Law Enforcement

Prison realignment plan costly for LAPD, report says
The state's controversial push to relieve severe prison overcrowding has resulted in the Los Angeles Police Department taking dozens of officers away from regular patrol duties in order to monitor ex-convicts, according to a department report. Since state officials implemented the prison measures in late 2011, the LAPD has had between 160 to170 officers assigned full time to units responsible for keeping tabs on thousands of felons who are living in Los Angeles after their release from prison.
Los Angeles Times

Leads sought in three fatal L.A.-area hit-and-run collisions
It was a deadly weekend for pedestrians in the Los Angeles region, with police seeking the public's help in identifying the drivers involved in three fatal hit-and-run collisions. In one incident, a 19-year-old woman was struck and killed in South Los Angeles early Sunday morning in what a witness described as a possible road rage incident or street race, police said.
Los Angeles Times

LAPD sting operation targets stores that knowingly buy stolen goods
Rising burglary crimes, along with the rising cost of gold, led to an LAPD sting operation, targeting Cash-for-Gold stores that allegedly know they are buying stolen goods. The sting operation started with officers listening on their vehicle radios to a conversation going on inside the store between an undercover officer and person he was trying to "sell" the jewelry to. In the conversation, the undercover officer reveals to the store's employee that he is a thief.
CBS LA

LAPD wants to stop car break-ins at Griffith Park
It shouldn't surprise anyone, but stealing from vehicles is a big problem in Los Angeles. So big that in the first six months of 2013, there had been over 13,000 reported break-ins. The crime happens everywhere: outside homes, in parking garages, on busy boulevards, and at parks. For Captain Jeffery Bert, who oversees LAPD's Northeast Division, there's one large park that he estimates makes up to one quarter of his break-in problem: Griffith Park. "There are a lot of parking lots, unattended cars when people are at the zoo, out running and hiking," he said, "and a lot of cars get broken into."
KCET

Teen rescued from chimney after alleged burglary attempt in Mission Hills
A 16-year-old boy was rescued from the chimney of a North Hills home Monday morning after he got stuck during a bungled attempt to burglarize the residence, police said. The teenager, who was unidentified because he is a minor, was rescued by the Los Angeles Fire Department in the 9700 block of Orion Street after a neighbor reported hearing screams and called police, said LAPD Lt. Paul Vernon, of Mission Division.
Los Angeles Daily News

CHP officer killed in Las Vegas truck theft was groom-to-be
Authorities say a California Highway Patrol officer who was killed trying to stop a man from stealing his pickup truck from a Las Vegas Strip valet stand had been in town with family and friends celebrating his upcoming wedding. Las Vegas police Lt. Ray Steiber says 33-year-old Jesus Manuel Magdaleno Jr. and his 31-year-old friend Felix Brandon Cruz were in Las Vegas for Magdaleno's bachelor party. They were trying to stop the theft when they were thrown out of the bed of the pickup when it crashed about 11 a.m. Sunday.
Associated Press

Obama administration asks Supreme Court to allow warrantless cellphone searches
If the police arrest you, do they need a warrant to rifle through your cellphone? Courts have been split on the question. Last week the Obama administration asked the Supreme Court to resolve the issue and rule that the Fourth Amendment allows warrantless cellphone searches. In 2007, the police arrested a Massachusetts man who appeared to be selling crack cocaine from his car. The cops seized his cellphone and noticed that it was receiving calls from "My House."
Washington Post

Legislation

California may give driver's licenses to more in U.S. illegally
State lawmakers on Monday resume the process of whittling down more than 1,000 pending bills to a number that won't cause Gov. Jerry Brown carpal tunnel syndrome as he signs them. The Senate Appropriations Committee has 64 bills on its agenda Monday, but one is likely to get the lion's share of attention. AB 60 would greatly increase the number of immigrants in the country illegally who would be eligible to receive a California driver's license.
Los Angeles Times

California Assembly votes to expand definition of rape by impersonation
Seeking to close an archaic loophole in state law, the Assembly unanimously voted Monday to expand the state's definition of rape to include instances when a perpetrator pretends to be somebody else in order to have sexual intercourse, regardless of the victim's marital status. The loophole most recently sparked an uproar last January when a state appeals court overturned the rape conviction of a man who impersonated the boyfriend of a sleeping Los Angeles County woman and had sex with her.
Los Angeles Times

Prisons

Jerry Brown: New inmate housing to cost state hundreds of millions
Gov. Jerry Brown said Monday that California would have to spend hundreds of millions of additional dollars to house inmates under a court order, and that he expects the Legislature to appropriate that money later this year. Brown said the additional funding will be necessary to comply with a federal court ruling that found the state's prison system has nearly 9,600 inmates more than it can adequately handle.
Los Angeles Times

City Government

DWP pay loaded with bonuses, premiums
Department of Water and Power workers are paid bonuses for being part of car pools, riding a bicycle to work and for operating the heavy-duty equipment for which they were hired, according to a review of reports released recently by City Controller Ron Galperin. Those are among the more than 600 work rules that govern the DWP and add to its costs of operations now subject to review. Mayor Eric Garcetti is holding up a proposed DWP four-year contract in part to scale back some of those extra pay perks.
Los Angeles Daily News