Law Enforcement

FBI, LAPD and Pasadena cops teams up on gang raid
In a series of coordinated pre-dawn raids, federal and local law enforcement agents Thursday arrested more than two dozen alleged members of the infamous Rollin' 30s Harlem Crips street gang. During the raid, FBI agents and Los Angeles Police Department officers searched the homes of several gang members, recovering a cache of weapons. Indictments against members of the street gang allege the group attempted to place a stranglehold on the lucrative crack trade in a large swath of South Los Angeles. The gang is also alleged to have engaged in a string of burglaries across the region.
Los Angeles Daily News

Photos of kids holding guns, flashing gang signs found in sweep
During an investigation into the Rollin' 30s Harlem Crips in South L.A., authorities found photos on social media sites associated with the gang showing children flashing the thumbs up and posing with guns. In one, a young girl in Disney pajamas holds what appears to be an AK-style rifle. "It's a culture of violence," LAPD Cmdr. Bill Scott said. "When you grow up in a culture like that, violence becomes secondary. It becomes second nature. And that's the cycle we're trying to disrupt."
Los Angeles Times

Police search for man who groped women near Cal State Northridge
Police at Cal State Northridge on Thursday were searching for a suspect who has been groping women near the campus. Five assaults were reported Tuesday within two hours, between 11:40 a.m. and 1:40 p.m., said CSUN police Capt. Scott Vanscoy. No incidents have been reported since. The victims were all students who were accosted while walking on Prairie and Vincennes streets near the campus, Vanscoy said.
Los Angeles Times

LAPD investigating suspicious death of woman on 210 Freeway in Sylmar
The eastbound Foothill (210) Freeway was closed for approximately eight hours Thursday morning as authorities investigated a suspicious death in Sylmar. Officials received a call about a woman's body on the freeway, just west of Hubbard Street, around 1:30 a.m., the Los Angeles Police Department said. Witnesses said a red car was driving erratically before it slowed down and the vehicle's passenger side door opened.
CBS LA

Masked man attempts to kidnap Tarzana girl, 6, from her bed
Los Angeles police are looking for a man who tried to kidnap a 6-year-old girl in Tarzana while wearing a mask earlier this week. On early Monday morning, police said, a masked man walked into an apartment off Miranda Street and Reseda Boulevard through an unlocked patio door. The man scooped up the girl from her bed and she began to scream, KTLA reported. Her screams alerted the girl's mother, who ran outside and found her daughter on the patio.
Los Angeles Times

Two in custody after LAPD pursuit of armed robbery suspect in Valley
A driver and his passenger were apprehended after an armed robbery suspect led police on a chase in the San Fernando Valley Thursday afternoon, aerial video showed. The pursuit of the armed robbery suspect began in Winnetka, an officer with the LAPD's West Valley station said. Aerial video showed LAPD officers attempting to stop a white pickup truck using a PIT maneuver in the Northridge area.
KTLA

Prisons & Jails

State Assembly panel approves $315 million to reduce prison crowding
A California Assembly panel on Thursday approved Gov. Jerry Brown's request for an additional $315 million to move inmates from state prisons to alternative housing so the state can comply with a court order to reduce crowding. If the bill is approved by the full Assembly, it sets the stage for a showdown in the Senate, where Democrats oppose the measure and are insisting that more money be spent on rehabilitation and drug treatment services for felons so they do not end up back in prison after their release.
Los Angeles Times

Jerry Brown outlines prison plan for federal judges
Two days after Gov. Jerry Brown proposed moving thousands of prisoners to local facilities and out of state to comply with a court order to reduce California's prison population, the administration outlined the plan in a court filing on Thursday evening but suggested it is still preparing for potential inmate releases if the plan fails in the Legislature.
Sacramento Bee

Years after California OK'd $1.2 billion for new jails, not one has yet been completed
Recognizing that California counties were fast running out of space to lock up offenders, state lawmakers authorized $1.2 billion for jail construction in 2007. Since then, demand for county jail space has spiked due to a 2011 California law that redirected lower-level offenders to counties rather than state prisons. But six years after the state approved $1.2 billion for jails, not a single county has finished construction - and only five have started building new cells.
Sacramento Bee