Law Enforcement

LA countering homegrown extremism with community policing
The White House says fighting homegrown extremism in the United States is a top national security priority. The Los Angeles Police Department is working with the Department of Homeland Security to implement a plan to train police across the country to prevent extremism. A White House counter-terrorism plan announced earlier this month calls for local police to work with U.S. minority and immigrant communities. The second-largest city in the United States, Los Angeles, is home to immigrants from around the world.
Voice of America

L.A. won't put LAPD on Google's cloud-based email system
In a setback for Google Inc.'s ambitions to be a major provider of email service to governments, Los Angeles has abandoned plans to move 13,000 law enforcement personnel to the Internet company's cloud-based messaging system. The Los Angeles City Council voted Wednesday to scale back the city's email services contract with Google, agreeing with staff analysis that the company's technology could not meet the security needs of crucial departments including police and the city attorney's office.
Los Angeles Times

Woman pushed from moving car on 110 Freeway
A 35-year-Los Angeles man was in custody Wednesday after he allegedly forced a woman into his car and then pushed her out of the moving vehicle on a downtown freeway. The man, identified by police as Juventino Gonzalez, then jumped from the still-moving car himself but was quickly taken into custody. Gonzalez and the woman suffered moderate injuries, the California Highway Patrol reported.
Los Angeles Times

Editorial: It's time for the state to offer drivers licenses to undocumented workers
As the year draws to a close, the a debate is popping up between LAPD leadership and the Los Angeles Police Protective League over how to handle unlicensed drivers. Yesterday, LAPD Chief Charlie Beck announced that the City of Los Angeles would allow unlicensed drivers pulled over by the police to call a friend or family member to pick up their car rather than have it be impounded. Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Police Protective League contends that such a move while make Los Angeles' streets less safe, as unlicensed drivers will not lose their car, which of course makes it likely that they will drive again.
LA Streets Blog

Los Angeles County Probation Department falls short of compliance
Despite making "great strides" to improve parts of its juvenile justice system, the Los Angeles County Probation Department has failed to achieve almost a quarter of the 41 youth camp reforms ordered in 2008 by federal officials, according to a draft report obtained by The Times. The department oversees 14 camps designed to house and rehabilitate about 2,200 of the area's most troubled youths and has been under U.S. Department of Justice oversight for nearly 10 years.
Los Angeles Times

San Bernardino County public safety employees face cuts
A group of San Bernardino County public safety employees, including probation officers and district attorney's investigators, face a 14 percent cut in pay and benefits unless they agree to a previous proposal by the county. On Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors voted 3-2, with Brad Mitzelfelt and Neil Derry dissenting, to cut by 7 percent the salaries of probation officers, district attorney's investigators, coroner's investigators and welfare fraud investigators.
San Bernardino Sun

California's newest cybercrime task force unveiled in San Jose
Surrounded by more than $1 million in confiscated jewelry, Attorney General Kamala Harris unveiled a new statewide cybercrime unit in Silicon Valley on Tuesday aimed at investigating and prosecuting such misdeeds as the ATM-skimming scheme that recently fleeced more than 500 Lucky supermarket customers. Harris said the "eCrime unit" will provide another layer of much-needed protection for consumers and businesses in the Golden State.
San Jose Mercury News

Immigration

U.S. citizens get caught up in immigration enforcement program
U.S. citizens have been illegally detained throughout Los Angeles County as a result of the controversial Secure Communities immigration enforcement program, a coalition of civil and immigrant rights groups said Wednesday. The American Civil Liberties Union and others identified four U.S. citizens who have been detained through the fingerprint-sharing program in the last few months, including three identified in November.
Los Angeles Times

The Economy

California consumer confidence falls
California consumers' confidence plunged by about 10 percentage points in the fourth quarter of this year as the state continued to experience high unemployment and a volatile stock market rattled nerves, Chapman University reported. The A. Gary Anderson Center for Economic Research said Wednesday that its composite index of consumer confidence fell to 78.6 in the December from 88.2 in the year's third quarter.
Los Angeles Times