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NEWS of the Day - February 8, 2013
on some LACP issues of interest

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NEWS of the Day - February 8, 2013
on some issues of interest to the community policing and neighborhood activist across the country

EDITOR'S NOTE: The following group of articles from local newspapers and other sources constitutes but a small percentage of the information available to the community policing and neighborhood activist public. It is by no means meant to cover every possible issue of interest, nor is it meant to convey any particular point of view ...

We present this simply as a convenience to our readership ...
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California

Ex-LAPD officer wanted for killings eludes searchers

BIG BEAR LAKE
- The manhunt continues today in the snowy, windy San Bernardino Mountains for fired LAPD Officer Christopher Dorner, who is suspected of killing an Irvine couple and a Riverside police officer in a vendetta against his former department.

Schools and a ski resort in the Big Bear area will reopen Friday as the manhunt for 33-year-old Dorner took another detour in San Diego.

San Diego County sheriff's deputies were still at the Barona Indian Reservation early Friday morning after a caller reported seeing Dorner at a residence around 10:15 p.m. Thursday. It appears the sighting may be unfounded.

"They're having difficulty verifying the legitimacy of the sighting," San Diego County Sheriff's Lt. Jason Rothlein said. San Bernardino County Sheriffs officials said the search for Dorner in Big Bear Lake will continue as long as weather permits.

And weather may be a challenge today. Forecasters at the National Weather Service have issued a winter storm warning, saying as much as 10 inches of snow could fall at elevations higher than 6,000 feet and wind gusts could reach 30 mph.

Light snow had already been reported shortly before 3 a.m. at Big Bear City Airport and temperatures were in the mid 20s.

Authorities wouldn't say if they believe Dorner was still in the area. Police in Riverside and Los Angeles said there were no reported sightings of Dorner overnight in their cities.

The search for Dorner shifted to Big Bear Lake after an officer found the ex-officer's burned Nissan Titan pickup.

Cindy Bachman, spokeswoman for the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department, said up to 400 homes were searched.

Officials also went to a property belonging to Dorner's mother in Arrowbear but didn't find the fugitive.

Deputies kept an eye on traffic travelling up and down the mountain.

Dorner was named as a suspect in the Feb. 3 fatal shootings of Walnut High School Hall of Fame member Monica Quan, 28, and her fiance, 27-year-old Keith Lawrence in Irvine.

Quan's father, retired LAPD Capt. Randal Quan, represented Dorner in disciplinary hearings that resulted in his dismissal.

According to Riverside police, Dorner shot two officers stopped at a light on Thursday. One was killed while the other was injured.

Dorner was fired from the LAPD in 2008 for making false statements related to a 2007 complaint he filed against his training sergeant. He claimed she kicked a suspect who is mentally ill in the shoulder area and the face during an arrest at a hotel in San Pedro.

The suspect's father testified his son said he was kicked. Several witnesses told police they didn't see the sergeant kick the suspect.

Dorner lost his appeal to overturn his firing.

In an online manifesto he penned, Dorner spelled out his grievances against the LAPD, said he will bring "unconventional and asymmetrical warfare" to LAPD officers plus threatened to go after certain officers and their families. He claimed he wants his name cleared publicly.

"I have nothing to lose. My personal casualty means nothing," Dorner wrote.

"An enemy who embraces death is a lose, lose situation for their enemy combatants."

http://www.dailynews.com/breakingnews/ci_22546366/ex-lapd-officer-wanted-killings-eludes-searchers

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Califorinia

CHP issues Blue Alert for third time since its inception Josh Dulaney and Joe Nelson

Law enforcement agencies issued a Blue Alert throughout Southern California on Thursday as the manhunt for a former police officer suspected of killing three people spread into the Big Bear area.

Christopher Jordan Dorner, a 33-year-old La Palma man, is believed to be targeting police officers in a revenge plot after he was fired from the Los Angeles Police Department in 2008.

Inspired by the Amber Alert notification system that alerts the public to abducted children, the Blue Alert system was enacted in January 2011 to notify the public of individuals on the lam who are suspected of killing or seriously injuring peace officers, said Officer Mario Lopez of the CHP's Inland Division in San Bernardino.

The system alerts the public to the suspect's physical description, as well as a description of the vehicle they are driving and its license plate number.

Thursday was the third time the Blue Alert system has been activated since it went online more than two years ago, Lopez said.

The alert was first utilized on May 6, 2012 following the attempted murder of a CHP officer in Bakersfield.

Roughly four months later, on Sept. 4, 2012, the system was used for the second time following the fatal shooting of CHP Officer Kenyon Youngstrom, Lopez said.

He said California is among 15 states that currently use the Blue Alert system.

Thursday's activation followed the early morning shooting death of a Riverside police officer.

Lopez said the CHP sent a picture of Dorner and a photograph of his vehicle to all 25 of the CHP's communication centers and CHP personnel statewide.

According to an online manifesto by Dorner, he is attacking police officers to clear his name.

"Unfortunately, this is a necessary evil that I do not enjoy but must partake and complete for substantial change to occur within the LAPD and reclaim my name," Dorner said in the manifesto.

Dorner is wanted in the killings of Cal State Fullerton assistant basketball coach Monica Quan and her fiance, Keith Lawrence. The killings took place on Sunday in Irvine.

Quan is the daughter of a police captain who represented Dorner in an LAPD departmental hearing that led to his firing.

Authorities say Dorner also ambushed two Riverside officers early Thursday morning, killing one.

The Blue Alert was issued in the counties of Kern, Santa Barbara, Ventura, Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Orange, Riverside, San Diego and Imperial.

http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_22543453/chp-issue-blue-alert-third-time-since-its

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Los Angeles

Christopher Dorner's manifesto reveals an unraveled mind, experts say

by Susan Abram

In his 11,000-word manifesto, former police officer Christopher Jordan Dorner writes he'll kill his way through the Los Angeles Police Department until he reclaims his name and identity.

"This is a necessary evil that I do not enjoy but must partake and complete for substantial change to occur within the LAPD and reclaim my name," he wrote.

His chilling statements, found on his Facebook page, portray a deeply intelligent and opinionated man, one who promotes gay rights and gun control, but whose mind has unraveled, likely due to mental illness, paranoia and possibly unresolved trauma, experts said Thursday.

"It's not about him being against law enforcement," said Brian Levin, a professor of criminal justice at Cal State San Bernardino and a former LAPD officer.

"We're talking about someone who basically perceives that a tremendous injustice has been done to him that took his life and his identity," Levin said. "Now he's at war."

Dorner, 33, of La Palma is wanted in the killings of Cal State Fullerton assistant basketball coach Monica Quan and her fiance, Keith Lawrence, in Irvine on Sunday. Quan is the daughter of former police captain Randal Quan, who represented Dorner in his departmental hearing that resulted in his firing from the LAPD in 2008.

Police said Dorner exchanged gunfire with police officers in Corona about 1 a.m. Thursday, grazing the head of one of them. About a half hour later, Dorner then ambushed two Riverside officers, killing one, police said.

Experts who examined his manifesto said Dorner expresses a range of emotions, from outrage over racism he experienced as a first-grader to a violent incident as a rookie police officer, to his anguish witnessing a fellow cop beating a mentally ill man. Dorner also offers his admiration for Ellen DeGeneres, Charlie Sheen, Hillary Clinton and President George H.W. Bush.

But it was his dismissal as commanding officer of a Naval Security Forces reserve unit this month that may have unleashed frustration from years of feeling disrespected, experts said. As a result, he wants to "eradicate the symbols of injustice," Levin said.

"The Violence of action will be HIGH," Dorner writes on his manifesto. "I am the reason TAC alert was established. I will bring unconventional and asymmetrical warfare to those in LAPD uniform whether on or off duty ... You will now live the life of prey."

Levin and others say Dorner is not only a risk to police, but others, because he justifies the killings.

"He clearly believes that by his current actions, that he is going to be able to trigger major changes in the way LAPD treats people,' said Diane Vines, a professor of nursing at Mount St. Mary's College in Los Angeles who specializes in post-traumatic stress disorder among veterans and civilians.

"It's almost a duty in his mind to make these things right, for the sake of other people, not just his own sake," Vines said. "It's a calling that he's taken on."

Vines noted Dorner portrays himself as a victim of racism and injustice, but deals with it violently, which may explain why he says he estranged from his mother, sister and friends.

"We know PTSD sufferers have unexplained anger," Vines said.

http://www.dailynews.com/breakingnews/ci_22543821/christopher-dorners-manifesto-reveals-an-unraveled-mind-experts

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Los Angeles

LA Cops Dismiss Claims in Alleged Killer Chris Dorner's 'Self-Serving' Manifesto

by COLLEEN CURRY

The rage-filled "manifesto" written by former police officer Christopher Dorner before he went on an alleged cop killing spree around the Los Angeles area was dismissed by the head of the Los Angeles Police Department today as "self-serving" and "ramblings on the Internet."

Dorner is believed to have killed one police officer and injured two others early this morning, in addition to killing two civilians, on a spree that he threatened would have a "high action of violence" in an angry missive posted to his Facebook wall earlier this week.

Police throughout the Los Angeles and Southern California region were working to apprehend Dorner.

In the letter, Dorner detailed his grievances with his former employer, the Los Angeles Police Department, including his struggles with the department's internal affairs department, which ultimately ended in his getting fired, according to the manifesto. He blamed the problems with the LAPD for inspiring his killing spree.

Dorner accused the department of being racist and using excessive force.

"The department has not changed since the Rampart and Rodney King days. It has gotten worse," Dorner wrote. "I know I will be vilified by the LAPD and the media. Unfortunately, this is a necessary evil that I do not enjoy but must partake and complete for substantial change to occur within the LAPD and reclaim my name."

Dorner named members of the LAPD whom he would target and said they would not be safe at home or at work.

"I will bring unconventional and asymmetrical warfare to those in LAPD uniform whether on or off duty," he wrote. "You will now live the life of the prey."

Today, Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck curtly dismissed the letter.

"This is a homicide suspect who has committed atrocious crimes. If you want to give any attribution to his ramblings on the Internet, go ahead, but I do not," he said.

Much of the letter focused on an episode in which Dorner said he saw a fellow officer use excessive force to kick a suspect who was schizophrenic. He reported the incident to the department's internal affairs department, kicking off a lengthy investigation that ultimately led to his dismissal from the department for making false statements.

"I had broken their supposed 'Blue Line,'" he wrote, referring to the notion that police officers protect one another. "It is clear as day that the department retaliated toward me for reporting [the officer]. ... The department stated that I had lied and made up the report."

Dorner said the incident cost him greatly at the department and in his personal life, fueling his killing spree.

"The LAPD's actions have cost me my law enforcement career," he said. "They cost my naval career. ... I've lost my relationship with my mother and sister because of the LAPD. I've lost a relationship with close friends because of the LAPD. In essence, I've lost everything because the LAPD took my name and new (sic) I was INNOCENT!!!" he wrote.

"This is my last resort. The LAPD has suppressed the truth and it has now lead to deadly consequences," the letter said.

Beck, the current LAPD chief, said that the internal affairs case that Dorner spent much of the letter focusing on had been treated fairly through the police department's review board.

"That case was thoroughly adjudicated. It went through several levels of review up to the point where even a civilian representative listened to the entirety of the case. You will find Dorner's statements to be self-serving and the statements of somebody who was extremely unhappy in his lot in life," Beck said.

The police chief of nearby Riverside, Calif., also dismissed the writings after Dorner allegedly shot and killed a Riverside police officer in the early hours of Thursday morning. Dorner pulled up across from two Riverside officers stopped at a traffic light in their patrol car and used his rifle to shoot them, killing one and injuring the other, according to Chief Sergio Diaz of the Riverside Police Department.

"The manifesto speaks for itself in terms of a depraved and cowardly mind and heart, and the way he ambushed your public servants speaks for itself," Diaz said.

Dorner's letter ended with a violent warning to cops, however, and one that kept police heavily armed and on edge today despite their dismissal of the letter's content. He said he would use all of his tactical knowledge from his police and naval experiences to avoid being caught.

"You are aware that I have always been the top shot, highest score, an expert in rifle qualifications in every unit I've been in," he wrote. "I will utilize every bit of small arms training, demolition ordnance, and survival training I've been given."

http://abcnews.go.com/US/los-angeles-cops-chris-dorners-manifesto-speaks/story?id=18434105

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Los Angeles

Police confuse truck for Christopher Dorner's, shoot at 3 people in Torrance in case of mistaken identity

by Larry Altman

Twice in the same neighborhood before predawn light Thursday, police officers thought Christopher Dorner was coming at them.

And both times they were wrong.

In two cases of mistaken identity, two people were shot in a sleepy Torrance housing tract by undercover Los Angeles police officers protecting a potential Dorner target, and a third was fired upon by Torrance police responding to the first shooting.

The LAPD and Torrance officers were among thousands of law enforcement authorities throughout Southern California who had braced for a possible confrontation with Dorner after two patrol officers were shot in the Inland Empire earlier in the day.

Everywhere, it seemed, there were sightings of Dorner, the man who had vowed to "bring unconventional and asymmetrical warfare" to LAPD officers.

Until his truck was found burning in Big Bear, all of them turned out false.

Only in Torrance, however, were people shot by officers who thought they were face to face with Dorner.

A team of Los Angeles police officers protecting the home of a high-ranking officer in the 19500 block of Redbeam Avenue believed a pickup truck that stopped in front of the house matched Dorner's blue Nissan Titan. Police opened fire, wounding two women tossing copies of the Los Angeles Times onto porches.

A neighbor said he heard as many as 20 shots.

"Tragically, we believe this was a case of mistaken identity by the officers," LAPD Chief Charlie Beck said.

Beck said the newspaper carriers were driving "in the area of one of our primary protection details, one of the people that was under the most serious level of threat." And its lights were turned out, Beck said.

Officers opened fire, wounding both women inside. One victim was treated for a minor gunshot wound, while the second was hit twice, Beck said.

Torrance resident Joanne Faneuff said she and her husband, Tom, were awakened by their son, who heard the police commotion outside.

"Right outside our house," Faneuff said. "I was asleep and my son came running upstairs and said, `Mom, Mom, wake up! There's something going on out there."'

Faneuff, 80, said she looked outside and saw what seemed to be "9,000 police" on her street, which remained blocked throughout the day. Faneuff said neighbors were told not to go outside.

The delivery truck remained parked Thursday as police conducted their investigation and put out evidence markers.

"It's a mess," she said. "It's the first time I've heard bullet shots and it sounded like small canons going off."

Neighbors said the home under protection belonged to a Los Angeles police captain with a wife and children.

The Los Angeles News Group is not publishing his name for his protection, but the captain commands a division in the San Fernando Valley, and served as a direct commissioned officer in the U.S. Navy Reserve.

He was mobilized to active duty in 2002 to the Pacific Fleet Intelligence Directorate. When he returned to the LAPD, he served as head of the Rampart division anti-gang team, and commanded the bomb squad and hazardous materials team. He made captain in 2007.

His interaction with Dorner was unclear, but Dorner also served in the U.S. Navy Reserve. Captains also sit on Board of Rights hearings like the one that determined Dorner should be fired from the force in 2007 for making false complaints against a fellow Harbor Division officer.

Resident Mark Yamasaki said he had noticed LAPD squad cars driving around the neighborhood the day before. So when the shots woke him up early Thursday morning, he figured they had something to do with it.

As for the women who were shot, Yamasaki said he had seen them before, but did not know their names. The women were shot about 50 yards away from his house, shortly after delivering his newspaper.

"I don't why they shot at them," Yamasaki said. "It's pretty ridiculous. And pretty sad, too."

The second shooting involved Torrance police officers, who were stationed nearby in the event LAPD needed them. When the officers heard the gunshots, they headed toward Redbeam.

At that point, a driver in another pickup truck that look similar to Dorner's drove toward them on Flagler Lane near Beryl Street. Officers, suspecting it was Dorner, purposely collided with the truck and shot at him.

The driver wasn't hurt, avoiding bullets that had ripped through his windshield.

"I heard some man yell at somebody and I saw this argument on the street," said Ana Filova, a woman living in her car near Dominguez Park.

Filova said she heard someone yell "cuffs" and then heard two shots, followed by a pause and a third shot.

"I said, `Mama Mia, that's gunshots," she said. "I was scared. I was shaking from fear."

Torrance police Sgt. Chris Roosen said the officers were unhurt. He thanked the driver for cooperating in the investigation.

Officers did not identify the driver. Records showed the 2006 Honda pickup truck was registered to Lizzette Perdue of Redondo Beach. Purdue declined to talk to a reporter about who was driving her truck.

Throughout Southern California, law enforcement agencies took precautions for a potential showdown with Dorner, issuing a rare Blue Alert as the manhunt moved into the Big Bear area.

Inspired by the Amber Alert notification system that alerts the public to abducted children, the Blue Alert system was enacted in January 2011 to notify the public of individuals on the lam who are suspected of killing or seriously injuring peace officers, said Officer Mario Lopez of the CHP's Inland Division in San Bernardino.

The system alerts the public to the suspect's physical description, as well as a description of the vehicle being driving and its license plate number.

Elsewhere, the LAPD took all its motorcycles off the street and told officers to ride in cars instead, Officer Bruce Borihanh said.

"We're just telling officers to really exercise extra caution," he said.

Pasadena police were also taken off their motorcycles and no officers would patrol alone, Pasadena police Lt. Rick Aversano said.

Steve Whitmore, an L.A. County Sheriff's Department spokesman, said deputies were "on heightened alert."

"We're protecting our own deputies, and we're doing whatever needs to be done to ensure the safety of our deputies as well as the public," Whitmore said.

Long Beach police, cited in Dorner's manifesto, said they were on heightened alert.

In the Inland Empire, many law enforcement officers kept their hands constantly on their rifles. Some departments paired officers in squad cars for their safety.

"All of our patrol personnel are going on two-man units and we are also looking at adding onto every shift we have by calling in additional personnel so that there's more two-man units in the field," Fontana police Sgt. Robert Morris said.

Fontana police also kept all uniformed civilian personnel out of the field. They included community service and animal control officers as well as police volunteers.

Perhaps the most prominent false sighting of Dorner occurred in San Diego, where Naval Base Point Loma was locked down after a Navy worker reported seeing someone who resembled Dorner.

And in Long Beach, police shut down the San Diego (405) Freeway at Bellflower Boulevard at about 8 a.m. Thursday after receiving a report of a vehicle that matched the description of Dorner's Nissan Titan.

It turned out to be a false alarm.

http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_22544264/police-suspecting-christopher-dorners-arrival-shoot-3-innocent?source=most_viewed
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