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From Los Angeles Times

Community policing reaches youths

Officers from the LAPD's Southeast Division are taking kids from their Watts-area neighborhood on surfing trips and to sports events in an effort to reach them before gangs do. The result has been a marked decline in juvenile arrests.

by Joel Rubin, Los Angeles Times

August 1, 2011

As morning broke over the city Monday, cops assigned to the Los Angeles Police Department's Southeast Division went about their normal routine, patrolling the streets. There was, as always, plenty to do. The division's 10-square-mile area has some of the highest crime and poverty rates in the city and is home to 120 documented gangs and three of the city's roughest housing projects.

But 18 miles and a world away, Officer Scott Burkett was working a very different beat. Having traded his uniform for a wetsuit, the 15-year LAPD veteran was in the water at Torrance Beach with about two dozen kids from the Watts-area neighborhood that Southeast patrols, teaching them to surf.

Surfing as crime-fighting strategy?

"It's about changing the relationship between the Watts community and the LAPD," said Southeast Capt. Phil Tingirides, a first-time surfer who got in the water Monday as well. "To do that, we've got to get the kids, and we've got to get them early."

In recent years, the violent crime rates in Southeast were too high to allow officers to work on anything but patrol, gang units and other traditional assignments, Tingirides said. But in 2009, after a few years of declines in crime, he asked Burkett to start a youth activities program.

"We got to the point where we felt we could move away from just violent crime suppression and make a move toward this sort of thing, which is about trying to impact the future instead of just throwing cops up against every crime that occurs."

It's not exactly revolutionary thinking: For years, police departments have been trying with varying success to implement so-called community-based policing strategies. But to try it in a place like Southeast, where distrust toward the police historically runs deep, and to commit to it so heavily — Tingirides said he has 13 officers working full time on several community-relations programs — speaks volumes.

Tingirides believes Burkett's Police Activities League, another program that focuses on at-risk children, and one for students interested becoming cops, are paying dividends. Since they started, juvenile arrests in the division have dropped about 40%, he said.

For his part, Burkett, 43, was ready for a change of pace when Tingirides approached. He had worked several assignments and spent most of his career patrolling the streets in Southeast. In 2008, he was awarded the department's highest honor, the Medal of Valor, for confronting a gunman who had shot a man with an assault rifle.

"For the most part, officers don't come on the job to work with kids. It's about hooking and booking," he says, using police jargon for making arrests. "But I had all that behind me. And this sounded like a really cool opportunity. Now that I'm in it, I see that it really does make a difference."

Working with three other Southeast officers, he has thrown himself fully into the program. Instead of waiting for kids to show up, officers went in search of the kids. They knocked on doors at area schools and persuaded principals to use the program as a reward for good grades and attendance.

Erin Craig, assistant principal at College Ready Academy High School No. 11, said the school has come to depend heavily on Burkett and the others, who are on campus several times a week. Ten of Craig's students were surfing on Monday.

"We try to keep the kids busy as much as possible," she said. "The more we can keep them off the streets, the less chance the gangs have of getting to them and corrupting them."

Each week, the officers coordinate three or four activities, Burkett said. There are frequent outings to Staples Center for Lakers, Clippers and Kings games, museum trips and other day trips. But, in an area where kids rarely venture far beyond their neighborhood, Burkett is also focused on giving kids experiences they otherwise wouldn't have. Along with the surfing, there have been kayaking outings, ski lessons at Big Bear and camping trips.

About 400 kids are involved in the program each year, Tingirides says.

Because the program is a nonprofit, Burkett leans on old friends, connections and a blunt "What are you going to do to help the kids?" approach to encourage people to donate the cash and resources needed for each outing.

For surf camp, he walked into the offices of water sports company Body Glove without an appointment and asked to speak with Russ Lesser, the company president.

"He told me what he wanted to do, and I said, 'How many wetsuits do you need?' " Lesser says. Burkett also turned to the YMCA chapter in Torrance, where he grew up. The organization provided some of the instructors and the surfboards.

After managing to get up on a board and ride his first ever wave, Johnathan Rodriguez, 14, stood shivering but smiling on the beach.

"It gives us something to look forward to," he said of the program.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-lapd-pals-20110802,0,7019095.story

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U.S. sues over Alabama immigration law

The Justice Department challenges the strict measure, saying the Constitution prohibits states from creating a 'patchwork' of immigration policies.

by Richard Fausset, Los Angeles Times

August 2, 2011

Reporting from Atlanta

The Justice Department filed a challenge to Alabama's tough anti-illegal-immigration law Monday, arguing that the Constitution prohibits state and local governments from creating a national "patchwork" of immigration policies.

The suit, filed in Alabama's Northern District, marks the second time the Obama administration has sought to block a state immigration reform law. Last year, the Justice Department filed a similar challenge to Arizona's controversial SB 1070. A federal judge decided to temporarily block key parts of that law, including a provision that would have required police to determine suspects' immigration status.

A number of states, including Georgia, South Carolina, Utah and Indiana, have embraced similar laws. Alabama's law, signed in June by Gov. Robert J. Bentley, is by far the strictest.

The law requires police to attempt to determine the residency status of suspected illegal immigrants. It also it makes it a crime for immigrants to work or solicit work, and prohibits landlords from renting to them. Among other things, it would prevent illegals from receiving state or local public benefits and bar them from enrolling in public colleges.

The federal complaint argues that the law, which is set to take effect Sept. 1, "exceeds a state's role with respect to aliens, interferes with the federal government's balanced administration of the immigration laws, and critically undermines U.S. foreign policy objectives."

Moreover, the law, known as HB 56, "would result in the harassment and incarceration of lawful resident aliens — and even U.S. citizens who would not have readily available documentation to demonstrate their citizenship," the government argued.

The American Civil Liberties Union and other groups filed their challenge in Alabama last month.

"We applaud the U.S. government for coming in and filing this new lawsuit," said Cecillia Wang, director of the ACLU's Immigrants' Rights Project. "We are confident that this law is going to be enjoined just as the Arizona law was enjoined."

Bentley, a Republican, said in a statement that he would "fight at every turn" to ensure Alabama had a strong immigration law.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-alabama-immigration-20110802,0,3860956,print.story

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L.A. County prosecutors plan to seek death penalty in Grim Sleeper case

LAPD is seeking a voice sample from Lonnie David Franklin Jr., accused of killing 10 women in South L.A.. They want to compare the sample with a tape of a 911 call believed to be made by Franklin.

by Andrew Blankstein

August 2, 2011

L.A. County prosecutors Monday said they would seek the death penalty against the man accused of being the Grim Sleeper serial killer and took the unusual step of seeking a voice sample of the suspect.

Lonnie David Franklin Jr. was charged last year in the deaths of 10 women in South L.A. in the 1980s and 1990s, but police have long suspected that he is responsible for more killings.

Prosecutors requested permission to allow police to take a voice sample from Franklin for comparison to an anonymous male who called 911 operators in connection with at least two Grim Sleeper killings. Detectives suspect Franklin might have made the calls himself and believe the 911 calls might help link additional killings to the suspect.

Photos: Grim Sleeper suspect's images of women

"Obviously, we want to compare his voice. We think he is the caller," said Det. Dennis Kilcoyne of the Los Angeles Police Department's Robbery-Homicide Division.

One of the calls was from a man reporting criminal activity in an alley where victim Barbara Ware, 23, was found shot to death Jan. 10, 1987.

Authorities say they want to compare Franklin's voice against at least one other voice recording but declined to discuss that case, saying it involved a killing that Franklin has not been charged with.

Once police have Franklin's voice sample, officials hope to compare it to more 911 calls, though they declined to provide specifics.

Detectives believe Franklin made 911 calls on the days of several slayings, but it remains unclear exactly how many of the 911 tapes remain. Typically, 911 recordings are kept for seven years and are destroyed unless detectives on a case make copies. At one point in the 1980s, recordings were kept only for six months before they were recorded over.

Franklin, 57, was arrested in July 2010 at his South L.A. home and charged with murder in the slayings of Ware as well as Debra Jackson, 29; Henrietta Wright, 35; Bernita Sparks, age unknown; Mary Lowe, 26; Lachrica Jefferson, 22; Alicia Alexander, 18; Princess Berthomieux, 15; Valerie McCorvey, 35; and Janecia Peters, 25.

Franklin, who has pleaded not guilty, is also charged with one count of attempted murder stemming from the 1988 shooting of a woman who police have said is the only Grim Sleeper victim who is known to have survived. On Monday, his attorney, Louisa Pensanti, asked L.A. County Superior Court Judge Patricia Schnegg to approve appointment of a second defense attorney with expertise in death penalty cases. That attorney is Seymour Amster.

Los Angeles police said in April that Franklin may have killed eight additional women, including three whose photos and identification cards were found in a refrigerator in Franklin's garage.

If there's a match, authorities say, it would add to a trove of evidence linking Franklin to the serial slayings that terrorized South L.A.. The killer was dubbed the Grim Sleeper by L.A. Weekly because of what appeared to be a period of inactivity separating the killings. But police were skeptical of the idea that the slayings had actually stopped during a supposed 13-year gap and said some of the new killings they are investigating occurred during the "quiet period."

Of the eight new cases police are now investigating, two involve women who disappeared during the 13-year period. A third went missing in 1982, before the first of the 10 known killings.

Detectives are furthest along on three cases: Ayellah Marshall, a high school senior who disappeared in 2005; Rolenia Morris, a 25-year-old who also was reported missing in 2005; and an unidentified woman whose photograph was found at Franklin's residence when he was arrested.

Police discovered Marshall's Hawthorne High School identification card, photos of Morris and her Nevada driver's license, and a photo of the unidentified woman in a refrigerator in Franklin's garage, said Kilcoyne, who heads the Franklin investigation.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-grim-sleeper-20110802,0,4140438,print.story

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Gov. Brown signs law weakening testimony of jailhouse snitches

The new law requires prosecutors to present forensic evidence or uncompromised testimony that corroborates information provided by in-custody witnesses who claim to have been told or overheard incriminating statements by the defendant.

Dozens of Los Angeles County criminal convictions based on the testimony of jailhouse snitches have been overturned over the last quarter-century because appeals courts found the key witnesses to be unreliable or self-serving.

The district attorney's office years ago curtailed reliance on such sources.

The bill signed by Brown now makes those safeguards statewide policy.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/08/jerry-brown-jailhouses-snitches-new-law-.html

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From Google News

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Autopsy Scheduled for New Hampshire Girl Found Dead in River

August 2, 2011

The fifth-grader was last seen the night of July 25 in her West Stewartstown, N.H., home, where she lived with her mother, stepfather and 13-year-old sister. She was last seen in her bedroom and on her computer, according to authorities.

"We have brought Celina home, obviously not the way we wanted to bring her home," New Hampshire Senior Assistant Attorney General Jane Young said Monday.

After an extensive search for child -- which included help from the FBI -- divers discovered her body Monday morning near a hydroelectric dam that spans the Connecticut River between her hometown and Canaan, Vt., not far from the Canadian border. Her body was pulled from the New Hampshire side of the river, near the Canaan Hydro-Dam, at around 5 p.m., according to local reports.

Young declined to say whether there were any suspects in the girl's death.

"We have made no determination on where her body was eventually put in the river," she said.

An autopsy is planned for Tuesday morning to determine the cause and manner of death.

"Based on what we have seen visually, we are treating it as suspicious," Young said.

Celina's father, Adam Laro, had described his daughter to Fox News as "shy but very friendly" and said he can't imagine she'd leave on her own.

"I can't picture why she would leave at night," said Laro, who was in the hospital when Celina was last seen. "She seemed to be happy where she was."

Her stepfather, Wendell Noyes, described her as a quiet girl who would not have left the family's three-story home on her own. Noyes was taken by ambulance to a hospital Monday morning, though the reason for his hospitalization it not yet known.

Young told FoxNews.com last week that authorities did not issue an Amber Alert for Celina because the case did not meet the criteria for one. Amber Alerts usually require a description of a vehicle or person the child was last with, Young said.

Town residents described Celina as a sweet, friendly child. One of Celina's best friends, 11-year-old Makayla Riendeau, said Celina loves her mother and likes her stepfather and wouldn't run away. She said Celina is very athletic, is a stickler about getting her school work done on time and loves having friends over to her house.

"She's a very good friend, and she never lets anybody down," Makayla said.

In the search for the tall, gap-toothed girl, investigators have knocked on hundreds of doors, and hundreds of fliers with her photo have been put up throughout Stewartstown and nearby communities. Law enforcement agencies have set up a command post at the local school.

The FBI has offered a $25,000 reward for information in the case, and a community member has added $5,000.

Concerned residents had passed out purple and pink ribbons and held vigils for Celina. About 80 people, many with candles in hand and tears in their eyes, had gathered for a nighttime vigil in neighboring Canaan, Vt., two days after she disappeared.

"It feels like a lost section of the town," family friend Rebecca Goodrum, of nearby Beecher Falls, Vt., said at that vigil. "She was beautiful. She was the light of everything."

FoxNews.com's Cristina Corbin and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

Click for more on the disappearance of Celina Cass from MyFoxBoston.com

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/08/02/autopsy-scheduled-for-new-hampshire-girl-found-dead-in-river/

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Baez expected to fight Casey Anthony probation order

ORLANDO -- Casey Anthony may be forced to return to Orange County, but not if her lawyer has anything to say about it.

An order filed Monday by Judge Stan Strickland would force Casey to stay in Orange County to serve a probation on her check fraud conviction from 2010.

But attorney Jose Baez is expected to file a motion Tuesday to fight that order.

Casey left jail in July after she was acquitted of murdering her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee Anthony.

Florida state Corrections officials thought she could serve the probation while she was in jail waiting for her trial.

But Judge Strickland, the original judge in her criminal trial who also heard her check fraud case, said he intended the probation to begin after her release.

http://www.cfnews13.com/article/news/2011/august/289162/Baez-expected-to-fight-Casey-Anthony-probation-order

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L.A. County child welfare chief quits

The resignation of Jackie Contreras is the third departure by a director of the Department of Family and Child Services in nine months. The embattled agency has been under scrutiny after reports in The Times of abuse and neglect.

by Rong-Gong Lin II and Garrett Therolf

Los Angeles Times

August 2, 2011

The interim chief of Los Angeles County's troubled child welfare agency is quitting, a spokesman confirmed Monday.

The resignation of Jackie Contreras, effective Sept. 16, is the third departure by an agency director in nine months. Trish Ploehn, the embattled former chief, was forced out in December. In May, her replacement, Antonia Jimenez, quit after defying the Board of Supervisors' plan to reform the Department of Children and Family Services.

The agency has been under scrutiny since reports in The Times that more than 70 children had died since 2008 of abuse or neglect after coming to the attention of county social workers. Many of those deaths, county officials have confirmed, involved serious case management errors.

On Monday, The Times reported that supervisors are defying a state subpoena for county records involving deaths of children under the department's oversight.

Contreras was Ploehn's second in command and was elevated to head of the department in May. Department spokesman Nishith Bhatt confirmed that Contreras will return to a job at Casey Family Programs, a Seattle-based foundation dedicated to improving the child welfare system.

Contreras has bounced between the county department and the foundation over the last decade. After three years as a deputy director in Los Angeles County, in 2007 she became Casey's senior director for strategic consulting. In early 2010, she returned to the county to become Ploehn's No. 2.

Bhatt said her departure was not related to the ongoing turmoil at the agency.

"She is looking forward to taking on the challenges in the new role she is going to be in," Bhatt said. Contreras did not return a call requesting comment.

Contreras faced scrutiny soon after her arrival last year after she was accused of conducting a search without a warrant on a senior official who, department officials believed, was sharing confidential information about children's deaths with The Times.

When Contreras took the interim job in May, supervisors signaled that she was not a candidate to lead the department permanently. At the time, a four-month search for a permanent director had yielded one candidate, but he took another job.

It was not immediately clear who would take over for Contreras, who did not appoint a chief deputy director after she assumed the top job.

Concerned about turmoil at the agency, a majority of the supervisors voted in May to strip authority over the department from county Chief Executive William T Fujioka and return it to the board.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-dcfs-chief-20110802,0,6969902,print.story

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