Law Enforcement

Crime alerts for Beverly Grove, Larchmont and five other L.A. neighborhoods
Crime reports are up significantly for the latest week in seven L.A. neighborhoods, to an analysis of LAPD data by the Los Angeles Times' Crime L.A. database. Three neighborhoods reported a significant increase in violent crime. Beverly Grove was the most unusual, recording five reports compared with a weekly average of 1.3 over the last three months. Larchmont topped the list of four neighborhoods with property crime alerts. It recorded 10 property crimes compared with its weekly average of 4.5 over the last three months.
Los Angeles Times

LAPD hunts for San Pedro shooting suspect
Los Angeles police are searching for a suspect who shot a 25-year-old San Pedro man over the weekend, officials said. The victim was walking with friends in the 500 block of West 14th Street in San Pedro early Sunday morning when he got into an argument with another man, Los Angeles police Sgt. Michelle Santillan said. The man was shot once in the upper torso and taken to a nearby hospital in stable condition, officials said. Anyone with information about the shooting is urged to call LAPD's Harbor Division at 310-726-7700.
Torrance Daily Breeze

9th Circuit issues mixed ruling on Taser use
To tase or not to tase? That was the question. But there is no good answer, at least under the law, according to an opinion issued Monday by a 10-judge panel of the highest court in the Western states. Case law is so muddled, a majority ruled, that even though the use of Tasers by police in two cases before the panel was unconstitutional, the officers have immunity from suit because they could not have been expected to know that.
Sacramento Bee

More states crack down on texting while driving laws
Police nationwide are issuing a growing number of tickets for texting while driving as more states make the practice a primary offense and become aggressive in cracking down. Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) spokesman Jonathan Adkins says 31 of the 34 states with text messaging bans, as well as Washington, D.C., have made texting while driving a primary offense, allowing police to pull drivers over for that specific offense. California and New York are among them, as is Maine, where the law went into effect last month.
USA Today

Prisons & Parole

Borrowed cellphone slams prison cell shut
Dwayne Kennedy threw a man from a moving car in 1988, but that's not what's keeping him in prison today. It's not the inmate he stabbed 17 years ago either; the state parole board forgave him that. Instead, California prison officials are keeping Kennedy locked up for an extra five years - costing taxpayers roughly $250,000 - because guards caught him with a contraband cellphone he says he borrowed to tell his family he had just been granted parole and was coming home.
Los Angeles Times

State & Municipal Budgets

Budget cuts claim hundreds of thousands of county, city jobs
Local governments, once a steady source of employment in tough economic times, are shedding jobs in unprecedented numbers, and heavy payroll losses are expected to persist into next year. The job cuts by city and county governments are helping offset modest private-sector employment gains, restraining broader job growth. "They'll continue to be a drag on the overall (employment) numbers and the economy," says Wells Fargo economist Mark Vitner.
USA Today

Pensions

How safe is your pension?
You can't turn on the television these days without hearing about the economic crisis that's affecting not only the United States, but the entire world. So it stands to reason that many retirement funds are suffering as a result. Some public sector pension plans are relatively unaffected, while others were too fragile to weather the financial storm. Whether the safety of your retirement is in danger depends on the terms and stability of your pension fund, the health of your public employer's overall finances, and how long you have to make up any losses before you retire.
Police Magazine

Healthcare

Massive medical clinic comes to Sports Arena
Nearly 5,000 people with toothaches, blurry vision and other health problems lined up outside the Los Angeles Sports Arena on Monday to receive a plastic wristband, their ticket to a massive free medical clinic beginning later this week. The clinic, organized by the nonprofit, L.A.-based CareNow, will run Thursday through Sunday and include volunteer services by cardiologists, dentists, podiatrists and other medical professionals.
Los Angeles Times

People

John Miller, the ex-LAPD official, goes to CBS News
John Miller, a former TV newsman who came to the LAPD from New York with then-chief William Bratton, is returning to the news business. He has been named a Senior Correspondent for CBS News, with "a major role in the mornings on CBS News. He will report for all CBS News platforms and broadcasts, including occasionally for '60 Minutes.' His appointment is effective Nov. 1." Miller has been deputy director of the analysis division in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, a unit he joined in 2005.
LA Observed