Law Enforcement

Crime alerts for Tarzana and 10 other L.A. neighborhoods
Crime reports are up significantly for the latest week in 11 L.A. neighborhoods, according to an analysis of LAPD data by the Los Angeles Times' Crime L.A. database. Five neighborhoods reported a significant increase in violent crime. Tarzana was the most unusual, recording five reports compared with a weekly average of 1.5 over the last three months. Montecito Heights topped the list of six neighborhoods with property crime alerts.
Los Angeles Times

Protesters plan to occupy other parts of downtown L.A.
The cost of repairing the increasing damage to the City Hall lawn where hundreds of Occupy L.A. protesters are camped out is becoming an issue for Los Angeles officials even as the protesters make plans to expand their demonstration to other downtown city property. The city has already incurred $45,000 in costs related to the demonstration, officials said, including thousands of dollars in overtime pay for General Services police. Eight Los Angeles Police Department officers have also been deployed full-time to monitor the protest.
Los Angeles Times

Villegas, a 22-year LAPD veteran, to become Valley's top cop
The LAPD's Jorge Villegas is the Valley's new commander. The former second-in-command of LAPD's Valley Bureau is returning to his old turf, this time to assume the top post. Cmdr. Jorge A. Villegas will succeed Deputy Chief Kirk Albanese, who will take over as head of the Detective Bureau on Nov. 6. Villegas, a 22-year veteran of the Los Angeles Police Department, currently oversees officer deployment citywide under Assistant Chief Earl Paysinger.
Los Angeles Daily News

Man who harassed ex-girlfriend on Facebook convicted under new law
A Los Angeles man has become the first person convicted under the state's new impersonation law for creating numerous fake social networking sites to harass a former girlfriend, the City Attorney's Office said. Jesus Felix, 22, was charged by the city attorney's Cyber Crime and Child Abuse Prevention Unit with using the fake accounts to annoy the 16-year-old girl. Felix on Tuesday entered a plea of no contest to two misdemeanor counts of violating the new impersonation code section and one count of making harassing phone calls.
Torrance Daily Breeze

LAPD mourns loss of red light cameras
It's been more than two months since the Los Angeles City Council unanimously voted to ditch the city's widely unpopular -- and admittedly costly -- red light camera program. Now it's back to the drawing board for the city's politicians, charged with the daunting task of reducing fatal traffic accidents in a city where death by automobile is virtually a daily occurrence. Luckily, there are no shortages of ideas. Extending yellow light times at problematic intersections and adding an extra second of four-way, or "all-red," time are among the opinions that have bounced around the council chamber.
KCET

LAPD Harbor schedules property viewing
The Los Angeles Police Department's Harbor Division will display recovered property for the public on Saturday in hopes of finding its owners. The property collected over the years could belong to victims of crimes or simply be lost property impounded by police. Included are car stereos, compressors, DVD players, an e-reader, GPS systems, iPhones, iPods and MP3 players, and laptop computers. The property will be available for viewing from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the station, 2175 John S. Gibson Blvd., in San Pedro. Community members must have made a crime or lost property report before the event.
Torrance Daily Breeze

Revisions to federal rape definition would greatly expand reporting
A proposed revision to the federal definition of rape, the first in more than 80 years, would greatly expand the number of crimes reported to the FBI by local law enforcement agencies. The new definition would increase the likelihood that cases in which victims are drugged or are under the influence of alcohol are counted. The definition also would cover cases that include "penetration, no matter how slight" by a body part or an object without the consent of the victim. And it removes specific reference to female victims.
Baltimore Sun

Prisons

This time, California prison layoffs look real
Some employees who work for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation can't believe that their jobs in the state's prison and parole system are going away. Calls and emails to the Sacramento Bee spiked Wednesday after the newspaper reported that state employee unions had agreed to deals that end moving allowances for many CDCR employees, replacing them with much cheaper incentives to transfer to some of the least desirable jobs in some of the remotest parts of California. Labor agreed to the deals hoping the concessions would save jobs. State workers asked: "Are they really going to lay people off?"
Sacramento Bee

City Government

Villaraigosa signs law giving L.A. firms a bidding advantage
The independently run Los Angeles city departments that spend hundreds of millions a year on contracts are likely to adopt an initiative to give local businesses a significant advantage in bidding. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa signed a law Wednesday creating a local business preference program that applies to about a third of the city's contracting, but excludes six agencies, including the Department of Water and Power, because they are controlled by their own boards.
Los Angeles Times

Council OKs proposal for a 75 percent hike on sewer fees
Los Angeles sewer bills will climb more than 75 percent over the next decade to fund upgrades to aging pipes under a plan approved Wednesday by the City Council. The 13-0 vote will lead to increases of 4.5 percent in each of the next three years and 6.5 percent annually for six years after that, generating nearly $2 billion. The average residential bill of $30 a month will increase to about $53 by 2020-21, officials said.
Los Angeles Daily News