Law Enforcement

Crime alerts for North Hills, Mount Washington, Mid-City
Crime reports are up significantly for the latest week in three L.A. neighborhoods, according to an analysis of LAPD data by the Los Angeles Times' Crime L.A. database. Two neighborhoods reported a significant increase in violent crime. North Hills was the most unusual, recording six reports compared with a weekly average of 3.3 over the last three months. Mount Washington was the lone neighborhood with a property-crime alert.
Los Angeles Times

Have no license, will travel
Unlicensed drivers are nearly three times more likely than licensed drivers to cause a fatal crash in California. Indeed, unlicensed drivers are more likely to cause fatal crashes than drivers who have had their licenses suspended or revoked. So found a new study released by the California Department of Motor Vehicles. The study recommended "the use of countermeasures, including vehicle impoundment" to save lives.
San Francisco Chronicle

Threat to public safety by unlicensed drivers confirmed by DMV study
We've been warning for a long time that suspended or revoked and unlicensed drivers were a public safety menace. That's why we opposed the LAPD directive not to impound for 30 days vehicles of unlicensed drivers. The politics-above-public-safety policy puts innocent people at risk of being injured and killed on Los Angeles streets. City officials choose not to believe the very police officers who investigate vehicle crashes in Los Angeles and instituted a policy that ignores state law. Perhaps they now will listen to the DMV.
LAPPL Blog

Man dies while trailing Justin Bieber's Ferrari
A photographer was hit by a car and killed Tuesday after taking shots of Justin Bieber's white Ferrari while it was pulled over by the California Highway Patrol, authorities said. Police are interviewing the motorist who hit the 29-year-old man but no arrests have been made. Bieber was not in the car. The photographer died at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. A friend of the photographer told KCAL-TV Channel 9 that he was not a professional.
Los Angeles Times

Van Nuys man accused of setting homeless woman on fire charged with attempted murder
A 24-year-old Van Nuys man accused of setting a homeless woman on fire as she slept on a bus bench was charged Monday with attempted murder and aggravated mayhem. Dennis Petillo was scheduled to be arraigned sometime today at the Van Nuys Courthouse. He allegedly set fire to the 67-year-old woman around 1 a.m. Thursday at Van Nuys Boulevard and Sherman Way. According to police and prosecutors, Petillo poured a flammable liquid on the woman, identified by some witnesses only as Violet, and set her on fire while she was sleeping.
City News Service

Arsonist caught on tape in Chatsworth fires
An arsonist believed to have set a dozen fires in Chatsworth on two consecutive Sundays was caught on video during the last day of the spree, Los Angeles fire officials said this week. Arson investigators released surveillance video of the arsonist that was captured early Oct. 28. The series of arsons began a week earlier, Oct. 21, said Brian Humphrey, an L.A. Fire Department spokesman. In many of the cases, the arsonist ignited rubbish, but there also were two car fires among the 12.
Los Angeles Daily News

Man arrested after reportedly pointing rifle at LAPD officer
A suspect was arrested Tuesday morning for pointing a rifle at police before fleeing during an attempted traffic stop in South Los Angeles, a Los Angeles police officer said. Officers from 77th Division conducted a traffic stop at 47th Street and Budlong Avenue about 10 p.m. when the man who was driving pointed a rifle at them, then exited his car and ran from the scene, LAPD Officer Roger Aguirre at the 77th Street Station. No one else was in the vehicle, Aguirre said.
City News Service

Canoga Park armed robbery suspect arrested after chase
An armed robbery suspect drove dangerously fast around the Canoga Park and Woodland Hills area Monday night, but was eventually foiled by spike strips laid out by Los Angeles police. The chase began in Canoga Park about 9:15 p.m. when police saw someone in an older model Lexus apparently driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, according to KCAL9. It initially appeared that police were going to back off, but then it was discovered the vehicle had also been involved in an armed robbery.
City News Service

New Laws

Sales taxes go up, long guns are barred in public
In 2012, the governor and Legislature overhauled California's public pension and workers' compensation systems. They made it illegal to carry rifles openly in cities. They allowed certain illegal immigrants to obtain driver's licenses and qualify for state college financial aid. Voters made laws, too, approving Gov. Jerry Brown's temporary quarter cent hike in the sales tax, among other measures, in a bid to help resolve California's dire fiscal situation.
Los Angeles Times

Motor Vehicles

California to offer 'legacy license plates'
The California Department of Motor Vehicles is planning to issue nostalgia-stoking replicas of the yellow, blue and black plates that graced the state's bumpers from the 1950s to the 1970s. But will classic car collectors buy into the impostors? Starting Tuesday, the DMV will take orders for the so-called legacy license plates. If the department gets at least 7,500 orders, it will print them, said spokeswoman Jessica Gonzalez.
Los Angeles Times

City Election 2013

Voter apathy remains biggest challenge in 2013 Los Angeles mayor's race
Voter apathy may be the biggest hurdle for candidates vying to replace Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who is termed out on June 30. Without a high-profile name in the race or controversial issues dividing candidates, some pundits aren't predicting a heavy turnout in the March 5 primary. Already, Angelenos tend to shrug off elections. In the last truly competitive mayor's race - in 2005, when Villaraigosa challenged incumbent James Hahn - about 28 percent of registered voters cast ballots.
Los Angeles Daily News

Los Angeles City Council District 7 candidates looking to bring change
The City Council's District 7 race in the spring primary has no incumbent on paper, but the race is shaping up as a classic battle between a political insider with money and organization against three less-experienced challenges. Felipe Fuentes, a former Assemblyman who has also worked as an aide at City Hall, is the only candidate to report any fundraising, with more than $163,000 for the March 5 primary election. The four are vying for a northeast San Fernando Valley seat that had been held by Richard Alarcón, who is termed out and lost his bid to win a state Assembly seat.
Los Angeles Daily News