Law Enforcement

L.A. police remain concerned about security in sprawling areas
From Hollywood Boulevard and Staples Center to the Rose Parade and Disneyland, Southern California is full of the kind of cultural and iconic targets that local law enforcement have long feared would make a tempting target for both foreign or domestic terrorists. While authorities immediately took steps to protect tourist areas and large-scale events in enclosed areas after 9/11, multiple law enforcement officials say they remain concerned about events in sprawling areas with large crowds.
Los Angeles Times

After Boston: In a California terrorist attack, cameras would be watching
If terrorists ever strike Southern California, police and federal agents here will immediately ask the same question those in Boston did Monday: Where are the cameras? The answer: almost everywhere. Though there's no guarantee terrorists would be recorded in the act, the chances grow almost every day - as does the size of Southern California's network of public and private surveillance cameras.
Los Angeles Daily News

LAPD chief says the public plays an important role in security
After bombs ripped through the crowd gathered along the final stretch of the Boston Marathon on Monday, Los Angeles police officials did what they could to allay the fears of Angelenos. Standing before a bank of television cameras, LAPD Chief Charlie Beck on Tuesday reiterated that upcoming sporting and cultural events would be patrolled by a higher-than-normal number of officers and bomb-sniffing dogs. He talked cryptically about the secretive work being done by the department's counter-terrorism units.
Los Angeles Times

Boston Marathon bombs believed packed in pressure cookers
Authorities suspect whoever perpetrated the Boston Marathon attacks carried heavy bombs made from pressure cookers in nylon bags or backpacks to launch the worst bombings on U.S. soil since security was stepped up following the September 11, 2001, hijacked plane attacks. The twin blasts on Monday killed three people including an 8-year-old boy and injured 176 others, some of whom were maimed by bombs packed with ball bearings and nails.
Reuters

Physical evidence links fugitive to Northridge kidnapping
Detectives obtained physical evidence that helped identify fugitive ex-con Tobias Summers in the abduction and assault of a 10-year-old girl from her home in Northridge. The evidence was found at one of the locations where the girl was held after she was snatched from her bedroom at knifepoint last month, according to law enforcement documents obtained by KFI NEWS. Summers was also identified by the descriptions provided by the victim, "and others."
KFI

Public Safety

The Courts

Panel rules immigrants in S. Calif. can't be held indefinitely
Immigrants detained in Southern California for possible deportation must be given a hearing within six months to determine whether they should be released, a federal appeals court decided Tuesday. A three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court's order requiring the federal government to provide hearings to immigrants who are incarcerated in Southern California, including those arrested while entering the country or those with a criminal history.
Los Angeles Times

Prisons

Jerry Brown to comply with prison order if appeals fail
Gov. Jerry Brown said Tuesday his administration will prepare to release as many as 10,000 state prisoners if the state is unable to get out from under a court order demanding it reduce California's prison population. Brown had said last week that he would not comply with the order "until the Supreme Court tells us that we're not on the right track," despite a federal court's threat to hold him and top prison officials in contempt of court.
Sacramento Bee

The failure of California's prison realignment
Another day, another prison realignment horror story. Los Angeles Times' Paige St. John reported Thursday that the increase in fugitive sex offenders in California, since the state changed key prison policies, is more than double that was previously believed. Citing data released by corrections officials, St. John reported a 65 percent rise from October, 2011 to January 1, 2013 in warrants issued for paroled sex offenders who were tracked by GPS units and went missing.
LAPPL Blog

Prison realignment may cause budget problems
Los Angeles County's top financial boss said this week the local cost of Gov. Jerry Brown's prison realignment program has far exceeded expectations and remains one of two 'big unknowns' in next year's fiscal plan. "We have costs of it going up beyond what we initially projected, we have a workload that is not the workload that was promised us," CEO Bill Fujioka told reporters at a news conference announcing the County's $25-billion fiscal year 2013-2014 budget, and suggested the Governor had even misled the public about the danger of the convicts being transferred out of state prisons.
KFI