Law Enforcement

Crime alerts for Glassell Park, five other L.A. neighborhoods
Crime reports are up significantly for the latest week in six L.A. neighborhoods, according to an analysis of LAPD data by the Los Angeles Times' Crime L.A. database. Three neighborhoods reported a significant increase in violent crime. Glassell Park was the most unusual, recording four reports compared with a weekly average of 0.7 over the last three months. Highland Park topped the list of three neighborhoods with property crime alerts.
Los Angeles Times

Man shot dead at Harbor City strip club; suspect sought
A shooting at a Harbor City strip club Sunday morning left one person dead as police search for the assailant. Authorities arrived at the strip club in the 1600 block of Pacific Coast Highway about 1:40 a.m. and found the 27-year-old victim with at least one gunshot wound. The man, whose identity has not been released, was taken to a local hospital where he died, according to a news release from the Los Angeles police.
Los Angeles Times

LAPD: In stores, keep hoodie on, but lower the hood
Donning a hoodie is now a political statement in the wake of the Trayvon Martin killing in Florida. But don't tell that to the members of LAPD's North Hollywood Division. They like the hoodies on but with the hoods down. In fact, they started a campaign in October called "Hats Off" to help store owners in North Hollywood and Studio City avoid becoming crime victims.
Los Angeles Times

LAPD fears high-profile trainer in custody sexually, physically abused many female victims
Detectives at the Los Angeles Police Department's North Hollywood Division announced Friday they are seeking possible additional victims of a North Hollywood personal trainer suspected of attempted murder and spousal abuse. Dejon Alan Miller, 35, was arrested Wednesday in connection with an assault with a deadly weapon committed on Dec. 17, said Detective Brandy Azarte.
City News Service

Westside parties draw police; numerous youths arrested, cited
It was Spring Break on the Westside this weekend, as two parties drew police attention and led to the arrest of numerous youths. The first took place Friday night at a home in Pacific Palisades, said Officer Ray Barron, of the Los Angeles Police Department's West L.A. station. A neighborhood youth had informed friends through social media that he and his parents were going on vacation to Hawaii. On Saturday night a party in Beverly Hills was shut down by police. The party then migrated and grew, with news spreading via smartphones and social media, to a home in the 1300 block of Holmby Avenue in nearby Holmby Hills, said LAPD Sgt. James Muniz.
Los Angeles Times

Burning car put out; body discovered inside hours later at police impound yard
LAPD officials are investigating a grisly death in Tujunga on Sunday, which went undetected for several hours. Los Angeles firefighters put out a burning car in the 6000 block of Sister Elsie Drive in Tujunga at 2 p.m. Saturday. Police then had the vehicle towed to their impound yard at Black and White Inc. Towing in Pacoima on San Fernando Road. An investigator checked out the burned vehicle at around 9 p.m. and made a grim discovery. There was a badly charred body inside.
NBC4

Vehicle theft suspect leads LAPD on pursuit
Authorities arrested a suspected car thief after the man led LAPD on a nearly 70-mile pursuit from near Dodger Stadium to San Clemente. The pursuit ended in San Clemente when the suspect pulled into a parking lot and gave himself up to police, said Lt. Mike Menza of the Los Angeles Police Department, northeast division.
Highland Park - Mt. Washington Patch

Motorist who killed pedestrian in Koreatown remains at large
Authorities have not yet identified the pedestrian who was struck and killed Sunday afternoon at a crosswalk in Koreatown. Los Angeles police said the man was hit by a vehicle at 1:15 p.m. Sunday at the intersection of West 5th Street and Normandie Avenue. The motorist was driving eastbound on West 5th Street and was turning right onto Normandie Avenue when he struck the man and then fled the scene, said Karen Rayner of the Los Angeles Police Department.
Los Angeles Times

Police are using phone tracking as a routine tool
Law enforcement tracking of cellphones, once the province mainly of federal agents, has become a powerful and widely used surveillance tool for local police officials, with hundreds of departments, large and small, often using it aggressively with little or no court oversight, documents show. The practice has become big business for cellphone companies, too, with a handful of carriers marketing a catalog of "surveillance fees" to police departments to determine a suspect's location, trace phone calls and texts or provide other services.
New York Times

Prisons

Decline in inmates prompts closure of new Colorado prison
Sometimes if you build it, they don't come. When construction was first planned in 2003 for a $184-million high-security facility within the Colorado prison complex in Canon City, the number of inmates being locked up in the state was increasing at what officials considered an alarming rate. But something happened between the first shovelful of dirt in 2007 and the final paintbrush stroke in 2010: The Colorado prison population started decreasing, first a little and then a lot.
Los Angeles Times

Politics

Candidates seek restitution after fraud plea
A California campaign treasurer pleaded guilty Friday to defrauding at least $7 million from a high-profile roster of politicians in the largest embezzlement case of its kind. But the resolution of the criminal case is expected to do little to help victims recover money they lost in the scheme that the U.S. attorney said highlights the shortage of regulations governing campaign finance managers. Kinde Durkee entered the pleas to five counts of mail fraud in U.S. District Court in Sacamento.
Associated Press