Law Enforcement

Crime alerts for Gramercy Park, Mission Hills, 18 other L.A. neighborhoods
Crime reports are up significantly for the latest week in 20 L.A. neighborhoods, according to an analysis of Los Angeles Police Department data by the Los Angeles Times' Crime L.A. database. Twelve neighborhoods reported a significant increase in violent crime. Gramercy Park was the most unusual, recording 10 reports compared with a weekly average of 3.2 over the last three months.
Los Angeles Times

Criminal behavior should be punished with actual incarceration
Remember when incarceration - removal from society for a specified period of time - was punishment for and a deterrent to committing a criminal act? Well, it is less and less a punishment and deterrent these days thanks to the early release program that must make Los Angeles County the envy of criminals everywhere. Now you can commit all sorts of criminal activity, get apprehended by hard-working police officers, convicted by dedicated prosecutors, and serve little or no time behind bars. It is demoralizing for law enforcement, makes a mockery of the criminal justice system and seriously jeopardizes public safety.
LAPPL Blog

Valley may be home to more LAPD buildings
A decades-old plan to renovate some and add other Los Angeles Police Department patrol stations is moving along, and according to a new report, officials will soon be taking a look at a new phase of building in the San Fernando Valley. Thomas Brennan, commander of the LAPD's Facilities Management Division, said the last projects funded with the agency's portion of a 2002 voter-approved $600 million bond are well underway, and the department is ready to take the next steps in its 20-year master facilities plan, developed in the late 1990s.
Los Angeles Daily News

Shooting highlights city efforts to shut down Canoga Park strip club Xposed
An early morning shooting Friday outside a Canoga Park strip club that left one man in critical condition has renewed efforts by local officials to shut down the operation. Councilman Bob Blumenfield, whose district includes the Xposed Gentlemen's Club and the Wet Spot bar next to it, said he is troubled over the latest incident which follows a series of other problems documented by police.
Los Angeles Daily News

LAPD looking for critical missing 54-year-old
The Los Angeles Police Department is on the lookout for a missing 54-year-old woman. The woman's family says Michelle Lynn Mertens is in need of her medication. Mertens was last seen on Friday, August 16, 2013, around 4 p.m., at her residence in the 14000 block of Astoria Street. She was last seen driving a dark green 1998 four door, Honda Accord with a partial California license plate number 1HP1. Mertens has an undisclosed illness and her family is very concerned for her safety.
CBS LA

Can LAPD anticipate crime with 'predictive policing'?
In an age of big data, California police departments are getting in on the action. In Los Angeles, the LAPD now uses software for what it calls "predictive policing"-anticipating where crimes are likely to happen before they happen. Outside the LAPD's Foothill Division station, at the northern edge of Los Angeles, police Sgt. Tom Gahry sits in his black-and-white patrol car. He's shuffling through a stack of maps with bright red squares drawn on them.
The California Report

Man killed in hit-and-run near Beverly Hills
A pedestrian was struck and killed in a hit-and-run near the Four Seasons Hotel near Beverly Hills Thursday night, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. The person's body was seen in the middle of the road in the 100 block of S. Doheny Drive near W. 3rd Street and Alden Drive, an area neighboring Beverly Hills and West Hollywood. A gray or green four-door hard top Jeep Wrangler struck the man about 10:30 p.m. while he was jaywalking across the street, LAPD Capt. Rolando Solano said.
NBC4

Police looking to recover Porsche find alleged credit card fraud ring
Investigators raided a Studio City residence Wednesday morning to recover a Porsche Panamera and got more than what they bargained for when they uncovered what they believe is a major credit card fraud operation at the suspect's home. Investigators from the multi-agency Taskforce for Regional Autotheft Prevention allege suspect Andrew Foley Parker III, 36, failed to pay a leasing company to keep the car.
Los Angeles Daily News

SWAT team finds reportedly barricaded house in Boyle Heights empty
Los Angeles SWAT officers entered a house Sunday morning in Boyle Heights where gunmen were believed to be holed up and found no one inside, authorities said. The officers entered the house in the 2500 block of Fairmount Street at 11:17 a.m. only to find it empty, police said. Police had surrounded the home after a man allegedly pointed a handgun at someone during a party and then barricaded himself inside, authorities said.
Los Angeles Times

Prisons & Jails

Long-term inmates - and prison culture - move into county jails
Gov. Jerry Brown's plan approved two years ago to ease crowding in state prisons has left county jails struggling with hard-core felons sentenced to spend years, even decades, in facilities meant to hold criminals for no more than a year. County sheriffs warn that these long-term inmates are more than they can handle. They say they pose security threats in their already-crowded lockups and invite the same costly class-action lawsuits over medical care and services that now dog state prisons.
Los Angeles Times

9/11 Anniversary

FBI, DHS: No specific threat to 9/11 anniversary
The government is aware of no credible or specific information that points to any terror plot tied to the anniversary of the September 2001 attacks, according to a new confidential threat assessment from the FBI and Homeland Security Department obtained by The Associated Press. The new assessment, dated Thursday, said that intelligence agencies remain concerned that al Qaeda and its affiliates are committed to carrying out attacks on Western targets.
CBS News

City Government

Officials say temporary barriers at Venice Beach Boardwalk are improving safety
Immediately after August's incident, the city installed temporary bollards at some of the entrance points to Ocean Front Walk. They look like bowling pins protruding from the pavement, but can be run over by an emergency vehicle or garbage truck.
LAPD Sgt. Daniel Gonzalez, who works the boardwalk, said since the temporary barriers went up, he hasn't heard of a single incident of an accidental driver entering Ocean Front Walk.
Southern California Public Radio

The land of never-ending elections
In the land of perpetual elections, filing opened last week for the 2015 Los Angeles city elections when seven even-numbered seats on the City Council are to be decided. The filing opens the 18-month window to begin fundraising. In practical political terms, however, most of the attention will be on the 4th Council District and the 8th Council District, where incumbents Tom LaBonge and Bernard Parks are being forced out due to term limits.
Los Angeles Daily News