War vets invade an urban village

Operation Oliver aims to fix up one of the city's seediest neighborhoods. Some volunteers are reminded of conditions in Iraq and Afghanistan

Earl Johnson's boots crunch broken glass from liquor bottles as he walks down an alley in East Baltimore's Oliver neighborhood.

He is just blocks from the site of the firebombing of a family who called the police on drug dealers and were killed for it, and just yards from some of the most memorable scenes of urban decay in television's "The Wire."

At his side are Rich Blake, 32, a Marine Corps veteran; and Jeremy Johnson, 34 , a Navy veteran. Like Earl (no relation to Jeremy), they are on a different kind of mission.

They've come to this neighborhood once synonymous with the worst of Baltimore to help it become something better. They call this mission Operation Oliver.

As the men walk, they pick up empty Seagram's gin and Bacardi rum bottles. They point to progress — refurbished homes, a painted playground — and to vacant houses and trash-filled alleys that still need work.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-hometown-baltimore-20111225,0,4000069.story

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California could lose 1,500 inmate firefighters

A prison realignment program will send low-level offenders to county jails, depriving the state from using them to help clear brush, cut fire lines and stop infernos from spreading.

When Gov. Jerry Brown and the Legislature shifted responsibility for thousands of state prisoners to county jails, some authorities said it would mean more offenders on the streets breaking the law.

Few saw another possible peril: the loss of more than 1,500 inmate firefighters.

Since World War II, the state has relied on nonviolent offenders serving time for such crimes as burglary, drug possession and welfare fraud to help clear brush, cut fire lines and stop infernos from spreading.

Fire officials say the prisoners, selected from a pool of those who exhibit ideal behavior in custody, can be as much as half the manpower assigned to a large fire.

"When things get busy, it's the first thing we run out of," said Andy McMurry, deputy director of fire protection for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

Now, the realignment of inmate custody, developed to comply with a U.S. Supreme Court decision that overcrowding must be reduced in state lockups, is expected to keep thousands of those low-level offenders in county jails, where many could be released early because space is scarce.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-firefighting-20111225,0,2361588.story

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Angry former ATF chief blames subordinates for Fast and Furious

In a deposition with congressional investigators, Kenneth E. Melson faults agents, supervisors and top aides for the gun sale program that has been linked to drug cartel violence.

In a confidential deposition with congressional investigators, the then-head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives blamed agents, field supervisors and even his top command for never advising him that for more than a year, his agency allowed illegal gun sales along the southwestern U.S. border.

The deposition, which was taken in July and was recently obtained by the Washington bureau, shows that Kenneth E. Melson was irate. Even his chief intelligence officer at ATF headquarters was upset with the operation, dubbed Fast and Furious, but did little to shut it down, Melson complained. "He didn't come in and tell me, either," Melson said. "And he's on the same damn floor as I am."

But B. Todd Jones, Melson's replacement as acting director of the agency, said in an interview that Melson allowed overzealous field agents and supervisors to go beyond approved tactics.

Pointing out that the ATF has had five acting directors in the last six years, Jones said the resulting weak management structure has given some field agents a license to operate independently of Washington.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-fast-furious-20111225,0,5020063,print.story

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ID errors put hundreds in L.A. County jails

Wrongful incarcerations totaled 1,480 in the last five years, a Times inquiry finds.

Hundreds of people have been wrongly imprisoned inside the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department jails in recent years, with some spending weeks behind bars before authorities realized those arrested were mistaken for wanted criminals, a Times investigation has found.

The wrongful incarcerations occurred more than 1,480 times in the last five years. They were the result of a variety of factors, including officials' overlooking fingerprint evidence and working off incomplete records.

The errors are so common that in some years people were jailed because of mistaken identity an average of once a day. Many of those wrongly held inside the county's lockups had the same names as criminals or had their identities stolen — problems that took days or weeks for authorities to sort out.

In one case, a mechanic held for nine days in 1989 on a warrant meant for someone else was detained again 20 years later on the same warrant. He was jailed for more than a month the second time before the error was discovered.

In another instance, a Nissan customer service supervisor was hauled by authorities from Tennessee to L.A. County on a local sex-crimes warrant meant for someone with a similar name.

In a third case, a former construction worker mistaken for a wanted drug offender said he was assaulted by inmates and ignored by jailers.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-wrong-id-20111225,0,4530093,print.story

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Volunteer listeners, watchers can pack a punch for community policing

Watch. Listen. Call police.

It's a community policing prescription intended to help officers make Saginaw's mean streets safer.

We are all for the Saginaw Police Department's plans to have community volunteers add their eyes and ears to the fight against crime.

The more people watching and listening for trouble — and then reporting it to uniformed officers — the better. Police officers can't be everywhere at once. But with a little help from community friends, officers can respond to pinpointed sources of trouble.

Volunteers would be on the street reporting what they encounter and in the city's electronic monitoring station to watch and listen for trouble through the ShotSpotter gunfire detection system and other devices peppered throughout the community.

Those up to no good should get the message that there are a lot more people actively looking out for crime and suspicious activity than there have been.

http://www.mlive.com/opinion/saginaw/index.ssf/2011/12/our_voice_volunteer_listeners.html

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Many more sex crimes on Alaska's west coast
TROOPERS: Report cites alcohol abuse.

Disturbing new numbers accent what law enforcement, social agencies, Native leaders and politicians have long realized about Western Alaska: It struggles with far more than its share of violence and family dysfunction.

A picture of the challenge emerges from the Alaska State Troopers' just-completed annual report for 2010. The sparsely populated, remote area logged between one-third and one-half of all cases handled by troopers involving sexual assault, sexual abuse of a minor, or assault.

If the cases were distributed evenly by population across Alaska, the numbers for Western Alaska would be far, far lower. The common thread is alcohol abuse, troopers said.

"It's frustrating because you are trying to make a difference. You are trying to make an impact on these numbers," said trooper Capt. Barry Wilson, who heads the trooper detachment for the region. "But it takes time."

http://www.adn.com/2011/12/24/2233181/many-more-sex-crimes-on-alaskas.html

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Dec 24, 2011

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LAPD botched use of downtown crime cameras

The failures kept a series of skid row stabbings from being recorded, officials admit. Some surveillance units are broken while others were never hooked up, records show.

Most of the surveillance cameras installed in downtown Los Angeles as part of an effort to help police crack down on crime have not been working for two years, according to interviews and records reviewed by The Times.

The cameras were installed over the last few years in a highly publicized partnership between local business groups, which purchased them, and the Los Angeles Police Department, which was to monitor and maintain them.

But officials said the majority of the cameras don't work. Some broke down and were never fixed. In the case of six cameras purchased to watch over Little Tokyo, LAPD officials admit that they were never plugged in to the police station's monitoring bank.

Frustration about the broken cameras has deepened in recent days after a string of recent stabbings on a block in skid row. In one case, a 53-year-old man died after being stabbed and beaten by more than half a dozen attackers. No arrests have been made.

A camera is located just above where the stabbings occurred, but officials said it was not working properly.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-police-camera-20111224,0,4429022,print.story

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TSA as holiday elf? TSA launches help line for disabled travelers

Just in time for the onslaught of Christmas travelers, the Transportation Security Administration has unveiled a help line designed to assist travelers with disabilities and special medical needs. If recent headlines are any indication, some travelers might say it should have come a little sooner.

The help line, TSA Cares, provides specific information on security and screening procedures at the airport.

“TSA Cares provides passengers with disabilities and medical needs another resource to use before they fly, so they know what to expect when going through the screening process,” said TSA Administrator John Pistole in a statement. “This additional level of personal communication helps ensure that even those who do not travel often are aware of our screening policies before they arrive at the airport.”

In November, the Transportation Security Administration instituted enhanced safety inspections that allow travelers who are asked to submit to a full-body scan to instead undergo a pat-down, which includes TSA agents using their hands to check areas such as the groin and around the bra.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/nationnow/

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Cuba to release 2,900 prisoners as goodwill gesture

President Raul Castro said the move was a goodwill gesture after receiving numerous requests by relatives and religious institutions.

But US national Alan Gross, who is serving 15 years for crimes against the state, is not among those to be freed.

On the separate issue of foreign travel for Cubans, President Castro said it was too early to lift restrictions.

The president told the National Assembly that those who urged a lifting of travel restrictions "are forgetting the exceptional circumstances under which Cuba lives, encircled by the hostile policy... of the US government".

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-16324331?print=true

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PHOENIX (AP) — America's self-proclaimed "toughest sheriff" has been dealt another setback to his immigration enforcement efforts by a federal judge's ruling that bars deputies from detaining people based solely on the suspicion that they're in the country illegally.

The ruling issued Friday sets the stage for a possible trial in a lawsuit that alleges racial profiling in the patrols in Arizona's Maricopa County, and would further limit Sheriff Joe Arpaio's immigration authority after Washington yanked his federal powers earlier this month.

Lawyers pushing the lawsuit on behalf of five Latino clients also won class-action status that lets other Hispanics join the case if they have been detained and questioned by Arpaio's deputies as either a driver or passenger in a vehicle since January 2007.

U.S. District Judge Murray Snow hasn't yet ruled on the ultimate question of racial profiling, but notes the case's evidence could lead a judge or jury to conclude that Arpaio's office racially profiles Latinos.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gHLvu3eHioMWtEv1-bZaN6gVecCA?docId=bfad499df1f34717bfa0279f45ef5aa7

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Ham for the Holidays

More than 100 families will have holiday ham dinners thanks to the generosity of Pinellas County Sheriff's deputies, Pinellas Suncoast firefighters and volunteers from the Calvary Episcopal Church.

Rev. Robert Wagenseil of Calvary Episcopal thanked the volunteers and blessed the meals.

"Most people see you when they get a ticket or they get sick. Add this to the list. They were hungry and you fed them. They were living alone and you visited them," Wagenseil said.

http://pinellasbeaches.patch.com/articles/ham-for-the-holidays

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Dec 23, 2011

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Breaking news: Santa's sleigh gets clearance from FAA

Santa One -- Santa's reindeer-powered sleigh -- has passed all safety inspections and is ready to fly higher, faster and more efficiently to deliver toys to good little girls and boys this Christmas, the Federal Aviation Administration reported Thursday.

The news was announced at the North Pole, after what the agency describes as a "thorough" safety inspection. The FAA says it was especially impressed with the aircraft's NextGen system.

"The satellite-based technology the elves have installed on Santa One will ensure that Santa stays safe and reaches all of his rooftops on time," U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in the announcement. "As a result of this improved technology, Santa will be able to deliver more presents to more children around the world."

(Unless, of course, they've been naughty.)

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/nationnow/

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Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio's department in yet more trouble

Arpaio responded to those allegations by calling them isolated incidents, as opposed to evidence of systemic problems.

But this week brought even more negative headlines for the self-proclaimed toughest sheriff in America.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/nationnow/2011/12/sheriff-joe-arpaio-arizona-illegal-immigration-maricopa-county-jail.html

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Through charitable giving, Americans spread the wealth

Despite the tough economy, or perhaps because of it, Americans are giving more to charity and volunteering more than ever — and more than the rest of the world.

In the midst of hard times, Americans are volunteering more and giving more to charity compared with last year and with the rest of the world. According to an annual poll conducted by the international Charities Aid Foundation, with results announced Monday, the people of the United States ranked as the most generous in the world in terms of time and money in 2011, up from fifth place in 2010.

Nearly two-thirds of Americans said they had donated money to charity, more than 40% volunteered their time, and close to three-fourths said they had helped a stranger. The country improved in all three measurements over the past year.

For a country this well off — and yes, in comparable terms, it still is — the number of Americans dipping into their wallets is still a little on the low side. The most generous with their money are the people of Thailand, where 85% said they had donated to charity. In the United Kingdom, 79% of people gave money, but the British — and the rest of the world — are about half as likely to do volunteer work as Americans.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/opinionla/la-ed-charity-20111221,0,4246250,print.story

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NYPD's spying programs produced mixed results

NEW YORK— When New York undercover officers and informants were infiltrating a mosque in Queens in 2006, they failed to notice the increasingly radical sentiments of a young man who prayed there. Police also kept tabs on a Muslim student group at Queens College, but missed a member's growing anti-Americanism.

Those two men, Najibullah Zazi at the mosque and Adis Medunjanin at the school, would go on to be accused of plotting a subway bombing that officials have called the most serious terrorist threat to the United States since Sept. 11, 2001.

Ever since The Associated Press began revealing New York Police Department spying programs on mosques, student groups, Muslim businesses and communities, those activities have been stoutly defended by police and supporters as having foiled a list of planned attacks.

Recently, for instance, when three members of Congress suggested an inquiry into those programs, Republican Rep. Peter King of New York rallied to the NYPD's defense.

"Under Commissioner Ray Kelly's leadership, at least 14 attacks by Islamic terrorists have been prevented by the NYPD," King said.

But a closer review of the cases reveals a more complicated story.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2011/12/23/nypds_spying_programs_produced_mixed_results/

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Where's Santa Claus? OnStar, NORAD tracker goes live Christmas Eve

(CBS) - The in-vehicle information provider OnStar joins the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) in their effort to track Santa Clause this Christmas.

On Dec. 24 at 7 a.m. EST OnStar users will be able to press the blue OnStar button and get an update on Santa's whereabouts. This is the third year the company will provide this service.

NORAD kicks off countdown to track Santa, with help from Google

Google has also partnered with NORAD to bring us closer to Santa. Their Santa tracker is available online and via mobile phones, starting at 2 a.m. on Christmas Eve.

Tracking Santa Claus has been a long-time tradition for NORAD. It all began over 50 years, as the website recounts:

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-501465_162-57347749-501465/wheres-santa-claus-onstar-norad-tracker-goes-live-christmas-eve/

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The Difference in Police Leadership on Immigration and Civil Rights

The Department of Justice Civil Rights Division just released the long-awaited results of its investigation into Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and his department. Sheriff Joe's tactics may have been headline-grabbing, but they have caused serious harm to his community and the people he swore an oath to protect and serve.

What citizens and community-policing advocates have known for years was officially confirmed by the Justice Department's investigative findings. Arpaio, far from being a role model for local or federal law enforcement, has destroyed the trust of his community, especially when it comes to immigrants and Latinos in Arizona.

The report confirms that tactics like Arpaio's are rooted in racial profiling: "Since roughly 2007, in the course of establishing its immigration enforcement program, MCSO has implemented practices that treat Latinos as if they are all undocumented, regardless of whether a legitimate factual basis exists to suspect that a person is undocumented" (page 6); that his policing practices damage law enforcement's relationship with all Latinos in the community: a "wall of distrust between MCSO officers and Maricopa County Latino residents" (page 2); and that he has made it harder for law enforcement officers to fight crime, as expressed by the MCSO deputy who "bemoaned the impact of MCSO's immigration-related operations, stressing that they 'affect our ability to work in a community that hates you'" (page 16).

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arturo-venegas-jr/the-difference-in-police-_b_1163607.html

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Living with Murder: Safer Detroit begins with knowing your neighbors

Do you know your neighbors? Have you had conversations with them? Do you watch out for their children when they play in the neighborhood?

Simply opening your mouth and saying hello is the easiest way to begin improving safety in your neighborhood. It creates a sense of community and ownership of the property around you.

Detroit has dozens of successful block clubs, but often there is little chance for their members to share information and resources across a city that stretches 139 square miles. City officials are working with groups such as Detroit 300 -- which is hosting a citywide block club meeting Feb. 9 -- to bolster community policing and patrols.

Annie Ellington, chief service officer for Mayor Dave Bing, said it's important to engage young people in neighborhoods and encourage them to take leadership positions. She said younger residents can embrace technology and keep their neighborhoods informed through social media such as Facebook and Twitter.

Most important, however, is to recruit residents who can dedicate even a slice of their time for safety patrols.

http://www.freep.com/article/20111223/NEWS01/112230362/Living-Murder-Safer-Detroit-begins-knowing-your-neighbors

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Dec 22, 2011

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STRIP Act targets TSA uniform: End 'impersonation' of 'real cops'

It's a new House bill that stands for Stop TSA's Reach In Policy and would prevent Transportation Security Administration officers from wearing law enforcement uniforms and police-like badges and calling themselves officers unless they receive law enforcement training.

"Congress has sat idly by as the TSA strip searches 85-year-old grandmothers in New York, pats down 3-year-olds in Chattanooga, and checks colostomy bags for explosives in Orlando. Enough is enough!" said the bill's sponsor, Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) "The least we can do is end this impersonation, which is an insult to real cops."

The American Federation of Government Employees said the bill was insulting to the 44,000 TSA workers it represented and did "nothing to add to our national security.''

"Every single member of Congress should be supporting federal employees, not trying to demean them," the union's national president, John Gage, said in a statement.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/nationnow/

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Women in Egypt hold huge rally to protest violence against them

Egyptian soldiers beat and stripped some women protesters in Cairo. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton condemned the attacks on women as "shocking."

CAIRO -- Egyptian police and soldiers fired guns and teargas to try to clear hundreds of women protesters from Cairo's Tahrir Square on the fifth day of clashes that have killed 13 people and drawn a stinging rebuke from U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

It may have been the biggest all-female demonstration in Egypt's history. Clinton on Tuesday condemned as "particularly shocking" incidents such as one in which two Egyptian soldiers were filmed dragging a woman protester on the ground by her black full-body veil, exposing her bra, then clubbing and kicking her.

The confrontations provide a turbulent backdrop to Egypt's progress towards democracy, with nine provinces, mostly outside the capital, holding run-off votes on Wednesday and Thursday in a parliamentary election being staggered over six weeks.

The army has pledged to hand power to an elected president by July, but its plans to permanently shield itself from civilian oversight in the new constitution have enraged pro-democracy protesters, who want it to hand over power at once.

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Latest-News-Wires/2011/1221/Women-in-Egypt-hold-huge-rally-to-protest-violence-against-them

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Renegade Amish group charged with hate crimes in beard-cutting attacks in Ohio

Samuel Mullet, 11 followers under arrest

Samuel Mullet and his followers face up to life in prison if convicted of hate-crime charges in attacks on their fellow Amish. Twelve members of a renegade Amish group were charged with hate crimes in the bizarre beard-cutting attacks on other members of the sect in eastern Ohio, the Department of Justice said Tuesday.

Samuel Mullet and 11 members of his group also face charges of conspiracy, assault and tampering with evidence in the case that has drawn worldwide attention to the insular community.

Mullet and six of his followers were jailed in late November and five additional suspects were arrested this week. The rebel Amish leader told the AP after his arrest in November that the attacks were to send a message to other Amish about how they treat his followers.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/renegade-amish-group-charged-hate-crimes-beard-cutting-attacks-ohio-article-1.994743?print=1

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Dec 20, 2011

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Student gets 21 years for shooting gay classmate

In court for sentencing, the victim's father criticizes the jury, school officials and media.

The father of a gay Oxnard junior high school student spilled his rage in a Ventura courtroom Monday, telling the convicted killer that he could not forgive him for shooting his son "with the precision of a cold-blooded assassin."

Greg King, reading a biting four-page statement to the court before Brandon McInerney was sentenced to 21 years in state prison, called jurors "incompetent" for failing to reach a verdict in the September murder trial, criticized the media for its coverage of the high-profile case and heaped blame on school officials for failing to watch over his son's well-being.

When jurors were unable to reach a verdict in the murder trial, McInerney agreed to plead guilty to second-degree murder and manslaughter. Under the terms of the plea bargain, the 17-year-old will not be eligible for early release, meaning he will be 39 when he is released.

McInerney had originally been charged with first-degree murder and committing a hate crime. But jurors were torn between murder and manslaughter, and several said they came to believe that McInerney had been tormented to the breaking point by Larry King's flirting.

With the tall, gangly McInerney seated a few feet away and showing no emotion, King lashed out at the teenager, calling him "a white supremacist assailant" who had been given the break "Larry never got" by jurors.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-gay-slaying-20111220,0,6688049.story

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Justice Department accuses Conn. police of bias against Latinos

In a 23-page letter to town officials, federal investigators said their examination, which began in September 2009 found that the department intentionally targeted Latinos for traffic enforcement and treated Latino drivers more severely after traffic stops than other ethnic groups. In harsh language, the department criticized what it said was a deeply rooted culture of discrimination and a failure by the department to cooperate with investigators.

“This is very encouraging,” the Rev. James Manship, a Roman Catholic priest, of St. Rose of Lima church in New Haven, said in a telephone interview. Working with the Jerome N. Frank Legal Services Organization at Yale University, Manship prepared a complaint for the Justice Department, alleging that Latinos were harassed and sometimes beaten by law enforcement personnel in East Haven.

“For us in a Latino, Catholic community, this is a season of hope and light,” Manship said. “The light glows a little bit brighter with this recognition.”

http://www.ice.gov/news/releases/1112/111219sanjose.htm

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A Resolution That's Easy to Keep: Resolve to be Ready

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Preliminary Crime Stats For the First Half of 2011

According to the FBI's just-released Preliminary Semiannual Uniform Crime Report —which covers January through June 2011—the number of violent crimes and property crimes reported to us showed a decrease compared to figures from the same time frame in 2010, continuing a downward trend.

Overall, violent crimes were down 6.4 percent, while property crimes fell 3.7 percent.

Here are some highlights of our preliminary crime statistics for the first six months of 2011, as compared to the same period last year:

• The occurrence of all four offense types in the violent crime category decreased—murder was down 5.7 percent; rape dropped 5.1 percent, robbery fell 7.7 percent, and aggravated assault declined 5.9 percent. And it didn't matter what region of the country you lived in—decreases in each category were seen in the Northeast, Midwest, South, and West.
  
  
• Overall violent crime declined in all six city population groups and metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties, with most violent crime offenses showing decreases. There were some upticks: murder in cities with populations between 500,000 and 999,999 (up 1.2 percent); murder in cities with under 10,000 people (2.6 percent); rape in cities of 1 million or more (1.0 percent); rape in cities of 500,000 to 999,999 (6.7 percent); and rape in cities of 250,000 to 499.999 (0.1 percent)

http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2011/december/crime-stats_121911/crime-stats_121911

Concealing of evidence highlighted in Texas wrongful conviction

Activists say the case of Michael Morton, exonerated of murder after 25 years in prison, underscores a problem of prosecutors withholding material that could help defendants.

The case of a grocery store clerk wrongly convicted of murdering his wife has rocked the legal system across Texas, and not just because an innocent man served 25 years of a life sentence.

Supporters of Michael Morton, who was set free in October, say he might never been convicted if a prominent prosecutor had shared significant evidence with the defense at the time of the trial.

"Mr. Morton was the victim of serious prosecutorial misconduct that … completely ripped apart his family," said Barry Scheck, co-director of the Innocence Project in New York, which represented Morton in his appeal.

On Monday, Morton and his lawyers plan to ask District Judge Sid Harle to take action against the lead prosecutor in the case, Ken Anderson, now a county judge.

The case highlights what critics say has become a recurring problem in Texas and across the nation: prosecutors concealing evidence that could undercut their cases.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-texas-prosecutors-20111219,0,3577045,print.story

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Food stamps for foster kids

L.A. County should help young people leaving foster care make the transition to self-sufficiency.

It used to be that when children in foster care turned 18, their surrogate parent — the county — would wash its figurative hands, wish the youth well and hope to never see them again. But the county too often does see them again, in court, in jail, living on the street, in substance-abuse treatment, in mental healthcare or in other programs for the traumatized and the have-nots. Even 18-year-olds with loving, functional families and the best care and support are seldom ready for independence and self-sufficiency, so it would be foolish to believe that foster youth aging out of the system without traditional family help will find jobs, get apartments and otherwise get on with the business of living without transitional assistance.

Several years ago California became one of a number of states that offered to help former foster youth navigate their way to age 21 if they could show they could keep a job or go to college. Much of that assistance has been dropped or delayed because of the poor economy and resulting budget crises. But Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas wants Los Angeles County to at least do its part to make certain that young people moving out of foster care don't go hungry. His motion on Tuesday's agenda calls on the county to make sure that ex-foster youth who need help between the ages of 18 and 21 are directed to CalFresh, the federally funded nutrition program more popularly referred to as "food stamps."

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-ed-foster-20111216,0,4550950,print.story

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Study: 1 in 3 American Youth Are Arrested By Age 23

The study is the first since the 1960s to try to determine the percentage of youth who are arrested. Previously, the research estimated that 22% of Americans had been arrested at least once for a non-traffic violation by age 23.

“We say in the paper that we think the real figure is on the order of 1 in 3,” says Robert Brame, lead author of the new study and a professor of criminal justice and criminology at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

The broad range in the estimate found by Brame and his team — from 25.3% to 41.4% — is due to missing data. The researchers used 1997-2008 data from the National Survey of Youth, which included more than 7,000 teens, but some didn't have data from some of the years.

Researchers have not completed an analysis of the data by race, but prior studies suggest that minorities are arrested more frequently than whites. Previous research finds, for example, that black youth are arrested at double the rate of white youth for drug crimes, even though a larger proportion of white youth actually use and sell drugs.

http://healthland.time.com/2011/12/19/study-1-in-3-american-youth-are-arrested-by-age-23/

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Maryland

Crime Conundrum: Riverdale Park Works To Improve Community Policing

Riverdale Park police are making an effort to establish good communication and relationships with the community in order to further impact crime.

Violent crime was down in Riverdale Park in the first six months of this year compared to the same period in 2010, mirroring statistics that show an overall decrease in crime in Prince George's County.

However, Riverdale Park Police Chief David Morris said that property crimes, which include theft, burglary and automobile theft, remained the same as last year.

There were 28 violent crimes reported in Riverdale Park from January through the end of October, police report, compared to 41 in the same 10 months of 2010.

But there were 130 reports of property crime in the first six months of both 2010 and 2011, Morris said. Property crimes are more common than crimes of violence because criminals don't have to interact with their victims , he explained.

http://riverdalepark.patch.com/articles/crime-conundrum-riverdale-park-works-to-improve-community-policing

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Editorial

Immigration reform: Scrap Secure Communities

Secure Communities was meant to deport immigrants with serious criminal convictions. But it has targeted non-criminals and even U.S. citizens. If it can't be fixed, it should be ended.

When the Secure Communities program was launched by the federal government in 2008, it was billed as a way to find and deport immigrants with serious criminal convictions. In the three years since then, it has become clear that the program has instead targeted many non-criminals. And recently it was revealed that the program has also managed to ensnare more than 3,000 U.S. citizens as well.

Indeed, in a news conference last week, civil rights activists identified four U.S. citizens from Los Angeles who were mistakenly detained under the program. It's past time for the Obama administration to scrap this problem-plagued enforcement plan.

Under Secure Communities, state and local police share the fingerprints of anyone arrested and jailed with federal immigration officials, who then check them against FBI and immigration databases. That seems simple enough. Yet somehow it isn't working out the way it's supposed to.

The program is seriously flawed. More than half of the 148,841 immigrants removed as of October have either no criminal convictions or minor ones, despite the government's stated goal of targeting serious criminals. A second problem is that the program doesn't allow states and localities to opt out, even though they were told they would be able to when they were first enlisted to sign up.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/opinionla/la-ed-secure-20111219,0,1705282,print.story

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