Law Enforcement

Law enforcement app coming to the hands of 3,600 LAPD officers
In the near future, the Los Angeles Police Department plans to equip 3,600 officers with JusticeMobile, an app that provides law enforcement agents with real-time access to state and federal criminal justice information, according to a press release. The mobile app got its wider launch Monday in San Francisco. It's part of a plan to help keep cities safe and help officers obtain instant access to law enforcement data, according to Mayor Ed Lee.
Southern California Public Radio

Traffic officers reach out to bicycle community
While cycling one afternoon near his North Hollywood home, Jonathan Zimmerman recalled, he was nearly run off the road by a driver who wanted to make a right hand turn and didn't wait for him to pass in the bike lane. "She saw me," he said. "She knew she was pushing me over." When Zimmerman told his story to a room of bicycle advocates recently, there were nodding heads all around, and the police who respond to bike-on-car accidents say they see it every day.
Los Angeles Daily News

Foothill Blvd. scene of car chase, crash, 3-hour police search
A suspected car thief led police on a short pursuit in Tujunga before crashing the car and bailing out, disappearing into the night despite a 3-hour search, police said. The pursuit began at Foothill Boulevard and Valmont Street around 11:20 p.m. Sunday when officers spotted the car with a Michigan plate stolen from Las Vegas, said Lt. Brian Bixler of the LAPD's Foothill Station. "He fled one block before he tried to make a left-hand turn, crashed through a fence in a front yard and hit a tree," Bixler said.
City News Service

San Jose police: Will council proposal stop the exodus?
At first glance, a City Hall plan to add 200 officers over four years sounds like salvation for a depleted San Jose Police Department that dresses fewer than a thousand cops to fight rising crime in a city of nearly 1 million. But San Jose might struggle to maintain the current number of street cops even with the additional positions, according to an analysis by the San Jose Mercury News. If current trends continue, the number of officers leaving SJPD could well outnumber the prospective new cops the department hires.
San Jose Mercury News

Legislation

Gov. Jerry Brown signs bill to close loophole in rape law
Gov. Jerry Brown on Monday signed legislation that closes a loophole in California's rape law by clarifying that an attacker who impersonates someone else to coerce a victim into sexual activity can be prosecuted. The bill was in response to a recent State Court of Appeals decision that overturned a rape conviction of a Los Angeles County man in which the court said a victim had not been raped because she was unmarried and the attacker had impersonated her boyfriend.
Los Angeles Times

Prisons & Parole

Leaders seek to avoid early Calif. inmate releases
Gov. Jerry Brown and the four leaders of California's Legislature reached a compromise Monday on reducing the state's prison population, offering to spend more money on rehabilitation efforts if a panel of federal judges will extend an end-of-the-year deadline to release thousands of inmates. The deal relies on the state persuading three federal judges to give California time to let rehabilitation programs work rather than spend $315 million to lease cells in private prisons and county jails.
Associated Press

Freed 3-strikes inmates have low recidivism rate, report finds
More than 1,000 inmates previously sentenced to life in prison have been freed since voters approved changes to California's three-strikes law in November, with only a handful charged with new offenses since their release, according to a report released Monday. The authors of the report, who helped write and campaign for the ballot initiative, said third-strikers released under Proposition 36 have a lower recidivism rate than other prisoners freed on parole, helping save the state millions of dollars by opening up space in crowded prisons without jeopardizing public safety.
Los Angeles Times

City Government

L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti called for jury duty
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, who reported for jury duty Monday at the downtown criminal courts building, spent some of his downtime seated among other prospective jurors, tapping away on his smart phone and browsing social media. He posted a message on Twitter about the death of TV pitchman Cal Worthington and reached out to an irate Los Angeles resident who said her trash was not collected three days ago.
Los Angeles Daily News