Law Enforcement

Los Angeles Police Department to equip officers with 60 body cameras for 3-month field test
Los Angeles police officers will begin field testing 60 on-body cameras starting in November as part of a pilot program designed to increase accountability and reduce complaints against officers. The Los Angeles Police Department's chief information officer, Maggie Goodrich, provided the update Tuesday to the Police Commission, the LAPD's civilian oversight board. Goodrich said the department will receive different styles of cameras on loan from two companies - Arizona-based Taser International Inc. and Coban Technologies Inc. of Houston.
Associated Press

Two men shot and wounded in Venice; LAPD seeks suspects
Two men were shot and sustained injuries that were not life-threatening when gunfire broke out in Venice's Oakwood Neighborhood, police said Tuesday night. Multiple gunshots were reported around 8:15 p.m. in the 800 block of Indiana Avenue, the Los Angeles Police Department said. Police vehicles quickly swarmed the area and an LAPD helicopter circled overhead as officers began gathering evidence, a witness told The Times. The two victims were taken to hospitals. "They are going to be fine," Officer Drake Madison said.
Los Angeles Times

LAX security chief takes job with LAPD
Arif Alikhan, deputy executive director for law enforcement and homeland security at Los Angeles World Airports, will join the Los Angeles Police Department next year as its highest ranking civilian administrator. Alikhan, who joined the airport operator two years ago, will be special assistant for constitutional policing. He'll supervise several LAPD divisions, including planning and research, risk management and audit. He'll also be senior policy advisor to Chief Charlie Beck.
Torrance Daily Breeze

Palms area hit with rash of car burglaries
There were 13 vehicle burglaries or thefts in Palms last week, the Los Angeles Police Department announced Monday. Palms has more vehicle burglaries or thefts than other areas most likely because of its high amount of apartments, according to police. Many residents are forced to park on the streets and away from the view of their apartments. The high turnover of residents means many do not know each other, making it difficult to watch out for them, police said.
City News Service

Sun Valley: Suspected stolen car crashes into restaurant, ruptures gas line
Firefighters Tuesday morning sealed off a gas line that was ruptured when a suspected stolen BMW collided with a pickup truck on a freeway off-ramp in Sun Valley and then slammed into a restaurant, injuring a suspect in the car and a passenger in the pickup, police said. The crash happened about 11:30 p.m. Monday on the Hollywood Way off-ramp from the southbound Golden State (5) Freeway, according to Los Angeles police Sgt. Jim Reid.
City News Service

LAPD increases plain clothes foot patrols on Ventura Blvd.
Thefts and burglaries to homes, businesses and vehicles in Studio City have continued at a steady pace since September, reports the Los Angeles Police Department, and they are looking to have more officers patrolling the Ventura Boulevard corridor as a result.
Studio City Patch

Search continues for driver who fatally struck probation officer
The search continues for the driver of a Honda Civic who allegedly struck a Los Angeles County probation officer riding his motorcycle, who died when he was sent crashing into a pole. Los Angeles police described the vehicle as a silver four-door Honda Civic DX model between the years 1996 and 2000. The driver was headed southbound on Soto Street at Lancaster Street in Boyle Heights about 5:50 a.m. Monday when the driver changed lanes and struck 55-year-old Kenneth Hamilton, who was riding his personal motorcycle.
Los Angeles Times

County supervisors oppose release of serial rapist to Lake Los Angeles
Los Angeles County's board of supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to take a stand against a court's move to release a serial rapist in the Palmdale area. Christopher Hubbart admitted to raping more than three dozen women throughout California in the 1970s and '80s and has spent nearly two decades in a state mental hospital. Over strenuous objections from the L.A. County officials, a Santa Clara County judge said last week that Hubbart can be released under electronic monitoring and other strict conditions in the Lake Los Angeles area near Palmdale -- possibly as early as December.
Los Angeles Times

Increasing pedestrian safety will take more than tougher laws
They consider running a family thing. Jeri Dye Lynch and her three sons ran every chance they got - right up until the day her oldest boy, Conor, was struck and killed by a car as he crossed the street outside his high school on his way to cross country practice. It's only fitting that since he died in 2010, Lynch has used running as a way to memorialize her child. On Sunday, the Conor Lynch Foundation held its third annual 5K race to raise money for efforts to promote safety for pedestrians, runners, cyclists and young drivers.
Los Angeles Times

Guns

State not doing enough to keep guns from mentally ill, audit says
Thousands of mentally ill Californians are not being reported to the state Department of Justice so that they can be considered for a list of those prohibited from possessing firearms, a state audit said Tuesday. More than 20,000 people have been identified as possessing guns even though they are prohibited from doing so because of criminal records, restraining orders or severe mental illness, and the state is working to clear the backlog by sending agents out to confiscate weapons.
Los Angeles Times

Prisons

L.A. County backs out of sending jail inmates to facility in Taft
Los Angeles County supervisors voted Tuesday to halt a controversial plan to send county jail inmates to a facility in Kern County after a board member who had originally supported the contract changed her mind. The supervisors voted last month to approve a $75-million, five-year plan to send about 500 county inmates serving lengthy sentences to the correctional facility run by the city of Taft. The plan was touted as a cost-effective way to free up local jail beds and increase time served by the most serious offenders.
Los Angeles Times

City Government

Garcetti calls for approval of L.A. River project during D.C. trip
Mayor Eric Garcetti, on his first trip to the nation's capital as Los Angeles' chief executive, isn't letting Washington's preoccupation with budget deficits get in the way of his push for federal approval of a $1-billion project to restore the Los Angeles River. In meetings on Capitol Hill and at the White House, Garcetti lobbied officials to support a project that is more than double the cost of the one recommended by the Army Corps of Engineers.
Los Angeles Times