Law Enforcement

A steep drop in crime, but do you feel safer?
Los Angeles - like other big cities around the country - is in the midst of a crime drop so steep and profound, it has experts scratching their heads. Crime fell in 2011 for the ninth year in a row, to levels not seen in Los Angeles since half a century ago. The reasons are complicated and ripe for debate: better policing and more community involvement; fewer drugs and fuller prisons; an explosion in new technology; and the fading profile of violent gangs.
Los Angeles Times

Ray Charles Foundation presents LAPD with $1M grant at Gardena church
A charitable foundation established by singer Ray Charles presented the Los Angeles Police Department's Cadet Program with a $1 million grant at a Gardena church on Sunday. The presentation of the grant was made at the City of Refuge Church, 14527 S. San Pedro St. The $1 million grant is expected to support the Cadet Program for three years. Ray Charles, born Ray Charles Robinson, died in 2004 at the age of 73.
Torrance Daily Breeze

Crime concerns at luxury apartments
Over the past 10 years, developer Geoff Palmer's Italian Renaissance-inspired apartment complexes have proved popular with college students and others willing to pay high rents for upscale amenities. Among local police, however, the gold-hued City West buildings named after Italian noble families have a different reputation: They're notorious targets for property crime. Last year, tenants in the three-building, 1,073-unit Orsini complex at Sunset Boulevard and Figueroa Street reported 73 crimes considered serious by the Los Angeles Police Department.
Los Angeles Downtown News

L.A. police fatally shoot man allegedly brandishing gun
Los Angeles police officers shot and killed a man who allegedly brandished a gun at them Saturday afternoon in El Sereno, the department said. Officers were called to the 4800 block of Axtell Street about 12:45 p.m. because of reports that there was "a man with a gun" there, police said. A confrontation ensued, and the man, who police did not identify, was shot to death. No officers were injured.
Los Angele Times

2 men sought for trying to set U-Haul truck on fire in Woodland Hills
Two men are being sought for trying to set a U-Haul truck on fire at Woodland Hills early Sunday morning. Investigators say it wasn't a random crime. The men were targeting the driver of the truck. Officials say the suspects poured gasoline on the truck, but they were run off by someone before they could ignite it. The incident happened in the 7200 block of Alabama Avenue at about 12:20 a.m. Police say there is some kind of dispute between the intended victim and the suspects.
ABC7

Ex-Norwalk cop sued by unlicensed driver for patrol car accident
An illegal immigrant is suing a former Norwalk Police sergeant for injuries she suffered during a 2008 accident, even though she does not have a driver's license and was found to be at fault in the accident, according to court documents and legal counsel for the city of Norwalk. M. Jeffry Spahr, deputy corporation counsel for the City of Norwalk, called the case "incredible" and the first of its kind that he's seen, stating that his "jaw just dropped" when he discovered the immigration status of plaintiff Angelica Llanos.
Norwalk Hour

Prisoner Transfers & Parole

State convicts arrive in L.A. County with costly mental illnesses
As California begins shifting supervision of thousands of newly released state prisoners to local probation agencies, ex-convicts are arriving with incomplete medical records and more serious mental illnesses than anticipated. And mental health officials are scrambling to provide appropriate - and often costly - treatment. "At the start, every day ... there was a crisis," said Dr. Marvin Southard, director of the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health.
Los Angeles Times

35-mile parole buffer doesn't apply to victim's next of kin
When a prisoner is paroled after serving time for a violent crime, California law allows the crime victim or a witness to ask the state for a buffer zone requiring the parolee to live at least 35 miles away. Prison officials invoked that law in 2010 to bar Terrance David from moving in with his ailing mother in Burbank, 26 miles away from the sister of a woman who was killed when David, while driving under the influence of PCP, slammed into her car in 1986.
San Francisco Chronicle

Immigration

Federal immigration enforcement is mandatory, memo says
Two years after the Secure Communities immigration enforcement program was implemented, federal officials determined that choices available to local law enforcement agencies that wished to decline or limit their participation would be "streamlined" or "eliminated," making the information-sharing program mandatory, according to a memo recently made public. Launched in 2008, Secure Communities was promoted to local and state leaders as a way to focus immigration enforcement efforts on "serious convicted criminals."
Los Angeles Times

City Government

The downs and ups of driving in Los Angeles
In a city where driving takes up an enormous amount of physical and mental energy, it is hardly surprising that the holes in the roads provoke deep irritation, the sort of thing that residents pester the mayor about when they spot him out and about. "This is a city built with an addiction to the single passenger automobile and people are on every road every day, so we have a daunting task," said Mayor Antonio R. Villaraigosa, who campaigned on a promise to fix the city's streets. With crime down to some of the lowest levels in recent memory, he said, people have to find something to complain about. And these days, potholes it is.
New York Times