Law Enforcement

Crime alerts for Venice, Arlington Heights and 10 other L.A. neighborhoods
Crime reports are up significantly for the latest week in 12 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. Venice was the most unusual, recording five reports compared with a weekly average of 3.0 over the last three months. Arlington Heights topped the list of seven neighborhoods with property crime alerts.
Los Angeles Times

LA police: 2 arrested in Chinese student killings
Two young men were arrested Friday in the killings of two Chinese graduate students who were shot in an apparent robbery attempt last month near the University of Southern California, police said. Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck said Javier Bolden, 19, and Bryan Barnes, 20, were arrested on suspicion of the murders, which sent shockwaves through the university where nearly 1 in 5 students is from overseas.
Associated Press

LAPD to alter policy on data possibly related to terrorism
In the face of privacy concerns, the Los Angeles Police Department has agreed to change the way it collects information on suspicious activity possibly related to terrorism. The department, after coming under fire from civil liberties and community groups, will no longer hold on to so-called suspicious activity reports that the LAPD's counter-terrorism unit determines are about harmless incidents. Until now, the department stored the innocuous reports in a database for a year.
Los Angeles Times

Teenager believed to be part of tagging crew shot in Highland Park
Detectives from the LAPD's Northeast Division Gang Unit are investigating the shooting of a male teenager near Avenue 53 and North Figueroa Street on Thursday afternoon. According to Detective David Mejia, the teen was grazed in the side of his torso with a bullet at around 3 p.m. on Thursday and is expected to fully recover. Mejia said the victim and another teen (exact ages could not be provided for either), were walking southbound on Figueroa near Avenue 54 when they were approached by another pair of teenagers.
Eagle Rock Patch

County jails feeling the pressure
The number of jail beds in Riverside County east of Los Angeles was finally catching up with the region's rapid growth when state lawmakers passed sweeping legislation that assigned thousands of inmates who would have gone to prison to their local lockups instead. Almost overnight, the county of more than 2.2 million people was booking 200 new inmates a month and began early releases for hundreds of other, less-serious offenders to make room.
Los Angeles Daily News

Police searching for gunman who shot three people, killing one
Los Angeles police are searching for a man who shot three people, killing one of them, at a South Los Angeles shopping center. Aldo Zambrano, 24, was standing in the parking lot outside a mobile phone store an 112th Street and Avalon Boulevard about 11:40 a.m. Friday when a gunman opened fire, hitting him and two 20-year-old males, said LAPD Det. Sal LaBarbara. Zambrano later died at Harbor UCLA Medical Center. "Zambrano was the intended target," LaBarbara said.
Los Angeles Times

Metro officials stunned by fatal shooting of bus driver
Metro officials were stunned by the fatal shooting Sunday of one of their bus drivers by a passenger in West Hollywood. "It's a tragedy. We don't know why this happened," said Metro's Chief Executive Officer Art Leahy, who went to the scene and then to the driver's division to speak with other employees. "It's a tragedy, everybody at MTA feels horrible about it," Leahy said. "It's the first time I've ever known this to happen in my career here. ... It's terrible."
Los Angeles Times

FBI 'looking at' law making Web sites wiretap-ready, director says
FBI Director Robert Mueller confirmed that the bureau has renewed its push for a new Internet wiretapping law, which CNET reported two weeks ago. In an appearance this week on Capitol Hill, Mueller downplayed privacy concerns, saying the FBI's wiretap proposals -- social-networking Web sites and providers of VoIP, instant messaging, and Web e-mail are the primary targets -- would still require a court to be involved. We want to "be able to obtain those communications," Mueller said on Wednesday.
CNET

The Courts

Once again, a failure to follow precedent at the 9th Circuit
"We've given police a simple, common-sense rule to deal with vehicles that are left unattended because the driver has been placed under arrest." If those words had been used by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in the case of the U.S. vs. Cervantes, we'd say, "Amen!" Unfortunately, those were the words of dissenting Judge Sandra Ikuta in a three-judge panel ruling of the Court.
LAPPL Blog

Federal judge blocks National Defense Authorization Act provision
In a stunning turnaround for an act of Congress, a judge ruled Wednesday that a counterterrorism provision of the National Defense Authorization Act, an annual defense appropriations bill, is unconstitutional. Federal district Judge Katherine B. Forrest issued an injunction against use of the provision on behalf of a group of journalists and activists who had filed suit in March, claiming it would chill free speech.
Los Angeles Times