Law Enforcement

Crime alerts for Harbor Gateway, Green Meadows, other L.A. areas
Crime reports are up significantly for the latest week in 13 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. Harbor Gateway was the most unusual, recording six reports compared with a weekly average of 2.3 over the last three months. Green Meadows topped the list of eight neighborhoods with property crime alerts.
Los Angeles Times

LAPD beefs up patrols in Wilmington following spate of homicides
Dozens of Los Angeles police officers have been shifted to patrols in Wilmington following a troubling rise in violence that puts the Harbor Area atop the city for homicides this year, a top official said Tuesday. Los Angeles police Deputy Chief Patrick Gannon, who was at the scene of a double-slaying Monday night on Pacific Coast Highway, said he made the decision to reassign 20 to 30 officers to the community.
Torrance Daily Breeze

Witness scares off apartment burglary suspects in Culver City
Police are searching for three suspects in an apartment burglary who were scared off by a witness in Culver City on Monday night. The incident happened in the 3000 block of Grand View Avenue in the Palms area of the city. Two black males reportedly forced the front door open to the residence. Just 10 minutes prior, the suspects knocked on the door to see if anyone was home. The person inside did not answer because he was not expecting company. Once the men were inside, they were confronted in the living room by a second witness, who scared them off.
ABC7

LAPD looks for mountain lion on the roof of a home in Chatsworth
Los Angeles police Tuesday night were investigating a report of a possible mountain lion on the roof of a home in Chatsworth. The call came in about 10 p.m. from a resident in the 22700 block Dale Court, saying there was a large animal on the roof that might be a mountain lion, the Los Angeles Police Department said. The neighborhood is near the brush-covered hillsides of Santa Susana Pass State Historic Park.
Los Angeles Times

The 5 U.S. cities with the worst gang violence
Five cities - Long Beach, Los Angeles, Newark, Oakland and Oklahoma City - are the U.S. capitals of gang homicide. That's according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which also found that homicides in each of those cities have their own local flavor. The report is based on data from the CDC's National Violent Death Reporting System, comparing gang and non-gang data on violence and homicide.
The Atlantic Cities

FBI Director says cyberthreat will surpass threat from terrorists
Threats from cyber-espionage, computer crime, and attacks on critical infrastructure will surpass terrorism as the number one threat facing the United States, FBI Director Robert Mueller testified today. Mueller and National Intelligence Director James Clapper, addressing the annual Worldwide Threat hearing before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, cited their concerns about cyber-security and noted that China and Russia run robust intrusion operations against key U.S. industries and the government.
ABC News

Legislation

Assembly changes mind and passes three-strikes legislation
One day after turning thumbs down, the Assembly today passed legislation that would ask voters to alter California's "three strikes" criminal sentencing law. Assembly Bill 327, approved by a vote of 41-33, now goes to the Senate. Assemblyman Mike Davis, D-Los Angeles, sought the re-vote after his measure lacked five votes for passage Monday, when 10 members either were absent or opted not to cast a vote.
Sacramento Bee

City Government

Suits could force L.A. to spend huge sums on sidewalk repair
Los Angeles may be the land of the freeway, but it is notorious for its bad sidewalks - buckled, cracked and sometimes impassable. By the city's own estimate, 42% of its 10,750 miles of pedestrian paths are in disrepair. Now a series of civil-rights lawsuits against Los Angeles and other California cities is for the first time focusing attention - and money - on a problem that decades of complaining, heated public hearings and letter-writing campaigns could not.
Los Angeles Times

Pensions

Don't balance budgets at expense of public servants' pensions
This is in response to syndicated columnist Dan Walters' Jan. 24 piece, "Civil service unions in denial on pension costs." I have been in law enforcement since I was 20 years old. I will be starting my 25th year in law enforcement this year. All Californians are struggling through this recent recession. Why is it that the media and politicians immediately target public safety and public employees' pensions to balance the budget? There is this misconceived notion that all public safety employees retire with pensions of more than $100,000 a year. The facts are, statewide, less than 3 percent of public safety retirees make that much a year.
Marc Haiungs/Bakersfield News