Law Enforcement

Op-Ed: L.A. streets are safer for all but police
The news from City Hall sounds good -- murder and serious crime rates are going down. However, violent attacks against police officers are on the rise. As of this week, statistics for 2013 indicate that there have been 50,331 Part I crimes, or 267.72 crimes per day, compared with 53,948, or 286.96 per day, in 2012. Yet, though L.A.'s streets and neighborhoods may be safer today than they have been in decades, our officers are not. LAPD officers have been ambushed or shot at in five separate unprovoked attacks in a week.
Tyler Izen/Los Angeles Daily News

Newhall man killed in Panorama City: 'This is gang-related,' says officer
A 21-year-old man was fatally shot Wednesday in an apparent gang-related attack in the Panorama City. The shooting occurred about 4 a.m. in the 8500 block of Columbus Avenue, the Los Angeles Police Department reported. Cruz Beltran, 21, of Newhall, died at a hospital about an hour later, said coroner's Assistant Chief Ed Winter. Lt. Paul Vernon, commanding officer of the Mission Division Detective Division, said that the death occurred inside the foyer of an apartment building.
City News Service

Reseda pot-shop robbery-turned-gun battle leads to multiple felony charges for Arizona man
An armed robbery suspect who allegedly fired at Los Angeles police during a pursuit in the Reseda area was charged Wednesday with attempted murder and other counts. Kirkham Gastelum, 30, of Mesa, Ariz., is tentatively scheduled to be arraigned Thursday afternoon in Van Nuys Superior Court on two counts each of attempted murder of a peace officer, second-degree robbery and possession of a firearm by a felon and one count of second-degree commercial burglary.
City News Service

Police seek suspect wanted for posing as cable installer, burglarizing homes
Police arrested one suspect and are searching for another Wednesday who allegedly posed as cable installers and burglarized homes in Los Angeles. Leonardo Vasquez and Armando Guerrero, who had formerly worked for cable companies but were fired due to reports of thefts from customers, posed as workers and entered a victim's home in the 1500 block of West 51st Street on June 13, police said.
CBS LA

Man who shot woman in Van Nuys, led police on a chase and then shot, killed himself ID'd
A man who shot a woman in Van Nuys and led law enforcement personnel on a chase before returning to Van Nuys where he shot and killed himself was identified Wednesday by the coroner's office as 37-year-old Jose Valentino Gonzalez of Van Nuys. Gonzalez led authorities through the San Fernando Valley and the Ventura County cities of Camarillo, Oxnard and Ventura before returning to Van Nuys, where he ended his own life, police said.
City News Service

What does it take to stop Crips and Bloods from killing each other?
Gangs in Los Angeles don't fly their colors the way they used to, but the rivalries persist. In the 1980s, members of the two dominant gangs, the Crips and the Bloods, flaunted their affiliation by dressing in blue (Crips) or red (Bloods), even though doing so made them targets. Today, computer databases, gang injunctions and enhanced criminal sanctions for gang-related crime have driven such obvious, outward expressions of gang affiliation underground.
New York Times

LAPD officer awarded State Officer of the Year for spirited work with children
An LAPD officer is showing that serving the community involves more than patrols and arrests. LAPD Officer Heidi Stoecklein, an 11-year veteran on the force, has been awarded the State Officer of the Year award by the American Legion. Stoecklein was leading children of the community through the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium when she spoke with CBS2s Stephanie Simmons.
CBS LA

Prisons

Judge Brown, what were you thinking?
Christopher Hubbart admitted to raping approximately 40 women throughout California including 26 women in Los Angeles County between 1971 and 1982. If those crimes had been committed today, Hubbart would be facing life in prison. Unfortunately, in the era he committed his horrendous crimes, he received a sentence that now makes him eligible for conditional release from prison. Incredibly, last May, Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Gilbert Brown granted Hubbart's request for conditional release from prison and determined he should be conditionally released to Los Angeles County, where he was raised.
LAPPL Blog

California seeks US Supreme Court stay in prisons case
Gov. Jerry Brown on Wednesday made one final bid to delay a federal court order requiring the state to release nearly 10,000 inmates by year's end to improve conditions in California prisons, saying it would jeopardize public safety. Brown's administration filed a request with U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy seeking to delay the order forcing the state to immediately take steps to further reduce its prison population.
Associated Press

Prison chief: Hunger strike won't help California inmates
California's prisons chief says inmates who are refusing meals to protest the state's solitary confinement program for gang leaders are harming their own cause. In his first comments on the subject, Corrections Secretary Jeffrey Beard tells The Associated Press that the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation already has a program to reduce isolation sentences that can last for decades. That program has stopped since a protest began Monday with about 30,000 inmates statewide refusing meals.
Associated Press

California death penalty: State abandons defense of three-drug executions
California has abandoned the legal defense of its delay-ridden lethal injection procedures, moving ahead to adopt a single-drug option that has been embraced by other states trying to enforce their death penalty laws. The Brown administration has decided against appealing a May ruling that invalidated the state's three-drug execution method, which has been mired in years of state and federal court legal tangles.
San Jose Mercury-News