Law Enforcement

Truth triumphs over payoff demand
Last week, the jury in a federal civil rights case came to a swift and correct decision on who was responsible for the death of Manuel Jamines; it was 37-year-old Manuel Jamines. We applaud the City for refusing to pay off the plaintiffs any sum of money in this case as a "cost of doing business." We commend Chief Beck and the Commission for looking at the facts in this incident and standing behind the officers who protected the community from an intoxicated, knife-wielding man.
LAPPL Blog

Is increased enforcement paying off in Highland Park?
The numbers tell a compelling story. According to Crimemapping.com, 13 violent crimes - many of them shootings - were reported in Highland Park between July 15 and July 31. In the two weeks between August 1 and August 15, crimemapping.com shows only one violent crime--a report of a shooting at a moving vehicle. What changed? On Thursday, July 27, LAPD Northeast Division Senior Lead Officer for Highland Park, Nina Preciado, told Patch that extra officers from LAPD Central Bureau were being deployed to the area and that a "zero tolerance" policy was being put in place.
Highland Park-Mount Washington Patch

3 women hit by gunfire at L.A. taco stand
Three women were struck by gunfire outside a Pico-Union taco stand early Wednesday morning, but none was seriously wounded, police said. The shooting outside Lucy's restaurant at the corner of Washington Boulevard and Hoover Street occurred just after 1 a.m., said Sgt. Julia Vincent of the Los Angeles Police Department's Olympic Station. Police were looking for a dark sedan seen leaving the area, she said.
City News Service

Police catch suspected burglars in Palisades neighborhood
Two men suspected of a burglary in a Marquez Knolls home were arrested Wednesday afternoon on Sunset Boulevard, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. Officer Karen Rayner said police responded to the 900 block of Enchanted Way at about 2:20 p.m. A helicopter circled the neighborhood and residents of the Marquez Knolls Property Owners Association were told by LAPD to stay in their homes and lock their doors and window.
Pacific Palisades Patch

Woman with gun in Sylmar arrested
A woman was arrested Wednesday in Sylmar after she was seen holding a gun, leading Los Angeles police to seal off an area for more than an hour and at least one school to lock down. An officer at the LAPD's Mission Division said no one was injured and no shots were fired. The woman was arrested about 10 a.m. Someone called police at 8:17 a.m. to report an armed woman near Dronfield Avenue and Cobalt Street, Sgt. Karen Spencer said. The woman was going in and out of a house nearby.
City News Service

Legislation

Gov. Jerry Brown weighs protections for California sports fans
Gov. Jerry Brown is weighing a proposal to better protect sports fans from violence at California's professional football stadiums, hockey arenas and baseball parks. In the wake of violent incidents across the state, including the 2011 beating of San Francisco Giants fan Bryan Stow at Dodger Stadium, the Legislature this week sent Brown a bill that would require major-league sports venues to clearly post phone numbers that fans can call or text to quickly summon stadium security for help.
Los Angeles Times

Immigration

Undocumented immigrants line up for federal program to avoid deportation
Hundreds of young undocumented immigrants lined up in the Westlake District today to take advantage of a new federal program under which they can avoid deportation and obtain the right to work. The government began accepting applications Wednesday for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which targets immigrants who came to the country at a young age and have been attending school or served in the military and have not been convicted of a crime.
City News Service

Pensions

Richard Riordan, L.A. business leaders threaten to put pension reform on the ballot
Warning that Los Angeles could face bankruptcy like other cities, former Mayor Richard Riordan and local business leaders told city officials Wednesday they are prepared to ask voters to reform the public pension system if the City Council fails to act. Riordan and representatives of the business community met with Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and City Council leaders behind closed doors early Wednesday to press the need for change.
Los Angeles Daily News

Prisons

'Realignment' has dropped California prison population sharply
California's "realignment" program, aimed at reducing overcrowding in state prisons by diverting more low-level felons into local custody and probation, has sharply reduced state inmate numbers, according to a new report, but the rate of decline seems to be slowing. The report from the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice in San Francisco charts the first nine months of realignment ending June 30.
Sacramento Bee

Nation's longest-serving woman paroled in Arizona
At age 69, Betty Smithey learned that sometimes you really do get a second chance. On Monday, the nation's longest-serving female inmate used a cane to walk carefully out the front gates of an Arizona state prison, where she had spent 49 years for the 1963 murder of a child. The reason: A parole board decided that after nearly half a century behind bars, she wasn't the same troubled person who had strangled a 15-month-old baby. And for the first time in several tries, a sitting governor agreed.
Los Angeles Times

City Government

City warns marijuana dispensaries in LA to close by Sept. 6 or face fines, jail
As the enforcement date nears for the city's ban on medical marijuana clinics, the City Attorney's Office sent out a letter this week to dispensary operators and landlords advising them that pot shops must be shut down by Sept. 6. The three-page letter was sent to more than 1,000 locations where the clinics are believed to be operating and warns they face court action and a $2,500 fine per day they stay open once the ban takes effect.
Los Angeles Daily News