Pensions

Police union challenges former Mayor Riordan to pension debates
Los Angeles labor leaders are coming out swinging against former Mayor Richard Riordan's push to place an initiative on next year's ballot switching new city workers into 401(k)-style retirement plans. Tyler Izen, president of the Los Angeles Police Protective League, on Tuesday challenged Riordan to three public debates on the merits of his plan before Dec. 7. That's the deadline Riordan has set to collect roughly 265,000 signatures to qualify his measure for the May ballot.
Los Angeles Times
LAPPL Blog

Law Enforcement

LAPD calls off search for young woman in El Sereno
Police Tuesday called off their search for a young woman whom witnesses said had been assaulted and kidnapped in El Sereno. The attack, which occurred Monday night near the El Sereno Recreation Center Parking lot, left police baffled, but yielded several clues. The attack occurred shortly after 7:50 p.m. Monday, officials said. Witnesses saw a man strike a female in the face, drag her up a hill by her hair and tear at her clothes as she screamed for help, Los Angeles police Commander Andrew Smith said.
San Gabriel Valley News

Man in wheelchair shot while waiting to buy 'Call of Duty' game
A man in a wheelchair was shot early Tuesday morning as he waited in line outside a Koreatown video game store to purchase the latest edition of "Call of Duty." The victim, a Latino in his early 20s, was waiting in line just after 1 a.m. at GameStop at Wilshire Boulevard and Vermont Avenue when he became embroiled in an argument with another man, said Los Angeles police officials. The suspect produced a gun and fired multiple shots, hitting the victim in the stomach.
Los Angeles Times

Occupy L.A. protesters arrested
Six Occupy demonstrators were arrested in Century City on Tuesday for failing to disperse and trying to block traffic in front of Deutsche Bank offices on the Avenue of the Stars. The demonstrators targeted Deutsche Bank offices because they said the global institution was illegally foreclosing on U.S. homes. Los Angeles police declared an illegal assembly Tuesday after some activists put up yellow tape across the Avenue of the Stars at Constellation Boulevard, stopping traffic, and several people started "chalking" messages on the pavement.
Montrose - LaCrescenta Patch

LAPD still trying to attract more women officers
For 30 years the LAPD has been trying to achieve the elusive goal of 20% women in its sworn officer ranks. Back then, the force was less than 2 percent female; many considered it a fairly hostile workplace environment for women. After a series of lawsuits the LAPD agreed to start actively recruiting women and set the 20% goal. Recently, the department's gotten close-painfully close-without hitting the mark.
Southern California Public Radio

LAPD "confident" there will be no pepper spraying incidents this Black Friday
Pandemonium broke out last year at a Porter Ranch Walmart when a woman blasted shoppers with pepper spray during an early Black Friday shopping. Now, Porter Ranch residents and local law enforcement are working to make sure there's no repeat performance this year. "I'm confident that this year we won't have the incident that occurred last year, again. We've been working closely with Walmart," said Officer Danny Del Valle, of the LAPD.
NBC4

Female gang member charged in church deacon's slaying
A female gang member was charged Tuesday with murder, attempted murder and vandalism for her role in the Nov. 4 fatal shooting of a church deacon outside a Westlake district church when he and others tried to stop her from vandalizing the church. Janeth Lopez, 22, was allegedly spray-painting a red graffiti tag on the walls of the Iglesia de Paz church when the deacon and other church members tried to stop her.
Los Angeles Times

LAPD officers lied under oath in drug probe, jury finds
Two Los Angeles Police Department officers lied under oath during a drug possession case five years ago, a jury found Tuesday. Officer Richard Amio and former Officer Evan Samuel were each found guilty of perjury and conspiracy to obstruct justice. Samuel and Amio showed no reaction as the verdict was read. The jury deadlocked over perjury and conspiracy charges against a third officer, Manuel Ortiz, and the judge declared a mistrial on those charges.
Los Angeles Times

Traffic

More women have driver's licenses than men in United States
Women have passed men on the nation's roads. More women than men now have driver's licenses, a reversal of a longtime gender gap behind the wheel that transportation researchers say is likely to have safety and economic implications. If current trends continue, the gap will only widen. The share of teens and young adults of both sexes with driver's licenses is declining, but the decline is greater for young men, according to a study by the University of Michigan's Transportation Research Institute.
Associated Press

City Government

Los Angeles City Council votes to put sales tax hike on March ballot
The Los Angeles City Council gave preliminary approval Tuesday to putting a half-percent sales tax increase on the March ballot, saying it would give leaders breathing room to deal with the city's budget problems. The measure, which received a 10-4 vote, will need to return next week for a final vote under council procedure because it was not unanimously approved. "We still have a lot of work to do," Council President Herb Wesson said.
Los Angeles Daily News