Law Enforcement

Crime alerts for Mar Vista, Eagle Rock, 8 more L.A. neighborhoods
Crime reports are up significantly for the latest week in 10 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. Mar Vista was the most unusual, recording six reports compared with a weekly average of 0.5 over the last three months. Eagle Rock topped the list of eight neighborhoods with property crime alerts.
Los Angeles Times

Ill 'Onion Field' killer may get early release
The California parole board is considering a compassionate release request for the convicted killer of a police officer in the case chronicled in the book and movie "The Onion Field." State Department of Corrections spokeswoman Terry Thornton said Wednesday the board will consider the case of Gregory Powell at its Oct. 18 meeting. Under state law, inmates are eligible for compassionate release if they have six months or less to live. The board will make a recommendation to a judge, who will make the final ruling.
Associated Press

Jury awards LAPD detectives $2.5 million
A jury has awarded three veteran Los Angeles police detectives $2.5 million in a gender discrimination and retaliation lawsuit against their supervisors. The verdict, delivered Friday after only a few hours of deliberation, is the latest in a long string of costly lawsuits brought by LAPD officers against fellow cops and supervisors for retaliation, harassment and other workplace abuses. Police Chief Charlie Beck has identified the internal strife - and the Los Angeles Police Department's inability to address it quickly - as one of the most pressing issues facing the agency.
Los Angeles Times

Mumbai Police to follow in LAPD's footsteps, says police chief
The Mumbai Police's Quick Response Teams will be revamped and modeled along the lines of the Los Angeles Police Department's elite SWAT teams. This was revealed by Police Commissioner Arup Patnaik on Wednesday, days after he attended a course on Critical Incidents and Tactical Response at the FBI Academy in Los Angeles. "The most important takeaway from the visit will be that we got to see the LAPD's SWAT teams and interact with their officials. We will now revamp our QRTs and make them elite units that can match other such crack teams anywhere in the world.
Indian Express

"Office Creeper" career burglar arrested
A man suspected of burglarizing downtown Los Angeles-area office buildings while wearing a security guard jacket was arrested Wednesday. Otis Anthony Deaver was arrested about 1:45 p.m. without incident by officers from the Los Angeles Police Department's Rampart Division at a Bank of America branch at 6th Street and Central Avenue. Deaver "is a career burglar who likes to steal laptops right off of desks," LAPD Lt. Paul Vernon said. "We've tied him to two thefts since August, and detectives at Rampart Division have tied him to several more thefts."
City News Service

Prisoner Transfers

Cascade effect: California's prison release program
Here they come. Back in May, I wrote about the wave of criminals about to be released from state penitentiaries in California in accordance with a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on prison overcrowding. The state is under orders to reduce its inmate population by as many as 30,000, and the implementation of this "prison realignment" began on Saturday, with the first of the so-called "low-risk" state inmates transferred to county jails. Gov. Jerry Brown did his best to put a happy face on what will surely be a trying time for police officers in California.
Jack Dunphy/Pajamas Media

Prison overcrowding and underfunding lead to more local burdens
The boring, bureaucratic word "realignment" masks the truly dramatic change in locking up California criminals that Gov. Jerry Brown just pulled off. "A lot of people say, 'Hey, what's new in Sacramento?'" Brown told a news conference last week. "Well, this is new. It's bold. It's difficult. And it will continuously change as we learn from experience. "But we can't sit still and let the courts release 30,000 serious prisoners. We have to do something."
Los Angeles Times

City Government

City Hall embraces Occupy L.A. protest on lawn
Pounding rain could not keep protesters from their make-shift tent city in front of City Hall on Wednesday, while city officials discussed how to make life easier for the Occupy L.A. participants. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa provided 100 ponchos for the protesters, who are part of the nationwide movement that began several weeks ago with the Occupy Wall Street protests.
Los Angeles Daily News

Greuel: City budgeting process should change
With Los Angeles facing years of deficits, City Controller Wendy Greuel on Wednesday proposed changing how the city prepares its budgets, starting with a pilot program in two agencies. Under her proposal for performance-based budgeting, departments would look first at what services they need to provide, then calculate the cost. That differs from the current line-item approach, in which additions or deletions are made to the prior year's budget.
Los Angeles Daily News

City workers face disparities over porn case penalties
In 2008, an on-duty traffic officer appeared in a pornographic video, spanking and groping a blond adult actress near a parking meter. The same year, a buxom brunette actress posed on a Los Angeles Fire Department firetruck during an X-rated video shoot, an incident now being investigated by the department. While the traffic officer was fired earlier this year, the firefighters responsible for the truck will likely never face suspension or dismissal. The disparity in punishment between city departments is causing some city officials to call for reform at the Los Angeles Fire Department.
Los Angeles Daily News