Law Enforcement

Crime alerts for Florence and 13 other L.A. neighborhoods
Crime reports are up significantly for the latest week in 14 L.A. neighborhoods, according to an analysis of LAPD data by the Los Angeles Times' Crime L.A. database. Three neighborhoods reported a significant increase in violent crime. Florence was the most unusual, recording 19 reports compared with a weekly average of 11 over the last three months. Arlington Heights topped the list of 11 neighborhoods with property crime alerts.
Los Angeles Times

Thief using garage remotes to break into Valley homes, LAPD says
Los Angeles police are warning San Fernando Valley residents who park on streets or in driveways to take their garage remotes inside with them to combat a thief who is using the devices to break into homes. The suspected burglar is described as a Latino in his late 20s, 160 to 180 pounds, about 5 feet 9 and seen driving a 2009 to 2011 silver Toyota Rav 4. The LAPD also has released security surveillance video stills of the suspected thief.
Los Angeles Times

Back in black-and-white: LAPD Chief Charlie Beck worked patrol Christmas Eve, offering officer a night off, he reveals on web
Hoping to let an officer spend Christmas Eve with his family, LAPD Chief Charlie Beck went back to his roots for a day. On the afternoon of Dec. 24, the chief showed up to work a regular patrol car in the Rampart Division. Beck disclosed his holiday shift Thursday in the "ask the chief" section of his monthly message to the department.
Los Angeles Daily News

LAPD's popular Polehonki retiring
When Al Polehonki moved to Los Angeles in 1981 from DuBois, Pennsylvania, he was 19 years old, coming from a town of 9,000. Since childhood, he hoped to be a fire firefighter and even when he joined the Los Angeles Police Dept., it was with the intent get on the city's payroll and transfer to the fire department. That transfer never came, he said recently, without regret. "Mostly because I was having too much fun," he said. Polehonki, 55, is retiring from the LAPD at the end of February after more than 30 years.
Los Feliz Ledger

Las Vegas police may put reserve officers on streets
As Las Vegas police face tight budget and staffing constraints, hundreds of citizens could hit the streets as armed, volunteer police officers under a new reserve police officer program unveiled Monday. The new program, described by police as an "unpaid, at-will, commissioned volunteer position," requires 420 hours of training, about half the training of a typical officer.
Las Vegas Review-Journal

Google wants to limit law enforcement's access to e-mails, users' information
In 2012 Google received 16,407 requests for user data, which affected 31,072 users or accounts. More than half of the requests were accompanied with a subpoena, the others were not. Google is planning on lobbying Washington this year to persuade lawmakers that they should make it harder for law enforcement to gain access to e-mails and other digital messages.
Homeland Security News Wire

The Courts

Appeals court recommends paparazzi charges in Justin Bieber case
An appeals court has issued a preliminary analysis recommending charges be reinstated against a photographer who chased Justin Bieber on the 101 Freeway in the first case to use an anti-paparazzi law deemed unconstitutional by an L.A. judge. The conclusion means the judge who invalidated the law as a violation of the 1st Amendment must reconsider his decision or stand by it and have the three-judge appeals panel conduct a full hearing.
Los Angeles Times

Gun Control

Gun control backed in survey; many fear mass shootings
Most Californians worry that a mass shooting will occur in their community and want their government to do more to regulate guns in the wake of deadly rampages in Connecticut and Colorado, according to a survey by the Public Policy Institute of California. The survey released Wednesday night found that 65% of Californians agree that "government does not do enough to regulate access to guns," while 31% say government goes too far in restricting the rights of citizens to own guns.
Los Angeles Times

The Guns of Villaraigosa
Just because you might be expecting something doesn't mean you can't be disappointed when it happens. Following December's massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School, we have witnessed the spectacle of politicians at every level of government tripping over each other to race before the cameras and proclaim their outrage, not at the perpetrator of the atrocity, but rather at the many law-abiding Americans who are employed in the making of firearms and the many, many more who use them recreationally.
Jack Dunphy/PJ Media