Law Enforcement

Crime alerts for Hancock Park, Pacoima and 11 other L.A. areas
Crime reports are up significantly for the latest week in 13 L.A. neighborhoods, according to an analysis of LAPD data by the Los Angeles Times' Crime L.A. database. Four neighborhoods reported a significant increase in violent crime. Hancock Park was the most unusual, recording four reports compared with a weekly average of 0.8 over the last three months. Pacoima topped the list of nine neighborhoods with property crime alerts. It recorded 36 property crimes compared with its weekly average of 25.5 over the last three months.
Los Angeles Times

New public safety website promotes community engagement, support
A new website designed to better inform Los Angeles residents about local law enforcement issues and neighborhood safety is fostering greater community engagement, says Paul M. Weber, president of the Los Angeles Police Protective League. PublicSafetyFirst.com, an initiative of the LAPPL, is a community news and information service that features, among other things, update-to-date crime alerts based on LAPD data analyzed by the Los Angeles Times.
LAPPL Press Release

LAPD seizes 9 kilos of coke, 300 pot plants and weapons in raid
Los Angeles police seized 9 kilos of cocaine, 300 marijuana plants, several weapons and arrested six people as part of an investigation of an interstate drug-trafficking operation allegedly run out of a Reseda medical marijuana dispensary, authorities said Thursday. The arrests and seizures were made Wednesday as officers prepared to serve a search at the White Oak Healing Center, the Los Angeles Police Department said.
Los Angeles Times

City creates Downtown Art Walk task force to address crowds, incidents
In the wake of a death of an infant at the Downtown Los Angeles Art Walk on July 14th, L.A. City Councilmembers Jan Perry and José Huizar presented a motion for an official city task force to be formed and ensure pedestrian safety. It was passed by city council Wednesday, August 3. The move comes after a series of informal meetings, including LAPD, LAFD, transportation officials and other city agencies. "Clearly the popularity of Art Walk is a reflection of the growing appeal of Downtown Los Angeles," said Jose Huizar to KCET.
KCET

LAPD officers allege ticket quotas
Ten more LAPD motor officers have sued the city, claiming harassment and retaliation after they complained they were forced to meet illegal traffic-ticket quotas. The officers, all assigned to the Los Angeles Police Department's West Traffic Division, say they were reprimanded, denied overtime and promotions, or deprived of vacations after they objected to the quotas, according to the lawsuit filed last week in Los Angeles Superior Court.
Los Angeles Daily News

The Courts

DNA: Law requiring arrestees' samples struck down
A voter-approved California law requiring police to collect DNA samples from anyone arrested for a felony violates the constitutional privacy rights of people who have not been charged with or convicted of a crime, a state appeals court ruled Thursday. The law expanded previous statutes that authorized law enforcement officials to take DNA from convicts and suspects with felony records. Approved by 62 percent of the voters in 2004 and effective in 2009, it required anyone arrested on suspicion of a felony to be swabbed on an inner cheek for genetic material, which would then be forwarded to a database accessible to state and local police and the FBI.
San Francisco Chronicle

The Economy

Employers hire 117,000 in July; jobless rate slips to 9.1%
Hiring picked up in July, the government said Friday, offering evidence that the nation is muddling through a period of very weak growth but not falling back into recession. Employers added 117,000 jobs last month, the Labor Department said Friday, compared with a revised 46,000 in June and better than the 85,000 net new jobs that forecasters had expected. The unemployment rate ticked down to 9.1 percent, from 9.2 percent in June.
Washington Post

Immigration

Immigration status a pre-existing condition under healthcare reform?
One of the very first provisions of national health care reform to take effect was a rule barring insurance companies from limiting or denying coverage for a child due to a "pre-existing condition," a health problem that developed before the child applied for insurance. Now, some health care scholars and activists say it's time to extend that principle to what they call another kind of pre-existing condition that makes children especially vulnerable: immigration status.
HealthyCal.org