gang, drug, and gun violence. But if we really want to reduce crime and improve our schools, neighborhoods, communities, cities, and towns, we have to do more than just respond to crime after it has been committed.

At the Department of Justice, we are investing in more effective enforcement strategies, but we are also investing in communities across the country in proven strategies for preventing crime, in particular for reaching vulnerable young people before they commit crimes or when they begin going down the wrong path, and we are also investing in providing a transition for individuals coming out of prison, what we call reentry, because if we can reduce the recidivism rate, we can also reduce crime.

http://www.justice.gov/iso/opa/asg/speeches/2011/asg-speech-110609.html

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June 9, 2011

U.S. can't justify its drug war spending, reports say

Government reports say the Obama administration is unable to show that billions of dollars spent in the anti-drug efforts in Latin America have made a significant difference.

As drug cartels wreak murderous havoc from Mexico to Panama, the Obama administration is unable to show that the billions of dollars spent in the war on drugs have significantly stemmed the flow of illegal narcotics into the United States, according to two government reports and outside experts.

The reports specifically criticize the government's growing use of U.S. contractors, which were paid more than $3 billion to train local prosecutors and police, help eradicate fields of coca, operate surveillance equipment and otherwise battle the widening drug trade in Latin America over the last five years.

"We are wasting tax dollars and throwing money at a problem without even knowing what we are getting in return," said Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), who chairs the Senate subcommittee that wrote one of the reports, which was released Wednesday.

"I think we have wasted our money hugely," agreed Bruce Bagley, who studies U.S. counter-narcotics efforts and chairs international studies at the University of Miami at Coral Gables, Fla. "The effort has had corrosive effects on every country it has touched."

Obama administration officials strongly deny that U.S. efforts have failed to reduce drug production or smuggling in Latin America.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-narco-contract-20110609,0,2341037,print.story

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Man used spyware to photograph naked women, Fullerton police say

Fullerton police said Wednesday night that they had arrested a computer technician who allegedly installed a "spy-cam" on women's laptops that allowed him to secretly take photos while they were naked.

The case came to light in the summer, police said, after a Fullerton mother alerted authorities about a strange message on her daughter's computer that said: "You should fix your internal sensor soon. If unsure what to do, try putting your laptop near hot steam to clean the sensor."

In fact, the message was a ruse that Trevor Harwell, 20, used to trick the women to take their laptops with them while they took showers, according to Sgt. Andrew Goodrich of the Fullerton Police Department. "Some of the victims would be naked," Goodrich told The Times.

He said police collected hundreds of thousands of images that allowed them to identify six victims in Orange County. All of the victims had their Macintosh laptops serviced by a company called Rezitech Inc., which employed Harwell as a computer technician, according to Goodrich. He said there are also victims in Los Angeles County.

Police forwarded their case Wednesday to the Orange County district attorney's office. Goodrich said potential victims should search the "Library/WebServer/Documents" directory for their laptop "camcapture" program. Anyone who believes they may have come in contact with Harwell is asked to call Det. Kathryn Hamel at (714) 738-5327 .

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

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L.A. councilman calls for federal probe into homicide suspect's release on bail in Puerto Rico

A Los Angeles city councilman is calling on federal authorities to investigate why a Puerto Rican judge released a Los Angeles homicide suspect on bail last month .

Councilman Paul Krekorian, whose district includes the North Hollywood parking lot where 19-year-old Mike Yepremyan was gunned down, said Judge Gloria Maynard's decision to release the teen's suspected killer is “so disgusting, so absolutely bizarre and inexplicable that I think it has to be investigated.”

Last month, authorities finally located and arrested the man they believe killed the teen in a beach town outside Puerto Rico's capital city, San Juan.

Despite a no-bail arrest warrant issued by authorities in Los Angeles, Zareh Manjikian was released on a $50,000 bond. He hasn't been seen since.

The turn of events has shocked police in Los Angeles and the slain teen's family. Attempts to reach the judge in Puerto Rico have been unsuccessful.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/06/la-councilman-calls-for-federal-probe-into-murder-suspects-release.html

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Homeless vets deserve more

Hopefully, an ACLU suit will push the West Los Angeles VA center to provide better care.

Los Angeles has more homeless people than any other city in the nation, and among them, more homeless veterans — an estimated 7,000 on any given day. The city also has a sprawling Department of Veterans Affairs treatment facility for former servicemen and women, located on a 387-acre compound in West Los Angeles. Now, the American Civil Liberties Union has gone to court to force the VA to put more of that acreage to use for homeless veterans.

In a class-action lawsuit filed Wednesday on behalf of four homeless veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and other ailments, the ACLU claims that the department is violating the property's deed by not providing the combination of housing and treatment that battle-scarred vets need. The lawsuit is just the latest attempt by advocates for homeless vets to light a fire under the federal government. Given the glacial pace of the VA's response over the years, the added heat is welcome.

Veterans are 50% more likely to become homeless than the average American, and homeless vets account for nearly 20% of the people living on the streets and in shelters in L.A. John P. Jones, one of the founders of Santa Monica, and Arcadia B. de Baker would probably be dumbfounded and mortified by those statistics. The pair donated the land to the federal government in 1888 to be the site for the Pacific Branch Soldier's Home for disabled vets, and tens of thousands of them were housed there over the next 80 years. In the 1960s, however, the federal government started phasing out the housing on the site; now the only long-term housing there is in a nursing home.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/opinionla/la-ed-va-20110609,0,6207649,print.story

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Sexual assault victim records attacker on cell phone

Police released the cell phone footage to the media Wednesday, hoping to identify the man who attacked the 28-year-old woman a day earlier, said Officer Holly Joshi, an Oakland Police Department spokeswoman.

The woman, whose identity is being withheld, was at home when she heard a loud noise, according to police. She went to find out what caused the noise when she saw the man in her hallway. The woman managed to capture 13 seconds of footage that shows a man carrying a box of electronics down the hallway of the woman's home.

The woman can be heard on the video asking the man to leave. "He mumbles something like OK, bye," Joshi told CNN affiliate KTVU. "But what we do know is that the suspect did not leave after that. He did stay. And he did sexually assault the victim."

Joshi told CNN affiliate KGO that the woman "was very much behind the release of this video."

http://www.cnn.com/2011/CRIME/06/09/california.sexual.assault.video/

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June 8, 2011

How many have died in Mexico's drug war?

Homicides attributed to the drug war continue across the country on a daily basis, and many more violent incidents probably go unreported. Self-censorship is widespread among news outlets in violent states such as Tamaulipas and Chihuahua.

With 2011 nearing its midway point, how many people have been killed in Mexico?

Until May many major international news outlets covering Mexico used the general figure of 34,000 or 35,000 drug war deaths -- while bodies have kept piling up in shootouts or discovered in mass graves by the hundreds. In the border city of Ciudad Juarez alone, for example, at least 976 people have been violently killed in the metropolitan region since the beginning of 2011, reports the tally at Frontera List.

But several news outlets in Mexico, as well as the peace movement of poet Javier Sicilia , have begun citing a figure of 40,000 dead since last month. A U.S.-based law-enforcement group favoring more liberal drug policies assembled this online data map from news and Internet sources to arrive an estimate topping 40,000, an increase of about 6,000 since the last official figure. (The Times lately has cited an estimate of at least 38,000, based on the official figures plus an approximation for the first months of 2011 derived from mainstream Mexican media tallies.)

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/laplaza/2011/06/mexico-war-dead-update-figures-40000.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+LaPlaza+%28La+Plaza%29

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Youth in gang rapes to be tried as an adult, authorities say

Eight Santa Paula residents have been arrested in connection with attacks on two teenage girls.

The juvenile arrested in Ventura County along with seven men on suspicion of gang-raping two teenage girls they lured from social networking sites was charged as an adult in the case, authorities said Tuesday.

The 15- and 16-year-old girls agreed to meet the suspects on separate occasions, one in March and one in April, said Det. Sgt. Ismael Cordero of the Santa Paula Police Department.

Cordero said the suspects gave the victims alcohol and possibly other substances. In both cases the girls passed out and awoke to find themselves being sexually assaulted, he said.

The suspects were identified as Santa Paula residents Esteban Oseguera, 18; Isaac Ek, 19; Joseph Sandoval, 18; Jonathan Gaona, 20; Dion Mendoza, 19; Carlos Ek, 22; Adrian Garcia, 19; and a boy whose name has not been released because he is a minor.

The charges include kidnapping, rape, conspiracy, street terrorism, unlawful intercourse with a minor and rape while a victim was asleep.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-0608-gang-rape-20110608,0,7119317,print.story

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51 indicted in Azusa gang's 'terrorizing' of blacks

Authorities say African Americans for years were victims of assault, robbery and vandalism. The gang feared a threat to its drug trade, but innocent people were allegedly targeted solely because of their race.

An Azusa street gang's campaign against blacks began during a meeting at a local park in 1992.

From there, prosecutors contend, the predominantly Latino street gang went on the attack.

Graffiti with racial epithets began appearing around town, including "Get out N…" sprayed on garage doors of some black residents. Gang members allegedly beat up blacks they found in their "territory," telling one man "We hate n… in Azusa. This is Azusa."

Over about 15 years, blacks were assaulted, chased and robbed, their property vandalized, in a "crime spree to drive African Americans out of the city of Azusa," said U.S. Atty. Andre Birotte Jr.

Authorities announced Tuesday that a federal grand jury had indicted 51 people allegedly associated with the Azusa 13 gang in what prosecutors described as "terrorizing" blacks in the San Gabriel Valley city of more than 48,000.

Azusa Police Chief Robert Garcia said the campaign was partly motivated by racial prejudice. But it also grew from orders by leaders of the Mexican Mafia prison gang to organize Azusa 13's narcotics business by "eliminating competition so they can have a monopoly on drug sales," Garcia said. "Usually a street gang member doesn't get an original idea; it comes from someone higher up."

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-0608-azusa-gang-20110608,0,26515,print.story

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North Carolina man pleads guilty to terrorism conspiracy

A North Carolina man could face up to 15 years in prison after pleading guilty to a federal terrorism conspiracy charge, according to prosecutors. Zakariya Boyd entered a guilty plea on Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Raleigh, North Carolina, the U.S. Attorney's office said in a statement.

Boyd, 22, is one of eight defendants, including his father and brother, who were indicted in 2009 on charges of conspiring to provide money, transportation, training and other resources to jihadist recruits.

His father, Daniel P. Boyd, pleaded guilty to two counts of terrorism conspiracy in February. The remaining co-defendants, currently in U.S. custody, are scheduled to go on trial in September.

"Today, Mr. Boyd stepped into an American courtroom and was afforded the rights and privileges of a system of which he would have destroyed," U.S. Attorney George E.B. Holding said in statement Tuesday. "His decision to plead guilty sets him on a different path -- a path consistent with the rights and safety of the citizens of the United States, both at home and abroad."

http://www.cnn.com/2011/CRIME/06/08/north.carolina.terror.plot/

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June 7, 2011

LAPD seeks tighter regulations on toy guns

Chief Charlie Beck urges law requiring BB guns to be brightly colored to avoid confusion with authentic firearms.

Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck is proposing that the city require BB-gun replicas of actual firearms to be brightly colored so that police officers don't mistake them for real weapons.

The proposal, which the Los Angeles Police Commission will consider Tuesday, comes after two shootings involving officers and people with replica weapons, including one in which a teenager was wounded. Under the new rule, all such toys sold inLos Angeles would have the "entire exterior surface of the device white, bright red, bright orange, bright yellow, bright green, bright blue, bright pink or bright purple."

Guns would also be allowed if they were "constructed of transparent or translucent materials which permits unmistakable observation of the device's complete contents."

"This change will not ban such devices but will aid law enforcement in differentiating real firearms from BB devices and imitation firearms. It will also prevent the sales and possession of BB devices and imitation firearms in the city of Los Angeles that are similar in size and appearance to actual firearms," Beck wrote in a memo.

The guns come in various models that closely resemble real weapons such as Berettas, shotguns and pistols. Law enforcement experts say the toys can easily be mistaken for the real thing, especially in a situation in which an officer must react quickly and decisively.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-lapd-fake-guns-20110607,0,2769926,print.story

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With reported rapes, the DSK case is the exception

The perceived equality and fairness of a U.S. justice system, as shown by the Dominique Strauss-Kahn case, does not square with the experience of the vast majority of those who report rapes in this country.

The charges filed recently against former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn have perpetuated a myth: that the U.S. justice system moves swiftly and effectively to resolve allegations of sexual assault.

In the wake of Strauss-Kahn's arrest, the media, particularly in Europe, have highlighted the perceived equality and fairness of a justice system that allows an immigrant single mother with relatively few financial resources to challenge an internationally renowned politician who is able to post a $1-million cash bail. To be sure, this is a remarkable situation, but unfortunately it is not the experience of the vast majority of those who report rapes in this country.

Strauss-Kahn may or may not be guilty, but we do know that every two minutes someone is sexually assaulted in the United States, according to the Department of Justice's Crime Victimization Survey. We also know that an estimated 60% of these assaults go unreported.

So the question is, do the 40% who are not reluctant to contact the authorities for help actually see justice done?

The answer: It depends.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-mollmann-rape-20110607,0,833705,print.story

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Underage drinkers and supermarkets

A union-backed bill that would require alcohol purchases to be made at a staffed checkout stand should be put back on the shelf.

The ranks of supermarket cashiers are being thinned by technology in the form of self-serve checkout stands. Although customers can't strike up nodding acquaintances with the computerized machines, many like the convenience. But the union that represents supermarket employees argues that automated checkouts lack more than personality. Despite built-in precautions, the union claims, computerized stations allow underage customers to purchase alcohol.

The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union is backing a bill by Assemblywoman Fiona Ma (D-San Francisco) that would require alcohol purchases to be made at a traditional, staffed checkout stand. But while AB 183, which was approved by the Assembly, might save some union jobs, there is little evidence that it would reduce underage drinking. It would particularly affect the Fresh & Easy grocery chain, which is entirely self-serve.

Automated checkout stands are supposed to lock up when a customer scans alcohol, sending a signal to an attendant that an identification check is needed. But various studies have found that the machines fail to do this in a small percentage of cases. What's more, customers can sometimes override a freeze by quickly scanning another item or a credit card, researchers reported. Occasionally, even when the machine has done its job, clerks don't bother to come over to check identification but just override the lock from a distance with a hand-held device.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/opinionla/la-ed-alcohol-20110606,0,5107408,print.story

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Immigration Program Rejected by Third State

Massachusetts has joined Illinois and New York in refusing to participate in a fingerprint-sharing program key to the Obama administration's immigrant enforcement program. The move by Obama ally Gov. Deval Patrick is the latest blow to the program that has been meeting with resistance, The New York Time's reports.

All three states that have refused to participate have large immigrant populations and are led by Democratic governors. Federal authorities, however, maintain the Secure Communities program is mandatory and that state cannot opt out.

In a June 3 letter to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Massachusetts secretary of public safety and security, Mary Elizabeth Heffernan, said, “We are reluctant to participate if the program is mandatory and unwilling to participate if it is voluntary,” the Times reported.

An official with the Department of said the program would be expanded into Massachusetts because it was required by a federal law passed after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. “We are not going to stop this program because of the governors,” the official said, according to the Times, “It is a program that is mandated by law that has the support of the administration and the Congress.”

http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/immigration-devalpatrick-obama/2011/06/07/id/399091

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June 6, 2011

Jury selection under way in trial of accused serial killer Anthony Sowell

As many as 132 witnesses -- law enforcement officials, family members of victims, women who say they survived attacks by Sowell, even Mayor Frank Jackson and his wife -- are expected to take the stand during a trial that many anticipate will consume the greater part of the summer.

Sowell, 51, is charged with multiple counts of aggravated murder, kidnapping, abusing a corpse and tampering with evidence in the deaths of the women, all believed to have been killed within about two years and whose remains were found in the fall of 2009.

He faces the death penalty if convicted.

Sowell also is accused of attacking several other women who survived.

The case, which has cost taxpayers more than any in the county's history, called for an unprecedented 1,000 prospective jurors to be summoned in recent weeks in an effort to find a panel of 12 who have been least affected by the continuous news coverage.

Sowell's defense attorneys, John Parker and Rufus Sims, repeatedly have argued that it cannot be done and have asked multiple times for a change of venue. The court would be hard-pressed, the attorneys said, to find even a dozen people in the county who could hear Sowell's case impartially after having heard the details of his criminal past, the life stories of the victims and the protests of community activists decrying violence against women.

But Common Pleas Judge Dick Ambrose, in denying the lawyers' requests, has said they won't know if empanelling a fair jury is possible until they try.

Parker and Sims, however, continued to argue that the court's jury selection process would lead to a biased jury.

At a recent pretrial meeting the attorneys said they learned that only 30 percent of jurors would be required to report for duty, and many already had been excused by the court without the attorneys' knowledge.

Parker and Sims filed a motion Tuesday for an entirely new jury pool or at least an accounting of the demographics of those who have been dismissed and the reasons why.

They also filed a motion asking the court to select two separate juries. One would decide on Sowell's guilt or innocence. The other, if Sowell is convicted, would be empanelled for the penalty phase. Those jurors would hear testimony on Sowell's upbringing, schooling, military career and abuse he might have suffered and determine whether he deserves the death penalty.

The defense lawyer's motion cited a Cornell Law Review study of 916 capital jurors in 11 states. That study found that many jurors had decided on the defendant's punishment before the penalty phase had even begun.

Ambrose denied both requests during a hearing Wednesday. He said the jurors who have been dismissed from the pool had legally sound excuses, and the remaining 300 would suffice.

Those people were called to report Friday , when a computer program randomly trimmed the field further to a more manageable 200, said Court Administrator Greg Popovich.

The jurors then set to work filling out a 36-page questionnaire probing their exposure to the case as well as their feelings on topics ranging from drug use to law enforcement and the death penalty.

The selection process is expected to last at least two weeks, with jurors reporting to the courtroom in waves of 30 for more intensive questioning by attorneys.

Once testimony begins, prosecutors likely will call law enforcement and coroner's officials to describe the investigation itself -- the days of exhuming bodies from shallow graves and crawl spaces, the discovery of a bucket containing a human skull in Sowell's basement and the weeks spent identifying the decomposed victims based on dental records and DNA.

Then prosecutors are expected to call several women who say they were attacked by Sowell and survived. Their testimony will help prove Sowell's motives, the pattern of his attacks and his methods of luring women to his home -- and some to their death, prosecutors said.

Most of Parker and Sim's strategy for defending Sowell against 11 counts of aggravated murder and 74 other charges remains a mystery, with many of their motions filed under seal.

But court records show the bulk of the defense team's nearly $600,000 budget has paid for resources that would only come into play during the penalty phase.

Among the expenses are fees for mental health specialists, brain scans, neurodiagnostic analysis to determine Sowell's brain functioning, and a military specialist to interpret records of his time in the Marine Corps.

The defense team hired a crime scene expert and a forensic pathologist to critique prosecutors' work. And a squad of researchers have been busily combing through thousands of medical records, school documents and hours of video surveillance footage shot from the property next door to Sowell's.

Tens of thousands of dollars also were paid to a mitigation expert -- a social researcher whose job is to find witnesses who can humanize Sowell, evoke jurors' sympathy and ultimately save him from the death penalty.

This task, the attorneys said, is the bedrock of any capital murder defense. And Parker and Sims have asked Ambrose twice in the past month for more time for their experts to wrap up their work and draft their reports.

The judge, estimating that the penalty phase would not begin until mid-July at the earliest, granted the experts until July 8 to complete their reports.

But seating jurors will begin Monday, as scheduled, Ambrose ruled -- drawing into view, after 18 months, a sense of resolution for Cleveland and the families of the Imperial Avenue women.

http://www.cleveland.com/anthony-sowell/index.ssf/2011/06/jury_selection_underway_in_trial_of_serial-killings_suspect_anthony_sowell.html

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