Law Enforcement

Carjacking suspect stole 2 vehicles before being shot, sources say
An armed carjacking suspect stole two vehicles before leading officers on a dramatic chase through the streets of Los Angeles that ended Thursday night in a barrage of police bullets that left the man dead in Koreatown. Live television footage showed the man driving on the 101 Freeway, rolling past people on bustling Hollywood Boulevard and pulling his vehicle into a gas station on Wilshire Boulevard, where at least one officer fired multiple shots into the vehicle as a bystander ducked for cover near an adjacent vehicle.
Los Angeles Times

Sheriff Baca backs driver's licenses for illegal immigrants
Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca said he supports the idea of allowing illegal immigrants to have driver's licenses as long as they have been in the United States for a number of years without committing other crimes. Baca's comments Thursday come as Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck has also expressed support for driver's license for illegal immigrants. Baca said such licenses should only be issued after illegal immigrants fill out comprehensive applications, similar to those for citizenship.
Los Angeles Times

Spate of arrests shows rise in reporting, not in abuse, police say
In three weeks, six L.A. Unified employees have been booked on suspicion of sex-related crimes. The Miramonte episode has sparked some people to come forward and others to be more watchful, police say. Los Angeles Police Capt. Fabian E. Lizarraga, who oversees child sex crime investigations, said the department has seen an increase in allegations of "child annoyance" more than of more serious sexual misconduct.
Los Angeles Times

Tired of the Los Angeles parking ticket runaround
A chorus of complaints about the city bureau that handles parking violations is circulating around town and springing up on the Web. Critics cite the appeal process and a lack of transparency. The parking bureau's Yelp consumer review page has nearly 150 entries, almost uniformly negative. A YouTube video features live audio of a bureau employee giving another driver the same line about not being responsible for post office mistakes.
Los Angeles Times

'Sovereign citizen' movement now on FBI's radar
Since 2000, members of the "sovereign citizen" movement have killed six police officers, and clashes with law enforcement are on the rise, according to the FBI. The deadliest incident came in 2010, when a shootout with a member left four people dead, including two police officers, during what began as a routine traffic stop in West Memphis, Ark. Since then, in a notable shift in policy, federal officials have stepped up their attention on sovereign citizens.
Los Angeles Times

New Riverside County DA investigator chief on a mission
Michael Moriarty was going to have some quiet final days to end his 31-year career with the Los Angeles Police Department before coming to the Riverside County District Attorney's office as its chief investigator. But on New Year's Eve weekend, someone started setting fires, nearly 50 of them, all over the city from Hollywood to the San Fernando Valley and in adjoining West Hollywood. Moriarty, an LAPD commander in charge of the detective bureau, was back on a case, one more time.
Riverside Press-Enterprise

Cliff Shepard, LAPD Detective who helped nab the Grim Sleeper, on the cases he cracked and the ones that got away
Detective Cliff Shepard has served with the Los Angeles Police Department for 37 years and 13 days. He retired Thursday, bringing to a close a career spent tracking and catching some of the most notorious serial killers in L.A.'s history. There was Rodney Acala, the handsome and charismatic UCLA graduate who appeared on ABC's The Dating Game--and won--in the middle of a bicoastal murder spree that claimed at least seven lives.
LA Weekly

Prisons

New prison medical facilities unnecessary, analyst says
California should hold off on building new medical facilities for prison inmates, according to report released Thursday by the legislative analyst's office. The report contradicts plans by a court-appointed receiver, who has run the prison health system since a federal judge declared it unconstitutionally inadequate, for $2.3 billion in new clinics and upgrades.
Los Angeles Times

Immigration

Number of deportation cases drops by nearly a third, report says
The number of deportation cases filed by federal immigration officials dropped by nearly a third in the first three months of the fiscal year, according to a report by the Syracuse University Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse. The drop recorded in the last three months of 2011 may reflect the Obama administration's plan to focus its deportation efforts by weighing a variety of discretionary factors, including whether the person is a veteran, came to the U.S. as a child or is a college student, according to the report.
Los Angeles Times

City Government