Law Enforcement

Crime alerts for Manchester Square and nine other L.A. neighborhoods
Crime reports are up significantly for the latest week in 10 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. Manchester Square was the most unusual, recording six reports compared with a weekly average of 1.9 over the last three months.
Los Angeles Times

Police investigate two hit-and-run deaths in San Fernando Valley
Police are investigating two separate hit-and-run deaths that occurred early Saturday in the San Fernando Valley. The first incident occurred around 2:20 a.m. near the intersection of Victory Boulevard and Kester Avenue in Van Nuys, said Sgt. Jimmy Chong of the Los Angeles Police Department. A vehicle struck a pedestrian who was crossing about 30 to 40 feet west of the crosswalk, Chong said. The driver fled the scene, Chong said, but around 4 a.m. he turned himself in at an area police station.
Los Angeles Times

Suspect tells police he killed his father with a sledgehammer
Los Angeles police detectives responding to a call to a Chatsworth home Sunday found a man dead, allegedly from a hammer blow delivered by his son, an LAPD officer said. Police went to a home in the 21300 block of Candice Place just after noon and were met by the suspect, said Officer Gregory Baek. "He told the officers he had killed his father with some kind of hammer," Baek said.
Los Angeles Times

Retiree arrested in slaying of girlfriend missing for three years
A 72-year-old South Los Angeles retiree has been arrested on suspicion of killing his 41-year-old girlfriend, who disappeared nearly three years ago, after traces of her blood were recovered from inside his home, Los Angeles police said. George Larry Hill was taken into custody Thursday by the Los Angeles Police Department's Robbery Homicide Division on suspicion of murdering Channa Kincade.
Los Angeles Times

Police investigating possible hate crime against gay man in Hollywood
Los Angeles police are investigating a possible hate crime against a gay man, who reported he was attacked early Sunday morning in Hollywood. Around 1:30 a.m., the man was approached by three assailants near the intersection of Cahuenga Boulevard and Yucca Street, said Sgt. Sal Ogaz of the Los Angeles Police Dept.'s Hollywood Division. One of the suspects asked the man whether he was gay and, when he said he was, the three attacked him, Ogaz said.
Los Angeles Times

Police step up social media efforts amid confusing law
With more netizens flaunting their actions and thoughts in the open, social media has become a mainstay in police work. Police departments and federal agencies are aggressively seeking information from social-media companies, beefing up their budgets and providing training to dig for online clues left by criminals and victims in targeted investigations. They can and do routinely order social-media companies to shut down a Twitter or Facebook page, for example, immediately after a crime has been committed or have relevant information archived before any changes can be made.
USA Today

Prisoner Early Release

Bureaucratic hoops let parolees hide behind privacy laws
You'd think the same state legislators who backed the release of thousands of parolees from state prisons into local communities would at least ensure that local police could know the identity of these convicted criminals. But in its haste to enact prison realignment, the legislature made it too easy for parolees to slip into neighborhoods unencumbered by their criminal past.
LAPPL Blog

Pensions

Don't let the facts get in the way of a good story
Another take on the pensions fuss - Inaccuracy and dishonesty may be a fact of life, but it's particularly disappointing to read the frenzied attacks of those who challenge pension funds for using "inaccurate" funding and reporting numbers - when those very attacks are dependent on numbers and scenarios ginned up by the authors to support their own misleading claims. Public employee pensions have been under attack since the early part of the past decade. Governor Schwarzenegger advocated eliminating defined-benefit plans and converting all public employees' pensions to 401(k)/defined contribution-style plans.
Tyler Izen/City Watch

City Government

Injured and ailing people wait as dispatch problems slow LAFD
When the machine swallowed her hand, slicing off one finger and mangling the rest, Tania Wafer's co-workers tried frantically to stop the bleeding as a supervisor dialed 911. Hang on, they told her as she slid in and out of consciousness on the floor of the printing plant. The ambulance will come soon. It didn't. Wafer waited nearly 45 minutes for Los Angeles Fire Department paramedics to arrive because of ongoing problems with the agency's emergency dispatch system.
Los Angeles Times

L.A. councilman seeks report on emergency response-time figures
A Los Angeles councilman introduced a motion Friday that would order the Fire Department to report how it has calculated emergency response times, which have come under scrutiny because of discrepancies in the figures. The motion by Councilman Dennis Zine comes amid heightened scrutiny of the agency and questions about its transparency after The Times disclosed that fire officials had for years released data to the public and city officials showing that medical rescuers were arriving at emergencies faster than they actually were.
Los Angeles Times