Law Enforcement

Crime alerts for Reseda, E. Hollywood, 13 other L.A. areas
Crime reports are up significantly for the latest week in 15 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. Reseda was the most unusual, recording 11 reports compared with a weekly average of 3.9 over the last three months. East Hollywood topped the list of 10 neighborhoods with property crime alerts.
Los Angeles Times

Crime alert for 77th Street neighbors: Home burglaries are up
A neighborhood crime alert for those who live near 77th Street in South Los Angeles: Los Angeles police from the 77th Division say there's been a rash of burglaries in that neighborhood. Thieves have broken into 20 homes between Aug. 19-29. The break-ins are concentrated in an area roughly bordered by Slauson, Florence, Western Avenues and the 110 Freeway.
Southern California Public Radio

Presumption of innocence: A reminder
Over the past few weeks, several LAPD officers have come under the microscope because of various incidents captured on videotape. Whenever a police officer is accused of wrongdoing or even charged in a criminal case, the matter should be taken seriously. Accountability is a vital element of law enforcement and LAPD officers should be held to account for their actions. It is important to remind ourselves and the public that everyone - including police officers - is innocent until proven guilty.
LAPPL Blog

Forceful arrests could harm LAPD goodwill efforts
A spate of incidents in which Los Angeles police officers are under investigation for use of excessive force is threatening to erode the Police Department's hard-won efforts over several years to bolster community relations. Video in recent weeks has captured officers punching a handcuffed suspect and slamming a restrained woman to the ground. In the third case, a woman stopped breathing in the back of a police car and later died. The incidents come after years of reforms by the LAPD to improve its officers' conduct.
Associated Press

Man who crashed stolen police car in L.A. may lose both legs in accident
A man who stole a police car in South Los Angeles on Friday and slammed it into a Starbucks coffee shop, a light pole and a parked car in the Mid-Wilshire area of Los Angeles lost at least one of his legs in the wreck, police said. The crash at 1298 S. La Brea Avenue, near San Vicente Boulevard, happened at 3:56 a.m., according to Officer Mike Coleman of the Los Angeles Police Department's Wilshire Station and Brian Humphrey of the Los Angeles Fire Department.
City News Service

Man fatally shot at party in South L.A.
A 20-something man shot in the head at an underground party in South Los Angeles" died Sunday, a police sergeant said. Sheriff's deputies on patrol near Western Avenue and 98th Street about 3:45 a.m. hear "about 10 shots," Los Angeles police Sgt. Rick Rodgers of the 77th Street Station said. The fatally shot man was about 25 years old, Rodgers said. His name was being withheld, pending notification of his next of kin. Apparently, the shooting was witnessed by partygoers, but "nobody saw anything," Rodgers said.
City News Service

LAPD gets new guidelines for handling 'Suspicious Activity Reports'
In Los Angeles, as elsewhere in this country, fear of enemies in our midst - be they Communists, trade unionists or foreign terrorists - too often has led to violations of the privacy of law-abiding Americans. Given that history, civil libertarians and members of the Muslim community were right to press the Los Angeles Police Department to ensure that a program designed to detect possible terrorist activity doesn't cast suspicion on individuals whose only "offense" is to exercise their right to free speech or belong to a particular ethnic or religious group.
Los Angeles Times

Sheriff concerned about higher retirement age
Raising California police officers' retirement age could lead to more middle-aged, infirm cops on patrol duty, said Riverside County Sheriff Stan Sniff and law enforcement advocacy groups. Patrol work "is a young man's and a young woman's game," said Sniff, who just turned 63. "It's very hard to be a front-line patrol officer at over 50 years of age." The California Police Chiefs Association and the California Peace Officers Association agree. "The older an employee gets, the more likely they are to be injured, particularly street officers," the peace officers association stated in a mass email.
Riverside Press-Enterprise

Pensions

Governor's Pension Proposal misses the mark
With great fanfare this week, Governor Jerry Brown announced that the biggest rollbacks of pension benefits in California history. While we believe that City of Los Angeles employees are not impacted by the governor's proposals, (charter cities should be exempt if their retirement plans are not administered by the California Public Employees' Retirement System) we are concerned that the proposals will make communities in our state unsafe.
LAPPL Blog

Proposition 32 Ballot Initiative

STOP the Special Exemptions Act - NO on Prop 32
Police officers, firefighters and the rest of California's middle class will be silenced if big corporations have their way this November. Prop 32 is NOT what it seems. It was intentionally written to create special exemptions for billionaire businessmen, giving them even more political power to write their own set of rules. Prop 32 exempts secretive Super PACs, which can raise unlimited amounts of money from corporate special interests and billionaire businessmen to support their favored candidates and defeat their enemies.
LAPPL Blog

Reality Check: Anti-Proposition 32 radio ad is accurate; measure is deceptive
The campaign to defeat the Proposition 32 is running a 30-second radio ad in major media markets in the state. The ad is vaguely worded, designed no doubt to pique voter interest. What's the charge? "It's really a deceptive proposition stuffed with special exemptions for the oil companies, Wall Street and those secret campaign super PACs who want to rig the system." The ad concludes: "It's not what it seems." Is it true? The charge is true.
San Jose Mercury News

People

Peninsula cross country coach Marcella Piersol, a former LAPD officer, comes 'home' to Conquer the Bridge
In her 22 years with the Los Angeles Police Department, Marcella Piersol was never called by her first name. It was Officer Piersol. Then it was Lieutenant Piersol of the LAPD's Harbor Division. Now she is simply known as Coach Piersol, having taken charge of the once-powerful Peninsula High girls cross country program since retiring from the LAPD. Coming full circle, Piersol returns to the Harbor Area she served so dutifully for so many years by participating in Monday's Conquer the Bridge race in San Pedro.
Torrance Daily Breeze