9/11: A decade after

Day of terror in New York: Pages from a reporter's 9/11 journal

The brown-leather journal is my passport to Sept. 11, 2001. When I hold it in my hands, images and memories are no further away than yesterday.

I had no notebook with me when my husband and I dropped our children, 8 and 4, at school that morning. Then came news of the attacks at the World Trade Center, and my husband pulled the journal from his briefcase. He pressed it into my hand so I would have something to write on.

Rereading it, I wonder why I wrote in blue ink for several pages and switched to black. Why did I tear out pages and leave some with just a few scrawled words: "It looks like Beirut." "Whole south face coming down." "Fire dept. wiped out?"

Between chaotic interviews, I tried to get down what I was seeing: "Two guys, young guys, standing on the corner, looking up. One is screaming, 'Oh my God,' like were at a ballgame … a man w/a towel waving and then they jumped … two people jumping together. I don't know if they were office mates. They drifted down so slowly."

Some of this doesn't make sense: Why did I think people were jumping rather than falling? Tally marks appear for each person. There are eight. Was that all of them or had I turned away?

The journal had been an anniversary present to my husband. On that day, it served another purpose.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/september11/la-na-towers-journal-20110821,0,3496237,print.story

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A Japanese internment camp revisited

Hundreds of Japanese Americans interned during World War II at the Heart Mountain Relocation Center in Wyoming return — many for the first time — for a reunion and museum opening.

When they first came to this corner of Wyoming 69 years ago, shops and restaurants in the tiny town of Cody hung banners warning "No Japs Allowed." A local newspaper announced their arrival with the headline, "TEN THOUSAND JAPS TO BE INTERNED HERE."

But this weekend, as hundreds of Japanese Americans interned during World War II at the Heart Mountain Relocation Center returned, many for the first time, new signs greeted them: "Welcome all Japanese Americans. Congratulations."

They returned to see the land, now fields of lima beans and alfalfa, and to see the opening of a long-awaited museum at the site that will preserve their stories. They came to see each other.

Leading them in this pilgrimage was a pint-sized man with the improbable name of Bacon Sakatani. On Friday, the 81-year-old climbed on top of a hotel chair and screamed out marching orders:

Sakatani is known as Mr. Heart Mountain, the Heart of Heart Mountain. He's such a force within the group that an entire room honors him at the museum, which was dedicated Saturday.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-heart-mountain-20110821,0,7728788,print.story

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Opinion

For juvenile lifers, a chance

SB 9 would let youthful offenders request a parole hearing. That's both sensible and humane.

California lawmakers have repeatedly missed opportunities to bring some fairness, rationality and humanity to juvenile sentencing. They get another chance this week, and they should take it. The Assembly should pass SB 9, a bill to give offenders sentenced as minors to life without parole a chance to request a parole hearing.

Assembly Democrats who have voted against earlier versions of this bill for fear of being labeled soft on crime should look at the facts. SB 9 would not automatically open prison doors for violent criminals. It would not eliminate life-without-parole sentences for any offender, adult or juvenile. It would merely give inmates serving life terms for crimes they committed before they turned 18 a limited opportunity to seek a 25-years-to-life sentence — and for the first time, a slim chance of parole before they die.

California currently has 295 people serving non-parolable sentences for crimes they committed in their youth. Most were involved in homicides, but about 45% of them never pulled the trigger; they were convicted because they acted as lookouts or were involved in a concurrent crime when the homicide took place, usually at the hands of an adult accomplice. Underscoring the barbarity of the no-parole sentences is the fact that the actual killer often serves a shorter sentence or at least is eligible for parole.

Most other states, and every other nation in the world, have rejected juvenile life-without-parole sentences because they recognize the basic truth that juveniles are fundamentally different from adults. Their brains are less developed. They are less able to control their impulses. They are less capable of moral reasoning. They have less emotional power to resist peer pressure. They have a greater capacity to be rehabilitated, if given the chance.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/opinionla/la-ed-sb9-20110821,0,7151575,print.story

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An e-ripoff of the U.S.

Disbursing public funds electronically sets up the federal government to be victimized by massive fraud.

Last week, a Los Angeles jury convicted a local pastor and his wife of fraudulently claiming $14.2 million from Medicare. The culprits recruited parishioners to help run fake durable medical equipment companies, and spent the proceeds on expensive cars and other luxuries. Assistant U.S. Atty. Gen. Lanny A. Breuer described their efforts as "persistent and brazen" and said "they treated the Medicare program like a personal till."

Around the country, a never-ending stream of Medicare and Medicaid rip-off stories suggest many people now use these programs as personal tills. In July 2010, authorities exposed and shut down a more organized scheme, charging 94 conspirators from five cities who had stolen $251 million from Medicare.

Three months later, in October 2010, 52 members of an Armenian American organized-crime ring were arrested and charged with $163 million in fraudulent billing.

Scores of reports over the last decade catalog completely implausible Medicare and Medicaid claims paid, apparently without a hiccup, for patients who were dead, imprisoned or previously deported from the country and forbidden to return. A significant number of claims involved prescribing physicians who were long-since dead.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-sparrow-medicare-fraud-20110821,0,2283350,print.story

'West Memphis Three' freed in '93 slayings

New evidence had arisen to potentially challenge the convictions of the men, one of whom had been on death row, for the deaths of three young boys.

The men known as the "West Memphis Three," who served more than 18 years behind bars for the notorious 1993 murders of three young boys — and became a cause celebre among actors and musicians who doubted their guilt — won their freedom in an Arkansas courtroom Friday after new evidence arose to potentially challenge their convictions.

Their legal absolution, however, was not clear-cut. In an agreement with prosecutors, Damien Echols and Jessie Misskelley, both 36, and Jason Baldwin, 34, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder charges but will also able to claim they are innocent, a rare arrangement known as an Alford plea.

"It's not perfect by any means," Echols, pale and in tinted shades, said at a news conference after the hearing. "But at least it brings closure.... We can still try to clear our names. The only difference is now we can do it from the outside."

Echols, the alleged ringleader, had been on death row. Baldwin and Misskelley were serving life sentences.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-west-memphis-3-20110820,0,7456214,print.story

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White Teenager in Hate Crime Charged with Capital Murder

A Mississippi teenager who intentionally ran over a black man in an apparent hate crime and bragged about the incident to a friend will be charged with capital murder, which can attract death sentence or life in prison.

Authorities on Friday upgraded the charge against him, noting that further evidence showed the murder was committed alongside felony robbery.

In Mississippi, capital murder is defined as a murder that takes place during the commission of another felony, the Associated Press has reported.

Jackson Police Detective Eric Smith did not reveal what was stolen from 49-year-old James Craig Anderson on the morning of June 26, when Deryl Dedmon ran him over with a Ford F-250 pickup truck.

A graphic video of the killing of the black man outside a hotel in Jackson had caused national outrage. The video, shot by a hotel security camera, showed the truck mowing down Anderson on the Ellis Avenue, AP report said. "The truck backs up and then lunges forward. Anderson's shirt is illuminated in the headlights before he disappears under the vehicle next to the curb," the report says.

http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/201024/20110820/white-teenager-in-hate-crime-charged-with-capital-murder-john-aaron-rice-james-craig-anderson-deryl.htm

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Rescuer of kidnapped girl comes forward as undocumented immigrant

(CNN) -- A man credited with rescuing a 6-year-old girl from an alleged kidnapper came forward Friday to say he is an undocumented immigrant.

Antonio Diaz Chacon, 23, is originally from Chihuahua, Mexico, and has been living illegally in the United States for four years, according to his wife, Martha, who is a U.S. citizen.

Martha Diaz, interpreting for her husband, said the couple are afraid of the consequences of coming forward with his immigration status, but "we know that if God put us there at the exact time to be able to save the little girl -- we know that he won't leave us by ourselves."

The kidnapping attempt occurred Monday night in southwest Albuquerque when the girl went to a neighbor's house to pick up a package of tostadas. After witnessing the attempted abduction, Diaz got in his truck and chased the van the kidnapper was driving.

Diaz chased the van for several miles before it crashed into a light pole, allowing him to catch up and rescue the girl, police said. He was hailed a hero.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/08/19/new.mexico.kidnapping/

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August 19, 2011

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Suspected members of an Iraqi drug-trafficking organization are arrested

Authorities in El Cajon arrest 60 suspects and seize more than $630,000 in cash, as well as marijuana and high-powered guns and explosives from an El Cajon group, which allegedly has ties to a Mexican cartel and organized crime in Detroit.

Sixty reputed members of an Iraqi drug-trafficking organization in El Cajon have been arrested and authorities seized more than $630,000 in cash, 3,500 pounds of marijuana, dozens of high-powered firearms and several explosive devices, law enforcement officials said Thursday.

The organization was run out of a social club and has suspected links to the ruthless Sinaloa Cartel in Mexico and an Iraqi organized crime syndicate in Detroit, according to law enforcement officials.

The social club, located on East Main Street, has been a "hub of criminal activity conducted by Iraqi organized crime," El Cajon police Chief Pat Sprecco said.

According to authorities, over the last decade the club has been the center of other investigations for alleged drug sales, gambling, car theft and gun smuggling.

The undercover investigation that led to the latest arrests and seizures, dubbed Operation Shadowbox, has been underway since January as investigators gathered evidence, arrested suspects and served search warrants. A search warrant was served Wednesday at the club, where authorities seized $16,000 and uncovered evidence of illegal gambling, Sprecco said.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-iraqi-mexican-20110819,0,7429906,print.story

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U.S. will review cases of 300,000 illegal immigrants in deportation proceedings

The Obama administration aims to identify 'low-priority' offenders, including the elderly, crime victims and people who have lived in the United States since childhood.

The Obama administration said it will review the cases of 300,000 illegal immigrants currently in deportation proceedings to identify "low-priority" offenders — including the elderly, crime victims and people who have lived in the U.S. since childhood — with an eye toward allowing them to stay.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced the review as the Obama administration has sought to counter criticism that it has been too harsh in its deportation policies. By launching the case-by-case review, officials said they are refocusing deportation efforts on convicted felons and other "public safety threats."

The administration's action was cheered bysome illegal immigrants, notably college students who have been pushing Congress to pass the Dream Act, which would allow them to stay in the country.

"It makes me happy and hopeful," said Rigoberto Barboza, 21, an undocumented student at Mt. San Antonio College who supports a family of five with a $9-an-hour job at a fast-food restaurant. He said his mother, who brought him to the U.S. from Mexico when he was a boy, is facing deportation. "I hope they go through my mother's case, stop her deportation and, if possible, get her a work permit."

But critics labeled the plan as a "blanket amnesty" for a large group of illegal immigrants.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-0819-obama-immigration-20110819,0,3173438,print.story

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California's prisoner shuffle

The state can't meet the medical needs of inmates. How can counties be expected to do better?

The reality that tens of thousands of California state prisoners may soon be sent to local lockups is beginning to hit home. Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich likens the impending prisoner influx to a "bar scene — a violent bar scene that you saw in 'Star Wars.'"

That may be overstating the case. But the fact is that the U.S. Supreme Court decision ordering California to reduce its prison population by 30,000 — to be achieved in part by having more low-level offenders serve their time in county jails — is going to have serious repercussions.

The most obvious may be, as Antonovich alluded to, public safety. Jails, many of which are already overcrowded, are likely to become more crowded, and they often lack the capacity to provide the rehabilitative services needed by this population. Local criminal justice systems are also likely to come under additional strain.

And there's another consequence that hasn't been talked about as much: The strain on local budgets of trying to meet the healthcare needs of this population. The chief reason the court ordered a reduction in the prison population was the failure of the state to meet the basic medical needs of prisoners. Can strapped local governments really do any better?

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-davis-prisoners-state-prisons-20110819,0,873634,print.story

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Tennessee

Editorial: A badge, a gun, a smiling face

We're looking forward to the new police director's plan for community policing.

Officer Friendly is our favorite police officer. Notice we didn't use the familiar acronym for constable on patrol. It doesn't feel right to call Officer Friendly a cop. He -- or she, as the case may be -- is a symbol of the kind of police officer who cares about the community, who's out to prevent crime from happening, who's one of us.

And he -- or she -- will live on in Memphis, in some form or other, it was gratifying to learn this week. Memphis Police Director Toney Armstrong plans to eliminate the department's CO-ACT program, its version of the school of law enforcement known as community policing. But the concept will be retained in a specific program to be announced later, and that's good news.

There is no great body of empirical evidence suggesting that community policing is guaranteed to drive down crime rates. Studies of the technique have produced mixed results. But when police officers put themselves in a position to interact with the community on a regular basis -- and don't have to limit themselves to responding to complaints -- the quality of life in the community improves.

http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2011/aug/19/editorial-a-badge-a-gun-a-smiling-face/?print=1

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DHS - Launching the “If You See Something, Say Something” TV and Radio PSAs

While unveiling the PSAs, I also announced a new partnership between DHS and the Chamber of Commerce to engage the public in the “If You See Something, Say Something ™” campaign. Over the last 2 years, we've partnered numerous companies and organizations including the NCAA, the NBA, the NFL, the Indy 500, Walmart, the Mall of America, the American Hotel & Lodging Association, and others.

As I've said in the past, hometown security is the key to homeland security. Time and again, we've seen terrorist attacks thwarted by alert individuals who notify authorities when something just doesn't seem right. For instance, just a few weeks ago, the owner of a gun store near Ft. Hood called authorities when an individual in his store was behaving in a suspicious manner. His actions may have helped prevent a potential attack.

Security is a shared responsibility and we all have a role to play. You can learn more about the “If You See Something, Say Something™” campaign on our website.

http://blog.dhs.gov/2011/08/launching-if-you-see-something-say.html

TSA launching behavior-detection program at Boston airport

As part of a pilot program, screeners will engage passengers at Logan International Airport in conversation in an effort to detect suspicious behavior.

For the next two months at Logan International Airport in Boston, passengers will be casually greeted by Transportation Security Administration officials. But the officers aren't there for a friendly "hello" — they're trying to deter and detect passengers who pose a risk to aviation security.

As part of the TSA's new behavior-detection pilot program that started this week, screeners are engaging each passenger in Terminal A in casual conversation in an effort to detect suspicious behavior. After passengers provide their boarding pass and ID, they have to answer a few questions from TSA officers who have received two weeks of training.

"It's one layer of security that will allow us to provide additional screening and concentrate on passengers who may pose a higher risk," TSA spokesman Greg Soule said.

The program is an evolution of the TSA's Screening of Passengers by Observation Techniques, or SPOT, Program, which started at Logan in 2003 and has expanded to 160 airports. It has helped arrest 2,000 criminals, but none has been charged with terrorism.

Under the SPOT program, TSA screeners interrogate individuals only after they have been identified as suspicious. Now, at least at Logan, everyone is a target. After 60 days, the TSA will decide whether to expand the program to other airports.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-tsa-logan-20110818,0,105977,print.story

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ATF denies it promoted Fast and Furious supervisors

The agency says three officials involved in the guns scandal were moved laterally to jobs in its Washington headquarters.

The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said Wednesday that three supervisors in its controversial Fast and Furious gun-trafficking investigation were transferred to lateral jobs, not promoted. "They did not receive salary or grade increases, nor did they assume positions with greater responsibility," the agency said in a short statement.

The Times reported Tuesday that William G. McMahon, William D. Newell and David Voth, three key supervisors in the Phoenix-run investigation that went awry, were promoted to management positions at the ATF's Washington headquarters.

After that report, the House committee investigating Fast and Furious asked the ATF to explain the new jobs and clarify whether the men had been promoted. On Wednesday, the agency's acting director, Kenneth E. Melson, told the Oversight and Government Reform Committee staff that the jobs were not considered promotions because no one got a raise. Then the ATF issued its statement.

Operation Fast and Furious was intended to identify Mexican drug cartel leaders and gun-smuggling routes across the border. The ATF allowed straw purchasers to buy weapons in the U.S., planning to track the guns to Mexico and drug cartel leaders. Instead, many of the weapons vanished and turned up at crime scenes in Mexico and the U.S., including at the slaying of a U.S. Border Patrol agent in Arizona last December.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-atf-guns-20110818,0,69185,print.story

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Dugard-inspired bill would keep 'dangerous' prisoners locked up

"Although we can't undo the mistakes of the past, we can make systemic improvements so that all Californians are safer and that victims know government is working to protect them," said Sen. Ted Gaines (R-Roseville), who introduced the bill Wednesday. "Senate Bill 391 is for those Californians who will never become victims because society's most dangerous criminals are kept where they should be -- behind bars."

Phillip Garrido was on federal parole for a 1976 kidnap and rape when he and his wife abducted Dugard as the then-11-year-old was walking to the school bus in her South Lake Tahoe neighborhood. They held her for 18 years in a ramshackle compound in Antioch, where she gave birth to two daughters after being raped repeatedly by Garrido.

The proposed bill would reverse a 2008 state Supreme Court decision that requires the California parole board to look primarily at convicted felons' behavior while in prison and not the crimes that put them there, according to a written statement by Gaines and several other elected officials.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/08/dugard-inspired-bill-would-keep-dangerous-prisoners-locked-up-.html

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Tampa Bomb Plot Teen's Friend Says He Was 'Just Venting'

A Florida 17-year-old charged with plotting to kill school officials and students with bombs was "just venting anger" and would never have gone through with the attack, a friend of his claims.

Jared Cano wrote a manifesto that detailed his plans for an attack starting at 5 a.m. next Tuesday, the first day of classes at Freedom High School in Tampa, Fla., the school Cano was expelled from in March 2010. The unnamed friend was at the home of Cano when he was arrested on Tuesday.

"He wouldn't go and do something like that. He'd say he's going to in the heat of the moment but that's his way of venting, I guess," Cano's friend told ABC Action News in Tampa. "I think he was just venting anger on a piece of paper."

The two friends would often play video games at the home where Cano lives with his mother, and were planning to do just that on Tuesday when police arrived at the home to arrest t he teenager. The friend said that he initially thought the arrest may have to do with marijuana charges, a drug Cano publicly admits to admire on his Facebook page; he has also been arrested for possession of marijuana in the past.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/tampa-bomb-plot-teens-friend-venting/story?id=14330397

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August 17, 2011

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Firearms from ATF sting linked to 11 more violent crimes

Guns from Operation Fast and Furious were found at scenes in Arizona and Texas, the Justice Department acknowledges, widening the scope of the danger posed by the program.

Firearms from the ATF's Operation Fast and Furious weapons trafficking investigation turned up at the scenes of at least 11 violent crimes in the U.S., as well as at a Border Patrol agent's slaying in southern Arizona last year, the Justice Department has acknowledged to Congress.

The department did not provide details about the crimes. But The Times has learned that they occurred in several Arizona cities, including Phoenix, where Fast and Furious was managed, as well as in El Paso, where a total of 42 weapons from the operation were seized at two crime scenes.

The new numbers, which expand the scope of the danger the program posed to U.S. citizens over a 14-month period, are contained in a letter that Justice Department officials turned over to the Senate Judiciary Committee last month.

In the letter, obtained by The Times on Tuesday, Justice Department officials also reported that Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives officials advised them that the agency's acting director, Kenneth E. Melson, "likely became aware" of the operation as early as December 2009, a month after it began.

Melson has said he did not learn about how the operation was run until January of this year, when it was canceled.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-atf-guns-20110817,0,7675961,print.story

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South Africa seizes children of Zimbabwe beggars

The babies are placed in state institutions for care the government says they can't get from their homeless mothers. It's not easy for the women to get their children back — or to live without them.

The young mother crossed the surging Limpopo River, the water up to her neck, like cruel hands trying to drag her under. Other women traveling with her were terrified, screaming, "We're going to die!"

Ruvarashe Chibura concentrated all her strength on the little bundle she held high in the air: her 15-month-old baby, Cynthia.

"I never cried. I had my baby over my head," she says now of that desperate crossing from her native Zimbabwe to South Africa. "I was afraid that Cynthia would be swept away."

But it wasn't until two years later that her little girl was swept away, this time by police and social workers in a country she had hoped would prove a refuge from the ordeals of her homeland.

Chibura and dozens of other unemployed illegal immigrants from crisis-ridden Zimbabwe have seen their children placed in state institutions. Their crime: begging at traffic lights with their babies at their sides.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-zimbabwe-babies-20110817,0,3225170,print.story

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Immigration: Alabama goes down the wrong path

A new Alabama law against illegal immigration is among the most extreme of dozens passed by states. The U.S. must block such measures and work toward a federal solution.

Spurred by public anger over illegal immigration and the example set by Arizona, states passed more than 100 immigration-related measures during the first half of this year. President Obama condemned that appalling trend, but the administration otherwise took only modest actions to thwart it. It filed suit in Arizona, for instance, but has relied on immigrant and civil rights groups to challenge copycat measures in other states.

Then, this month, the Department of Justice sued to block Alabama from moving ahead with a new law that effectively turns police and civilians into immigration agents. Under the law, police would be required to arrest and jail anyone they suspect of being in the country illegally or face criminal liability and lawsuits. Landlords would be required to verify the immigration status of tenants or risk criminal charges. And public school officials would be forced to check students' immigration status and report it to district officials.

Understandably, the measure has galvanized fierce opposition. Immigrant advocates, civil rights and faith-based groups, and educators have denounced the law, vowing to fight it in and out of court.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/opinionla/la-ed-alabama-20110817,0,472725,print.story

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Father of 2 becomes hero in abducted girl's rescue

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) - The timing was just right for saving the life of a 6-year-old girl and for turning a 24-year-old mechanic and father of two young daughters into a hero.

It was coincidence that Antonio Diaz Chacon had come home from work early to spend time with his family Monday afternoon. It was also a coincidence that the family's washing machine had just gone out, forcing them to do laundry a block down the road at a relative's home.

Had it not been for that, Diaz Chacon wouldn't have been there to see the girl thrown into a van as another neighbor yelled for the would-be kidnapper to let the child go.

Diaz Chacon is credited with saving the girl after chasing the van through a maze of neighborhoods to the edge of where Albuquerque's sprawling housing developments meet the desert. It was there where the van crashed into a pole, the suspect fled and Diaz Chacon was able to rescue the girl and take her home.

He didn't think twice about his actions.

http://www.buffalonews.com/wire-feeds/24-hour-national-news/article524832.ece

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Florida

Success Zone: Actual community policing in New Town

To witness some of the best in community policing, simply stop by a meeting in the New Town Success Zone.

Operation Safe Streets means more than arrests. These police officers are partners, not occupiers.

Citizens feel more open to giving tips to the police. Relationships are being built with young men. Lives surely are being saved and changed.

http://jacksonville.com/opinion/editorials/2011-08-17/story/success-zone-actual-community-policing-new-town

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A Nation of Laws and a Nation of Immigrants

http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.eb1d4c2a3e5b9ac89243c6a7543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=2ec07cd67450d210V
gnVCM100000082ca60aRCRD&vgnextchannel=2ec07cd67450d210VgnVCM100000082ca60aRCRD

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Buying a Car Online? Read This First

You can buy almost anything over the Internet—including clothes, a pizza, music, a hotel room, even a car. And while most transactions are conducted lawfully and securely, there are instances when criminals insert themselves into the marketplace, hoping to trick potential victims into falling for one of their scams.

Today, the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) issued an alert about a specific type of cyber scam that targets consumers looking to buy vehicles online.

How the scam works. While there are variations, here's a basic description: consumers find a vehicle they like—often at a below-market price—on a legitimate website. The buyer contacts the seller, usually through an e-mail address in the ad, to indicate their interest. The seller responds via e-mail, often with a hard-luck story about why they want to sell the vehicle and at such a good price.

In the e-mail, the seller asks the buyer to move the transaction to the website of another online company….for security reasons….and then offers a buyer protection plan in the name of a major Internet company (e.g., eBay). Through the new website, the buyer receives an invoice and is instructed to wire the funds for the vehicle to an account somewhere. In a new twist, sometimes the criminals pose as company representatives in a live chat to answer questions from buyers.

http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2011/august/car_081511/car_081511

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August 16, 2011

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ATF promotes supervisors in controversial gun operation

The three, who have been criticized for pushing on with the border weapons sting even as it came apart, receive new management jobs in Washington.

The ATF has promoted three key supervisors of a controversial sting operation that allowed firearms to be illegally trafficked across the U.S. border into Mexico.

All three have been heavily criticized for pushing the program forward even as it became apparent that it was out of control. At least 2,000 guns were lost and many turned up at crime scenes in Mexico and two at the killing of a U.S. Border Patrol agent in Arizona.

The three supervisors have been given new management positions at the agency's headquarters in Washington. They are William G. McMahon, who was the ATF's deputy director of operations in the West, where the illegal trafficking program was focused, and William D. Newell and David Voth, both field supervisors who oversaw the program out of the agency's Phoenix office.

McMahon and Newell have acknowledged making serious mistakes in the program, which was dubbed Operation Fast and Furious.

"I share responsibility for mistakes that were made," McMahon testified to a House committee three weeks ago. "The advantage of hindsight, the benefit of a thorough review of the case, clearly points me to things that I would have done differently."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-atf-guns-20110816,0,7282744,print.story

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Controversial immigration enforcement program is target of lively protest

Speaker after speaker at the lively meeting denounced the Secure Communities program, with most not calling for changes but for the program to end entirely.

“I'm here asking the government to end this Secure Communities program,” said Blanca Perez, an undocumented worker who was arrested for selling ice cream from a cart on the street and then placed into deportation proceedings. “I am not a criminal, nor am I a bad person. I am simply a person who wants to work.”

Dozens walked out of the hearing at St. Anne's Residential Facility, shouting “terminate the program!” and calling on task force members to resign.

The task force was formed in response to growing criticism of the Department of Homeland Security enforcement program, which shares fingerprints collected by state and local police to help immigration authorities identify and deport tens of thousands of people each year.

The program, which was touted as a way to identify and deport convicted felons, has been criticized for also ensnaring minor offenders, victims of domestic abuse and other crimes, as well as witnesses to crimes and people who were arrested but not convicted of offenses.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/08/immigration-enforcement-program-is-the-target-of-protest.html#more

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The Game's tweet leaves police asking how to call foul

Authorities wonder if legal action is possible after rapper's Twitter followers overwhelm Compton sheriff's station with calls. Some agencies are turning to social media to help prevent violence.

All it took was a tweet. A famous rapper's Twitter feed posted a phone number for the Compton station of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, urging his more than half-million followers to call. Within seconds, every line on every phone at the station was jammed.

Legitimate emergency calls for help were blocked for almost three hours by a deluge of pranksters. Sheriff's officials denounced the tweet by The Game as irresponsible. But now authorities are facing a tough question: Should those who send tweets be held liable for the problems their messages cause?

A summer marked by riots in England and flash-mob violence in several American cities, including Philadelphia and Cleveland, has officials debating how much they should — and legally can — crack down.

Those involved in the looting and civil unrest around London used BlackBerry messages to organize, leading British Prime Minister David Cameron to suggest shutting down access to social media for anyone suspected of using it for criminal activity.

The Cleveland City Council went further after a large flash mob disrupted a Fourth of July fireworks display with violence, passing an ordinance that would have made it illegal to use social media to organize a violent and disorderly flash mob. The mayor eventually vetoed the measure, citing 1st Amendment concerns.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-0816-twitter-mob-20110816,0,1022164,print.story

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The anti-vaccination peril

Parents who refuse inoculations for their kids are putting other people's children at risk.

Contrary to what baby boomers might assume, the term "conscientious objector" didn't originate with the Vietnam War. It was first used in the late 19th century to describe opponents of England's mandatory smallpox vaccinations, who received special exemption from the inoculations.

Their opposition to the vaccine was as shortsighted, and as unfounded in science, as the objections of parents today who refuse to recognize the importance of inoculation not just to their children but to public health. As it happens, the popular embrace of the smallpox vaccine eradicated the deadly disease worldwide by the late 1970s. Shortly afterward, polio was eliminated in the United States after a decades-long immunization campaign.

Yet several other diseases — not as deadly as smallpox and polio but still capable of killing — have been making comebacks in recent years as increasing numbers of parents decide that vaccination is dangerous. It started with the now-discredited claims of a British doctor who published a faulty study purportedly showing a link between vaccines and autism.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/opinionla/la-ed-vaccine-20110816,0,126666,print.story

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Tennessee

Memphis Police director to eliminate community action program, city official says

Memphis Police Director Toney Armstrong plans to do away with the department's CO-ACT program, a city official confirmed Monday night.

CO-ACT, short for "Community Action," is a program created in 1994 to greater enhance the department's community policing efforts. It largely consists of substations assigned to various communities. According to MPD's website, there are 14 CO-ACT units spread across the city.

"It is part of his overall community policing plan to replace the existing CO-ACT units," said George Little, city chief administrative officer.

Since taking the job in April, Armstrong has emphasized community policing as a cornerstone of his administration. He is expected to put forth new plans on how to achieve that.

http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2011/aug/15/mpd-eliminate-community-action-program-city-offici/?print=1

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Bill Bratton: How 'Supercop' cleaned up US cities

he American police officer advising the UK Government about crime in the aftermath of the riots has been characterised as "Supercop" in the British media. But is Bill Bratton really the tough-talking, zero-tolerance cop that his reputation suggests?

When William Bratton became a police officer in Boston at the age of 23, it was the fulfilment of a childhood dream. Television police shows like Dragnet had fired the young Bratton's imagination and in 1970, he at last entered those hallowed ranks.

British Prime Minister David Cameron was only four at the time, but 40 years later he is drawing on the wisdom of the American after nights of unrest in English towns and cities, despite opposition from senior British police officers.

Due to an illustrious career in which he has arguably transformed the fortunes of three of America's biggest police forces, the 63-year-old Mr Bratton has been dubbed "Supercop" in the UK media. The phrase "zero tolerance" is not far behind, reinforcing the image of a no-nonsense, tough guy, much like the stereotype American "cop".

That British perception stems very much from his time in New York, when he transformed the fortunes of the city by taking a very hard line on petty crime.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-14536173?print=true

Data thieves target hotels and resorts

That could spell trouble for business travelers who submit credit card numbers and other personal information to hotel websites.

If you're a business traveler who books hotel rooms via the Internet, you may be at higher risk of being victimized by computer hackers and identity thieves. Insurance claims for data theft worldwide jumped 56% last year, with a bigger number of those attacks targeting the hospitality industry, according to a new report by Willis Group Holdings, a British insurance firm.

The report said the largest share of cyber attacks — 38% — were aimed at hotels, resorts and tour companies. That could spell trouble for business travelers who submit credit card numbers and other personal information to hotel websites, said Laurie Fraser, global markets leisure practice leader for Willis.

Fraser said large hotel chains are most vulnerable because hotel management companies may not be able to monitor how data is collected and stored at dozens or even hundreds of properties throughout the world. Independent contractors who work for individual hotels can also open the door to hackers and computer viruses, he said.

"There are various ways hackers can get into a hotel system," Fraser said.

Sherry Telford, a spokeswoman for InterContinental Hotels Group, one of the world's largest hotel companies, said InterContinental continually reviews its security measures. "For obvious reasons," Telford said, "we cannot expand further upon the security measures in place."

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-travel-briefcase-20110815,0,239297,print.story

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Hackers breach BART website and obtain personal data

Officials at the Bay Area Rapid Transit system were attempting to contact more than 2,400 customers Sunday afternoon to inform them that their personal information had been obtained and published by a group of hackers.

The security breach was perpetrated by the hacker-activist group Anonymous, which launched cyber attacks Sunday against BART and the Fullerton Police Department in retaliation for deadly confrontations between police and homeless men.

The attack did not appear to be successful in Fullerton, but officials at the San Francisco-area mass transit authority were forced to shut down MyBART.org, a marketing website designed to encourage riders to use the system for travel to leisure events.

The group posted the names, addresses, e-mail addresses and phone numbers of thousands of Bay Area residents, but a BART spokesman said the website held no sensitive financial information.

"We are in the process of contacting our customers to offer advice and extend regrets that this has happened," said BART spokesman Jim Allison.

Allison said the FBI was investigating the breach, and experts from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security were advising the agency during the crisis.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/08/hackers-breach-bart-website-and-obtain-personal-data.html

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More than 500 people march through Jackson to the motel where James C. Anderson was beaten and run over. Prosecutors say a group of white teenagers used racial slurs while they attacked him.

More than 500 people, including clergymen, elected officials and mothers pushing strollers, gathered here Sunday to denounce the killing of an African American auto plant employee in what authorities say was a racially motivated hate crime.

The slaying of James C. Anderson initially attracted little notice outside the immediate area, but since a security camera recording of the June 26 incident was broadcast nationally last week, the case has drawn coast-to-coast attention.

Anderson, 49, was beaten and run over in the parking lot of a motel. Prosecutors say the 5 a.m. attack was committed by a group of white teenagers from nearby Brandon, Miss. Two 18-year-olds have been charged in the case. Deryl Dedmon, the alleged driver of the green pickup that ran over Anderson, is charged with murder and remains jailed; bond was set at $800,000. John A. Rice, originally charged with murder, now faces a charge of simple assault. He was freed on $5,000 bail.

"There is a lot of general appall over what took place here," said Ronnie C. Crudup Sr., bishop of New Horizons Church near the motel where Anderson was attacked. "We wanted to get well-minded people, both black and white, together to do something to support this family and this country. This is not indicative of where Mississippi is today."

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-jackson-vigil-20110815,0,4287656,print.story

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United Kingdom

CRIME in the Thames Valley area has fallen.

A total of 172,422 offences were committed in the year to March 31, 13,184 fewer than in the previous 12 months.

This represented a difference of seven per cent compared with a national average of four per cent.

The types of offence to record decreases included vehicle crime (21 per cent), antisocial behaviour (19 per cent), violence (10 per cent), burglary (eight per cent) and sexual offences (seven per cent). The figures were released as part of the British Crime Survey.

Police say the improvement is largely down to the introduction of neighbourhood policing teams.

http://www.henleystandard.co.uk/news/news.php?id=962120

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Bratton's track record shows political as well as policing nous but senior UK officers express doubts

The more Bill Bratton talks about leadership and the ability of police not just to transform themselves but to lead change in society, it becomes clearer to see what attracted him to David Cameron . It is not just a change of policing culture he is advocating, it is also about the style of leadership and having political nous.

If a politician's mandate is that he has to improve policing within budgetary constraints, that is what William J Bratton will do. He says he has done it before, in Boston, New York and Los Angeles. If he has to build alliances with police critics in the community, he has done that as well.

But Bratton is not just idly boasting about being a "transformational leader". Given his track record in the United States turning around big city police departments from struggling entities to successful forces, he feels he could do the same in Britain, if he was allowed to.

The image of Bratton in Britain so far is of a zero-tolerance, tough-talking police leader, in keeping with an image that US police are gun toting and far more militaristic than their British equivalent. It's a Robocop model versus Dixon of Dock Green, seemingly. But Bratton's style and declared values suggest a more nuanced police leader. When he left the Los Angeles police department in 2009, after seven years at its helm, his passing was lamented by the once mortal enemy of police there, the American Civil Liberties Union. For years it had fought and sued the LAPD, but Bratton slashed the number of annual complaints.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/aug/14/bill-bratton-police-track-record/print

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