Law Enforcement

Crime alerts for West Adams and eight other L.A. neighborhoods
Crime reports are up significantly for the latest week in nine L.A. neighborhoods, according to an analysis of LAPD data by the Los Angeles Times' Crime L.A. database. Four neighborhoods reported a significant increase in violent crime. West Adams was the most unusual, recording six reports compared with a weekly average of 3.4 over the last three months. Rancho Park topped the list of five neighborhoods with property crime alerts.
Los Angeles Times

Man killed by officer in Sun Valley wouldn't drop gun, police say
The man fatally shot by a Los Angeles police officer Sunday had been threatening residents in a Sun Valley home with a gun, authorities reported. Officers arrived shortly before 6 a.m. at the home in the 7700 block of Ethel Avenue and saw the man standing outside with a gun, police said. Officers said that they ordered him to put down the weapon but that he refused, prompting police to shoot him. The man, who has not been identified, was pronounced dead at the scene. The officers were not injured.
Los Angeles Times

LAPD tries new policies to cut costly, dangerous traffic crashes
At any given moment in Los Angeles, scores of police cars are out on the streets - either rushing to calls for help or prowling around in search of trouble. Despite the training cops receive in how to speed safely through traffic, they are an accident-prone bunch. Police were involved in traffic accidents more than 1,250 times in the last three years - an average of about one a day. It is a top priority for us to get a comprehensive risk management plan in place, and addressing traffic accidents has to be a big part of that," said Richard Drooyan, president of the Los Angeles Police Commission.
Los Angeles Times

Unlicensed to kill
On November 16, 2010 my son Drew, a 25-year-old was killed by an unlicensed driver in San Francisco. On June 14, 2010, Roberto Galo was caught driving the wrong way down a one way street, driving without a license and driving without insurance. He was arrested and his car was impounded. Less than 24 hours later he had his car back and continued to drive it until he killed my son. On July 27, 2010, he was allowed to plead to the lesser offense of driving the wrong way down a one-way street and his driving without a license charge and driving without insurance charges were dropped.
Don Rosenberg/City Watch LA

Victim identified in Hollywood severed head case
A man whose severed head, hands and feet were found in the hills below the famed Hollywood sign overlooking Los Angeles was identified by the coroner's office on Friday as 66-year-old Hervey Coronado Medellin. A mother and daughter who were walking dogs in a popular hiking area stumbled upon the Los Angeles resident's severed head earlier in the week, and a search nearby later turned up hands and feet. Homicide detectives were still questioning witnesses and potential suspects in the bizarre case, Los Angeles Police Department Lieutenant Andrew Neiman said.
Reuters

LAPD searches for killer of 21-year-old man in Westlake
Los Angeles police are searching for the killer of a 21-year-old man who was shot Saturday outside an apartment building in the city's Westlake district, authorities said. The victim was at a party when the shooter opened fire at 12:28 a.m., said Lt. Ruby Malachi of the Los Angeles Police Department. A Los Angeles County coroner's investigator identified the victim as Manuel Campos. Malachi said detectives have identified a possible suspect, but are not releasing a name for fear of jeopardizing the investigation.
Los Angeles Times

Number of registered sex offenders in the U.S. nears three-quarters of a million
Today, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children released the results of its latest survey regarding the number of registered sex offenders located in the U.S. The organization's most recent survey of states found there are 747,408 registered sex offenders in the country today, which represents an increase of 7,555 offenders from the previous survey in June 2011. The first sex offender registry was created in 1947 in California. Today, every state has such a registry.
Press Release

Traffic

Officials to commemorate SigAlert's 57th birthday
Los Angeles transportation leaders plan to gather at Caltrans headquarters Monday to commemorate the anniversary of what may be L.A.'s most iconic gift to the rest of the world: the SigAlert. The world's first automated traffic alert was transmitted by the Los Angeles Police Department's AM radio station on Jan. 21, 1955. Today, 57 years after radio engineer Lloyd Sigmon invented the SigAlert, the California Highway Patrol still uses that term to alert people to an unplanned lane closure of more than 30 minutes duration.
Los Angeles Daily News

Pensions

New pension forecasts: what if earnings falter?
A new advisory panel, following a move by CalPERS last year, recommends that public pensions take a small step that touches on a big issue: What happens if pension fund earnings fall below the forecast? Investment earnings are expected to provide two-thirds or more of the money needed to pay pensions in future decades. Critics say earnings forecasts, 7.75 percent a year for CalPERS and CalSTRS, are too optimistic and conceal massive taxpayer debt.
Calpensions

Passing

Philip Vannatter, Los Angeles detective who investigated Simpson-Goldman murders, dies at 70
Philip Vannatter, the Los Angeles police detective who served as a lead investigator in the 1994 murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman, has died in Southern California, according to his brother. He was 70. Vannatter died Friday at a Santa Clarita hospital of complications from cancer, his brother Joe Vannatter told The Associated Press on Sunday. He was among the first detectives on the scene at former football star O.J. Simpson's mansion in June 1994, following the stabbing deaths of Simpson's wife Nicole and her friend, Ron Goldman.
Associated Press