Law Enforcement

Crime alerts for Central-Alameda and 7 other L.A. neighborhoods
Crime reports are up significantly for the latest week in eight L.A. neighborhoods, according to an analysis of LAPD data by the Los Angeles Times' Crime L.A. database. Six neighborhoods reported a significant increase in violent crime. Central-Alameda was the most unusual, recording 13 reports compared with a weekly average of 5.3 over the last three months. Valley Glen topped the list of two neighborhoods with property crime alerts. It recorded 36 property crimes compared with its weekly average of 24.2 over the last three months.
Los Angeles Times

Boy dies after being wounded in Mid-City triple shooting
Police were searching for the gunman who opened fire on three people, wounding two and killing a 7-year-old boy, in the Mid-City section of Los Angeles, authorities said Tuesday. Police had initially said the child was 9-years-old. The incident occurred around 9 p.m. Monday in the 1900 block of South Corning Street, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. The boy was with his mother and her boyfriend when a white vehicle carrying four men pulled up next to them and opened fire, police said. The gunmen immediately fled.
KTLA

Man gets prison for arson at Hollywood synagogue, other sites
A 23-year-old homeless man was sentenced Tuesday to nearly 10 years in prison for burglarizing and setting fire to a prominent Hollywood synagogue and other sites in 2011, although he may only serve closer to two years due to time already served. Dmitriy Sheyko, a transient known to frequent the Hollywood area, had pleaded guilty to 22 charges related to burglary, arson and use of a destructive device. In addition to his prison term, he'll have to pass a mental evaluation to avoid being transferred to an institution.
Los Angeles Times

Why drone delivery will be a nightmare for law enforcement
I'd like to see Tesla's Elon "Hyperloop" Musk and Amazon's Jeff "Drone Delivery" Bezos face off in a cage match to determine who is the most interesting CEO in tech. Bezos upped his game by going on 60 Minutes Sunday night and revealing a "secret R&D project: 'Octocopter' drones that will fly packages directly to your doorstep in 30 minutes." Yup, an autonomous drone delivery service that would use GPS coordinates to navigate, called Amazon "Prime Air."
Forbes

Driving

Are traffic ticket law firms steering you wrong?
If you live in Southern California, you've gotten - or will get - a parking or speeding ticket. It's an immutable law of nature. And in tandem with this natural phenomenon, a cottage industry of legal professionals has taken root to assist people in navigating and, possibly, beating the system. Take, for example, a company called the Ticket Clinic, which has offices throughout the region and boasts that it "may be your best bet for getting your traffic ticket dismissed."
Los Angeles Times

Driverless cars could be cruising California roads by spring
The California Department of Motor Vehicles has released its newly created regulations for the testing of automated vehicles. The DMV's Bernard Soriano said the regulations are intended for manufactures who want to begin testing their cars on California roads. The rules cover everything from how much insurance the cars must have to who can drive them. "We just want to ensure that whoever is testing the vehicle is able to test it in a safe manner," he said, "so that the motoring public is going to remain safe."
California Public Radio

Prisons

California prison system hiring 7,000 officers
Confronted with a growing wave of retirements, the California Department of Corrections said Tuesday that it will need to hire approximately 7,000 prison officers over the next three years to fill current and future vacancies statewide. The state has about 25,000 fewer inmates in its 34 adult prisons owing to a two-year-old program that sends more convicted offenders to local jails, while attrition also is draining the prison-officer ranks with an average 150 retiring each month, according to corrections statistics.
Sacramento Bee

Homeland Security

Special Election

City Government

LAFD proposes boosting ranks with budget increase
In a bid to roll back cuts that followed the economic downturn five years ago, the Los Angeles Fire Department is considering a request to boost its budget by nearly 10% next year, pushing annual spending to a high of more than $600 million. The proposed increases, which would need to be approved by the City Council and mayor, would go toward hiring 280 new firefighters with an overhauled recruitment effort and fund further improvements to the department's widely criticized technology, according to a draft debated by the city Fire Commission on Tuesday.
Los Angeles Times