Law Enforcement

Hit-and-run slaying case is Canoga Park man's fourth arrest in 2012
A 20-year-old man had already been arrested and released three times this year when police say he hit and killed a pedestrian in Canoga Park while driving a stolen car. Ernesto Jacinto Lopez of Canoga Park is charged with killing Arnel Cantal, 59, last week. He has been held since minutes after the crash, and his bail was more than $1.1 million as of Friday. Prosecutors charged him Friday with eight counts, including murder, grand theft auto, evading an officer and leaving the scene of an accident.
Los Angeles Daily News

LAPD detectives investigate shooting behind Ralphs in Woodland Hills
Robbery detectives Friday were investigating a shooting that resulted in a man being seriously wounded behind a Ralphs supermarket in Woodland Hills. The victim, a man about 30, suffered three or four gunshot wounds to his abdomen in a parking lot behind the store at Ventura Boulevard and Winnetka Avenue, said Los Angeles police Sgt. Sabrina Kuhn of the Topanga Station. His condition was not available, but a watch commander at the Topanga Station said he was still alive this morning.
City News Service

Woman passenger in fatal LAPD Van Nuys shooting held on attempted murder charge
A woman who rode in a car with a man who was shot and killed by police in Van Nuys was jailed Friday in lieu of $550,000 bail on suspicion of attempted murder and obtaining credit using another's identification. Vanessa Acosta, 26, was arrested at 9:46 p.m. Wednesday when the chase ended at the intersection of Vanowen Street and Orion Avenue, according to Los Angeles police. No officers were injured in the shooting, but a 22-year-old man who was in the car with Acosta was shot by officers and pronounced dead at the scene.
City News Service

Gunman who fired on family was wearing body armor, police say
Inglewood police suspect a gunman indiscriminately opened fire on a family Saturday morning, blaming them for an eviction notice he had received from their landlord. He allegedly shot five people -- including three children. Two died. The body of the suspect in was believed to be found in the ashes of his home, wearing body armor, clutching a revolver and bearing a gunshot wound to the head, police said Sunday.
Los Angeles Times

Wireless carriers and law enforcement zeroing in to combat rising cell phone thefts nationwide
Cell phone thefts in Los Angeles, which account for more than a quarter of all the city's robberies, are up 27 percent from this time a year ago, police said. Thefts of cell phones- particularly the expensive do-it-all smartphones containing everything from photos and music to private e-mails and bank account statements- are costing consumers millions of dollars and sending law enforcement agencies and wireless carriers nationwide scrambling for solutions.
Associated Press

Public Safety

Growing use of bath salts prompts warning
Bath salts were a "trending topic" in social media this past week. Contributing to the cyberspace chatter was news of a recording released by the LAPPL. Deutsche Bank executive Brian C. Mulligan was caught on tape telling a Glendale police officer he snorted white lightning, a type of bath salts, and that he believed a helicopter had been trailing him. The dramatic revelation undercut the banker's $50-million brutality claim against two LAPD officers.
LAPPL Blog

Delayed 911 response a matter of geography and jurisdictions
Los Angeles' city and county fire agencies agreed in 1979 to link their dispatching operations to save lives and cut costs. But a Times analysis of more than 1 million LAFD responses over the last five years shows the agency rarely reaches across jurisdictional lines for county help. One result: 911 callers within a quarter mile of the city border are nearly 50% more likely to wait more than 10 minutes for rescue crews to arrive.
Los Angeles Times