Law Enforcement

Crime alerts for Tujunga and 8 other L.A. neighborhoods
Crime reports are up significantly for the latest week in nine L.A. neighborhoods, according to an analysis of Los Angeles Police Department data by the Los Angeles Times' Crime L.A. database. Nine neighborhoods reported a significant increase in violent crime. Tujunga recorded three reports compared with a weekly average of 0.6 over the last three months. Tujunga was the lone neighborhood with a property-crime alert. It recorded 14 property crimes compared with its weekly average of 6.2 over the last three months.
Los Angeles Times

Soaring gold prices trigger jewelry robberies, police warnings
That stunning rise in the price of gold is having a ripple effect: A rash of jewelry store robberies, street muggings and home burglaries. Now, merchants are stepping up security and police are warning everyone against flaunting their bling. When Capt. Mark Olvera, who runs the LAPD's Newton Division, spotted a beefy man with a gold chain around his neck the other day, he worried the guy might become a victim. "He looked like he could take care of himself," Olvera said. "But that's a couple thousand dollars ... on him."
Los Angeles Times

LAPD seeks leads in Silver Lake, East Hollywood killings
Los Angeles police Thursday were seeking information in two separate slayings in East Hollywood and Silver Lake. In East Hollywood, Mihran Ashikyan, 26, was gunned down Wednesday afternoon as he was walking near Oxford and Lemon Grove avenues, the Los Angeles Police Department said. On Aug. 7, Juan David Vasquez, 20, was shot in the head while he sat in a car near Silverlake Boulevard and Scott Place, the LAPD said. He died Sunday at a hospital. A news conference to ask for additional information in Vasquez's killing is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Friday at the LAPD's Northeast station.
Los Angeles Times

California Iraqi-Mexican crime ring busted, police say
Police in southern California have arrested 60 people and broken up an Iraqi criminal ring accused of selling drugs, machine guns and improvised bombs out of an immigrant social club, authorities said on Thursday. The swoop by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and local police targeted a network operating out of El Cajon, which is near San Diego and close to the border with Mexico. El Cajon police said the criminal organization of individuals of Iraqi descent had suspected ties to the Chaldean Organized Crime Syndicate, a criminal group founded in the early 1980s in Detroit, Michigan.
Reuters

More cops adopt Segway patrol
Departments across the country are considering Segway scooters as the latest mode of transportation for officers. LAPD officers put the devices to use at last week's Art Walk, a street event with food trucks and vendors. They were brought on board for crowd control and supplemented forces on motorcycles, bicycles, and horses, The Los Angeles Times said. Segway has been showing cops the battery-powered scooters as part of its "Patrolling Across America" campaign, in which agencies can see first-hand their potential uses for patrol.
Police One

Police grants could get caught in cost-cutting tug-of-war
Congressional budget-cutting could handcuff the federal grants now filling California law enforcement coffers. For politicians, this means dicey choices ahead. On Wednesday, underscoring the real-world stakes, Justice Department officials quietly announced a $25 million grant for California from a federal law enforcement program that some in Congress want to cut. Earlier this week, Los Banos, Modesto and Merced received grants from the same program. A separate law enforcement grant program beloved by California police chiefs and sheriffs is slated for elimination altogether.
McClatchy Newspapers

Cuts to law enforcement strain gang, drug task forces throughout California
Fighting crime on a tight budget can prove difficult as gangs and drugs maintain their strength countywide. Now that Gov. Jerry Brown cut $71 million from state gang and drug task forces, it's going to get even tougher, police said. Just two months after California Attorney General Kamala Harris announced the Tulare County TARGET team, her office's funding was cut along with 55 task forces across the state. "We are going to see a problem in law enforcement. We'll have no teeth to fight gangs and drugs," said Visalia Police Chief Colleen Mestas.
Visalia Times-Delta

Immigration

U.S. will review cases of 300,000 illegal immigrants in deportation proceedings
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."
Los Angeles Times

City Government

L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa touts neighborhood stabilization effort
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Thursday toured a South Los Angeles home bought, renovated and sold through a program aimed at helping city areas hardest-hit by the real estate bust. Seven homes have been sold through the Neighborhood Stabilization Program, or NSP, which uses $143 million of federal stimulus money to buy the "worst of the worst" foreclosed homes in South Los Angeles, the Eastside and Northeast San Fernando Valley. Those areas reportedly have the city's highest concentrations of foreclosed homes.
Los Angeles Daily News